g162 | too much Gio

Mariners 0 | Athletics

Cute as he is, I'm thinking Anthony is not quite ready for primetime...
though, to be fair, he didn't get much of a shot to right himself (pulled after only two innings)

The M's bats were certainly not much help...
as they were helpless vs Mr. Gonzalez (and shut out for the second night in a row)

the bullpen was looking strong and stellar...
some decent pieces to build upon for next year to make it even more so

the defense made some nice plays...
-a running, leaping catch by Ichrio
-a nifty DP started by Tom to Kyle to Justin
-who says Mike can't play LF? TWO beautiful catches!

AP

Meanwhile, elsewhere around baseball....
at the start of September, Atlanta and Boston each LARGE leads in their respective wildcard races
and, at the start of play tonight...
-Atlanta and St. Louis were tied for the NL Wildcard
-Boston and Tampa Bay were tied for the AL Wildcard
TWO of the FOUR games went into extra innings and, at the end of the day, the teams with the large leads at the start of the month would end up going home and out of the playoffs.

Congrats to the Rays and the Cardinals!

I was pulling for the Braves, hoping Jack Wilson would get into the first post season of his career...

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g155 | series victory in Minny

Mariners 5 | Twins 4

Kevin Slowey had them baffled for a time...
In fact, the only M's base-runner in the first five innings was Ichiro who got aboard via an error in the third.

And then, adjustments were made...
With TWO outs in the 6th, Ichiro singled and then the "Carolin Connection" came through - doubles by both Seager and Ackley scored TWO and tied the game.  In the 7th, the M's would add three more singles (Justin, Miggy, Tray) and a double (Ichiro) for a total of THREE more runs.

Michael's last start wasn't his best effort but, he had a great rookie season...
for one thing, he leads all rookie pitchers in K's (173).  Heard it mentioned on the post game show that he'll be perfecting his change up and a two-seam fastball over the winter/spring.  He's only just begun!

It was a tale of two bullpens...
-Jeff and Cesar getting in and out of trouble in the 5th and 6th respectively
-Shawn retiring the side in order in the 7th with 2 K's
-Tom faltering a bit by giving up a run in the 8th (only his second ER in 15+ innings)
-Brandon making it a bit too close for comfort in the 9th, giving up a run on three singles but, hanging on on for his 36th save.

g146 | oh, so close

Mariners 1 | Royals 2

Pitchers, once again, solid...
~ Anthony Vasquez needed only 86 pitches to get through six innings.  He scattered seven hits and gave up only two earned runs.  It was enough for his first quality start in the majors.
~ Shawn gave up an inherited runner in the 7th and Chance threw a scoreless inning for the 8th.
~ Steve Delabar made his major league debut by retiring the side in order in the 9th (flyout, strikeout, strikeout)

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Hitters, once again, not so much...
only six total hits and no runs until the 8th, when Josh singled, Michael ran for him and scored on Ichiro's double.  There was a bit of hope in the 9th when Justin singled with two outs in the 9th and Trayvon ran for him - but, Miggy hit a long fly ball ... for the third out.

Getty Images

Bring on the Yanks!
I'll be in King's Court tomorrow night!!!

g144 | "M's offense"and "offensive explosion" in the same sentence!!!

Mariners 7 | Royals 3

These are NOT your father's Mariners...
~ What a night for Miggy! 3 hits and 2 RBI left him just a single away from the cycle!
~ Ichiro with four more hits (including another homer) leaving him now 33 hits shy of 200
~ Justin with three more hits and two RBI
~ Alex Liddi had his first major league hit ... a ringing double to left field

Blake seeming to take Doug Fister's place as the "Houdini" of the M's...
Thankfully, NOT as the recipient of lower than low run support though.  Blake has shown a propensity to get in all kinds of hot water in the first inning ~ whether it be an extremely high pitch count or actually runs allowed ~ and then to make the needed adjustments to right the ship.  Tonight was no different.  He had allowed two runs via a homer, a triple, two singles by the time I had made my way to my seat in the first inning.  But, after allowing a lead off single in the second, he retired 13-in-a-row and made it into the 7th allowing a triple and a single for another run - but, left with the lead and would get the eventual win.

Nice to see Shawn Kelley back!  
He and Jamey combined for 2.2 scoreless with three strikeouts

This game had plenty of great DEE...

• Trayvon with a great diving catch
• Justin with a super snag of a foul pop-up right at the tarp on the 1B line
• Casper with a home-run robbing leap in left field

And, on the other side - Dustin hit the ball HARD three times but was robbed each time, including twice by Francoeur - once of a homer and once of at least a double

g143 | Jason gives them a chance, Justin seizes the opportunity

Mariners 4 | Royals 1

Nice to see Jason bounce back for his first win in nearly a month...
He's had some pretty dreadful outings of late and, even though it was "only" the Royals, they are a pretty good hitting team, so allowing only one run on four hits in six innings was very encouraging.  No question that Jason needs to finish the season strong to shed the rep of a pitcher who melts down in the second half.  Looks like adding the "Felix twist" might be one of the keys to doing just that.

Jamey, Tom and Brandon, oh my!
An infield singel off Brandon in the 9th was the only hit the bullpen allowed in three complete innings.  And, Brandon earned his 34th save.

Only six hits but, they made them count...
M's still struggling like mad with RISP (0-8) but...
~ Ichiro with a lead off home run and a single (now needs 37 hits to 200)
~ Justin's first homer since June 12th great to see

g140 | What doesn't bode well for a win? FIVE errors, that's what!!!

Mariners 3 | Angels 7

I won't waste too much space talking about this one - definitely one of the ugliest games all season...
If only scoring THREE runs on ELEVEN hits was abysmal, then committing FIVE errors was atrocious.

According to the box score, only one of the SEVEN runs that Vasquez gave up was UNearned but, it sure seemed like more.  The bullpen put up 2.1 scoreless despite two of the errors committed during their stint.

All the rooks got their requisite 1-2 hits (they were a combined 8/19)


Onward and upward.

g139 | swept away ... again

Mariners 5 | Athletics 8

Early in the season, the offense would have KILLED for 10 hits and five runs - 't wasn't enough today.

Blake Beavan was far from on, throwing a ton of pitches (101) and allowing way too many walks (3) for only five innings.  Josh Lueke, after a 1-2-3 sixth, was given a chance to get himself out of trouble in the seventh, and failed - miserably (giving up 4 runs).  Brandon League came in for some much needed work, allowed a single but, no walks or runs and his ERA dropped below 3.

The offense was a bit jekyll and hyde today....

The Good
~5 runs on 10 hits, including 4 for extra bases (doubles by Mike, Trayvon) and a homer for Dustin
~two-hit games from Ichiro, Guti, Dustin, Justin and Kyle
~stolen base by Ichiro

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The Bad
~TWO for ELEVEN with RISP (including twice with the bases loaded, once with only one out)

The Ugly
~Wells was hit by a pitch on the elbow and had to leave the game (x-rays negative, day-to-day)
~Guti pulled an oblique on a pitch in the 8th (and this one looks/sounds serious)


Not to say that without the injuries that the M's would have pulled it off but, you always wonder.
In any case, good job by the young bats who were a combined 8/20 with four of the five runs, two RBI and two walks.

g138 | too much McCarthy

Mariners 0 | Athletics 3

When the combination of starters and relievers only give up 3 runs, the typical mantra is...
"they gave us a chance to win"

When your offense manages only 6 hits and zero runs, the mantra typical mantra is...
not repeatable on a family-friendly blog


So, tip your cap to McCarthy's complete game shut-out and move on.

btw - Ichiro had one of the hits, getting him to within 42 hits of 200 for the season
(Ackley and Bard had the other two hits)

g137 | Sea in Oak on the diamond, Oak in Sea on the grid-iron...

Mariners 2 | Athletics 9

So, I was sitting at Century Link Field watching the Seahawks and Raiders while listening to the Mariners and Athletics play in Oakland (frankly wondering if the Seahawks would be able to score more than the M's). Neither game really mattered much to any of the teams.  On the NFL side, it was the final pre-season game, so many of the starters only played the first quarter. On the MLB side, the M's and A's appear to be battling it out for third place on the division (with the A's clearly ahead).

While the M's scored first (one in the first and one in the second), the lead wouldn't hold, as Jason Vargas played his all-too-familiar Dr. Jekyll role (where oh where have you gone Mr. Hyde?).  Cesar Jimenez and Jeff Gray were no help at all.  The lone pitching bright spot was the return of Shawn Kelley from the DL - he faced four batters - fly ou, pop up, walk and ground out.  Nice to have him back in the 'pen.

Even though there were only six Mariner hits, they were all encouraging...
-Justin Smoak was back in the line up after his rehab stint (broken nose, cheek bone) and got two hits
-Casper Wells broke an 0-28 with a double
-Ichiro got one hit closer to 200 (now needs 43)
-Brendan Ryan broke an o-15 with an RBI single
-Dustin Ackley checked in with his typical (at LEAST) one hit


By the way, the Seahawks (much to my surprise) won 20-3

g136 | splittin' in Seattle

Mariners 3 | Angels 4

I have a feeling this series was a lot more difficult than the Halos expected it to be...
not that we should be satisfied with "moral victories" but, the way this young team faced up vs. a team right in the thick of the playoff hunt was admirable, if not impressive.

Tonight, Charlie struggled in the early innings (3-0 after one, 4-0 by mid-three) and he seemed not long for the mound. Then, showed some perseverance by hanging in their and giving the team a chance.  The team looked like it was going to give him a chance in the third when they scored three to get within one.

But, little did we know, that the game would be decided by that third inning.  There were PLENTY of opportunities - Santana walked SEVEN and the M's had the bases loaded with one out and failed to score (Carp hit into a DP).  should, woulda, coulda

Nice to see Jamey save the pen (this was their 7th game of 20-in-a-row) with three SCORELESS - no walks and three K's

Ichiro with another couple of hits (needs 44 for 200)

Happy 24th Birthday, Trayvon!

g134 | normally, six runs = a W

Mariners 6 | Angels 13

but oh, those base on balls...
of the SIX walks given up by the combination of Vasquez and Gray, FIVE scored - blah.

Good new is..

• Ichiro extended his hitting streak to 13 - now needs 46 to get to 200
• Dustin, Mike and Miggy all had multi-hit games and combined for 5 RBI
• Lueke with 3 scoreless innings and only one hit allowed

Just love this shot - if I were captioning it, I'd call it "Lunch-bucket love"

Getty Images

g133 | halting the halos

Mariners 5 | Angels 3

Blake cruised through the first three and then hit a rough patch in the fourth...
The encouraging part was his bounce back after the bad inning - he only gave up two hits over the next three innings but, thanks to some SUPERB defense, he only faced the minimum.  I also like, like, like the ZERO walks.

8th inning, enter The Bartender...
who merely retired the side in order, including two strikeouts.

9th inning, leave it to BLT - Brandon League Time...
(credit to Dave Simms)
despite allowing a double, Brandon notched his 32nd save.

Oh, we have O???

• the "old guys" (Ichiro, Miggy and Adam) each doubled and combined for three runs
• the "young guys" (Dustin and Mike) tripled and homered - Mike's homer went "into somebody's soup!" (as Rick called it) actually landed INSIDE the Hit it Here Cafe!
• Casper apparently admitted to being a big timid at the plate after getting hit in the nose and, as a consequence, he had no hits.  But, he posted all three walks the M's took (and, his defense likely saved at least a couple of runs)

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Saving the best for last .... fabulous DEE!

• Casper's got a gun (TWO outfield assists!)
• Who says Kyle can't play 3B - he even did that Adrian thing (charged the bunt and bare-handed it)
• How 'bout that Carp s t r e t c h ? ! ?
• And, we know Brendan can look pretty spiffy at SS at times..

AP PHOTO

The Skipper had on a message for the guys prior to the game tonight re: "plenty to play for...
Casper Wells, for one, really took it to heart, "definitely pumped me up!"

g131 | too much Danks

Mariners 0 | White Sox 3

Can't really complain about the pitching...
Michael has been better but, he was solid and the bullpen was decent.

Unfortunately, Danks was stellar ...
tossing a 3-hit complete game shutout.

Well, at least the Sounders put on a thrilling match in their 6-2 victory over the Columbus Crew earlier in the day.  My husband and I attended both events as part of our 28th anniversary celebration.

g126 | finally, a win vs. the Tribe!

Mariners 3 | Indians 2

Too bad Jason (viva la) Vargas, didn't get the win...
He certainly pitched well enough to - 7 innings and 2 UNearned runs usually gets you the W
But, at least the bullpen was able to hold the Tribe where Jason left them.

And, the O was able to score the requisite "one more"...
~Ichiro with a lead-off homer in the first.
~Casper scored on a throwing error (hit-by-a-pitch and got to 3B on Adam's single) in the second
~Guti hit a sac-fly to score Miggy in the ninth to break the tie and ultimately win the game

Brendan was back...
and made all three put-outs in the first, before committing TWO errors in the second :-(

Three DP's turned by the M's in this one...
including the ever intriguing 1-2-3


Mike's streak came to an end :-(

g118 | super-duper DEE rips the sox

Mariners 5 | Red Sox 4

Clearly, I picked the wrong M's/RS game to attend ... what a crazy one!

The M's scored all their runs in the 1st inning...
FIVE (count 'em FIVE!) runs off of Josh Becket, including a first pitch homer by Ichiro and a 2-run shot by Casper!  Mike, Dustin, Guti, and even JW, continued their hot-hitting.

The Red Sox scored all their runs in the 6th inning...
when Felix had a more than momentary lapse, allowing a lead-off triple, and two homers and a couple of singles.  Luckily, he limited the damage to one less run than the M's had scored and recovered by retiring the side in order in the 7th.  Then Jamey and Brandon came in and shut them down in the 8th and 9th respectively - Brandon notching his 28th save.

The REAL story of the game was the AWESOME defense by the M's...
FOUR double plays, including a play at the plate that will be talked about for a long time to come!
In the 4th inning, Ellsbury led off with a walk, got to 2B on an error by Carp and to 3B on a single by Crawford.  After Gonzales grounded out, Pedroia flied out to Ichiro who threw a one-hop STRIKE to Bard who fielded, blocked ~got NAILED in the face by Ellsbury's knee~ but hung onto the ball with his pinkie finger!  It was a fantastic play all around - great throw, great catch and tag and great clean, hard slide.  The memorable thing is that Ellsbury he was originally called SAFE, but after conferring, the umps got it right and changed the call to OUT!

g111 | pitching and catching...

Mariners 0 | Angels 1 (10)

Missed most of the game, as I was at "the race track" with "the girls"...  
As impotent as both the M's and the Halos offenses were tonight - my betting was even moreso ;-)

Weaver was on.  What else is new?
Certainly not a great match up to an M's offense that has struggled so mightily all season - and then the get to face the best pitcher in the AL - and just when they were starting to put something together (26 hits and 19 runs in the series sweep of the A's).

At least it was good to see Jason bounce back a bit after some extremely rough starts of late...
He was solid through six, scattering seven hits and walking only one - he was also able to escape when necessary.  Aaron, Jamey and Josh combined for three scoreless innings, surrendering only one hit and one walk.  Dan had no fun in the 10th - giving up a single to Hunter, who then advanced on a wild pitch (Wedge non too happey about the "crossed up" situation) and scored the winning, and only, run of the game on Well's single (outside, practically in the dirt).

Sounds like base-running was more than bit of an issue for the M's tonight...
Ichiro picked off 1B, Mike thrown out trying to steal 2B, Casper caught off 3B - argh!!

But hey, there's (ANOTHER) new kid in town...
Welcome to the bigs, Trayvon Robinson!  He struck out in his first AB and collected his first major league hit in his second AB - a solid single to left - off Jered Weaver, no less.  But, what he will be remembered for is his thievery of Torii Hunter - what a  catch!

AP PHOTO

g110 | series sweep!!!

Mariners 7 | Athletics 4

Welcome to Seattle Charlie!
Nice to see Mr. Furbush get a victory in his first Seattle start.  He only went 5 innings (65 pitches) but also only allowed two hits and one run and NO walks with three strikeouts.  It was his first start since July 9th (when he was with the Tigers) where he only made it 2.2 innings in a loss to the Royals.  Previous to that, on July 4th, he took a loss vs. the Halos (and only went 4.2IP).  Charlie retired the first 12 batters he faced and then allowed back-to-back doubles before getting the next batter to fly out to Guti who then apparently (I read in a tweet since I didn't see the game) made an awesome throw to get Sizemore at 3B.

And how 'bout those bats?
FOURTEEN hits - granted, they were all singles, but not a bad single to run ratio.  Everyone 'cept Greg (0-4 w/3 K's - ouch!) contributed.  Guti went 0-fer as well, but did have an RBI.  Jack and Josh each had one hit (Josh's good for 2-RBI).  And, apparently, Jack played a pretty mean 3B (his first time ever).  Everyone else in the lineup had multiple hits.  Ichiro and Mike both went 3-5, Casper and Mike each good for 2 RBI.  Yes - a good day it was.

And then the 'pen...

Josh Lueke and Jamey combined for 3 scoreless innings, allowing 2 hits and 2 walks.

Jeff Gray had a bit of a rough go in the 9th though...
leading by 5 runs (6-1) he allowed 2 singles and a home run.  Cortes came in and got a pop-up and then walked a batter.  By then it was a close situation - enter Mr. League for his 26th save.

So far, seems like the Seattle/Detroit trade has been a win-win.  

the players from D to S...
In his three games as a Mariner, Casper has five hits (including a homer), three runs, four RBI and a stolen base - not too shabby! And, as already mentioned, Charlie got his first win in his first start.
(and, there's still Martinez and the PLTBNL!)

the players from S to D...

Nice to see that our old friend Mr. Fister finally got his 4th win today in a Tiggers uni.

David has only pitched 2/3 of an inning in Detroit so far, but got a hold.

g104 | it's OVah!

Mariners 9 | Yankees 2

Where do I begin?  How 'bout

FINE.A.LEE!!

There was all kinds of awesome

ready for it?

OFFENSE in this game...

• Dustin & Mike combined for SEVEN hits (including a triple each), SEVEN RBI & THREE runs
• Doubles by Ichiro (4 hits total!), Adam and Guti
• Jack C, Josh & Brendan each checked in with singles (Brendan's extended his hitting streak to 10)

NICK LAHAM / GETTY IMAGES

KATHY KMONICEK / AP

ONE DP, TWO stolen bases (both by Ichiro) and an INCREDIBLE diving, twisting play - where the runner was questionably called safe - by Brendan.  That man can play shortstop.

And then of course there was Felix who is ALWAYS on his game vs. the Yanks...
He threw a lot of pitches (112) for SEVEN innings but allowed only ONE run on FIVE hits and struck out FIVE.

KATHY KMONICEK / AP

Chris gave up a "garbage run" in the 8th and Brandon retired the side in order in the 9th

Bet the plane ride home was a lot more relaxed and enjoyable than if ... 

Now, the guys get to enjoy a day off, at HOME and then take on the Rays for the weekend (which is looking pretty good weather-wise).

g102 | not so sweet sixteen

Mariners 3 | Yankees 10

rosiness...
-Dustin's double
-Justin's double and an RBI single
-Brendan's RBI double (that extends his hitting streak to 9 games)
-Ichiro's sac-fly
-Nice 1-6-3 DP

maybe not rosy, how 'bout an honorable daisy...
-Chris and David out of the pen, each gave up a run (hey, it's the Yanks) but combined for four innings

rottenness...

-Jason super rough night (for the 3rd start in-a-row)

-couple of errors that resulted in runs
-couple of bad calls at first - safe M's that were called out, out Yank called safe (he actually stepped on Jason's foot)

According to Shannon, there was much curiosity in the clubhouse prior to the game from the NY media re: "the streak"...

To that end the players and the manager answered questions patiently. Eric Wedge in his media session said that the reality of the situation is that ultimately this team probably was not as good as it was a month ago, but also not as bad as it has been recently. He was asked that if while it was good he entertained thoughts that they would contend.
"You have to," he answered. "I always have thoughts in the back of my head. I am a realist but I am also an optimist. You want to make sure that when you are doing things like that you want to make sure you are going to give it every opportunity to have legs and that's what we did."
"The reality is we were finding a way to win those ball games," Wedge continued, "and we have that in our back pocket. These guys know how to find a way to win ball games when you are in there late. The flip side is we have been playing better ball clubs and we have been in them for the most part, but we have been on the south side of that. They have been finding ways to clip us. That's what we have got to work to get back to."

g99 | baker's dozen (and I ain''t talkin' maple bars)

Mariners 4 | Red Sox 7

rosiness...
*ELEVEN hits, including two doubles and one homer (Carp's 1st this season - a 3-run shot in the 8th)
*Josh Lueke, in his first outing since being recalled from AAA, went 1-2-3 in the 8th with a K

*Ichiro led off with a hit, stole 2B, stole 3B and scored (just like they write it up)

*Dustin had an RBI (he has only failed to reach base FOUR times in his 28 starts)

*FOUR double plays

rottenness...
~one of Felix's worst outings this season ended in first ever loss at Fenway
~Felix walked FOUR
~M's batters walked ONCE
~losing streak extended to THIRTEEN games, one shy of the club record (set in '92)

Here's hoping we never see the record tied, let alone broken.