g16 | the Prince deThrones the Royals

Mariners 3 | Royals 2

Charlie Riedel   The Associated Press

on the mound
Michael passes another test vs. yet another hot-hitting team (not to mention a bunch of lefties!) to earn his second major league victory by the same score as his first (94P - 6IP - 5H - 1ER - 4BB - 5K)

I hate intentional walks but, the plan for which one issued in the bottom of the 6th worked perfectly - IBB Butler, Kila grounds out on one pitch to keep the score tied.

Jamie had his first struggle of the season...
but, he avoided establishing an ERA despite issuing lead-off walks in both the 7th and 8th innings.  He got out of the 7th via a strikeout and a DP and got out of the 8th with a HUGE break for the second out (he fielded the ball at first from a toss from Smoak - the throw beat the runner but Jamie didn't touch the bag until after the runner did) whew!  Sometimes you get the breaks and sometimes you don't.  I'd say the M's were far overdue to get one.

Brandon made things interesting in the 9th...
he gave up a couple of singles to allow the Royals to get within one but, he got the ground ball when he needed it to earn the save and preserve Michael's second victory.

at the plate
Hey, lookie here!  2-4 w/RISP!  No walks though, a rarity.

• Milton gets the M's first triple of the season and it comes with Ichiro on 3rd who scores to tie the game in the 6th inning.
• Justin and Miggy with back-to-back singles in the 7th (Miggy breaking an 0-27 slump)
• Ryan and Ryan - Ryan L bunts to move the runners to 2nd and 3rd B Ryan 2RBI single to give the M's the lead (first time M's have had the lead since the 1st inning of Friday's game)
• Figgy - I know he's sucking but, you gotta feel for the guy, just a bit - if he didn't have bad luck he'd have no luck at all.  How many at 'em balls has he hit and/or just flat out awesome defensive plays have been turned against him?

of base paths and leather works
Nice to see a crisply played game today...
a couple of really good plays but, mostly just making the plays that should be made.

• 5-4-3 in the 2nd  (improvement by Jack)
• nice dive by Smoak and toss to Michael to end the 2nd inning
• 1-6-3 in the 7th
• NICE play by Brendon - tries to back hand it, drops it, picks up and bare-hands a strong throw and Justin who does the splits to get the runner at first for the second out of the 9th (on the post game show when he was complimented on the play, he said he should have turned two)

skip's clips...

"...lots of hard outs, better at bats, much better defense..."

"...don't get caught up in results when you are at the plate, get caught up in your approach..."