g3 | dreams of brooms swept down the drain

Mariners 1 | Athletics 7

AP Photo

on the mound
Mr Fister had a nice curve working today but, threw too many pitches (98P - 5.2IP - 8H - 0BB - 2ER)
In his major league debut, Josh Lueke struck out the first batter he faced to end the 6th.  But, then came the nightmare that was the 7th.  Langerhans gave up a "sun double" and Lueke walked the next two batters.  With the bases loaded, he struck out Willingham but then gave up an RBI single to Matsui and that was it for him.  David Pauley came in and promptly hit Susuki and walked Ellis - both with the bases loaded.  Tom Wilhelmsen posted a one-two-three in the 8th for his major league debut (ground out, fly out, strikeout)

(can I just say.. Ellis. Is. A. Pest.)

at the plate
Langerhans' homer proved to be the sole Mariner run - whodathunk the first two homers would come from Ryan and Figgy?  The only other XBH were doubles by Bradley and Smoak - both were left stranded.  A golden opportunity was wasted in the 7th - Langerhans singled, Ryan walked, Wilson laid down a sac bunt to move both runners along but then Figgy struck out.  In the 9th, with the game well out of hand, Wedge gave his bench some work - Rodriguez flied out for Ryan and Kennedy struck out for Wilson.

of base paths and leather works
The most exciting defensive play of the day was reminiscent of Ichiro's "Star Wars" debut - Curt Susuki hit a fly ball to right and after Ichiro caught it, he threw out Matsui at 3B (who had gotten to 2B on a double that was his 2500th career hit).  Apparently, the A's have forgotten about Terrance Long ;-)

Figgy had a nice "recovery play" in the 3rd for the third out - he knocked down a hot shot but was able to get the runner at 1B by a hair (preventing the runner at 3B from scoring).  Bradley and Langerhans both had mixed performances in the OF.  The good - Langerhans with a diving, snowcone catch and Bradley with a sliding, back-handed one.  Unfortunately, there were also some issues with the high sky, as both outfielders gave up "sun doubles" that would both eventually score.

~ One DP (Ichiro to Figgy)
~ One SB (Wilson)
~ First error of the season (tricky hop for Brendan Ryan)

As for the other guys...
Crisp made an awesome sliding catch robbing Smoak of a solid single in the fourth and Gonzales made a "preservation catch" of an at 'em ball in the 6th (I must say, Gio seems to generally field his position very well).


Series win = good start
On to Texas they go (here's hoping they used up all their runs vs. the Red Sox ;-)

ST29 | vs. Dodgers

Mariners 1 | Dodgers 8


HERE'S HOPING ERIK AND WILHELMSEN WERE WORK WORKING ON STUFF
as they both struggled mightily, each giving up more runs in their respective appearances tonight than they had all spring long.

THINGS WERE LOOKING PRETTY BLEAK WITH THE BATS TOO
only THREE hits.  But, Michael Saunders did hit his first spring home run in his last spring game.

AS FOR IN THE GLOVES AND ON THE BASES
one DP and one SB (Langerhans)

M's finish the spring at 16-13-2

ST28 | vs. Rox

Mariners 7 | Rockies 2


GOOD ENOUGH, TO GREAT
Mr. Fister wasn't especially sharp, issuing THREE walks in his FOUR innings of work, but he didn't allow any runs and earned the W.  He also had good things to say about how Olivo called the game. Laffey finally gave up a couple of runs and Pauley continued his strong spring and Wright kept his ERA invisible.

BATS LEAVE AZ HOT
Langerhans continued showing off his smoking hot bat with a THREE-run triple and Cust hit his 4th homer of the spring, a TWO-run shot.  Nice to see Olivo go 2 for 5 with a couple of RBI, coming back just in time.  And even the kids contributed, Poythress and Rodrigues each with a double.

NEWS AND NOTES

• Guti to the DL, and some new guys make the team | Seattle Times

          Congrats to Wilhelmson, Laffey and Lueke, all added to the roster.

• New 7-day DL for concussions | Seattle TImes

Only THREE MORE DAYS!!!!!

ST25 | vs. Brew Crew

Mariners 1 | Brewers 2

ANOTHER OUTING TO SALIVATE OVER
Yes, Michael Pineda continues to impress ...
SIX innings TWO hits TWO walks SEVEN K's and ZERO runs

AND, with the exception of poor Moran, THE REST OF THE STAFF DID WELL
the only TWO runs allowed were UNearned.
Wedge told Moran to put it out of his mind (walk, mis-fielded bunt, hit by pitch, sac fly ;-(

"CLUTCH" A BIT OF AN ISSUE TODAY
Plenty of hits (NINE) but only ONE for TWELVE w/RISP

AND THE "D" UP and DOWN
Errors by Ryan and Moran allowed the only Brewers runs to score.  But, a nice DP was turned and Langerhans made an awesome throw to the plate to cut down a runner trying to score.

NEWS AND NOTES

• M's return Rule 5 Flores to Tribe | Herald.net
• Goodbye Mikey :-( | News Tribune

ST22 | vs. Rox

Mariners 5 | Rockies 6

A RARE ROUGH SPRING OUTING FOR FRENCH
though the rest of the staff faired well (even league!!)

LANGERHANS MAKING A CASE
A double, a homer and a stolen base

NEWS AND NOTES

• Dustin Ackley optioned to Triple-A | Seattle Times
• Felix is ready and rarin' | The News Tribune

ST20 | vs. Pads

Mariners 4 | Padres 1

Now THIS game I really enjoyed ~ because I was THERE :-)

ERIK CONTINUED HIS SOLID SPRING
allowing ONE run on FIVE scattered hits with ONE walk and TWO strikeouts

THE PEN PICKED UP WHERE HE LEFT OFF
Wright, Lueke and League combined for FOUR scoreless innings w/ League finally earning a SAVE

IN THE FIELD
Figgy had an error, but lets focus on the THREE double-plays, Milton's outfield assist, Wright's pick-off and an awesome diving catch by Langerhans!  That's the D I want to see!

The weather was perfect - not too hot for this pale Seattelite :-)
It was fun to meet up with Lonnie and Matt prior to that game and enjoy a Buca de Beppo lunch!

NEW AND NOTES

• Some old familiar faces in camp | The Herald
• Feast of Famine for Cust's spring | Seattle Times

ST19 | vs. Rangers

Mariners 9 | Rangers 8

A SLUG-FEST!
There's something we didn't see much of (if at all) last season...
The two teams combined for SIX homers (including back-to-back-to-backers by the M's in the 8th), SIX doubles and a triple.  The M's stole TWO bases and turned TWO double-plays.  The good news is that the M's came out on the winning end and their pitchers who gave up the EIGHT runs will likely not be on the 25-man roster come April.

NEWS AND NOTES
Tui's trying to stay flexible | Seattle Times
Baron gaining confidence | News Tribune
Langerhans changes batting stance | Everett Herald

ST11 | vs. Halos

Mariners 10 | Angels 5

ERIK FINALLY GIVES UP SOME HITS AND A RUN
't was bound to happen.  He also struck out TWO in his 2.2 innings of work.

REST OF THE ROTATION, SOME UP, SOME DOWN
~Lueke struggled
~Laffey pretty solid and was awarded the win
~Bautista, Miller, Castro combined to allow only TWO hits, ONE run and FIVE strikeouts in THREE innings

BATS JUST KEEP ON, KEEPIN' ON
Second straight day of ELEVEN hits - yesterday FOUR homers, today TWO (Gross, Liddi).  The most impressive of those was Alex Liddi's SECOND grand slam in as many days!

NEWS AND NOTES

• Do we dare to dream that Erik is, and will stay, healthy?
• Is Ryan Langerhans up to the competition for that 4th outfield spot?

ST9 | vs. Giants

Mariners 1 | Giants 0

BATS NEARLY INVISIBLE, LANGERHANS WITH THE LONE RBI
but when you get pitching like this, who needs offense?!?
Jason Vargas started and added another THREE scoreless innings to his previous SIX.  In fact, M's pitchers combined to give up only FOUR hits and struck out SEVEN (ok, so the THREE walks weren't great, but you can't have everything)

NEWS AND NOTES

• Tui's last chance? | Seattle Times
• Olivo feeling better | News Tribune

g149 | Mister Fister helps M's take series from Texas

Mariners 2 | Rangers 1

Doug was liberal with the hits...
but stingy with the runs to help the M's take the rubber game from the Rangers.  Quite a feat, considering they only scored five runs the entire series.

Nice to see Ryan L contributing...
a triple, a run scored and an outfield assist

David made the 9th interesting...
walked two but, was able to lock down his 31st save

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