Rosy OOO | Cruisin' to Alaska

Rosy will be out of office for a week ...

Taking an Alaskan cruise on the Golden Princess!

Departing from Pier 91 in Seattle today at 4pm and returning next Saturday morning.

The forecast doesn't look too great ... 

mid-50's and rainy in most of the ports - but we will make the best of it and "Escape Completely" (as the Princess ads say ;-)

The cruise is a "combo-celebration of our 27th wedding anniversary and our son's 16th birthday.

Happy, Happy to us!!

g126 & 127 | splittin' the double-dip

Mariners 3 | Red Sox 5

Mariners 4 | Red Sox 2

The M's won the game in which they committed 2 errors (Josh) and hit 5 doubles (Russell, Jose, Tui, Casey and Josh) and lost the game in which they hit 2 home runs (Russell and Casey) and played clean in the drizzle.

Pauley was great in the first game through 5 innings....
only 2 hits and no runs, but fell apart in the 6th.

Felix was FAB ~ as usual....
he recorded his 1000th career strikeout (vs. Big Papi, no less) and finally reached double digits in the win column (something that would have occurred MONTHS ago, had he received anything resembling run support).

They finish up the 4-city east coast road trip at 6-6

g125 | Mr. Fister and the D

Mariners 3 | Red Sox 6


or lack thereof.

Ryan's unfortunate error in the 5th led to three unearned runs.
Though I didn't see it, sounds like it was a pretty sloppy game all 'round.

Looks like things are pretty sloppy still....

Photo by Elsa/Getty Images

Day night double-header tomorrow.

g124 | can we just skip this one

Mariners 0 | Yankees 10

I really don't have the energy to recap because...
I had a very busy day preparing for a family dinner (which was fun and worth the prep).
But, I also have a cold.
And, the game was a stinker.

nuf said.

Here's hoping for better results in Boston.

g123 | what a difference a day makes

Mariners 4 | Yankees 9

And it definitely wasn't Jason Vargas's day...
It was the "bookends" that were tough ~ he threw 27 pitches and gave up 4 runs in the 1st and ran out of gas in the 7th ~ but the middle innings were quite a sight to behold ... from the 2nd through the 6th he only allowed one single to the 15th batter he faced.  Needless to say, I was quite impressed with how he settled down and mowed 'em down.  Jason is one cool cucumber, no matter the situation or opponent.

Now, as for his relief...
I think there may have been better options than Jamey Wright with runners at 1st and 3rd with one out in a tie game - but that's just me.

Who are these guys and what have you done with the "light" hitting Mariners?!?
M's have now hit TEN homers in their last FIVE games.  Ichiro hit TWO homers in this game!  Now, the fact that Russell hit a moonshot was not surprising (he always hit's 'em high) but this one was epic - supposedly the longest homer ever in the "new" Yankee Stadium - the first ever in the 4th deck (see just how high here)

Unfortunately, as exciting as the power surge was, 't wasn't enough to garner a win.

Oh, and Casey's "errorless streak" was broken.

Rubber game of the match tomorrow ~ CC vs. Luke

g122 | who's your daddy?

Mariners 6 | Yankees 0

Felix is definitely the answer the Yanks will give when asked that question.
He nearly pitched his FOURTH complete game in a row against them tonight, going EIGHT shutout innings allowing only FOUR hits and recording ELEVEN strikeouts.

BILL KOSTROUN / AP

And, lookie here...

RUN SUPPORT!!!

Russell provided all that would be needed with his THREE-run homer in the first but, he would later hit another blast for good measure (his always measure well ;-)   Ichiro and Casey also added to the score and every Mariner hitter recorded at least one hit ('cept Lopey)

BILL KOSTROUN / AP

g121 | and Tui does it again - at the plate AND in the field

Mariners 6 | Orioles 5

on the mound...
David P struggled in the first, giving up two runs but then settled into a nice groove in which he would stay until the 7th when he gave up another couple runs.  Jamey came in and got out of the 7th without further damage but, unfortunately, the 8th wasn't such a good story.  Sean and David A came in and locked things down nicely though.

at the plate...
three doubles, a home run a sac-fly - life is good  - 'specially for Tui who hit his second 3-run homer in as many games

leather-works...
and how about that catch?!?

“I don’t make that catch and a run scores. It was definitely a thrill,” Tuiasosopo said.

4 series in-a-row.  But who's counting.

g120 | The Luke and Tui Show

Mariners 4 | Orioles 0

Quality start by Luke...
only three hits and the first one not till one out in the 6th

All four runs driven in by Tui...
double in the 5th to score Adam Moore and homer in the 9th with Guti and Casey aboard.

Are we seeing the the beginnings of young talent coming to fruition?

't will be an interesting last few weeks...
Here's hoping we will get a chance to see what the youngsters can do so the needs can be properly assessed going into the winter.

g119 | yet another loss in extries...

Mariners 4 | Orioles 5

M's tie it up 3-3 with back-to-backers in the 3rd inning (Russell and Jose) and it would stay that way till Adam Moore homered in the 10th, but the O's would tie it right back up when Adam Jones scored on a bases-loaded walk by Julio Lugo (off David, who really struggled ... too much work lately?) and then Adam Jones would break the tie in the 11th with a squeeze bunt.

So, apparently, the TWELVE left on base was more significant to the outcome than the THREE homers.

*sigh*


On a happier note, I received a lovely, unexpected gift today...
A signed and framed panoramic photo of "First Pitch" at Safeco Field.  I was there all those years ago and now, thanks to a generous friend, I have a memento to cherish.  I'm taking it as a good omen for things to come in the future :-)

g118 | errors are bad

Mariners 1 | Indians 9

'specially when they lead to SIX UNearned runs :-(
Figgy bobbled a ball, recovered, but made a bad throw to Casey that pulled him off the bag and the runner was safe - should have been the third out.  Then a single, a double an intentional walk and a grand slam made the score 6-zip.  Until that inning, Felix had only given up 2 hits (a double in the 5th and a single in the 6th).  Sean White came in and gave up a couple more hits, including a solo shot.  Chris came in the 8th and gave up a 2-run shot making it 9-1 at the time and there it would stay.

Kudos to Mr. Masterson and the rest of the Tribe staff that held the M's bats to 3 hits and 1 run despite allowing SEVEN walks.

First of a four east coast city trip complete - now they head to Baltimore...

g117 | can it be? another series win? It can!

Mariners 9 | Indians 3

Third series win-n-a-row, in fact...
They won their last one under Wak and have now won both since Brown has taken over.  I'm not convinced that it is the actual manager himself that's making the difference (I've stated my opinion on the Wak firing here) but I will admit that the "idea" of shaking things up likely sparked a little fire in some that needed sparking (shouldn't be that way with professional athletes who are paid millions of dollars to play a game ~that should be motivation itself~ but it is, they are also human, after-all).

Way to go (again!) pitching ...
Another quality start from Jason and great relief (this time from Garrett and Jamey)

As for the O, it was the Josh Bard Show ...
A triple shy of the cycle with the homer being an granny!  Apparently, he had told his 4-year-old, birthday celebrating daughter prior to the game that he'd hit a homer for her - nice when promises are kept :-)  Russell and Casey also checked in with long balls.

AMY SANCETTA / AP

g116 | Friday the 13th good for "the Davids"

Mariners 3 | Indians 2

Hey, lookie here, a win!

David Pauley gets his first major league win and David Aardsma records his 23 save of the season (and combined with Sean White and Brandon League for three innings of one-hit, no-walks shutout ball).

I hate these 5pm weekday games (of which there will be MANY over the next 2 weeks) ...
They start before I leave work, I miss some of the action in the transit tunnels on my commute and they are usually over before I get home.

Daren Brown is now 3-1 in his brief Mariner tenure...
including a road-win -  something a bit hard to come by this season.

g115 | game loser, series winner

Mariners 1 | Athletics 5

Unfortunately, I missed the first couple of innings...
Because, fortunately, I was there with 40+ co-workers for a work "outing" but, who knew there would be 31k+ people there and parking would be an issue?!?

Then, of course, it would have to be one of the shortest games of the season...
Mr. Braden was certainly on his game - M's collected all of four singles with their lone run coming via a sac-fly.  And then there was Mr. Ellis, who decided to make up for grounding into the triple play in the first game of the series by getting three hits, driving in three runs and scoring one.

Mr. Fister wasn't near as sharp as his last outing...
way too many pitches (91 through 6) and walks (3)

And, I didn't even win Baseball Bingo!
;-)
But, 't was a fun outing anyway.

The guys are off for the longest road trip of the season....
three games each in Cleveland, Baltimore, New York and Boston

g114 | dueling aces ~ FeliKKKKKKKKKKKKK comes out on top

Mariners 2 | Athletics 0

't was definitely the Felix show tonight ...
(but, tip o' the cap to Mr. Anderson, who was quite stellar tonight as well)

8IP - 5H - 0ER - 1BB - 13K

ELLEN M. BANNER / THE SEATTLE TIMES

No triple-play, but we'll take the two double-plays ...
including one with the bases loaded in the 1st

And, again, JUST enough offense ...
just like it was spoze to be

g113 | and the Mariners turn THREE!!!

Mariners 3 | Athletics 1

OK ... I'll be honest.
I was still smarting from the whole manager shake up last night, so I didn't "properly" enjoy last night's nice performance that resulted in a win ~ Daren Brown's first as a big league Skipper.

AP

Apparently, Mister Fister is back ....
Nice quality start for him and then Sean, Brandon and David executed as drawn.

Just enough offense and oh, yeah ...
5 - 4 - 3 !!!
They made it look so easy, why for it doesn't happen more often?!?

:-)

It ain't fair.

They say, life ain't fair.
I guess baseball isn't either.

Today, Don Wakamatsu, was fired as the manager of the Seattle Mariners ...
I know how it works.  When a team loses as many games as the M's have, you can't fire the whole team, and the manager is the one who is ultimately responsible for the team's performance.

Doesn't make it right.
Doesn't make it fair.

I mean, there are just a FEW extenuating circumstances here...

• an aging, future HoF'er as the DH to start the season who should have retired as he was carried off the field by teammates and cheered by adoring fans after the last game of 2009 but instead decided to quit in the middle of the season and seemingly leave a rift in the clubhouse something akin to the parting of the Red Sea
• a starting left fielder (better suited to DH) also no spring chicken, who had demons to exorcise that had nothing to do with this team, yet they took him under their wing in a commendable show of support
• another 'elderly' one who was great in the clubhouse and who tore it up in spring, but suffered from a balky back ... and, how many DH/1B types can one team use?
• a FA third baseman switching to second base (because the regular 2-bagger had limited range), not to mention second in the batting order, having a career worst year and taking it out on his manager in a very public display of insubordination
• one catcher not ready-for-prime-time and another fresh off two hip surgeries, one wrist surgery
• the regular second baseman switching to third base and, while the transition seemed to go OK defensively, his offense dropped off the map (and, he wasn't the only one ... the entire starting line up (as of mid-July) was hitting anywhere from 7-67points below their career average.

Those of just a few of the issues that faced Wak ... one or two?
Maybe "over-comeable"
Everything at once?  Not a chance.

Many say Wak wasn't tough enough, didn't show enough fire ...
Well, there were the "tie rules" and early indications last season that "slackers" would not be tolerated.  This year he was tossed three time (after 2009 where there was only one ejection all season - Ichiro) in support of his players, but he also, again, reiterated the necessity for effort.

I guess what hurts the most is the death of hope ...
From the beginning of his tenure, I was impressed with Don's story, with his demeanor
and that famed 'belief system'.   I really thought, "they have finally found their leader."

Needless to say, I'm very sad to see him go ...
While he doesn't need my pity, he certainly has my heartfelt gratitude for what he attempted to accomplish with this organization.  I hope that he learned a lot and had some fun along the way despite the undesirable ending.  I've no doubt he will manage again someday and, when he does, I'll be rooting for him to succeed and I will always remember his calm and sincere presence in the dugout and behind the podium and will try not to dwell on "what could have been".

Getty Images

Thanks again and Best Wishes, Wak

~ Rosy

g112 | series win! no REALLY ....

Mariners 3 | Royals 2
First series win since late June/early July vs. the Yanks in the Bronx
First home series win since early June vs. the Twins

Jason did what Jason does ...
throw a quality start.  Nice to see him rewarded with a rare win
NOTE:  Jason has thrown 17 QS and now has 8 wins ~ Felix has thrown 20 QS and has 7 wins .... yikes!

Kevin P. Casey / Associated Press

While the offense wasn't prolific ...
it was as we thought it would be (but hasn't been) - singles, speed, timely hits

The pen was solid ...
David did give up a solo shot, but didn't flinch and finished the job

g111 | one run woes...

Mariners 1 | Royals 2

Heard on the post game on my way out of Safeco after the game ...
Mariners have scored 2 runs or less in 30 of their games.

As much as I love pitching and defense, it has become apparent that offense is just a WEE bit important as well.

Hits and runs were too hard to come by ...
Save for Russell's homer ~ that broke an 0-fer twenty-somethin' slump ~
 't was the usual anemic O

Walks were a little too easy for the Royals ...
But, none of them scored and other than throwing too many pitches, Pauley did quite well.  And, it was good to see Sean have a nice outing as well and David get some work in, even though it wasn't a save situation.

Despite a few nice plays were made in the field ...
the defense wasn't as sharp overall as last night.

g110 | gettin' to Greinke ... finally!

Mariners 7 | Royals 1

Ryan Langerhans got things started in the 3rd inning ...
(he was in for Michael Saunders who jammed/strained his neck/shoulder in his attempt to rob Murphy of a home run last night)
His home run was on the first pitch he'd ever seen from Greinke.  He would score another run and end up a triple away from the cycle.

Figgy's on fire ...
(in more ways than one, apparently)
His 11 pitch AB after Ryan's solo shot and Jack's triple would be his first ever hit vs. Greinke and make the score 2-0.  Then, in the 6th, his double plated two more after the Royals intentionally walked Ichiro to load the bases.

Oh, and there was some pitching and defense too ...
Lost in the surprising ability of the M's to actually score runs (off a great pitchers no-less) was the performance of Luke French.  He scattered nine hits (the Royals do have the second best team batting average in the majors) but he was able to limit the damage to only ONE run - he struck out FOUR and walked NONE.
And, he certainly showed he can field his position as well.  With runners on first and second with no outs, Luke fielded a pop bunt and threw to Jack covering second to double-off Willie B.  He and Casey also made some nice plays to get runners at first (I contend that type of play is harder than it looks).

And, there were some other REALLY nice plays in the field...
Did my little old defensive-lovin' heart good to see plays that SHOULD be made, made AND a few that took my breath away as well.  Ichi with a nice running shoe-string grab and Casey with a couple of line drive snares.

Brandon comes in for mop-up ...
One. Two. Three.

Wow. Hits AND Runs. Pitching.  Defense.
What more could you ask for?

For it to have started four months ago...

TED S. WARREN / AP

g109 | too many ducks on the pond

Mariners 0 | Rangers 6

Scoreless game through six ...
Felix only gave up three singles and a double with no walks and then came the 7th.
Vlad singled and Murphy homered (looked like Michael had it, but it just eluded his glove at the top of the wall).  And then things spiraled for Felix (walk, single, single) and he wouldn't make it out of the inning.  Jamey got out of the inning without giving up more runs, but turns out he was just saving 'em for the next inning in which he would give up two and Chris would give up one on a couple of wild pitches ... bleh

Speaking of bleh ...
Why was it SO easy to get 'em ON but SO hard to get 'em IN????
At least one hit in each of the first seven innings (0/12 with RISP)

btw ~ Felix has 9 losses ... 
in the NINE losses the M's have scored a total of SEVEN runs

g108 | rangers carry many big sticks

Mariners 6 | Rangers 11

Figures ...
Offense finally gets going a bit (works the count, steals bases, bunts, 2-out hits) and then the pitching implodes.  Doug was OK for four innings and then ... ka-plooey.  Except for Garrett (who gave up the granny) the rest of the pen (Brian, Chris, Sean and David P) did well.

Another double-digit hit night ...
Including three doubles (Figgy, Jack and Guti) and Adam's first home run since being recalled from AAA

Guti robs Vladdy ...
Awesome catch, bringing it back at the centerfield wall.  Unfortunately, the next AB was where the pitching started to go down hill.  Fast.

g107 | wait, what? a win??

Mariners 3 | Rangers 2

Nice win for the new daddy!
Jason threw a lot of pitches and walked three (all of the lead-off variety) but he got through six giving up only two runs on three hits and was rewarded with his 7th win (his first since July 18th vs. the Halos)

Figgy to Jack to Casey ...
Very nice DP to get Brandon out of DEEP doo-doo in the 8th after he walked the first two batters and then had runners at the corners with only one out

Nice job by Jamey and David ...
only one hit combined and no walks between the two innings they pitched and the DA gets his 19th save

Not exactly an offensive explosion ...

But the ELEVEN hits are a good sign, including two for extra bases (a Guit homer and a Tui single) and a safety squeeze

Nice catch, kid!

Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images

g106 | 0-fer road trip

Mariners 0 | Twins 4

An out is an out but, notable that the M's did not have a single one recorded against them in the outfield, despite actually hitting a double and a triple.

Luke was cruising through the first five...
only THREE hits and NO runs

Unfortunately, Liriano was super-cruising...
only TWO hits, NO runs and EIGHT strikeouts through five and, he would go on to strikeout a total of ELEVEN and the Twins' bullpen would add FOUR more = FIFTEEN K's

July is over (but seems the M's forgot to turn the page) and mercifully, so is the road trip...
~ 0-7
~ Scoreless in their last 21 innings

Time to start keeping tabs on the farm, as things down there seem to be going much better and seems to be the only hope for the future....