Late Inning Dissapointment

Unfortunately, the Mariners couldn't complete their ninth inning heroics. It was a better effort, and they did score 12 runs, but it was the starting pitching that killed them.

I'm not going to harp on Erik Bedard, but he was awful. Six runs in two innings isn't the kind of quality that we need from Erik "The Interview" Bedard.

Overall, the team looked somewhat alive out there. Obviously there didn't quite make Jabu happy enough to get a win. At least Cha Seung Baek kept them in it with three scoreless innings of relief. I can't quite say the same for Mark Lowe though...

Ichiro pulled a nice 1-6, and so did Jose Vidro I think. It might have been Pepe out there, but I wasn't sure. Joh had a nice day, 3-4 with four RBI's and his first home run of the season. Wlad also hit a home run, number four of the season. Rauuuuuuuul Ibanez continued his underratedness (I did just make that word up) with a 2-5 performance, including a homerun, number seven, three RBI's and two runs. Seven homers and 28 RBI's. He may not be up there with the top of the pack, but he isn't that far behind them. Jeff Clement also had a couple hits.

Brandon Morrow did blow it, but he did strike out the other four batters that he faced, so does that even out the loss. Maybe yes, maybe no, but at the end of the day, the M's didn't come out with a win. It would really be nice to see this team have a late summer rally. Let's try and take the good out of this one, if possible.

Not Sure of What to Say

The Mariners won today, 6-3 over the White Sox, and I'm not that sure what to say about it.

The offense showed up, the pitching was good, and the bullpen was very good. I don't know what else to say right now.

Close, Kinda, but no Cigar

Another dissapointing loss for the Mariners. 4-2 was a better effort than what we've seen, and the bullpen didn't even allow a run. What went wrong this time...

Carlos Silva is now 3-2 after a great start to the season, and a not so nice last few starts. He let in all four ChiSock runs on eight hits and two walks. That isn't a terrible performce, but when you get two runs of support, it looks awful. The bullpen was almost perfect in two innings. Sean Green and JJ Putz each gave up one hit in an inning pitched each. Green had one strikeout. I doubt that they were playing Thunderstruck last night. I haven't heard that in a while, but when you've gone something like 1-9, your closer doesn't get too many chances.

Wlad Balentien was sort of a bright spot. He hit a homerun, showing his excellent power, and had one outfield assist, showing that his defensive abilities are inproving. He struck out once and left four men on base, and finished 1-4. Nice to see the power and fielding, but you can't be that productive when you leave four on. Jeff Clement's line looked alright. He caught last night, and went 1-3 with a walk, but struck out twice. His .154 AVG so far this season isn't that nice, but he's still learning. Ichiro's still getting closer to that .300 mark. He went 1-4 with a stolen base and scored the Mariners other one. Adrian Beltre stole his fifth of the season as well.

What can I say? It wasn't great, but atleast it was only a two run gap this time. There has to be a better effort put out there, or this ship wil continue to go down.

.......................

Yesternight's game was one worth forgetting. Miguel Batista would happily agree with that statement.

I'm having a hard time finding positive things from the last couple Mariners 'games'. Jose Lopez and Wladimir Balentien both had a couple of hits, and Wlad scored the Mariners only pathetic run. Ichiro stole number 13 of the season.

Cha Seung Baek comtinued to prove his imprtance to the club giving up four runs in 4.2 innings of 'work'. I don't see why he is here and RA Dickey isn't. It would make more sense to get rid of Baek and call up someone half way effective. On a positive note, Mark Lowe and RRS each pitched a scoreless inning. RRS looks like he has figured a little bit out as of late. What I mean is that he hasn't been as awful lately. The M's need to do better tonight. I expect more than the pitiful crowd of 15,818. Do we need to send 40,000 out there every night for the Mariners to win?

Slump Breaker

Now I can be happy! Maybe not as happy as Ichiro is, or Lookout Landing, but the final outcome is better than the last little while.

Jarrod Washburn did what he needed to do, sort of, enough. You can't give him the wrong side of the (insert word here because I can't think of one right now) because he left the game due to an injury. He made it through six, enough for the win on 87 pitches, so seven innings had to have been in the equation had the injury not occurred. He let in three runs on four hits and struck out three. A pretty good night by Washburn standerds. The bullpen was great again. Sean Green pitched two scoreless, and JJ finished off the ninth, but didn't earn a save.

The bats decided to come out tonight. A couple in the first innings, and then a four spot in the third got the job done. I'll take them if they come in bunches. Wladimir Balentien hit his second homerun of the year, hitting in the nine spot for some reason. He finished the night off at 2-3 with three RBI and one strikout. Jeff Clement went hitless, again and struck out a couple of times. Richie Sexson hit number 301 and has picked up a little bit lately. Ichiro went 1-4 with a double. He didn't steal any bases tonight though. Joh even had a couple hits and a couple runs.

Overall the team showed up really nicely and made me feel proud to be a Mariners fan. I wouldn't expect them to choose Kevin Millwood to be their slump buster, but whatever works. The only complaint I have is that only 16,637 hauled their butts out to the game. That's it? How come there's all of these small crowds showing up lately? I guess that the M's are stil doing a long shot better than the Marlins.

Just keep it up!!

Swept out of the Bronx

Even without this moron the Mariners still managed to get swept by the Yankees (sidenote: I said that A-Rod wasn't a bum mainly because I want him to break Barroids HR record, he sort of sucks as a person).

After another terrifac pitching performance from one of the 'aces' of the staff, the M's still managed to lose 6-2. Alright, enough bashing for this paragraph.

Carlos Silva looked alright, other than the forgetable third inning. Six runs isn't very Silva-like. As I've mentioned soooo many times, I'm a fan of the off day, but why do three starters decide to take theirs all on the same weekend? I'm going to have to get back to you on that one. Adrian Beltre hit a nice two run shot for the Mariners only runs. They got as many runs today as they did in the first two games. That's terrible. Ibanez woke up and got a couple hits. Ichiro stole number 12 on his single.

On a good note, the bullpen was very good. Even Mr. RRS pitched two scoreless innings walking and striking out one while giving up only one hit. Mark Lowe, Brandon Morrow, and Aurthor Rhodes each pitched a scoreless inng. That's about the only bright spot from today's game. Other than that it was terrible. Except for Ichiro's stolen base of course.

Mac Rips M's, I might Too

After a terrible performance, manager John McLaren went off on the team after watching the bats go cold, again, and their record slipping to 13-18.

What happened to Felix out there? Six runs over 5.2 innings. He gave up 12 hits and he walked three!! I don't care if he struck out 40 when the end result is that terrible. Yes, everyone deserves a break at one point or another, and Felix deserved better with no thanks to his team, but Felix dissapointed me this afternoon. I guess you can say that I've gotten expectant of Felix, but how can I not? He's pitched amazing so far this season.

Once again, where the heck was the defence? Another two errors, and even one by... I can't say it...Ich----... I can't say it ICHIRO! There I said it. Yes he deserves a break after going like three years without commiting an error, but he could've picked a better night to make a blunder. Like if Felix pitched a shutout, or he hit an inside the park homerun, or more importantly the team won. He still went 2-4 with an RBI, and was pretty much the only Mariners who knew what they were doing out there. Johjima was the other guy awake out there, he went 2-4. What a dissapointment Clement was. 1-4 with three strikeouts and three men left on base. Nasty. Maybe Mac should consider Vidro for the DH position again. Betancourt and Ichiro each stole a base. Ichiro is up to 11 now to start the season. Mac wanted him to run, and he is.

What happened with Raul Ibanez out there? Was he mad at the ground or something? Actually, what happened to him period? He was looking really good for the first couple weeks of the season, but lately has plummeted to a .295 AVG, still good, but looked better two weeks ago. Ibanez had a single and a walk, so he was doing his job of getting on base, but didn't do his job in driving in runs.

All in all, poor performance. The M's made Mike Mussina look like a Hall-of-Famer out there. Although the Mariners did get to the bullpen after six innings, a good sign, they still lost two of two to the Yankees. All we can do is hope for a better performance tomorrow.

Some Days/Weeks it Sucks to be a Mariner Fan

What the heck happened out there? All I can say is that it's too bad for Erik Bedard.

Even Roberto Luongo felt that crap. Hey, the M's are kind of reminding me of the 2007-08 Canucks: a team with a star doing everything (this game it was Mr. Bedard) and a team around him doing nothing.

If the Mariners want to win again they will have to put in a nine inning effort. Bedard pitched seven innings giving up only ONE earned run and struck out six. Pretty darn good performance if you are asking me. Bedard shouldn't havc a 3 in that R column. What happened to our amazing defence? Our Gold Glove 3B Adrian Beltre made a fielding error. The 'Magician' Yuiesky Betancout made his FIFTH error of the season. HIS FIFTH!!!!!! I thought that this guy was suppossed to be one of the best. Jose Lopez misses a catch, his third error of the year. And the cherry on that crap cake was Jamie Burke comitting his first error of the season. I don't care if it's May 2nd, but you can't make that many errors in a game.

The bullpen was once again terrible. Ryan Rowland-Suck gave up another two runs in a third of an innings work. Why is this guy pitching still? He can't do anything!!! Atleast Sean Green looked alright in two thirds of work.

Two walks and four hits won't do it against the Yankees. The Marlins maybe, but not the Yankees. Ichiro was probably the only batter genuinely interested in earing his paychek last night. He went 2-4 and scored the team's only run. Ibanez drove Ichiro in on a double. He finished 1-4. Betancourt got a single, and both Burke and Clement walked. What happened with Wlad and Clement last night? Both go 0-3, striking out twice and leaving a man on each. Could Brad Wilkerson and Greg Nortan have produced better? Perhaps we will never know.

The Yankees are good. Do you want to know why they are good? Because they can spend a bajillion dollars on their team of overpaid losers (except for A-Rod, Jeter, Hughes, Joba, Rivera) that are aged, injured, crappy or all three. I don't expect a 40-0 win for the M's in all three of the games, but I need a better effort than what they showed me last night.

April 30; Balentien Shines, but That's It

Boxscore.

Another loss for the Mariners, this time 8-3 to the Indians. Jarrod Washburn had a poor performance, giving up six runs, five earned in only 4.1 innings of something that you couldn't really call work. He struck out seven, but does anyone care? Cha Seung Baek came in and pitched 2.2 innings to give up two runs. I don't really care what RRS did in his inning of work.

The bats were there from their new guys. Wladimir Balentien hit a three run homerun and finished the day 2-4. Jeff Clement pinch hit for Clement and hit a single. The rest of the offence was dormant. Ichiro went 0-4 and saw his already poor average drop to .252. Vidro went 1-4 and struck out twice. He also left three on base. Clement will probably be playing tomorrow. Can't say that I'm really happy with this result. I would've liked to see the Mariners do a bit better in wake of getting rid of Brad Wilkerson.

4/29 Wilkerson Drinks a Red Bull

Boxscore.

Carlos Silva had another great outing going 7.2 innings, and giving up two runs on seven hits and one walk. He even struck out three. Mark Lowe cleaned up Author Rhodes' mess to get the win. The Mariners beat up Carmona enough to get him out of the game after only six innings. They were able to get to the bullpen early, and put the beatdown on him.

Bead Wilkerson went 3-3. He even walked once. Although he had no RBI's or runs... Adrian Beltre went 2-2 and drove in three. He also hit the key three run homer to put the Mariners over the top. That's producing, Wilkerson got three hits, that's great, but he didn't do anything on the scoreboard. Jose Vidro had a 2-4 night/afternoon and drove in two runs. Production from one of the two is a start.

April 19; Poooooooooooooooor

Wow. Two down to the Angels. It's still early in the season, but these games still count. Especially when the Angels are banged up.

Boxscore.

The Good
What was good? Can Adrian Beltre's homer disguise the fact that the Mariners couldn't do anything offensively? Ray Corcaron pitched two scoreless innings. He walked two and stuck out one. Corcaron has been the best Mariner reliever so far this season in my opinion. Other than those two things, it was pretty much all bad/ugly.

The Bad/Ugly
Jarrod Washburn wasn't ugly, but wasn't good. Four runs over six innings of work isn't what the Mariners needed out of Wash. Ichiro had another 0-for day. The Mariners need more out of him. Same with Ibanez, who has cooled off as of late. There isn't anything else really for me to say. It wasn't good. End of story, or rather, end of post.

April 18 Mariners 1 Less then the Angels

It's too bad Richie Sexson can't play like that everyday...

Boxscore.

The Good
Richie Sexson was amazing yesterday. He hit a pair of longballs, and drove in all four of the Mariners runs. He finished the day 2-4, and didn't strike out. He was pretty much the only Mariner awake once they stepped in to the batter's box. The thing about Richie Sexson, it that he's such a streaky player. A good game here, a week later he has a good game. He has little to no consistancy. That may be something that we follow here. There had to be someone on base for the Sexonian to drive in. Adrian Beltre went 2-4 with a double, and scored one run. Jose Vidro scored the other. He went 1-4.

The bullpen was pretty good pitching a combined two innings of relief for replacement starter RA Dickey. Sean Green struck out the only batter that he faced. Aurthor Rhodes pitched one scoreless inning, allowing only one hit and striking out one. Mark Lowe finished the game pitching two thirds, and striking out one. The Mariners pitching was able to contain Vladimir Guerrero, who finished the day, or night rather, 0-2 with a walk and a run.

Raul Ibanez also threw out Torri Hunter at the plate, and has cooled off remarkably these last few days.

The Bad
Jose Lopez made his second error of the season.

The Ugly
RA Dickey was horrid in his start. He lasted six innings, but gave up five runs on 8 hits and a couple walks. He struck out two and didn't give up any homeruns. I expected more from Dickey. He looked really good this Spring, but that can't really be used as a proper measuring stick, but still. The six innings was fine. It's just the five runs that I can't look past. The Mariners got a good showing from their bullpen and Sexson, but when it comes down to it, Dickey's poor start was the difference.

The rest of the Mariners offence, other than Sexson and Beltre, was terrible. Ichiro, Ibanez, and Vidro each had a single, but they were the only other baserunners that the Mariners had. Hitting homeruns is fine, but with one or none on isn't going to get you very far. It's ironic who the two with the most expectations, Beltre and Sexson, pull through, but nobody else can.

I have to mention that Richie Sexson almost sent the game in to extra innings, with a homerun, that Torri Hunter somehow got to. Terrible news for Sexson who was having a solid day at the plate, but that's why the Angels paid hunter $90M bucks.

April 16 A's 2 M's 4; Felix Pitches Gem

The Mariners got enough offense to get King Felix the win after he pitched a complete game gem.

Box.

The Good
Felix continued to earn his inheritance as King, pitching a complete game gem, allowing only one run on eight hits and a walk. He struck out eight and now has a season ERA of 1.47. Felix is off to the same type of start as last season, except he was on the DL abou this time last season. Felix looked confident out there, something that I haven't seen enough of. Hopefully he can keep it up.

Four runs was enough to win, and that may be all that really matters. The bats didn't exactly come alive, but rather came out because they had to, and then went back to doing whatever it was that they were doing. Adrian Beltre wacked a couple doubles and scored a run while driving in a run. Raul Ibanez continued his solid start going 3-4 scoring two runs and driving in one. Kenji Johjima was 2-4. The Mariners also turned a pair of doubleplays, which is always good.

The Bad
Yuniesky Betancourt has had better days defensively and baserunning...ly. He made an error and was caught stealing once as well. Minimal problems when looking at the whole picture, but when looking at that small picture, it doesn't look that good.

The Ugly
Brad Wilkerson has sucked it up in his short career with the Mariners. Another unacceptable 0-4 performance. Not to mention that he left four men on base. Wilkerson has to be better, or the Mariners need to replace him. Richie Sexson had a better day than Wilkerson, marginally. He went 1-4 and struck out once. He only left three runners on base though.

April 15; KC 6 SEA 11

The Mariners bats carried them to a split with the Royals in the short two game series.

Boxscore.


The Good
The Mariners bats came alive for a nice eleven runs. Ichiro broke out of his sort-of-slump, going 2-4, scoring two runs and walking twice. He added a double and a stolen base. Jose Lopez went 1-2 and drove in a nice four runs. Richie Sexson scored two runs on two walks. More on him later. Willie Bloomquist went 2-2 with 2 BB, scoring two runs and driving in one. Adrian Beltre went 2-5, scoring one run and stealing a base.


Sean Green pitched two scoreless innings of relief striking out three. Mark Lowe pitched two thirds and gave up nothing. Not bad relief today.


The Bad
The only real bad is that Raul Ibanez went 1-5, left five men on base and struck out three times. Not a typical performance from Ibanez compared to what he's done this season. A little bit of a dissapointing game, but that's only one. The rest of his performances will make up for it.


The Ugly
Here's where the post gets beefy. Miguel Batista was pretty awful, only going five innings. He gave up four runs on seven hits and a couple walks. One strikeout, not that it matters, or that Batista is a strikeout pitcher. Ryan Rowland-Smith pitched one inning of awfullness, giving up two runs on three hits and one walk. Bloomquist was caught stealing once, and picked off. One or the other fine, but both? Come on Willie. At the end of the day, the Mariners won, and that's all that matters.

April 13; Angels 10 Mariners 5; Morse Injured

After a dismal performance, and maybe a 'we already won the first two' attitude, the M's lost a tough one to the Angels.

Boxscore.


The Good
Greg Nortan is hitting 1.000. That's good, isn't it? 2-2 with an RBI after replacing Mike Morse in right field in the sixth or seventh. Raul Ibanez stayed hot going 2-5 and knocking in three. Ibanez is an interesting player. He doesn't run, or field particularly well, but the guy can hit. He's off to an amazing start with a .327 AVG. Jose Lopez went 2-4 and scored a couple runs. He's also off to a decent start hitting .333. Jose Vidro went 2-4 and saw average get up to .191. That's pretty amazing. I hope he doesn't keep up like this or the Mariners will never be able to resign him. Wait, why would they want to? Richie Sexson didn't strikeout. That's definitely a good thing. He found himself 1-4 with a run and a walk. Pretty good day by Sexson standards. Brad Wilkerson didn't play, also very good.


Roy Corcaron has been nothing but helpful for the M's. He provided two scoreless innings of relief, allowing only one hit. He still is yet to surrender a run this season. In 6.2 IP that's not bad at all. Considering what other Mariners relievers have done... Eric O'Flaherty picked off Adam Kennedy.


The Bad
Ichiro had another poor showing going 0-3. He did, however walk twice and score a run. He also stole his first base of the season in the second. The fact that it's his first is why it's under 'the bad' column. Miguel Cairo proved his ability to hit once again, going 0-3. He walked once and drove in a run. Jamie Burke's 0-4 performance wasn't that great, but once I add the fact that he left 5 on base, doesn't that make you want to puke?

The Ugly
First, let's start with the Morse-Cairo-Burke chunk in the bottem of the lineup. That was gross. If you're going to give three guys a day off on the same game, then fine, but atleast spread them out through the lineup. The three went 1-9, although Nortan took over for Morse and went 2-2, and was a huge hole in the lineup.

Cha Seung Baek's emergency start for Erik Bedard was awful. He pitched only 4.1 and gave up four runs on seven hits and walked two. He did strike out two, but that's hardly a worthwile stat considering he blew the bullpen for 4.2 innings. Eric O'Flaherty can go and dig himself a hole to sleep in. He was awfuller than Baek, if that's even a word. He got lit up for six runs in 2.2 innings of crap. Eight hits, a homerun. Thank goodness he's off the big club.

April 12; Mariners 8 Angels 3

Another eight run effort gives the Mariners a chance at a sweep today.

Boxscore.

The Good
Richie Sexson had a very good game hitting his second home run of the season off of Jon Garland in the fifth. He went 2-4 adding a single to his home run. He also a a couple of RBI's. Although he did leave three men on base. Coming up on two weeks in the season and Sexson has two homeruns. I guess it could be worse, but how much better do we need it? He's hitting .244 so far this season, which is an improvement. I keep having to remind myself that it's only two weeks in to the season. Raul Ibanez also hit a homerun, his fifth of the season in the eighth inning. He also went 2-4, adding a triple, something almost unheard of for the sluggish Ibanez. He drove in three and walked once. He only left one man on base. Adrian Beltre had a nice 2-5 showing, hitting a pair of doubles, but struck out twice and left three runners on base. Jose Lopez went 2-5 and scored a couple runs. Yuniesky Betancourt also went 2-4 and scored a run.

Carlos Silva gave the Mariners a solid eight innings of work, allowing three runs on eleven hits. He walked only one, but didn't srtike out any. He did give up a homerun though. Silva is now 2-0 on the season, and has done well so far. His 3.27 ERA to start the season looks somewhat promising. Sean Green didn't blow it in the ninth for the Mariners, holding the Angels to one hit while walking and striking out one. Overall a very good performance from the Mariners pitchers. Only one inning didn't from the relievers is very nice. I'd like to see the 12 hits go down, but the two only let in three, and the Mariners won, so I'm not going to be picky.

The fielding was solid. No errors, and three double plays were turned. Ichiro also had an outfield assist.

The Bad
Ichiro's 1-5 performance isn't bad, but it is closer to bad then good. He struck out once as well. Not very Ichiro-like. He's off to a slow start with a .269 AVG. Ichiro has a nice five year deal now, so there isn't the pressure to perform. He'll probably turn a .300 AVG by the end of this season. It would be nice to see him get over the .350 mark, even nicer to get over .400 and enter Ted Williams territory, but that's a pipedream. Or is it?

Kenji Johjima is off to a terrible start, after being regarded as one of the top offensive catchers in baseball. He had a 1-4 day, which helped him improve his season average to .118. Not what I'd expect from Joh to start the season, with his impending free agency, and the fact that Clement is ready to take over for him.

The Ugly
Brad Wilkerson. Those two words say it all. He did get a hit, but went 1-4, and left three men on base, and struck out once. He's only hitting .161 on the season, and has shown little to know power. I'm not saying that I expected a .400 AVG and 40 HR, but I have no confidance in him right now. He hasn't proved anything to me yet, so why should I?

4/11 "April Baseball, October Intensity"

I had to use this headline for the Mariners 8-5 win over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, California. Yes, it is April Baseball, seeing as it's April 11, and it is in fact, baseball that they are playing out there. Not hockey, not soccer, not football either for you, sportally challenged people, but B-A-S-E-B-A-L-L. The October Intensity part I don't quite get. For one, Safeco Field didn't have 50-something thousand people screaming. For two, not many players, or people for that matter have woken up yet and realized, "hey, it's baseball season". Not many players come out of Spring Training and are full of energy. Especially when they go from 80-90 degree weather in Arizona, to 40-50 degree weather in Seattle. I'm sorry MLB.com, but I just don't get the headline. Anyways, now that I've wasted about a minute of your time, and like five minutes of mine, time to the recap. I'm going to do things a little but differently this time and see how it goes.

Boxscore.

The Good

The Mariners won, which is always good, is it not? They beat a division rival, and got what could prove to be an important win come September, because it was such an intense game tonight. Raul Ibanez hit a pair of solo jacks off of the good Weaver, who wasn't so good tonight. Ibanez finished the night 3-4 with 3 RBI and a walk. Yuniesky Betancourt hit his first triple of the season. He should have a few by the end of the summer. He has the wheels, but hasn't really used them lately. He finished the day 1-4 with an RBI.

Mark Lowe figured out that he was playing baseball and not the Nintendo version. He pitched a scoreless ninth, giving up only a hit to pick up his first save of the season. Sean Green picked up his second 'hold' of the season. To me, that's a useless stat that some bored old man (who may have been under the influence of something, uhhh peer pressure I mean) thought up to make the title of 'Set-Up Man' seem more attractive. Although it is an important job, why do the need to get holds. I guess it makes sense, but it's just another one of the useless stats that have very little meaning or impact on the game of baseball. It makes Sean Green's 3.38 ERA a week in look better next to two 'holds'.

The Bad

Felix Hernendez' stats. They weren't too bad, but giving up four runs on nine hits in 6.2 IP isn't great. Definitely not quite the typical day in the office for a King.

The defence was, well, not good. Two errors is not a step in the right direction. That adds up to a total of 12 errors so far in 11 games this season. Richie Sexson made a fielding error, and Sean Green made a throwing error. I guess neither of which were game changing moments, but they are moments that don't need to happen. We all know that Sexson isn't very good defensively, or at all, and Green probably isn't the best fielder, but I thought that that was what the off-season and Spring Training were for. Getting better at what you sucked at. I can't think of any other way to put it. Well, I guess there is, but... Errors are just little things that add up. One here, another there. Most people don't think much about it, but they do add up. Now we are looking at a runner at second or third. Or a run scored, that could CHANGE THE OUTCOME OF THE GAME.

Ichiro had an unIchiro-like game going 1-5 with a double and a run scored. He struck out twice and saw his season average fall to .277. Yes, Ichiro may or may not be human, so he may or may not make mistakes. It's just that he usually has something that makes you think 'man, that guy is good' at each game. He scored a run. He hit a double. I want to here he stole a couple bases. He hit a triple. He gunned out a guy at the plate. He made a fantastic catch in the outfield. The fact is, Ichiro is one of the best to ever put on a jock and adjust it repeatedly over the course of a game. I'll let this game go, but I expect a 5-5 performance tomorrow. I hope you know that I'm kidding about that demand. Although it would be nice.

The Ugly

The attendance. Wow. Only 28,915 showed up to watch the Mariners play a division rival, and two of the best young pitchers in the game (PI thinks so, and so do I). On a Friday night that was a not too chilly around 50-60 degrees. It was clear, so the roof would be open. Beautiful night for baseball. I can't believe that they didn't crack atleast 30,000 tonight. I want to say that it's embarrasing...Here I go. Back to the headline thing. You know what? I'll let you figure out that I'm right, because Safeco was only filled to half capacity, or so. Once again, I have proved someone wrong.

April 9; Two In a Row

The M's made it two in a row with their 7-1 win over the Rays. Some solid starting pitching combining with a strong offensive output, and more importantly a mistake free bullpen.

Boxscore.

Game Notes

Jarrod Washburn pitched seven innings, his only blemish being an RBI double to Justin Ruggiano in the third inning. Washburn gave up six hits and walked one, while fanning a pair of Rays. Ryan Rowland-Smith came in and pitched a one hit eighth, striking out one as well. Sean Green had the same line as RRS in his ninth inning appearence.

The offense came out and took the Rays' pitching deep twice. Beltre with a solo shot, and Burke with a three run bomb. Ichiro hit his first two bagger of the season. He finished 1-5 on the day. Beltre went 2-5 with the homerun mentioned. Jamie Burke had a solid day at the plate going 2-3 while driving in three and scoring two. He also drew a walk. Richie Sexson's line really takes away from what was a solid offensive showing throughout the lineup. The Big Strikeout went 0-4, and scored a couple runs on a walk. He struck out three times. Another three K's for Sexson. If he had a hit or two, or atleast a couple RBI's, I'd look past that atrocious stat. Jose Lopez stole his second base of the season.

Miguel Batista will take the mound in the final game of this three game set tomorrow against Edwin Jackson.

Mariners Finally Win

Wow. Finally the Mariners pulled their heads out, and W-O-N.


Boxscore.


Game Notes


What a difference one game makes. I'm still somewhat skeptical though. I have to keep reminding myself that it's only just over a week in to the season.


Erik Bedard came out, well pitching. Six innings of work, 3 earned runs, 5 runs allowed. Five hits, four BB's. Roy Corcoran came in and pitched 1.1 innings of scoreless work, allowing only one hit and walked one. He also had a pair of strikeouts. His ERA is still 0.00. Ryan Rowland-Smith cam in and finished off the 1.2 innings to get his first save of the season. He had a couple of strikeouts.


Ichiro went 3-5 and scored a pair of runs. Jose Lopez also went 3-5 and scored once, and drove in one. Richie Sexson went 2-4 and brought in three, and DIDN'T STRIKEOUT. Yuni went 2-4 and scored twice. Adrian Beltre went 1-5, and left 7 men on base.

Atleast the boys came out and gave it a good effort. A much needed win, and momentum boost going in to tomorrow's game.

04.07.08 Mariners 4 Baltinomore 5

Boxscore.

Ichiro and Ibanez hit homeruns. Silva pitched all right. Lookout Landing sums the rest up. Absolutely embarresing. Four game sweep. Disgusting.