The Seattle Mariners played the Los Angeles Angels togh on Monday night but they fell just short as they lost the game by the score of 2-1. The Mariners offense was only able to come up with five hits compared to the Angels ten hits, and they also committed one error in the game.

Ryan Rowland-Smith was charged with eight hits and two runs over seven innings. He pitched well enough to win the game but the offense just wasn’t putting any runs on the scoreboard to back him up. Rowland-Smith is now 4-3 on the season. Roy Corcoran and J.J. Putz both pitched one inning of relief after Rowland-Smith was taken out.

The only run for the Mariners came in the third inning when Raul Ibanez grounded out to first and Luis Valbuena scored. At that time the score was 1-0, but it was the only run the Mariners would score as they offense struggled at the plate to knock in any runs.

The Mariners and Angels will face off once again on Tuesday night as they M’s try to even up the series and finish the 2008 season strong.

Mariners Blog

Silva to DL after league-leading 14th loss

In the past few days in Mariner Land, we saw a major league record tying four wild-pitches in one inning by R.A. Dickey, the shaky debut of Ryan Feierabend, and three-game sweep at the hands of the Minnesota Twins.  Raul Ibanez continues to give us something to cheer about, and really is strengthening his case for a extension.  And struggling, whining, over-paid Mariner Carlos Silva has been placed on the 15-day DL.

In the first game of the series against Minnesota, the M’s had the unfortunate task of facing a rejuvenated Francisco Lariano.  Lariano (3-3) pitched seven frames allowing only two hits while striking out five batters.  Silva’s performance was embarrassing to say the least, especially against his former team.  Silva was shelled (again) for nine runs on nine hits in 3.1 innings, and now owns the major league lead for losses with 14.  Jason Kubel went 3-for-4 with a home-run and 3 RBIs to pace the Twins to the 9-3 victory.

The M’s dropped Game 2 in a hard fought game 7-6 on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 9th by Brian Buscher scoring Joe Mauer.  Losing 5-0, Seattle put together a six-run sixth inning to actually take back the lead before losing it late.  Mauer also homered in the game.  Ryan Rowland-Smith was hit hard for his second straight start allowing five runs on ten hits, in five innings. Ichiro Suzuki and Jeff Clement picked up two RBIs on the day to lead the Mariner offense. 

In Game 3, it was the Jason Kubel show again as he went off with a 4-for-5 day with two doubles, totalling four runs and two RBIs.  The game was a slug-fest much like the recent series in Seattle and runs definitely weren’t at a premium, but Minnesota came out on top 11-8.  Ibanez continued to massacre Twins pitching as he went 5-for-5 with two doubles, one run and one RBI.  Adrian Beltre, Wladimir Balentien, and Kenji Johjima went yard for Seattle, but the Feierabend and Dickey before mentioned pitching performance ultimately let them down.

The Mariners begin a three-game set in the South Side of Chicago against Ken Griffey Jr. and the Chicago White Sox. Jarrod Washburn vs. Mark Buehrle will be the Game 1 match-up.

Earlier in the season, the Mariner offense was wasting a strong number of quality pitching outings especially from the relief staff, now it appears the offense has heated up with the Summer sun, and the pitching is awful.  I guess that is what makes you a last place team.

M’s Manager Jim Riggleman: “”If it’s not one thing, it’s another” 

Mariners Blog

We learned that Seattle just plain isn’t good enough to hang with the big boys over their recent four-game set with the Rays over the weekend.  After taking Game 1, the Rays snatched back the next three and took their “mojo” back.  We all know by now as Mariner fans about the post-game rant by “The Chief” Carlos Silva.  The only good thing about his rant is that at least he showed that he cared.  Other than that it was completely ridiculous.  He is having an awful season and threw his teammates under the bus.  You didn’t see his teammates say that he sucked all year.  Silva’s ERA currently stands at 5.93.  The M’s lost Fridays game 5-3.  Wladimir Balentien hit his 5th home-run of the season in the ballgame.

On Saturday the Mariners got Ryan Rowland-Smith back into the rotation and optioned Jared Wells back to Tacoma.  Rowland-Smith wasn’t great, but wasn’t bad either pitching 5.2 innings allowing four runs on seven hits while striking out five.  A bad sixth inning and bullpen woes got him a no decision before good old Miguel Batista got the loss.  It was the result of an 11th inning Dioner Navarro sacrifice fly scoring Ben Zobrist to win it for Tampa 8-7.  Ichiro Suzuki had a great day at the plate going 4-for-6 with a home-run and 3 RBIs.  It appears in this ballgame that the M’s lost Willie Bloomquist to a potentially season ending hamstring injury to make matters worse.

Sunday’s contest was a 11-3 bashing by Tampa over the M’s.  For Tampa it was their franchise-record 71st win of the season.  Jose Lopez hit his 10th home-run of the season on the day.  Tampa got great days at the dish by Willy Aybar (2-for-5, 4 RBIs), Eric Hinske (3-for-5, 3 Runs), and Cliff Floyd (3-for-4, 2 runs, RBI).  Catcher Shawn Riggans hit a three run home-run as well.  R.A. Dickey got lit up for eight runs in five innings of work.  The M’s recalled Tug Hulett from Tacoma as they placed Bloomquist on the 15-day DL.

The last bit of Mariner news to report from over the weekend was the Saturday start by Brandon Morrow for Tacoma.  Morrow got hit hard throwing 51 pitches over 2.2 innings.  Brandon allowed three runs on five hits walking two and striking out two.  Lets not overreact to his rough outing, he pitched in a hitters haven and he is still adjusting to pitching as a starter.

Some Rumors not confirmed by Seattle, but confirmed by others….

Peter Gammons of ESPN reported that the Mariners placed Raul Ibanez on waivers over the weekend.  Nobody else is reporting this but I feel Gammons is more than a reliable source.  There is talk the Rays would pick up the claim, but that the Red Sox would block it much like they did as with Brian Giles.

There also was a report by the Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times that Jarrod Washburn has already cleared through waivers.  Problem is nobody else is reporting it.  Other sources are saying that he is still in the process and we should find out if any team made a claim sometime in the next 24-hours.  An interesting thing to think about is that if Washburn is traded to an American League squad, they have first crack at any player coming back through waivers to them in a trade because they own the worst record in the AL.

There is much going on in Mariner Land…too bad there is no focus left on the team in the field.

Mariners Blog

Left hander has made three starts in Triple-A Tacoma

Due to his recent struggles as a starter, along with the teams need for an experienced late-inning arm, Miguel Batista has been moved from the starting rotation to the bullpen.  The struggling veteran has only had five of his nineteen starts reach the 6th inning this season.  Batista was scheduled to start on Saturday. 

And that is where the Ryan Rowland-Smith conversation begins.  Rowland-Smith has started three games for Tacoma allowing only two earned-runs in each outing.  Apparently besides stretching his arm out, the team has wanted Ryan to work on his fastball command, which he still struggling with a bit, but is showing solid improvement.  If the team chooses not to call up someone from the minors, Jake Woods has starting experience on the current active roster. 

A decision on Saturday’s starter is expected from the Mariners tonight.  I say bring Ryan up, he has already started for the M’s this season, and is better than what we have now anyways.  Lets see what he can do with extended rotation time and preparation in the big leagues so we can see if he can handle 2009.

Mariners Blog

Hard throwing righty to start tonight for Tacoma

Wednesday August 6, 2008 - After a whole season of uncertainty when it came to the prospect of Brandon Morrow throwing as a starter, yesterday it finally came to fruition as the Mariners optioned him to Tacoma to start tonight’s game.  Morrow is expected to throw somewhere in the range of 35 pitches to begin stretching his arm out.  The Mariners did the same Ryan Rowland-Smith recently and after a few weeks Rowland-Smith has been throwing in the six inning range.  The Mariners hope to use Morrow with the big club by the end of the season if all goes well.

To take the place of Morrow, the M’s called up Tacoma closer Jared Wells.  Wells has pitched well picking up nine saves for the Rainiers.  The move allows J.J. Putz to resume his duties as the full-time closer.

The intersting scenario for Seattle will be when Rowland-Smith and Morrow are ready to start, who will come out of the rotation? Not just for this season, but for 2009. 

Mariners Blog

Tuesday July 22, 2008

ESPN’s Buster Olney is reporting the New York Yankees are taking a look at acquiring Mariners lefty Jarrod Washburn before the deadline.  It will tough for the Mariners to get much in return for the 33 year-old veteran due to having another year on his contract that pays him somewhere in the ball park of $10 million dollars.  The move would ultimately be a salary dump.  I have read a few rumors about the Mariners receiving Kei Igawa in return. That would figure, but I expect a marginal prospect.  Olney sites the Yankees may like to keep Washburn in their rotation for 09′ because the dimensions of the new ballpark will remain similar to the current Yankee Stadium cut out which has a short porch in right field and favors left-handed pitching.  I could see this move happening due to the fact that :

1) Ryan Rowland-Smith just got sent down to Tacoma to stretch his arm out to become a starter.

2) The Yankees are one of a handful of teams that would take on Washburn’s salary based on his production.

3) The Mariners have the arms in the system to replace him this season and next.

Mariners Blog

Sunday July 20, 2008

In a surprise move by the organization, the Mariners optioned lefty Ryan Rowland-Smith to Tacoma to begin a minor league assignment to convert to a  full-time starting pitcher.  Rowland-Smith was obviously disappointed with the move but ultimately understood what the organization wants from him.  J.J. Putz was activated and will be available in the pen for this afternoon’s ballgame.

Mariners Blog

Saturday July 19, 2008

Indians 9, Mariners 6

Shin-Soo Choo was a 7 year-old in South Korea when the Indians and Mariners wore the uniforms they sported at Saturdays contest at Safeco Field.  Too bad for Choo it can’t be 1989 more often.

Choo slammed pitches in two at-bats off of Mariners starter Miguel Batista as he hit a two-run homer in the first, and a ground-rule double for another RBI in the third.  He added another double in the eighth off of R.A. Dickey to round out his 3-for-5 day. 

It was another sad performance for Batista for the M’s.  I just don’t understand why they keep running him out there if he says he is not healthy and keeps getting consistently lit up.  Batista pitched two innings, allowing eight runs on seven hits.  At some point here the M’s need to shut him down or make a decision about his future if he is indeed healthy. Miguel has just been awful this season.  The process might already be underway as they pitched spot starter Ryan Rowland-Smith four innings today.  There has been some talk about converting Rowland-Smith into a starter as he performed well when called upon.

The M’s bats were not that bad today, but they had to dig out of a 9-1 whole by the third inning.  Left fielder Raul Ibanez homered for the second straight game as he hit his 13th big fly of the season.  Jose Vidro had an two RBI’s on the day including an RBI double in the second.  Ichiro Suzuki added a two run home-run, his 4th of the year, in the bottom of the ninth to make things interesting.  Rookie Bryan LaHair got his first career start at first base going 0-for-3 with a walk.

For Cleveland, the win ended their ten game road losing skid.  Jeremy Sowers was not overly impressive, but did pick up his first win of the season to move his mark to 1-5.  Jhonny Peralta went 2-for-5 on the day picking up two RBI’s and two runs scored for the tribe.  Washington native Grady Sizemore walked a season high four times on the day, but strangely never scored a run on the day.

In the series finale, Carlos Silva is expected to start.  Jarrod Wasburn was expected to try to go after missing his start with the flu.  Maybe they are moving him back again.  All-Star starter Cliff Lee is expected to get the ball for the Indians.  It will be 1:10 PT start.

Mariners Blog

Wednesday July 9th, 2008

Mariners 6, Athletics 4

 On the strength of three-run double by Jose Lopez in a five-run fifth inning, the Seattle Mariners ended a three-game losing streak picking up a 6-4 win in Oakland Wednesday night.  Adrian Beltre chipped in with three hits and drove in 2 runs.  Raul Ibanez also drove in a RBI for the winners.

The Mariners bullpen continued being a busy group as Miguel Batista had to leave early with a groin strain in the 3rd inning.   Ryan Rowland-Smith struggled a bit taking over as the A’s got to him for three runs on five hits in 1 and 1/3rd innings.  Enter Roy Corcoran in the 4th inning.  Corcoran inherited two baserunners from Rowland-Smith and was in lock down mode getting eight of nine A’s batters out in 2 2/3rds.  The effort for Corcoran earned him the traditional pie in the face from J.J. Putz after the game, as he picked up his first big league win.  The combination of Arthur Rhodes, Sean Green, and Brandon Morrow, finished the final three frames without allowing only one hit.  The final inning for Morrow earned him his 8th straight converted save, and lowered his ERA to a ridiculous 0.63.

In a losing effort for the A’s, Joe Blanton allowed six runs on nine hits in six innings of work to record the loss.  Jack Cust hit his 16th homerun of the season off a Batista in the 2nd inning.  Donnie Murphy added three runs batted in for Oakland.

Tomorrow’s contest will be a day game starting at 3:35 PT.  It will feature R.A. Dickey for the M’s, against Left Greg Smith for the A’s.  Ichiro Suzuki is expected to miss the contest with a tight hamstring.

Mariners Blog

Tigers 2, Mariners 1

In the series finale of a four game set, the Detroit Tigers finally tallied the winning run in the top of the 15th inning off of backup catcher Jamie Burke to come away with a 2-1 victory at Safeco.  The M’s had to use 7 pitchers to get through the day.

A Marcus Thames sac fly off of Burke scored Michael Holliman for the winning run to end a long offensively deprived baseball game.  Manager Jim Riggleman was really strapped for pitching options late.  With an already banged up staff, Riggleman was without already without Arthur Rhodes on the day who woke up with some arm soreness.  Riggleman also did not want to pitch Brandon Morrow because he has been used four of the last five games.  Ryan Rowland-Smith was not an options because he was used as a starter.  And all other relievers were used in the ballgame.  No runs were surrendered from the 5th inning till the 15th.  Both teams combined for a total of 14 hits.

It was an extremely ugly scorecard for both teams.  The Mariners had no player record more than one hit.  The Tigers only player to record more than one hit was Ivan Rodriguez who was 4-for-7.

A positive to take from the game was obviously the pitching staff who has done a tremendous job the last few weeks.  Rowland-Smith went 5 innings surrendering only one run.  Mark Lowe (1 inning), Roy Corcoran (2 innings), Miguel Batista (1 inning), Sean Green (1 inning) and Cesar Jimenez (4 innings) all combined to hold the Tigers out of the score column.  In fact, only Green allowed a hit until Burke came in for the 15th. 

Tiger pitcher Nate Robertson pitched 9 innings fabulous innings for the Detroit.  Aquilino Lopez picked up the win to see his record improve to 3-1.  Burke picked up what is most likely his first and last lost as a major league pitcher.

The M’s head to Oakland to start a four game series against the A’s tomorrow night.  Jarrod Washburn (4-7) will face lefty Dana Eveland (6-5).  

Mariners Blog