g86 | Cliff, up in Smoak

Mariners 1 | Yankees 6

The game was a bit anti-climatic after the whirl-wind day that originally had Cliff headed to the Big Apple for Jesus Montero.  By early afternoon, that deal was apparently off and another was being struck with the Texas Rangers.  The press conference was held shortly after 3pm and Justin Smoak and three minor leaguers are now Seattle Mariners.

The rather surprising "extra" piece, at least to me, was Mark Lowe.  He's curently on the DL after having back surgery, but has been one of the bullpen's best relievers over the past couple of years - his injury and subsequent absence from the pen a big reason why they have struggled so much this season.  Really sorry to see him go and, apparently, he is also.

Now, as for the game tonight.

pleasant surprise...
Mr. Pauly did quite well in his Mariner starting debut.  He gave up a solo shot to Teixeira in the first inning, but then settled into a nice groove and retired 13-straight.  Luke did OK in long releif - going three innings, striking out two and giving up one run.

unpleasant recurrence...
Unfortunately, the only walk David issued came around to score in the 6th after he was of the game, replaced by Chad (who would also give up a couple walks, three hits and a couple runs).
The offense was same ol',same ol'... despite MULTIPLE chances to score (they would out hit the Yanks 7-9) they would only plate one.

Oh, and Mr. Hughes was MUCH more effective tonight at Safeco than last week at the Stadium ...

Yep, pretty crazy day...
Best wishes to Cliff and Mark.  I really hope they do well for their new team - I'll be rooting for the Rangers to make the post season and hopefully, to go deep into it.

Maybe some more thoughts at some point tomorrow...
currently having some long blinks and have to get up early (for a Saturday) to meet my BFF for breakfast and "spa day" before "Felix Day" at The Safe.

g81 | All Star Clifton slacking ... only 8 innings today ;-)

Mariners 8 | Tigers 1

He's "our" All-Star.
At least for the moment...

on the mound
~ Mr. Lee delivers as expected ... 8IP - 9H - 1ER - 1BB - 11K
Does he really have to go???
~ 't wasn't pretty, but Brandon managed to mop up the 9th, preserving the W for Cliff

at the plate
checking and double checking box score ... TWO 3-run homers?!?
     -one off Russell's bat (his second since returning to the M's and his 5th,6th and 7th RBI)
     -one off Casey's (now above the mendoza line after going 3/3 w/2 walks today)
Except for Josh (who has finally cooled a bit) EVERY starter had at least one hit and five (count 'em FIVE!) had multi-hit games.  Can we just be sure these guys get their Wheaties every day?!?

photos courtesy AP

Rosy's Ramblings | Please, Jack, please - can we keep him?

I know the general consensus is that Cliff will be traded, pretty much any minute now.  I'm hoping it doesn't happen.  Not because I have any grand delusions that the M's would make the playoffs if they hang onto him for the rest of the season - yes, he would probably account for another 10-15 wins - but that wouldn't likely be enough for the M's to win the West.

The reason I think the M's should keep him (short of an absolutely screaming deal) is that Cliff's worth to this team goes WAY beyond those potential 10-15 wins and the draft picks the M's would receive should he be retained for the remainder of the season and then sign with another club in the off-season.  Cliff is a A-one clubhouse guy who has stepped up as a leader (not always an easy role for a pitcher) and he has been more than willing to share his knowledge and experience with his teammates.  He also leads by example, with "Gar-like" work ethic and attitude.  Traits like these can only benefit any organization, but their worth is immeasurable to one that is desperately trying to build (or re-build) a winner.

It has been a pleasure to watch Mr. Lee go about his business in the short time he has been with the Mariners.  No matter what happens in the future, it would seem that a good amount of his teammates have gleaned benefit from his presence, both on the mound and in the clubhouse.  But it sure would be great to get a little more time....

g76 | talk about playin' to the level of your competition...

Mariners 7 | Yankees 4
Well, we knew what Clifton was capable of vs. the Yanks, so his complete game was certainly not a surprise (although the one walk and the 4 runs were pretty un-Cliff like)

SETH WENIG / AP

But how 'bout those bats?!?

TWELVE hits!
including FOUR doubles (Jose, Michael and Rob w/2) ONE Guti homer and an Ichi SF!

SETH WENIG / AP

g71 |

Mariners 8 | Cubs 1


Cliff was just ho-hum Cliff...
~ SECOND STRAIGHT complete game (his FOURTH of the season)
~ NINE more K's (0-2 on NINETEEN batters)
~ ZERO walks making his K's/BB/s ratio now 19/1

DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES

And lookie here...
a little offense to go along with the pitching - again, in large part thanks to "the Condor"...

g67 | we will miss you, Clifton

Mariners 1 | Reds 0

As fabulous as it was to watch Mr. Lee execute his craft to near perfection.  But, as happy as I was to see the M's record their second victory in a row (in the way most expected their W's to come - great P, solid D and just enough O), all I could think of when it was over was .... what a shame Cliff is not long for a Mariner uniform.

“It’s about being able to score more than them and having a horse on the mound like Cliff Lee,” Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said. “I don’t know if you can pitch any better than he did tonight against an awfully good-hitting ballclub. Command. Aggressiveness. Feel for all his pitches. Tempo. Economy of his pitches. Just a tremendous outing and awfully special to watch.”

If only things could have been different...
Most knew that things would have to align nearly to perfection, but no could have predicted they would fall SO short of the mark, with SO many guys not even approaching their career numbers making it next to impossible to keep Cliff for even the short term, let alone having a shot signing him for the long haul.  So, have to be satisfied with having been able to watch him for a very short time and hope that his unprecedented work ethic and awesome attitude, that only serve to enhance his super talent, has left its mark on some of his current teammates and that they will be better for it as individuals AND as a unit.

Elaine Thompson/AP

g62-g66 | catchin' up (me on posts, not the M's in the standings ;-(

Mariners 1 | Padres 7

• Cliff was solid
• Offense got plenty of hits, including 3 doubles, but didn't make 'em count
• bullpen was horrid

Mariners 4 | Padres 2

• now THAT was a Happy Felix Day! one out short of a CG
• and the DA gets the one out save
• just enough offense (including a Milton homer)

Mariners 3 | Cardinals 9

• well, started out great with a lead-off homer from Ichiro
• and a Figgy run on a Lopey ground out - 2 runs in the first
• then it went down hill ... pretty fast
• Luke wasn't great and Ian was horrible (and would be DFA's a day later)

Mariners 2 | Cardinals 4

• I thought RRS could have gone a bit longer ... he only had 59 pitches through 4
• Despite giving up the one run, the bullpen was better than it had been
• Solo shots from both Milty and Ryan, but hits with RISP continued to be elusive

Mariners 2 | Cardinals 1

• Back home with a win!
• Jason = AWESOME (11th quality start of the season - in 13 tries)
• I admit I was holding my breath a bit when Brandon came in...
• David did great in the 9th
• This JUST enough "O", STELLAR "P" and DECENT "D" is how the M's should be winning...

Day off at home and in come the Brewers over the weekend and the Cubbies next week!

g57 | ready, set, pitch!

Mariners 4 | Rangers 2

Talk about tempo.  Cliff sets it.

TONY GUTIERREZ / AP

I got home just in time to see the slightly dicey part . . .
after the Rangers had scored 2 runs in the 9th and had 2 on with 2 outs.  I got out of the car after Cliff's failed attempt to get the 3rd out when he dropped the ball he had caught bard-handed covering first base on a shovel pass from Casey.  Dave said that Aardsma was coming in, but by the time I got in the house and turned on the TV, Cliff was still pitching.  I was glad, because at that point, even if he had lost, at least it would not be the bullpen blowing it.  As it turned out, he got the last batter to pop up, sealing the victory AND the complete game - only the third Mariner ever to toss a complete game in Arlington (Randy Johnson and John Halama the other two).

The offense provided just enough, on a day where shake-ups were plenty . . . 
from the lineup - MB to 2nd, Figgy to 9th, Carp to 5th, Casey to the bench and a swap of 1st and 3rd coaches.  And, whether it be the line up change or not, the bottom of the order comes through providing 7 of the 10 hits and all 4 RBI (thanks to Michael's 3-run homer and Rob's rbi single)

AP

One down in the Texas heat . . .
Here's hoping it truly is a Happy Felix Day tomorrow (cuz there have been 10 Felix days so far, only three of which have been "happy")

g52 | one for twenty-four

Mariners 2 | Twins 1
Reflections still stirring around in my head and heart regarding the biggest news of the day (well, probably the biggest news of the year) so will get to that later.


Meanwhile....
the M's finally decided to win an extra-inning affair (0-6 in "overtime" going into this game).  And, isn't it fitting that "George's" good friend Ichiro would have the game winning hit?  Unfortunately, Cliff won't be credited with the victory for his stellar performance ~ the only run he allowed was a solo shot (the first homer he had given up so far this season) and he struck out eight and walked one in eight full innings.  But, the team victory certainly was nice ... and needed.

DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES

A couple of touching comments in the post-game interviews...

"We love you, June-bug." ---Ryan Langerhans

"It's hard to see the pitches with tears in your eyes." ---Milton Bradley

g42 | fUn wiTh cRooKeD nUmBerS

Mariners 15 | Padres 8

No, that's not a typo.
It wasn't the Chargers vs. the Seahawks (although the weather certainly seemed more like November than May)

In his previous FOUR starts, Cliff gave up a total of SEVEN earned runs, yet had only ONE win.
Tonight, he notched his SECOND win, despite giving up SEVEN earned runs.

That's baseball.

On their last home stand, the Mariners scored a total of TWENTY runs in NINE games.
Tonight, they recorded FIFTEEN hits (including 3 doubles & 3 home runs ) scoring FIFTEEN runs.

That's baseball.

Coming into this game, both the Padres and Mariners had had shown GREAT pitching and ABYSMAL hitting.  One would have expected a two hour, 2-1 affair.
Tonight - the M's didn't pitch well, the Padres pitched horribly, the M's absolutely crushed the ball and the Pads scored plenty enough to win about 99% of the time.

That's baseball.

In their last TEN games, the Mariners have played SEVEN one-run games.
Tonight, they won by SEVEN runs.

That's baseball.

Glad I was there.
I like baseball.

Rosy's view from Section 331

g37 | poor Clifford...

Mariners 1 | Rays 2

Another absolutely STELLAR pitching performance by Mr. Lee
8IP - 5H - 2ER - 1BB - 10K
(vs. the best team in baseball!)

And yet, he loses argh!!

One crummy home stand (1-8) followed by a disheartening road trip (2-4)
The run differential on the road trip so far? 19-20 - I want the one-run winners back!

It just doesn't seem possible that the struggling bats can continue to struggle at the same pace for much longer.  What worries me is (and this is SO totally UN-rosy of me) when the bats do finally break out, and give the bullpen some breathing room, will the starting pitching then come back down to earth?

g32 | nap-gate, schmap-gate - they got a win!

Mariners 5 | Orioles 1
Seems the topic of the day was much ado about nothing.
Now, on to baseball - and another win!

AP

The east coast timing sucks, as the game's just getting over as I get home from work (plus, we had a family dinner tonight, so didn't get to hear the post game show) so all I've got to go by is the box score but ... it looks pretty darned good!

• Double digit hits (including two doubles and a homer!)  
• Figgy had an error - but he also had a hit (and an RBI walk) and was involved in two DP's!
• Cliff was Cliff and finally got his first win!
• Brandon was great in relief

The "new guys" seem to be providing a much needed spark.  
In the past two games, Ryan, Josh and Michael have combined for . . .
3homers, 1triple, 1double, 9hits, 7rbi, 8runs and 3walks

g23 | all hat, no cattle

(couldn't resist using the phrase as my daughter just moved to Texas ;-)


Mariners 0 | Ranger 2
Wow - no wonder there was a bit of hype when the M's acquired Cliff Lee.  Sure, M's fans have seen him pitch before, but to watch him toss seven, nearly effortless innings, giving up only three hits, no runs and no walks with eight strikeouts along the way was pretty special.  And Felix, for one, let him know...

Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images

Unfortunately, there was almost as much consternation (if not more) regarding the M's offense as there was hype around a rotation that would include Felix Hernandez and Cliff Lee - and the reasons were never more evident than last night.  Of course, credit and cap tips must be given to Colby Lewis.  As stellar as Cliff was, Colby was even better - at one point retiring TWENTY-ONE Mariners in-a-row.

I LOVE a pitching duel . . . 

and was having a great time and loving the view from my "princess seats" in Section 219...

That is until the frustration set in . . . 

Bases loaded with one out in two straight innings without scoring one measly run ~ Sweeney GDIP in the 10th and Byrnes botched squeeze play (that resulted in Ichiro out at the plate) and subsequently struck out to end the 11th.... arghh!

There were no runs in the game . .  

until the top of the 12th when some flukiness ~ a couple of singles, an error, a wild pitch, an intentional walk and a ground out ~ accounted for the the Rangers 2 runs.  The M's went fairly meekly in the bottom of the inning and that was the ballgame.

Wake-up call . . . 

Really a shame for Cliff's fabulous debut to go to waste, here's hoping something is sparked.  While it's true that these guys aren't about to power their way to wins, they are perfectly capable of manufacturing some runs, enough runs, to win more than they lose.  

Let's see it!

g22 | back to .500 and goin' home

Mariners 6 | Royals 5

A road series win!
While it's an early novelty, here's hoping it becomes boringly familiar ;-)

Ed Zurga   AP Photo

Gotta be some concern re: RRS ...
Other than the lead-off homer, he looked great through five but the wheels came off in the 6th - single, HBP, wild pitch, walk, single, triple - and just like that, tie ball game.

But let's focus on the positive, shall we?

Ichi-Fig was alive and well in KC!  5 hits, 3 rbi, 1 run, 1 walk, 1 stolen base

the bottom third of the order was responsible for 2 runs 2 rbi and a walk

MS and MB contributing in most of the O columns as well

and while not a single homer was hit there were 4 doubles and a triple

bullpen proves resilient after the nightmare that was Chicago

And then there is the "D"...

two more DP's

a great pirouetting play by J-Dub, complete with description by Mr. Neihaus that involved the word "tu-tu"

Day off at home tomorrow and then, on Friday, the night we've been waiting for since last winter...
Mr. Lee taking the mound at Safeco Field for your Seattle Mariners!

Cliff's late to the one-two punch party, but....

Better late than never!

Doubly great news today for the M's regarding Mr. Lee....

Suspension suspended!

Sim game went well - rehab start scheduled for Sunday in Tacoma and then his Mariner debut will be either April 30th or May 2nd - on one side or the other of his one-two punch partner who starts tomorrow, Monday in KC and then back at home on May 1st.

Good news regarding Guti too ~ there was a bit of a scare last night when he left the game in the 7th with tighness ins his groin but, Wak says likely weight-lifting related, not a pull or a strain (although I thought the weights were out for the most part - hmmm).  In any case, Guti was back in the line up tonight - 1/2 so far with an rbi....

A song for Hyphen and other M's notes....

In honor of his start today, thought I'd post this fun little ditty (originally found on
Larry Stone's blog) about our "wonder from down under"...

Number 18 - Ryan Rowland-Smith song

In other news....

Shannon reports that Cliff Lee's simulated game went VERY well yesterday and he'll throw another on Tuesday and likely have a minor league rehab start after that before returning to action with the big club in early May.  Suspension appeal still pending...

No definitive word, but various reports have Erik Bedard only about 2 weeks behind Cliff.  Wouldn't THAT be cool?!?

Wak says no walks....

Now there's a man after my own heart!

The M's skipper obviously feels the way I do about pitcher's walks (NOT a good thing) and is willing to scrape a little to come up with a positive from a somewhat less than stellar performance.

Actually, looks like Lowe, Pauley and Cordero faired pretty well in relief (only one earned run in 5 innings) and Milton laid down a bunt single AND didn's get thrown out (well, not by the umpire at least)

OK - that's all the rosiness I can muster tonight ... been a long day.

Oh, just a couple other things...

• Cliff Lee will throw tomorrow and be reevaluated
• Erik Bedard has some stiffness, M's say it's OK, they're just being cautious
• Time for someone, anyone, to step up....
• Junior knows he's needed for more than Kangaroo Court Judge...

It's official, the Mariners have entered...

The bad news started this afternoon with the news that Cliff Lee was headed back to Seatte for rest/diagnosis/treatment of abdominal strain. Then, as the evening progressed into the game against the Reds, things continued to go down hill ... fast.

• Doug Fister was hit on the arm by a batted ball in the first inning and had to leave the game (x-rays to come)
• Jason Vargas replaced him and looked great for about 3 innings and then came the Reds home run barrage (including an inside-the-parker)
• Milton Bradley was ejected -AGAIN- and this time, sounds like he deserved it
• Jack Wilson was thrown out on an outfield assisted double-play when he lost track of the number of outs in the 9th inning

So, in a matter of hours...

• the M's have lost one ace and one potential starter to injury for an unknown amount of time
• Milton is becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy
• M's lost another ST game (6th in-a-row)

Here's hoping this too shall pass ...
it's only spring training .... right?

UPDATE:  Wak none too happy with the recent Milty tossings

UPDATE:  Hey, Wak's reading my blog :-)
from Kirby's blog...

"What do they say? This too shall pass?" Wakamatsu said. "Hopefully."

From clubhouse kumbaya to field fiends?

Okay, that's a bit extreme I suppose but...

I imagine Wak is not real happy with TWO ejections in as many SPRING TRAINING games, when there was only ONE in the entirety of last season (Ichiro, of all people).

Anyhoo ~
Today we found out that ejection was not the only price Cliff would pay - it was announced that he will be suspended for five games of the regular season and fined an undisclosed amount.  He will appeal but, in the meantime, Wak has got to try to set up his rotation and, at a minimum, this is really going to screw up the ONE, TWO punch.

Then, in the first televised game of the spring (vs. the Rangers) Milton is ejected.  I didn't see it but, from most accounts, including this one from Wak via Shannon, the reason was rather a mystery.  Will Milton's reputation precede him?

An ejected starter, a newly mobile catcher and the DA

Well, who says spring training is laid back?
Mr. Lee ejected....

Wak liked what he saw from Rob...
and Rob liked how he felt - healthy!

And then there's David...
a closer from the start...