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” 

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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.

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Wednesday August 6, 2008 – The youth movement of the Tacoma (ahemm) Seattle Mariners continued today as the team optioned DH Jose Vidro for assignment, and recalled outfielder Wladimir Balentien back to the big leagues.

Seattle Mariner fans will be sad to lose their biggest whipping boy in Vidro as he has had a poor 2008 season.   Jose batted .234 with seven homers and 45 RBIs in 85 games this season for Seattle.  The M’s have 10 days to release, trade, option, or assign Vidro outright to the Minors.

Wlad got the call up in Vidro’s place to begin his second stint with the Mariners this season.  Balentien hit .196 with four home-runs and 9 RBI’s in 32 games earlier in the season.  Many including myself thought they should have let him ride his struggles out, but the team returned him to Tacoma.  Balentien struggled a little when sent down, but has gotten hot batting .270 with 12 home-runs and 35 RBIs in 44 games.

The Mariners lineup is now loaded with Rainiers as Jeff Clement, Bryan LaHair, and Balentien are all up with the big team.  Not to mention half of their pitching staff was down there at some point.  Its good to see the Mariners getting these guys up earlier before the rosters expand so they can see them against better competition before September.

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Orioles 10, Mariners 5

Garrett Olson pitched eight scoreless innings and the Oriole bats picked up eight runs in the top of the 5th to help the O’s cruise past the M’s 10-5.

The oft rumored Jarrod Washburn got rocked for six earned runs on nine hits over 4.2 innings of work.  It appeared Washburn’s focus was altered a little after he was not dealt at the deadline.

Former Mariner Adam Jones picked up two-RBI in theballgame going 2-for-6, and Jay Payton picked up 3 RBI on the day with a triple in the 5th.  Surprsingly, none of the runs scored by either team were the result of home-runs.

Trailing 10-0 late, the Mariners picked up all their runs in the 9thas they picked up a season-high seven hits in the inning.  The M’s loaded the bases with three singles in the inning off of Olson who was attempting to pitch a complete game.  Kenji Johjima and Jeremy Reed had RBI singles, and Ichiro Suzuki picked up an RBI on a fielders choice ground-out.  Willie Bloomquist and Bryan LaHair added RBI singles to cut the lead in half, but the rally ended on an Adrian Beltre fly out.

Other Mariner notes:

Jose Lopez extended his hit streak to 19 games as he went 2-for-3 and raised his batting average to .306.

Ichiro was acknowledged before the game for his 3,000th hit he recorded against Texas.  GM Lee Pelekoudis and CEO Howard Lincoln presented Ichiro with a plaque as well as the base he stole for his team record 290th stolen base in May of this season.

The Mariners decided to play today’s game one player short on the active roster for the second straight game.  Manager Jim Riggleman said the player to be brought up will be a reliever.  He said they have three players in mind, but might wait a week or so to make a decision.

Wladimir Balentien continues to make a strong bid for a call-up as he went 3-for-5 with a home-run and five RBI for Tacoma against Round Rock last night. 

Erik Bedard is expected to play catch Sunday at Safeco.

Game 2 at 7:10 PT tomorrow night will see Felix Hernandez (7-6) vs. Jeremy Guthrie (7-8)

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Mariner Farm Report

Recently acquired first baseman Craig Wilson has had a hot start in Tacoma homering in back-to-back games.  Makes me wonder if he will last down in Tacoma much longer with the Mariners Jose Vidro/Miguel Cairo rotation at 1st.  Wilson has batted .500 in three games going 7-for-14 with two homers and three RBI along with four runs scored.

Word is that Wladimir Balentien has been playing a surprisingly decent Center Field for the Rainiers.  He is still hitting for a low average (.234), but has managed four home-runs and eleven RBI’s over his last ten games.

Check out this stat line on Mariners second round draft pick Dennis Raben; playing outfield for Class-A Everett.  In ten games Raben is batting .429 (15-for-35) with one homer and eight RBI. Raben has added eight doubles and shows a great eye at the plate with nine walks.  He appears to be on the fast track so far; but it is class-A and it has only been ten games.  But in a horrible Mariners season so far its OK to get excited.

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Heavy hitting prospect Jeff Clement will be in uniform tonight to try to add some pop to the anemic Seattle offense.  Wladimir Balentien in turn was optioned to triple A Tacoma.  It is presumed that this move in Balentien‘s case is to get him some work in Center Field in the minors and get him back playing everyday again.

Manager John McLaren said that the team plans to work Clement in at Catcher and not have him ride the bench.  McLaren mentioned the team needs an offensive spark, and he hopes Clement will help give him that.

The Mariners outfield situation just got more confusing yesterday with the move of Ichiro Suzuki to right field.  Now it appears we have turned the clock back to 2005 with Jeremy Reed seeing most of the time in Center Field, unless another move is made.

Major moves could be on the horizon, stay tuned.

On the same day the Mariners decided to part ways with GM Bill Bavasi, Manager John McLaren announced he will be moving Ichiro back to right field.  McLaren also stated that the move isn’t temporary, its permanent.

Apparently McLaren has also been pondering the idea of using Ichiro in the 3 spot in the batting order, something that Lou Pinella tried in the past briefly in 2001 until moving him back to the lead off position.

Willie Bloomquist will get the start tonight in Center against Florida at Safeco, with Jeremy Reed, and Wladimir Balentien expected to also see time in Center Field in the near future.

Besided the squeeze play in the 10th inning, the other two Mariners runs came in the first inning.  Jose Vidro connected on a two run home run for the Mariners first two runs.  From the second through the ninth innings however, the M’s had a terrible time getting any rallies going as they couldn’t push across any runs.

Mariners starting pitcher Jarrod Washburn tossed the first six innings of the game while he gave up five hits and one run.  Washburn pitched a pretty good game but did walk three batters.  Mark Lowe gave up one run without recording an out.  Arthur Rhodes and Miguel Batista were finaly able to get the Mariners out of the seventh inning.  R.A. Dickey then tossed the next two innings without having any damage done.  Dickey actually ended up picking up the win and is now 1-1 on the season.

Onto the 10th inning that seen a dropped ball by Wladimir Balentien, and then the Blue Jays twice having the bases loaded but not scoring one run.  J.J. Putz was able to get a double play with zero outs in the inning and then got a fly ball off the bat of David Eckstein to end the game stranding all three runners on base.

A win is a win and the Mariners will take it anyway they can get one at this point in the season.  Even if it is ugly lol.

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Jose Lopez, Jeff Clement, Yuniesky Betancourt, and Cairo all had one rbi in the game.

J.J. Putz was the winner in the game as he pitched two innings in relief.  Putz even his record at 1-1 with the win.  Jarrod Washburn earned the save which was his first of the season.  Mariners starting pitcher Carlos Silva tossed 6 1/3 innings while giving up five hits and two runs.  Not too bad of a game for him.  Sean Green was the only relief pitcher to give up a run in the game.

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Starting pitcher Erik Bedard was roughed up in only two innings of action.  Bedard gave up seven hits and six runs as he was hit hard all night long.  Cha Seung Baek pitched the next two innings without letting in a run but then Ryan Rowland-Smith gave up two runs and Mark Lowe gave up four more runs.

The Mariners did hit three home runs in the game.  Kenji Johjima had the big three run blast in the top of the ninth inning to tie the game.  Raul Ibanez had a two run home run in the first inning and Wladimir Balentien had a two run shot as well in the eighth inning.

Johima led the the Mariners with four rbi while Ibanez wasn’t too far behind with three rbi.  Balentein had two rbi and Yuniesky Betancourt finished up the game with one rbi.

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