g160 | Viva la Vargas!

Mariners 4 | Athletics 2

REALLY nice to see Jason end on a high note...
I've called him Jekyll and Hyde, as his seemed to be a tale of two seasons - he was either REALLY good or REALLY bad.  Tonight, his last start, was definitely in the REALLY good category.
105 pitches - EIGHT innings - FIVE hits - ONE run - ZERO walks - TEN strikeouts
His win total reached 10 on the season and his innings pitched reached a career high (201).  The 'twist' and adjustments he made late in the season seem to be playing fairly consistent dividends.  Definitely something to build upon next season.

And Brandon nails down SAVE number 37

McCarthy only gave up 8 hits....
FOUR of them were for extra bases
TWO of them home runs
ONE, a solo shot by Miggy, made him the first M's catcher to lead the team in homers and RBI
ONE, a 3-run shot by Justin, gave him the lead in TWO-out hits (despite all the time he's missed)

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Gotta credit those two for those feats but, it obviously doesn't speak really well for the rest of the offense.

A lot of the kids are finishing up strong...
so there is a lot to look forward to for next season and beyond.

For now, I look forward to tomorrow night...
as I'll be attending the game (my last of the season) with a good friend courtesy of the Mariners who sent me Terrace Club seats as a thank you for having my birthday party at Safeco Field!  Can't wait for us to take each other's photos with Dave's statue and, hopefully to watch a great game.

Thanks, Mariners!

g154 | What relief!

Mariners 5 | Twins 4

Early on, things weren't looking too good for Jason Vargas but, he hung in there through six and Tom and Chance came in for the 7th and 8th respectively, each only facing them minimum.

Then, it was heart-attack time - with a one-run lead in the 9th, Brandon loaded the bases with NOBODY out... but, miraculously escaped.  Whew!

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The offense (yes, I'm talking the M's offense here) just keeps on rolling...
Alex with his second homer in as many games
Mike with a FIVE for FIVE night (including TWO doubles)
Miggy also with TWO doubles
Ichiro with a lead off triple

DEE not too shabby either...
I think even I will overlook Mike's faux pax in LF (5/5 will get you forgiveness)
Nice DP turned by Dustin-Kyle-Adam in the 7th

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Adam to Miggy with a HUGE play at the plate (making it two outs with the bases loaded)

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g149 | The Twist, the Bartender, the Teacher .... Luis!!!

Mariners 2 | Yankees 1

That was fun!
Yes, even thought the M's are hopelessly out of contention this season, it's always fun to beat the Yanks!

What a strange series...

• The Yanks stomp all over Felix for the first time in ... seems like ever!
• Charlie pitches decently and gives them a great chance to win the second game but, the hitters strikeout 17 times and they lose by one run
• Then tonight, Jason, who has struggled MIGHTILY vs. the Yanks, pitches like a charm, as does the bullpen, and they win it by one run in twelve innings despite another 10 strikeouts and 0-11 w/RISP

It was not only fun, it was really encouraging, in more ways than one.

Jason still using "the twist" (ala Felix/Bedard) and it appears to be working...
He threw a lot of pitches (101) for 6.2 innings but, he only allowed THREE hits and ONE run and struck out SIX.  Yep, I'd say it's working.

And what about the 'pen?!?   
Jamey and Brandon combine for 2.2 scoreless
Tom (the bartender) and Steve (the substitute teacher) combined for 3 HITLESS, scoreless innings (and Steve records his first major league win.

Some nice D all around the outfield - Trayvon, Michael, Ichiro all with some nice catches...

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OK, 0-11 w/RISP and 10 strikeouts doesn't usually bode well for a win but...
And, how cool was it that Luis's mom was in attendance watching her son for the first time "in person" in a major league game when he hit not only two doubles but a game-winning home run in the twelfth!

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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

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

g132 | swept away at home

Mariners 3 | White Sox 9

Jason season continues to erode.  Hard to believe he threw a complete game shutout vs the Phillies two months ago.

The O showed a little more life than yesterday, although Wedge didn't sound too pleased.  He seemed to be in a cap tipping mood for Danks yesterday but, was not real pleased with the approach today.

In come the Halos....

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 :-(

g116 | a WIN in TEXAS!

Mariners 4 | Rangers 3

Second nice start in-a-row for Jason...
't would be great for him to finish strong and solidify himself in the rotation for a coule more years.

Lovin' the DEE!
TWO double-plays and some great unassisted plays all 'round the infield.

ELEVEN hits...
including THREE for extra bases (granted, that should have netted more than FOUR runs)

Brandon shuts the door for his 27th save.

And the gravy, at least for THIS season, is the W

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!

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g107 | nearly no-no

Mariners 1 | Rays 8

Not much to say here...
-Figgy broke up the no-no in the sixth (go figure)
-way too many M's didn't have a hit (including Dustin - but he had two walks)
-Mike had another hit and scored the lone run
-Casper Wells, one of the new guys, had a hit and the only RBI - Welcome to Seattle, Casper! 

Jason's had way too many bad outings lately ...
He didn't even make it through six innings, threw 113 pitches and gave up six runs (two unearned - ugh!) on nine hits and one walk.  Not sure what is going on with him, as I've mentioned previously he is truly "Jekyll" or "Hyde"

Speaking of which...
-the D was great, with an outfield assist DP and Brendan with his requisite awesome play at SS
-the D was dreadful, with THREE errors that led to TWO runs

Hopefully the other new guy - Charlie Furbush....
Just had some "new guy" jitters.  He gave up a lead-off home run in the 8th and a walk but got a flyout and a couple of ground outs to get through the inning,

Next up: A's for three and then they go to Anaheim and Arlington ... hopefully to play a little spoiler.

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."

g97 | some bats explode, most arms implode

Mariners 6 | Blue Jays 11

Sorry if I miss any nuances...
only reading from the box score as I took a break from the diamond (that hasn't been shining too brightly) to take in the Sounders FC vs. ManU friendly at the xBox pitch tonight.  Great first 45 minutes (0-1 ManU at halftime) but the rest of the full 90 -and the Sounders subs- not so much.  Suffice it to say that ManU's bench is >>>>>>> than the Sounders bench.

Anyway, back to baseball...

Josh, Brendan, Dustin and Adam combined for...
8 hits - 5 runs - 6 RBI - 2 homers - 3 doubles - 3 walks

Unfortunately, Jason didn't make it to the 4th...
and Jamie and Aaron after him combined to give up six runs to Jason's five

and that's it, that's all, that's ELEVEN losses in-a-row.

g92 | shutout on the wrong side of the ledger

Mariners 0 | Rangers 5

Hey, at least the shutout differential is still positive (9-7)

Since today and tomorrow are vacation days for me (prior to starting a new job on Monday!) and by Saturday night (Sounders game in the afternoon, Mariners game in the evening) I'll be all "sports-out" I decided to trade my Sunday ticket for tonight's game.  Lucky me ;-(

Derek Hollad was absolutely on his game.  Turns out this was his second straight shutout (he shutout the A's 6-0 prior to the break).  He had a perfect game through five innings before giving up a walk to Guti and the first hit to, of all people, Figgy.  Seems like he got to 3-2 on a ton of batters but, only walked one and struck out eight.

As for Jason, just a wee bit off.  When he gave up the two-out solo shot to Hamilton in the 1st and then got Beltre to ground out, it seemed OK - solo shot, no biggie.  But then, he gave up a one-out solo shot to Cruz in the 2nd and then a couple of hits, including an RBI single in the 3rd.  Though he didn't give up any runs in either of the 4th or 5th, he had multiple runners in scoring position as the hits and his pitch count were beginning to mount to seemingly insurmountable levels.  The third solo shot, this of the lead-off variety by Napoli, came in the sixth, followed by a couple of singles and a steal.  The and the Rangers were up 5-0 and Jason was hitting the showers.

It seemed like any ball that was well struck by the M's was basically right at someone in the outfield and I had the odd thought that they should just hit it a little softer.  I don't know why, usually you would want them to hit it harder.  Maybe it's because it seemed that the Ranger hits (that weren't home runs) were bloops just past an infielder, just in front of an outfielder and it just looked to darned easy.  Anyhoo, funny that Figgy was the one to break up the no-no, good to see Miggy with two hits and Justin break an 0 fer 'too many'.

The game was not without it bright spots...

• Defensively, an awesome play by Brendan where he back-handed a hard hit grounder at the cut of the grass and made a twisting-turning throw to Adam who handled it for the out.  And, a nice 4-6-3 in the top of the 9th.  
• Nice to see "Gray and Ray" get some work in - and more than decent work it was, as Jeff and Chris combined for three hitless, scoreless innings with three strikeouts. 

Still got three games, with Doug and Felix and Blake taking the hill - let's take 'em all to head out east on a high note.

g87 | Jason good. O and D, not so much...

Mariners 0 | Athletics 2

Well, I took one look at the box score and saw THREE ERRORS and wanted to look no further (and, was secretly glad I hadn't been able to watch or listen).  Ugh.

At least none led to runs...
Jason only gave up 5 hits and 2 earned runs (solo shot and an RBI single) in 8 innings pitched (yes, ANOTHER complete game)

The offense mustered all of TWO hits, both singles...
Dustin in the 2nd and Adam in the 7th

And then there was that DEE (or lack thereof)...
Brendan, Figgy and Justin

So, the best and most exciting news of the day came after the game...
Kyle Seager is on his way to Anaheim and will be activated for the 4-game series with the Halos!

Welcome to the Show, Kyle!

g82 | Just call him Mr. Shutout

Mariners 6 | Padres 0

Tonight was Jason's third complete game shutout in six starts (the others vs. the Rays and the Phillies). He was the master of efficiency (which I guess follows along in general for CG's).  He had only thrown 71 pitches through seven innings, ended up with 20+ in the 8th but got through nine with 106 total.  Not too shabby.

If Doug Fister is Houdini (seeming to thrive on getting out of jams) then Jason Vargas is definitely Jekyll and Hyde (ON or OFF, not much in-between).  Here's a little stat comparison of Jason's season so far...

in his FIVE losses (24.1 innigs)
28 ER
11 BB
15 K

in his SIX wins and SIX no decisions (83.2 innings)
17 ER
19 BB
60 K


It was REALLY great to see the offense score early and play add-on for a change. They scored in four different innings and four of their nine hits were doubles.  Some of the usual suspects came through (Carlos and Adam combined for 3H - 1BB - 4 RBI - 1R) and some of the recent strugglers contributed greatly (Justin, Jack C, Brendan combined for 4H - 4BB - 2RBI - 4R).

Heck, even Figgy had a decent game (and, as the evening progressed, there was a noticeable decrease in the 'boo decibal').  He made one great snare of a hot shot liner and started a nifty double play as well.  And, he even got a hit - a solid single up the middle.

Speaking of defense, it was pretty awesome all around tonight.  Brendan made a super leaping catch and Guti, though neither he or Adam could get to the fly ball, was able to catch the runner trying to stretch it to two for the second out of the 5th.  And, don't know what it is with all these NL outfielders, but it sure seems like at least once per game one of them robs one of our guys of an XBH.

Oh yeah, it was fun seeing the old uni's...

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And, here's hoping Padre Orlando Hudson is OK after a wicked foul ball he took on the shin.

g77 | CG shutout hangover?

Mariners 2 | Marlins 4

Jason was in big trouble early...
allowing three straight singles, a ground-rule double and a sac-fly to put the M's in a 3-run hole in the 1st.  He was able to settle down and hold them there until the bottom of the 6th when the Marlins led off with a ground-rule double and most thought he'd be home free when he struck out the next two batters because the pitcher was up next.  Unfortunately, said pitcher hit an RBI single. Jason probably would have pitched at least one more inning if they weren't playing NL rules (his turn to bat just happened to come with the bases loaded, so Justin pinch hit for him).

Good to see Jamey bounce back after a few rough outings lately...
TWO innings - ONE hit - THREE strikeouts

A bloop and a blast weren't enough...
The bats were stymied by Volstad through three innings, as he retired the side in order the first time through the lineup.  Ichiro reached on an error and went to 2B on a balk in the 4th but he was stranded there via three ground ball outs.  Carlos got the M's on the board in the 5th with a line drive homer to right field.  The M's tried to rally in the 7th loading the bases with three straight singles but the only scoring that occurred was Figgy's sac-fly.  And, that would be all she wrote.


Another 1000 words...

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g72 | Viva la Vargas, indeed

Mariners 2 | Phillies 0

Nothing like a day at the ballpark with Dad on Father's Day...

The fact that the M's notched a thrilling victory was just icing on the cake!

Where to begin?

Well, how about with the M's starting pitcher? (who would also prove to be the closing pitcher)...
What an outing by Jason Vargas!  A complete game, 3-hit shutout of any team is pretty special, the fact that it happened to be against the team with the best record in baseball, with a typically potent offense (especially vs. lefties) made it even more so.

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Whodathunk that Jason would out-pitch BOTH Michael AND Felix in this series?

Well, that be why they play the games!
And, that be why they play nine innings cuz, early on, most were probably wondering if Jason would even make it far enough to qualify for a decision.  He got three outs on fourteen pitches in the 1st, except that the third out (second strikeout) ending up being a passed ball and the batter was safe at 1B.  The next batter singled and in the following AB a wild pitch sent the runner at 2B to 3B.  Thankfully, due to the center fielder who was playing left (that would be Mr Greg Halman) a sinking line drive was caught instead of dropping to drive in at least one run and extending the inning.

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Over the next two innings, Jason would allow a single and two walks and then go on a run to retire 15 batters in-a-row.  He gave up a single to Ryan Howard with two outs in the 9th  at which point Eric Wedge went out to the mound and returned to the dugout to thunderous applause having left the game in the very capable hands (er, arm) of his starter.  The last batter flied out to Guti in center.  INcredible!

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Oh, and remember that "Mariner-killer" I mentioned in the previous game post?
Well, turns out OUR Mr. V easily beat THEIR Mr. V ~ Vargas held Victorino to 0 /4 with a strikeout.

So how did the runs score?

Despite the fact that only two runs scored - the offense was pretty darned interesting.  It all started with Ichiro -  who is now 16 for 34 since his day off with an 8-game hitting streak and has multiple hits in 7 of the last 8 games.  Oh, and he also scored 4 of the 7 total runs scored by the M's in this series.

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But hey, he's a veteran (and a future hall-of-famer) kind of to be expected - what about the kids?

Glad you asked!
Justin was the one to knock Ichiro in after he singled with one out in the 6th for the first run of the game.

Dustin hit his first major league triple and scored when wise old Wedge pinch hit Adam Kennedy for Mike Carp despite the fact that Adam was 0-7 off Hamels.  Adam just needed a fly ball, but he got a hit. 

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Dustin also made his presence known and appreciated many times over in the field - making 5 total put-outs - some routine and some not-so-routine (like the back-handed grab of a ball that got past Justin and then an effortless toss to Jason covering 1B or a grounder that he bobbled a bit, but stayed with it and threw to Justin in plenty of time for the out).

Wedge Words [paraphrased]

on what he "asked" Jason when he went to the mound with 2 outs, one on in the 9th...

"I didn’t ask him anything. I let him know this was his game .... that he needed to focus pitch-to-pitch and finish it off."

on what this team has shown him...

"...that they can dig deep when the need to..."

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p.s.  I like the fact that the Phillies are 8-2 in their past 10 and the 2 losses are to ...

Our beloved Mariners!!!

p.p.s  thanks to the Rangers loss in Atlanta today, along with the M's win...
Said beloved Mariners are only ONE HALF game out of first place!

Off to "the other Washington" they go....

g67 | got to Haren, couldn't get to the BP

Mariners 3 | Angels 6

The Good...

• The bats made Haren work, getting THREE runs off him and making him throw 112 pitches through SIX innings.  
• Ichiro posted his third straight multi-hit game (since the day off) and stole TWO bases
• Jason was pretty much cruising till the 7th 

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The Bad...

• ELEVEN strikeouts - Carlos, Mike and Miggy combined for EIGHT of those - too bad, Carlos seemed to be turning the corner a bit, after a rough start in the bigs - he had gone FIVE games without a strikeout, but had now K's at least once in his last three games.
• Figures, the Angels hadn't hit a home run in 100 innings - they get two tonight, both by Vernon Wells.

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The Ugly...

• A couple of errors (one by Figgy, one by Adam) though neither led to runs.  
• But, a play at the plate, Miggy couldn't hold on to the ball even though the throw and the tag were in plenty of time.

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Rare early runs for the M's...
Ichiro led off with a single and then stole 2B and scored on a double by Adam to tie the game at ONE.  Then they took the lead in the 2nd when Carlos doubled, took 3B on a wild pitch and then scored on a Guti infield single.  The see-saw would continue when Wells hit a solo shot to tie the game at TWO.

With one out in the bottom of the 5th, Figgy doubled!
Ichiro laid down a PERFECT bunt for a base hit that got Figgy to 3B and then he scored on Brendan's fly ball to put the M's on top again, 3-2.

In the top of the 7th, the Halos hit Jason hard...
A lead-off double by Mathis, a grounder got him to 3B and a FC by Hunter got him home - the throw went to home plate and Miggy had it in plenty of time to get the runner, but the ball just squirted out of his glove.  Tie game at THREE.  Unfortunately, the Halos weren't done in this inning - Wells hit his second home run of the night w/Hunter aboard.  Halos lead 5-3.

Missed opportunities in the bottom of the 7th...
Brendan got aboard via an error, Justin singled (Jack W pinch ran), Brendan got to 3B on a FC by Adam, Jack out at 2B but, Miggy struck out.

Bit of a dagger in the 9th...
A single, a balk (by Ray) and a single gets the Halos their 6th run and that's all they would need as the M's went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning vs. Walden.

Here's hoping for better effort tomorrow (especially because I'll be in attendance!)

g62 | no sweep for you!

Mariners 7 | White Sox 4

And the M's are 1-0 w/Carp in the lineup :-)

Sporadic listening/viewing of this one but, all that matters is they got the win...
And, in doing so, played STREAK BUSTERS - broke that horrid streak in ChiTown (0-10), kept Konerko from extending his amazing streak (9 straight homer at home vs. the M's) and stopped their losing streak at two.

Early on, it appeared they were going down an old, familiar road...
to nowhere - making Gavin look like CY Floyd, though they did make him work a bit.  Through five innings they had only one hit, a HBP (Carp, wouldn't you know) and two walks.  Then in the 6th, the bats came alive - Brendan and Justin each singled, Adam FC RBI and then a steal, a Carlos walk and a Guti 2-run double got the M's three runs and the lead for the first time in this series.

Meanwhile, after giving up a 1st inning homer to Quentin, Jason was CRUISING...
He ended up throwing 95 pitches through 7.2IP, but early on, he was the model of efficiency (44 pitches through 4IP) and, Jason retired 8 in-a-row at one point, gave up only one walk and 3 runs.

Miggy comes through again!
After Jason gave up the Sox second run in the bottom of the 7th to get them within one, Miggy hit a solo shot to get the lead back to two.

Then Jamey had a rough go...
He relieved Jason with one on and one out in the 8th and promptly gave up a 2-run homer to Quentin (his second of the game, his third of the series) that tied the game at 4 - where it would stay until the top of the 10th

Oh the sweet, sweet 10th...
Justin led off with a double (Jack pinch ran), Adam walked, Miggy and RBI double, Greg sacrificed Miggy to 3B and -the real beauty- Guti squeeze bunt to plate Miggy.

And here comes Brandon...
one-two-three = SEVENTEENTH save

There were a ton of great shots to choose from for this game (AP and Getty) but I decided to let this one stand on it's on, cuz it's just such a great shot and truly speaks a thousand words ...

Speaking of words, here's some from Wedge...
"Every once in a while you hit a bump in the road and how you react to it means everything."


  

g57 | Jason and the bats!

Mariners 7 | Rays 0

Way to GO, Jason!
Very nice recovery from his rocky starts vs. the Twins and Yanks.  It was Jason's first complete game since 2003 and his first EVER complete game shutout!  And, he did it in a very efficient manner 115P - 9IP - 4H - 0ER - 1BB - 4K

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Only EIGHT hits in the entire game...
Each team with FOUR hits, but the M's scored SEVEN - not your typical ratio.  It was another homer barrage for the M's tonight - Justin (his fourth in six games), Miggy and Adam (a two-run shot).  But, the THREE runs on ONE infield hit in the 3rd inning was an example of their typical offensive MO: sac bunt after a HBP and a walk, bases-loaded walk, bases-loaded ground out and an infield single.

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The M's got a little help from the Rays defense...
They were only actually charged with ONE error but, they looked shaky all night - dropping balls left and right that muffed double-plays and were just generally sloppy.  The M's were happy to take advantage.  The M's defense, on the other hand, continued their solid play in the field.  Miggy made a great catch on a mile-high pop up that the wind spun around a couple times, Mr. Death to Flying Things was superb (as usual), the Brendan-Kennedy-to-Smoak double-play was pretty nifty and Carlos even made nice running catch in LF.

AP PHOTO

AP PHOTO

Here's to winning the series tomorrow ~ day game due to the U2 concert next door at Qwest Field tomorrow night ~ on the warmest day of the year so far in Seattle!