Mariner Baseball May 30th-July 30

Wow. Look at that post title. I haven't been keeping anyone up to date on Mariner ball. Well, I don't think anyone reads this blog. If you do please post in the comments. But I should've been more consistent in my posting and more disciplined with my blogging habits.

Ok, I have to pay for it, so here I go...

May 29th to June 5th
This week they played the Texas Rangers and the Kansas City Royals. The Rangers extended the M's losing streak to 6 games, 0-2, 4-6, with the Mariners rising from the mat with a 14-5 win. Good timing. Royals were next, and the M's needed their day of the dead to look alive and remember how to swing the bat, hit thet ball, and run on dirt, so they wouldn't embarrass themselves by making the Royal's look competent. They took three games from KC, letting the Benchwarmers sneak off with a 4-9 loss.

At this point I didn't care much for events in the Mariner's season, with school only two weeks from finishing and the World Cup only days away.

Winning pitchers 5/29-5/06
F. Hernandez
J. Moyer
J. Pineiro
G. Meche
Losing Pitchers
J. Washburn (2)
G. Meche

Week in Mariner ball June 6th to June 11th
This was a good week for the M's dropping only one game to the Twins and none to the Angel's.
M's win 4-2, 10-9 but lose 3-7 in a three game series with the Twins at Safeco field. Then they traveled to someplace kinda in L.A. but kinda not to play the Angels. The Mariners make a three game sweep of this, winning 4-1, 12-6, 6-2. The World Cup had started, my Russian final was on Monday, and I forgot all I could about baseball and the Mariners. For the World Cup, I was rooting for England and USA, but once it progressed into the knockout stages my affection for Les Bleus of France was boundless. Americans think this is gross, but I could not hate Zidane, Henry, Ribery and Gallas.

Winning pitchers 6/06 to 6/11
F. Hernandez (2)
J. Mateo
J. Washburn
G. Meche

Losing pitcher
J. Pineiro

Mariner Baseball June 13th-June 18th
Mixed week, first they were swept by the Oakland A's then they swept the Giants of San Francisco as their interleague season restarted. The A's own the Mariners, as the M's have been unable to win a series against them all season. The A's renewed their Mariner tags with wins of 0-2, 2-7 and 6-9. And the American League likewise owns the National League, and when a team is mediocre in the AL (Mariners) beat-up a team that is good in the NL (that would be the Giants), then they llok a like a Ford's customer whose brand loyalty is respected but whose taste is suspect. M's win 5-4, 8-1, 5-1.

Winning pitchers 6/13-6/18
F. Hernandez
G. Meche
J. Moyer
Losing pitchers
J. Moyer
J. Pineiro
J. Wasburn

Mariner baseball June 20th-June 25th
Mariners continue to clean up in the National League, squishing the LA Dodgers and the San Diego Padres for two wins apiece, while dropping one game with each team. The M's series with the Dodgers in LA go for wins of 9-4, 8-4, and losing 2-4, then they drop their first game with the Padres 1-2, but run off with victories of 9-4, 9-5.

Winning Pitchers
J. Pineiro
J Mateo
J. Moyer
G. Sherrill

Losing Pitchers
F. Hernandez
J. Mateo

June 27th-July 2nd
Mariners take a detour from their Southern California road trip to visit the Arizona Diamondbacks. The M's turn'em upside down and empty their pockets with wins of 11-7, 10-3, 3-2. They returned to Safeco field for a three game set with the Colorado Rockies and fizzeled, losing two games 0-2, 3-4 and only one win of 8-7. The Rockies were the only NL team with a winning record against the M's in this year's edition of interleague play.

Winning pitchers
J. Woods
F. Hernandez
E. Guardado
J. Mateo

Losing pitchers
J. Moyer
J. Mateo

Mariner baseball July 3rd to July 9th
Last week of Baseball before the All-star break and the last week of the World Cup. I shoulda done all this blogging sometime then, but I was getting my head shaved and was on the lookout for Italians. But back to baseball... The M's sneak out of this week with only one win and looked terrible. First they lose the LA Angels 1-7, 6-14, 1-4. WE OWN THE ANGELS, but we lost. Why? Then we lost two straight to AL leading Detroit Tigers *choke*, losing 1-6, 1-2 before winning 3-2.

Winning pitchers
G. Meche
Losing pitchers
F. Hernandez
J. Mateo
J. Moyer
J. Pineiro
J. Washburn

July 14th-July 19th
All-star break came, France had let me down, I was depressed and I did nothing. Actually I did work, but's beside the point, if not pointless.
But the Mariners slowly revived. Well, kindof, they only won two of their next six games, but after that things would improve. First out of the break came the Toronto Blue Jays, M's took the first game 5-3 but lost the next two to the Blue Jays by scores of 6-7, 3-4. Then the New York Yankees took two games 2-4, 4-5, but the Mariners finish the week with a win of 3-2.

Winning pitchers
G. Meche
M. Lowe
Losing pitchers
E. Fruto
G. Sherrill
J. Washburn
J. Mateo

Mariner baseball July 21st-July 30th

Probably Mariners' best week and a half of baseball. Nine games and they only lost three of them, thereby winning the other six. Plus, Adam Jones gets promoted from Triple-A Tacoma to play centerfield, and Carl Everett was traded for a real DH. First, they dropped a game to the Boston Red Sox 4-9, then won 5-2, 9-8. Then they hosted the Blue Jays winning the bookends of the series 7-3, 7-4, while getting hammered in the middle game 3-12. Following this series they traveled to Cleveland to play the Indians. Chief Wahoo and purloined the first game 0-1, but the Seattle's men came back with victories of 3-1, 7-3. Now the Mariners are now playing the Baltimore Orioles. With new faces on board the Mariners are looking good, if they can win their upcoming series against Oakland, Seattle would be in position to win the AL West. Maybe.

Winning pitchers 7/21-7/30
F. Hernandez
J. Putz
J. Pineiro
J. Moyer
J. Washburn
J. Woods
Losing pitchers
J. Moyer
G. Meche
F. Hernandez

I Saw It with My Own Eyes

First things First

Drat you Boston "fans," drat you to double hockey sticks, all ye who jump on the bandwagon!

Yeah, I rooted for em' in 2004 against the Yankees, I even rooted for them against the Cardinals in the World Series, even though I wore my Card's hat every day to school. But seriously, y'all who are still on the bandwagon or even just hoping on, need to get off. Now. The Sox are really no better than the Yanks, with mercenaries looking for bounty, and waiting for a shot to play for the Yanks, do you noobs really want that, 'cause you know, Yankees Suck! Of course none of you live in Boston and care about what the franchise means for the city, after all you're bunch of mercs yourself.

And don't go tramping around the Emerald city and Safeco field as if you were soliders in a freshly occupied land, 'cause you're the ones who are occupied.

Why is it, that out here in the Northwest, we can't get loyalty to our local teams. We're eco-topians with socialistic-esque ideals, but we root like capitalists who wave our arms wildly for the lastest hot stock (kinda like how Enron used to be). This land is our land, so aren't these teams our teams. Seahawks rule football, Mariners rule baseball loyalties, while Sonics and Blazers rule their respective cities. Actually, the Sonics' new owner wants them to move to Ok. City, and according to an ESPN.com writer, people on the tv are saying this move will turn The future Ok. City Sonics into a Green Bay Packers of Basketball. That title is already taken, it's the Blazers, now buzz off.

I say this because I watched the Mariner/RedSawx contest in a sea of red. Most M's fans are probably careless enough to wear the other team's colors. If they were fans from Boston I would in awe of their devotion, but no. These fans were twerps, minor-leaguers, fair weather fanswho don't know any better than to root for the most over-hyped teams.

It seems Mariner devotion is like watching Matlock, only for the old folks, unemployed and the homeschooled. I'm actually serious about the local elderly and their devotion to the M's. For my grandpa, they're like second cousins or something, plus he sees them playing everyday. I may see him once a week if I'm lucky, since I live on the other side of town. And watching someone like the kid Felix "The King" Hernandez pitch on Saturday, he feels pride for a kid getting his shot in life, and for another great player to wear the local colors.

I just remembered, I watched a game yesterday, and a fine game it was. M's won 5-2 thanks to poor Sox fielding, luck and Japan. Ichiro was 2 for 5 with 2 RBI's, and Kenji Johjima was 0 for 4 but set into motion a crucial play when the Sox shortstop miffed a ball that allowed the M's to take the lead. Another hero I have not mentioned was DH Eduardo Perez whom I don't know much about, but with his two RBI's late in the game quietly killed the Sox.

This was my second trip to Safeco field which is gem of a park with its wonderful architecture that gives the stadium an old timey field that doesn't have a bad seat in the house. I know this as I was in the right field upperdeck with only ten or so rows until the roof. I couldn't see the right fielders (I missed you, Ichi!), but when things were still you could hear the ball hit the catcher's mit.

Gosh, really I have a lot more to type about, but that can wait for later in this week.

I'm Back! (for a little while)

I left all of y'all hanging at the beginning of June and haven't returned. This idea of blogging every week about Mariner's slippery slope year ran into a problem: it's a World Cup year. So every day between June 9th and July 9th I watched and obsessed over the Cup. I shouldn't of been so greedy, and blogged a few of my thoughts on it, but I didn't and I'm sorry. I don't look forward to blogging on this site, having to bring more tales of M woe. That shouldn't have stopped me. I won't update today, like I should've done last week, but next week this site will show some signs of life. College and pro football is coming up and so is the beginning of England's Premiership. So, I'll be updating you on the going-on's of the Golden Helmet league, the Patriots and Arsenal.

My big news is that on Saturday I'll be watching the Mariners play the Red Sox in Seattle at Safeco field, and it's gonna be great!

Mariner Baseball, May 22-May 29

Get out your barf bags people! It Mariners' Baseball!

Well... John Donovan of SI.com quotes Bob Finnagan of the Seattle Times as saying "If this keeps up, the Mariners will have to issue little white bags to fans attending their games."

It's not a real idea, however pratical it sounds. Yes, I'm a devoted M's fan, but that devotion is because of 90% accident of geography, 8% history, and 2% future. That leaves nothing to the present. Oh there are little things to love, such as when Ichiro throws baserunner out from way back in rightfield (Baseball is immune to grammar). But still what's there to love? The best pitchers are either too young or too old, Ichiro, Ibanez and Johjima, all of whom are missing puzzle pieces for contenders look worse the Yankees' utility players, as they being weighed down with the likes of Carl Everett or Adrian Beltre.

Who do we even have those guys? Safeco field is a pitcher's park with its far walls in the outfield, so why do we have these power-whiffing slugs? They're ruining the salt.

Why do I keep following these guys?

After all, I'm deeply in love with the St. Louis Cardinals and Albert Pujols. The Cards are a real team, deep with good pitching, and where starters are followed by relievers who know how to finish the game. It's filled with batters who don't look like tee-ball players who realize that their tee has been replaced live pitching. I would blog every day like the guys at deadspin, raptrously detailing the Red Birds latest attempt at greatness. No one would blame me; I wear my St. Louis hat every day, winners daily, contenders yearly, and I wouldn't have to worry about ineffectiveness of the Manager or the GM.

But still I will persist. There's still that 2% future, that maybe next year they'll great rid of their fat dinosaurs, Jamie Moyer and Felix Hernandez will be able to share their wisdom and youth, and that Mariners would play such great ball, A-rod and Griffey will be left weeping, wondering how they could have gone wrong leaving this team. That and watch Fraiser.

Pitching winners
J. Moyer
J. Washburn

Pitching losers
F. Hernandez
J. Moyer
J. Pineiro
G. Meche
E. Guardado

Batting stats (through the 22nd)
BA: 0.259
K's: 303
BB: 122
RBI: 217
HR's: 42
OBP: .314 (tied at 11th with the K.C. Royals)
SLG.: .392 (last)
OPS.: .706 (12th in the AL)


How did they reach these vaunted, vaulted heights of suckery?
After finishing a good series with the Padres they turned around and split a series with equally-sucky Orioles 8-6, 4-12, 7-4, 0-2. Then they ventured to play the crappy Twins for three game set and were swept, 1-3, 5-9, 3-4. And yesterday they lost to the Texas Rangers 0-2. Joyous. I don't really want to talk about them anymore for today. I've had enough for now, see you next week.

Week of Mariner Baseball, May 16-21

The Mariners got off to a terrible start this week, dropping three straight, 6-12, 2-7, 3-6, to the Oakland A's in Oakland. But they returned to the friendly confines of Safeco field for an interleague matchup with the San Diego Padres of the National League's Western division. They routed the Padres 7-4, 6-3, 10-8. Good news for the M's they defeated a team doing so much better than themselves.

Thsi week they're playing the Baltimore Orioles in a four game set and Minnesota Twins in three game set in the Twin Cities.


Pitching winners
R. Soriano
G. Meche
F. Hernandez


Pitching losers
F. Hernandez
J. Moyer
J. Pineiro

Batting stats (through the 22nd)
BA: 0.264
K's: 254
BB: 108
RBI: 198
HR's: 40
OBP: .319
SLG.: .405
OPS.: .724 (11th in the AL)

The M's pitchers are now pitching 4.59, which is 7th among AL pitching staffs, their lowest position since I've been keeping track of it.
The Mariners are now 3rd in the AL West and three games behind the division l,eading Rangers.

Here's a link to Sports Illustrated's John Donovan's MLB power rankings. Another link to the Oregonian's Brian Meehan and a column he wrote on how the M 's miss Mike Cameron. I was at Safeco field last summer when Cameron (who at the time was with the NY Mets) and he recieved a very warm greeting from the Mariner faithful.

Week of Mariners

Mariners started their week at home against cellar owners Tampa Bay Devil Rays. They won the first two, 6-3, 8-1 but dropped the third 0-1, after Old man Moyer balked with a man on third. Ridiculous.

Then they traveled to the City of Angels (of Anaheim) to play the Angels, which is a mediocre club that should be better than it plays. After the M's threw the first game 7-12, they proved the Angels's mediocrity with wins of 5-4, 9-4. The first victory coming in the thirteenth inning.

Pitching winners
G. Meche (2 wins)
F Hernandez
G Sherrill

Pitching losers
J. Moyer
J. Pineiro

Batting stats.
BA: 0.257
K's: 227
BB: 92
RBI: 158
HR's: 31
OBP: .313
SLG.: .391
OPS.: .704 (11th in the AL)

Mariner pitchers are throwing a collective 4.41 ERA, which is 4th in the AL.

Currently the M's are 3rd in the AL West, and 4 games behind the division leading Rangers.

Another Week of Mariner Baseball

When we last lef t the M's, they were a 2 1/2 gmes out of first in the AL West, and had come off a winning series against the O's. They were heading into a two game series with the woeful Twins.

They split that series: 8-2, 1-5, and then visited the champion ChiSox, and lost both games, 5-6, 1-4. Returning to Seattle they faced the Cleveland Indians, losing the opening and closing games, 4-9, 0-2, and winning the middle game 4-1.

Pitching Winners
J. Pineiro (2 games)

Pitching Losers
J. Washburn (2 games)
J. Woods
F. Hernandez
R. Soriano

Batting Stats through Sunday
BA: 0.254
K's: 194
BB: 84
RBI: 133
HR's: 21
OBP: .314
SLG.: .381
OPS.: .694, 11th in the AL

Mariner's ERA is 6th in the AL at 4.45

M's are 4.5 games out of first place in the AL West.
Ichiro is hitting .277, I think this is an improvement. I don't know.

Week in Mariner Baseball

Their first series of the week came against the World Series champion Chicago White Sox, so the worst could be feared. But good things happened. They won the first game 4-3, and won the third game 5-1, however, they did lose the middle game 3-13.

After this the M's journeyed to Baltimore to face the mediocre Orioles. They dropped the first game 2-5, but took games 2 and 3 by the scores of 8-6, 4-3, respectively. These last two games were the first wins of the season for Felix "Really Young" Hernandez and Jamie "Really Old" Moyer.

Pitching winners:
J. Mateo
J Washburn
F. Hernandez
J. Moyer

Pitching losers:
J. Vazquez
D. Cabrera

Team Batting Stats through Sunday:
BA: 0.219
K's: 159
BB: 72
RBI's:106
HR's: 19
OBP: .315
SLG: .365
OPS: .675

OPS (On Base Per. Plus Slugging per.) is the best stat to measure overall offensive performance, and the M's are 12th in the AL.

Meanwhile the Mariner's pitching staff is 5th in the AL with an ERA of 4.58. Obviously the pitching is playoff caliber, but the batters are still only swingers.

But the good news is they're only 2.5 games behind the AL West leading Rangers. So maybe there is some hope for us.

Mariner Games #18, 19 & 20 (Yeah A Triple-Header of Awfulness!)

Game 18

Mariners lost 2-1 one to once tepid Detroit Tigers. This season sucks.

Game 19

2-0 loss once again to the Tigers.

Game 20

Tonight they lost 6-4.
You must remember this: A kiss is still kiss, I meant to say that the Tigers have been in the AL cellar longer than a French wino. The M's are now there in their place, but they must be drinking kvass, 'cause they can't hit none of that hard stuff. Maybe they can't see 'em.

I use an awful lot of baseballese, do you faithful one readers want a crash course in this wonderful tongue? Da! Alrighty then, I'll it some other day. Oh yeah, from now on I will only be giving yall your M fix once a week, at least until they're fixed.

And in hockey info, it's playoff season, Av's up 1-0 over the wicked Dallas Stars.

And today is Easter Sunday (it's Monday now, actually) so...

ХРИТОС ВОСКРЕС!

All my Barry Bond's cards to person who can give the correct response!

Mariner Game #17

M's lost to Texas on Friday night 4-3. Lost the series to them 1-2.

Season series thus far:

Angels 2-1
A's 1-3
Indians 2-1
Red Sox 1-3
Rangers 1-2

Slipping into the celler having won only one series in the AL West. Sad.

Mariner Games #15 & #16

Game 15
On Tuesday Felix, the Phenom, Hernandez was toasted as division rival Rangers went yard all over on him.


Game 16

Wednesday's game
M's beat Rangers 9-6, and I'll try to quote my grandpa's account of the game.

"It was 6-1 in the 6th and the Mariners were losing, so I thought I would change the channel. An inning later I checked on them and the score was 6-2. They scored two runs in the 8th, so it was 6-4. The final score was 9-6; they had 28 hits."

Winning hit was a three run walk-off home-run courtesy of Carl "Twitchy-rear" Everett. (Ever seen him in the box? It looks ...ewww...).

Mariner Game #14

Marieners lose 7-6 to the Sox, and drop to 6-8. Ichiro is hitting .190 despite not appearing to be slumping anymore. The excellence of the pitching over the weekend is encouraging, but offense isn't backing it up. mariners are 7th in pitching in the AL, putting them just outside of the playoffs, but the offense is dead last in the league. While other batters have caught fire for other teams, the M's bats range from mediocre to bad. An exception is Kenji Johjima, who possess good average and power.

I would like to return to Ichiro, what's happened to him?

Mariner's Game #12 and #13

Lazy me treating M's 3-0 win over the the BoSox on Saturday, and their 3-2 loss to Boston as if they were a double-header. I'm sorry. Good pitching by both teams all weekend.

Mariner Game #11

Jamie Moyer lost to the valiant Curt Schilling 2-1. This puts the M's back in the red, but I don't mind them losing like this to a good opponent.

Good Friday: The Day After

I know I could not begin to fathom the suffering of Christ on the cross, and I know the North American church does not understand pain. Pain is often explained away in terms of trial and temptation. Pain, or rather suffering as pain is simply part of life in some way, but suffering, hyperbolic psychological, or physical hurt (torment is nearby) is an exploitation of the sensitivity pain and touch provides.

Suffering is a trial, but is that the reason for its presence? To me it seems meaningless, here it might have meaning, as a negative reflection of the ultimately meaningful.

What do you think?


Related is something I was thinking last night in church. I think Christ refused the devil's temptation of jumping from the temple, and let the angels save him before he crashed, because he was to descend from heaven and let himself be shattered on the rocks, not to rely on the 12 legions of Angels to save him. I think suffering is uncovering the core of the World. Not the Earth, but the world which we live in; the Tower of Babel reaching towards Heaven. I think this is the reason why he befriended prostitutes and drunks. They live in the lowest level of the Tower, and can't think of trying to reach the sky from where they are.

Oh well... I need to expound and expand on some of these things.

On something completely unrelated note. Today is Saturday and tomorrow is Easter, all of the Seven Day Adventists are at church now (I can see a few of them across the street), are they going to go back to church tomorrow? I'll keep an eye on them.

Mariner Game #10

They Won! 9-5 over Wahoo's Indians. Ichiro hit his first home run of the season; a two run shot, that brought the M's within a run in the 5th. Later other Mariners also contributed, thereby lifting them out of lousiness into the realm of the mediocre. What do I care? I t was a great game. However, I must strike a more melancholy note, the kid, Felix Hernandez is still throwing a hundred pitches over only 4 or so innings. He is apparently having trouble locating some of his fastballs, leaving them over the plate for the power-hungry Tribe.

You may've wondered who is Chief Yahoo, well here he is.



Obviously he's a "PC" Indian (don't offend him with "Native American"), and a mascot to show what a kind, sensitive city Cleveland is.

Tomorrow the Mariners are in Boston, and the superb Jamie Moyer will duel with the great Curt Schilling of the Red Sox, these two pitchers should make it a classic.

Mariner Game #9

Wahoo-red hot Indians lose to the M's 11-9. Hallelujah!

It's Easter week (at least in the west), I should really post something about churches.

This blog is suppossedly about me and my life, and my life is a lousy baseball team?

(Now it's time for Eucharisto to rightly comment I'm too hard on the M's)

Am I easy on anything. Tonight I thought I had finally lost it. If I ever try to run away from home I'll do it Tolstoi style, just when I'm feeling like this is going nowhere.

Dostoevskii was always running away from home with his travels. Generally he wrote his masterpieces abroad. I might have to post more about this.

Mariner Game#8

M's lost to Chief Wahoo, and the rest of the Cleveland Indians 9-5. Somebody shoot me. Ichiro is hitting .176. This sucks.

Mariner Game #7

On Sunday the Mariner's closed out their first homestand of the season by losing to the A's 6-4. This is almost encouraging. In a thank-you for not being shutout again(!) sort of way.

But still it's discouraging. Ichiro is slumping, no power, and few hits, Everett doesn't look good, and Beltre has earned for himself a B-U-S-T, and should be considering whether to try again, or make everyone else prove it.

The pitchers don't have pretty win totals, but as a staff they have a 4.57 ERA which 6th in the AL. Still the numbers will have to climb down, as the M's bats are playing limbo with their batting average.

...sigh...

Mariner Game #6

First game of the season I got to see this season, and they fell to the A's three-nil. Early in the game Richie Sexson got on third courtesy of a deep center field double and a wild pitch, but three consecutive Mariners whiffed; incapable of moving a runner from 3rd to home. What nonsense.
Mariner pitching is second in the leauge in ERA, but the high-price batters are sucking right now. Maybe they'll win tomorrow.