Final score: Mariners 5, Blue Jays 3

Blame Canada for trading Eric Thames to the Mariners and only getting Steve Delabar in return. In his first appearance with Toronto, Delabar gave up one hit and struck out one former teammate. In his first appearance for Seattle, Thames crushed a pitch to dead center field for a game-tying, 2-RBI home run.

Blame Canada for looking unbeatable through the first four frames. Carlos Villanueva retired nine batters before Dustin Ackley’s single poked a hole through the infield. Colby Rasmus and Kelly Johnson took liberties with Beavan’s 91 MPH fastball, launching it to center field for an early lead.

Blame Canada for making Blake Beavan look bad (just kidding, we know he’s bad already) and then forgetting how to hit baseballs in the last four innings. Tom Wilhelmsen notched his 15th save of the season, while Lucas Luetge set down the only batter he faced with a called strikeout.

Blame Canada for choking during this series and handing the Mariners their second series sweep and seventh consecutive win in a ten game homestand.

And, when you’re done blaming Canada, don’t forget to thank the Mariners for all they’ve done to make this homestand possible. Let’s go for win #8 in New York!

Next game: vs. Yankees | August 3 | 4:05pm

Final score: Mariners 4, Blue Jays 1

Unsustainable. That’s the word that crosses my mind when I see four wins lined up for the Mariners and six consecutive losses for the opposing pitcher. After looking at tonight’s match-ups, I chose to stay home and work rather than spend the night at the park.

My mistake.

Hisashi Iwakuma, former long reliever and the latest to grace the Mariners’ rotation, set a franchise rookie record—and tied his NPB league record—with 13 strikeouts in a stunning 8-inning, 4-hit performance. Even more admirable was his ability to complete such a performance given his recent trip to Japan to spend time with his ailing father (via Geoff Baker).

At the plate, the Mariners pummeled Ricky Romero for his seventh straight loss, grabbing 8 hits, 4 runs, and 2 walks in the first 6 innings. With four singles and an RBI double play, tonight’s game marked the eighth time in the past ten games where the Mariners have scored in the first inning.

Tomorrow, newly-acquired outfielder Eric Thames is expected to make his first start in a Mariners uniform. On the flip side, if Romero’s pitching turns out to be contagious, Seattle just may see Steve Delabar emerge from the Jays’ bullpen.

Next game: vs. Blue Jays | July 31 | 7:10pm

After sweeping the Kansas City Royals in four games, the Mariners now welcome the Toronto Blue Jays to town to finish up the longest homestand of the year. While the talk over the next few days around baseball will be understandably dominated by the upcoming trade deadline on Tuesday night, there will still be three games played at Safeco—three games that could either help the Mariners prove that they are improving or bring them back down to earth against a tougher opponent. Jose Bautista is still on the disabled list for Toronto—a lucky break for the Mariners.

Current record: 51-50

Last series: vs. Tigers. On Friday night the Blue Jays cashed in on some timely hitting with eight of their nine starters getting at least one hit. Prince Fielder and Miguel Cabrera both hit homers off of starter Carlos Villanueva, but the Jays’ offensive attack led to an 8-3 win. Saturday saw more of the same—Toronto knocked ten hits off of Anibal Sanchez, Brayan Villareal and Phil Coke, cruising to a 5-1 victory. They weren’t able to complete the sweep on Sunday, however, as Doug Fister gave up only one run over eight innings.

Last series against Seattle: April 27 – April 29, 2012. Remember that extra innings game where Michael Saunders hit his tenth inning grand slam to give the Mariners a 9-5 victory? Less memorable are probably the 7-0 drubbing at the hands of Brandon Morrow and the series finale in which Steve Delabar and Charlie Furbush gave up five runs over the final two innings. Hopefully the Mariners are able to reproduce the excitement they created in the first game and forget about the following days.

Familiar Faces: The Blue Jays’ roster has a couple of interesting names on it with ties to Seattle, with the most prolific by far being Omar Vizquel. Signed by Seattle as a 17-year-old free agent back in 1984, Vizquel broke into the big leagues with the Mariners on April 3, 1989, six months before I was born. He went on to play for the Mariners for five years, growing up with a young team that included Randy Johnson, Edgar Martinez, Jay Buhner and Ken Griffey, Jr. Omar has won eleven gold gloves at shortstop, but his biggest impact for the Mariners came on April 22, 1993, when he flashed his defensive prowess to secure a no-hitter for Chris Bosio.

Tuesday’s starter, Aaron Laffey, played for the Mariners for part of 2011 and, for a few months, looked like he could become a mainstay in the Mariners bullpen for years to come. Through July 17th and over 34.1 innings, he had only given up seven runs, good for an ERA of 1.83. Ironically, the Mariners then went to Toronto and in 3.1 innings during that series, he gave up three runs, making his ERA jump to 2.39. Between July 19th and August 16th, Laffey made eight appearances for the Mariners and gave up 12 runs over 8.1 innings for an ERA of 12.96. Understandably, the Mariners waived Laffey, who was picked up by the Yankees and then the Royals, the last two opponents the Mariners faced.

There’s also Brandon Morrow, but he’s on the disabled list and I don’t want to talk about Brandon Morrow. Not one bit. » Continue reading “Series Preview: Toronto Blue Jays”

After a short three-game stretch at home following the All-Star break, the Mariners take their show on the road with their first stop in the city that hosted the All-Star festivities – Kansas City.

Current record: 38-49

Last game: vs. White Sox. The Royals lost a tough 2-1 ballgame to Chris Sale, who boosted his W-L record to an impressive 11-2 for a second year starter. While the Royals were able to rack up 11 hits, going 2-12 with runners in scoring position isn’t quite the way to seal a victory, a fate that Mariners fans are all too familiar with this year.

The Royals are now 3-8 in July. The Mariners are 3-7.

Familiar Faces: Yuniesky Betancourt is the lone member of the Royals that used to play for Seattle, but his presence likely doesn’t instill fear in any Mariner fan. Once a top prospect, Yuni broke into the majors with Seattle in 2005 and started out as a decent shortstop, hitting .284 over his first three years with mediocre defense. Over his time in Seattle, however, he quickly declined both offensively and defensively, leading the Mariners to ship him to Kansas City in 2009 for two minor leaguers, neither of whom panned out.

Miguel Olivo played for the Royals in 2008 and 2009 and his stats wouldn’t shock anybody. Over 198 games he hit 35 homeruns… while only putting up an OBP of .286 (although Mariners fans would do anything for kind of production from him at this point).

Last series against Seattle: September 8 – September 11, 2011. The Mariners and Royals played four games in September that I honestly don’t remember anything about, looking at the box scores. They split the series 2-2 and both teams remained in fourth place in their respective divisions. It turns out the series saw Michael Pineda’s last start in Safeco Field – a start in which he went eight innings and gave up three runs with an impressive eight strikeouts to go along with one walk. Because the Mariners’ offense was his support, he took the loss. » Continue reading “Series Preview: Kansas City Royals”

I don’t know how I ended up watching a football game tonight, but it was one of the more entertaining games of the season.

The Seahawks took on the Cowboys, who handed over two touchdowns and a two-point conversion in the first two quarters. By the fourth quarter, Dallas regained a little momentum, putting up a touchdown and two-point conversion of their own, but the Hawks came back to win it 21-8.

Okay, so it doesn’t sound like the most impressive football game, even though I’ll take a Seahawks win any day. But the Mariners defeating the Rangers 21-8 in Arlington? That’s worthy of a highlight reel.

Unlike last night’s 10-3 win, this game wasn’t fueled by errors or productive outs. Instead, it was a hit parade modeled after the Rangers’ recent 34-run series against Toronto. With the exceptions of late-game pinch hitters Mike Carp and Munenori Kawasaki, each Mariner put up at least one hit and one run. Michael Saunders had his second 3-hit night in a row, Kyle Seager went 4-for-6 with a pair of doubles and base hits, and Justin Smoak earned the Mariners’ Player of the Game award with 2 home runs and 6 RBI.

Backed by more run support than he’s received in his entire career, Blake Beavan put up just 2 hits and 2 strikeouts in 6 innings. He held the Rangers scoreless through 5, and backed by a 17-run lead, allowed 6 hits and 5 runs in the 6th.

Wedge’s Closer of the Day was Hisashi Iwakuma, who made his first relief appearance since May 16. After 3 innings, 5 hits, 3 earned runs, and a walk, Iwakuma earned his first save of 2012.

During the game, my Twitter feed exploded with record-setting, -tying, and -breaking facts from MLB and Mariners club history. Here are just a few…

• Tonight marked the second-highest scoring game in Mariners history, preceded by a 22-6 beatdown of the Detroit Tigers in April 1999. The last time Seattle scored more than 20 runs in a single game was 12 years ago, in a 21-9 away game against the Anaheim Angels.
• The Mariners scored as many runs in this game as they did during their entire homestand from May 21 – 27.
• In 8 runs, the Rangers failed to hit a single home run. It was their first homer-less game since a 3-1 win in Seattle last Tuesday.
• From Value Over Replacement Grit: “The Mariners have set a modern-day American League record for the highest “same run” total scored in consecutive innings (home or road), as well as the Major League record for a road team.”
• Via Mariners PR guy Jeff Evans: Kyle Seager made the list of just three MLB player to record consecutive 2-double games. The other members? Joey Votto and Yonder Alonso.
• Also from Evans: “21 runs scored are most in the Majors this season, and most since the Yankees scored 22 [on] 8/25/11 vs. Oakland.”
• Dave Cameron boosted my confidence in the Mariners’ offense (I know, as if the 21 runs hadn’t already) with this tweet: “Five of the nine Mariners who started tonight’s game posted a wOBA of .500 or better.”
• And finally, this fact was uncovered by Needle Ball’s own Steven Mataya: “With today’s game, the Mariners went from 22nd in MLB in runs scored to 10th!”

Tomorrow, Steve Delabar will take a trip to Tacoma. By Friday, when the Mariners open their second road series in Chicago, Triple-A threat Stephen Pryor is scheduled to join the team—and, hopefully, make his major league debut.

Next game: @ White Sox | June 1 | 5:10pm

There’s something odd going on with the series previews around here. Without fail, the players I deem the weakest on any given team always have bounce back games against the Mariners. For instance, Mike Napoli is still only 1-for-21 against Seattle this season, but his one hit was a game-winning 3-run shot off Steve Delabar.

The Mariners are rolling downhill with their fifth consecutive loss, the longest losing streak they’ve had all year. Kevin Millwood tied up the game with a single home run to Nelson Cruz, but kept 5 runners stranded over 5.0 IP, allowing 4 hits, 2 walks, and striking out 5 of 21 batters.

Following a messy outing by Delabar (2 hits, 3 runs, 1 walk, 1 strikeout) and a scoreless 1.2 innings by Charlie Furbush, Brandon League entered the game in his first non-save situation. Cruz took League’s sinker for a single on the second pitch, but was nabbed by Montero on his way to second base. The closer-by-committee was not needed today, as the team couldn’t quite find a way to rally in the 9th, wasting a free base (courtesy of Elvis Andrus’ fielding error) with a double play.

On the plus side, Brendan Ryan broke an 0-for-10 streak with an RBI triple, driving in Michael Saunders and sliding into a tag at home plate for the first out. Montero went 2-for-4 tonight, representing the only other run with an RBI single to score Ichiro in the 1st inning. In 31 AB, the Mariners managed to strike out just 5 times, the lowest tally since Friday’s 5-strikeout outing against the Angels.

Losses like these aren’t all that perplexing. It’s not a matter of Seattle failing (1-for-2 with RISP, by the way) as much as it is Texas succeeding (home run party!). Or, you know, maybe the Mariners always struggle in Arlington because the Rangers won’t let them play the last inning.

I smell a conspiracy...

Next game: @ Rangers | May 29 | 5:05pm

The season is still young. Sample sizes are only starting to grow, there are 117 games left to win, and just last week, I was depressed because the Mariners went 3-4.

After irrationally considering every win a step towards the World Series and each loss a step towards total oblivion, I tried buying into The Plan. You know, the whole, “we’re not contending this year, but we’re still worth watching” Plan. And as much as I hate to say it, Jack Z may be onto something.

Tonight, some of the Mariners looked great, and some of the Mariners looked awful. Hector Noesi made a strong showing through 8 innings, surrendering 3 runs on 3 hits, walking 2, and striking out 7 of 29 batters. With the help of Lucas Luetge and Steve Delabar, he snapped both the Rangers’ 15-game home run streak and the Mariners’ 3-game streak of handing out home runs.

As a team, Texas is batting just .161 against Seattle this week, stranding 21 and going 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position. It’s not as if the Mariners have bragging rights, however, as they went 1-for-9 with Justin Smoak’s RBI single. Then again, it’s worth pointing out that they managed a 6-1 win yesterday and only went 2-for-9 with RISP. Go figure.

While it may be ill-advised to get excited about a team who struck out 20 times in 2 games, I can get behind a rotation that is starting to look a little more solid behind Felix Hernandez. Sure, Kevin Millwood’s complete game shutout was a wonderful anomaly, and Blake Beavan’s 6-4 win may have more to do with the fourth-place Rockies than the third-place Mariners, but a 7-strikeout game against the Rangers is nothing to sniff at.

On Wednesday, Millwood faces RHP Scott Feldman, a last-minute replacement for Neftali Feliz, who landed on the DL Monday with a right elbow sprain. Perhaps by tomorrow afternoon the Mariners will manage to coordinate their defense and offense for a series win.

Next game: vs. Rangers | May 23 | 12:40pm

Final score: Indians 6, Mariners 5

I don’t have the heart to talk about this game. Yesterday was one loss too many, and today… well, here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The good: Brendan Ryan went 2-for-3 with a pair of base hits, an RBI, and two walks. In 2012, Ryan has taken 18 walks and scored on 8 of them, which doesn’t speak to the quality of his hitting, but my excitement when the opposing team awards him bases for not hacking at every pitch.

Hector Noesi kept a scoreless game through 6.1 innings, allowing 5 hits, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts, and a run on Lucas Luetge’s slider to Asdrubal Cabrera.

Michael Saunders went 1-for-6, but his lone hit was an 11th inning RBI double that snapped a 4-4 tie.

The bad: Once again, the Mariners looked clueless with runners on base. Today was especially dreadful, stranding 11 and going 2-for-18 with RISP.

The ugly: After 7 blissful innings of a multi-run lead, Jose Lopez carved up a 92 MPH fastball from Steve Delabar, bouncing it off the yellow line for a 3-RBI home run.

Not to be outdone, Brandon League earned his third blown save of the year, walking 3 batters and giving up a walk-off single in 0.1 IP.

Next game: @ Rockies | May 18 | 5:40pm

Final score: Mariners 3, Tigers 2

To say I was nervous for the Mariners at the start of this series would be a bit of an understatement. To say that I was concerned for them going into the 9th inning would be a severe understatement.

Miguel Cabrera, Most Successful Tiger In Seattle, ended the 3rd inning by plunking Blake Beavan on the back with a line drive. After Kyle Seager turned the double play, Beavan left the game with a right elbow contusion—according to Geoff Baker, the ball nicked his elbow as he turned to avoid it.

With a benched starter after three innings, a good portion of the ‘pen showed up to carry the Mariners: Hisashi Iwakuma in the 4th, Shawn Kelley in the 7th, Charlie Furbush in the 7th, and Steve Delabar in the 9th. Of the four, Iwakuma made his most impressive appearance for the Mariners so far this season, striking out 5 of 12 batters and allowing just 3 hits and 1 earned run in 3 IP.

With former teammate Doug Fister on the mound, what little offense the Mariners managed to muster up this weekend evaporated. Even ugly RISP numbers sunk to a respectable 0-for-2, as they seemed incapable of even reaching base.

Fortunately, Detroit closer Octavio Dotel took pity on the struggling team. In the 9th, he served back-to-back walks to Brendan Ryan and Ichiro, awarding them RISP status with a wild pitch to Jesus Montero. Another wild pitch, a double lashed to center field, another run scored, and with no outs, the Mariners had a tie ballgame.

The cherry on top? After a game where the Mariners forgot how to swing a baseball bat, after losing Blake Beavan and trusting the bullpen to pick up the pieces, after facing Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder… John Jaso lifted a sacrifice fly to score Munenori Kawasaki and win the ballgame in a one-inning comeback.

To say that I am anxious about the state of the Mariners following this game would be anything but an understatement.

Next game: vs. Tigers | May 8 | 7:10pm

After last night’s gorgeous one-hitter by King Felix (and, to a lesser extent, Steve Delabar), the Mariners clinched the series with a 5-2 win over the Twins this afternoon.

Hector Noesi pitched his longest start since April 14, going 7.0 innings for 4 hits, 1 earned run, 3 walks, and 5 strikeouts in 27 batters faced. His replacements, Lucas Luetge and Tom Wilhelmsen, allowed Ryan Doumit his second home run of the day, but shut down the other seven batters with relative ease, putting up a walk and 3 strikeouts in 2 IP.

As daunting as Doumit looked at the plate, his were the only runs the Twins managed against the Seattle. Brendan Ryan, whom Wedge is experimenting with in the No. 2 spot (something I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to), went 1-for-4 with a base hit and a sacrifice fly. The hero of the day, however, was Mike Carp, coming through with a solo shot off RHP Nick Blackburn’s curveball.

As a whole, the team took zero walks from Blackburn and Minnesota’s ‘pen, but went 3-for-6 with runners in scoring position—a much lower and more satisfactory number than those we saw from Seattle on the road last week.

With the first series win since April 26 under their belts, the Mariners look to the Tigers for a repeat of their last matchup: three straight wins. On Monday, Blake Beavan will go head-to-head with RHP Doug Fister. Tuesday features Kevin Millwood vs. RHP Justin Verlander, and Wednesday, Jason Vargas takes the mound against LHP Drew Smyly. Can the Mariners pull out another sweep against Detroit, or will Prince Fielder and Miguel Cabrera finally do some damage in Seattle?

Next game: vs. Tigers | May 7 | 7:10pm