After a road trip full of postseason contenders and lucky opponents, the Mariners are headed home to face someone with a worse record than themselves: the Minnesota Twins.

Current record: 6-18

Last game: vs. Angels. Minnesota was no-hit with a beautiful performance by Jered Weaver, who struck out nine batters and came one at-bat away from a perfect game after allowing a walk to Josh Willingham.

In 24 games, the Twins were swept in four of five series losses. They are currently nursing a 3-game losing streak.

Last series against Seattle: September 20 – 22, 2011. Seattle took the series 2-1 with two late-inning rallies by Alex Liddi, Kyle Seager, Dustin Ackley, and Ichiro. Minnesota grabbed a 3-2 win in the last game, when Steve Delabar handed a walk-off double to DH Rene Tosoni.

Over the past five years, the Twins hold a 16-18 overall record against the Mariners, split 9-7 at Target Field and 7-11 at Safeco.

Toughest player: Josh Willingham vs. Jesus Montero. Willingham carries 5 home runs in 21 games, batting .333/.432/.653 in 88 PA. Not to discredit Kyle Seager’s pair of home runs yesterday, but Montero leads the lineup (along with Michael Saunders) in homers, picking up a .294/.303/.459 slash line in 22 games and 89 PA. As mentioned on the Bob and Groz Show last week, Montero’s offense appears to pick up when he starts behind the plate, so I expect his performance will only improve from here.

Weakest link: Trevor Plouffe vs. Chone Figgins. In 13 games, Plouffe is batting .121/.275/.242, with a scoreless streak of 10 at-bats in the past three games. Chone is inching ahead with his 0-for-18 streak, picking up 0 walks and 7 strikeouts in four starts.

Expected result: Normally, I’m wary of predicting an easy win against a team who has performed this poorly; every case of bad luck has to end eventually. However, what do you do when both teams are skidding with multiple losses? As disheartening as a no-hitter can be, I’ll put my money on the Mariners taking this series. Their record is stronger in Safeco Field, they have a 13-homer streak to maintain, and Seattle fans are due for a break after watching four consecutive losses at the Safe last month. Do it for the fans, Mariners.

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Just as Larry Stone predicted yesterday, Mike Carp was called up from Tacoma as soon as Miguel Olivo was assigned to the DL. He represented the final at-bat of today’s game, pinch-hitting for Brendan Ryan and going down swinging as Fernando Rodney retired the side.

The Mariners couldn’t quite get things started tonight, stranding 15 runners and striking out 12 times. They scattered 9 hits in 8 innings, only three of which went for extra bases, including Michael Saunders’s home run off lefty starter Matt Moore. Thanks to the efforts of Jesus Montero, who went 4-for-4 with three singles and a double, the team reached base in all but two innings.

In large part, this game belonged to the pitching staff. Hector Noesi earned his third loss of the season, lasting 5.2 IP for 3 hits, 3 walks, and 3 earned runs. His trio of relievers—Lucas Luetge, Steve Delabar, and Charlie Furbush—pitched a flawless 2.1 innings, allowing just one walk and striking out three. Although the Rays gave up three times as many hits, only one fell in for a run, leaving Moore and his ‘pen with 12 strikeouts and a win.

Tomorrow, Blake Beavan takes on RHP James Shields for Game #3. Beavan made his last start in a 9-5 win against the Blue Jays, while Shields is 4-0 on the season, with 13 earned runs and 28 strikeouts in his last five starts. As far as the offense goes… well, let me put it this way. RBIs may be meaningless in the world of sabermetrics, but when it comes to winning games, I wouldn’t mind seeing a few more out of this team.

Next game: @ Rays | May 2 | 4:10pm

Hello, Detroit. Goodbye, losing streak.

It had to happen someday, and thankfully for the Mariners, someday was not an extra 13 losses away. After a weekend sweep by the White Sox and a 3-6 homestand, Seattle regained a little confidence against the Tigers in tonight’s 7-4 win.

Jason Vargas picked up his third win of the season, handing over 6 hits, 4 runs, and a walk in 6 IP. In the 4th, with two outs and Prince Fielder standing on first, Alex Avila launched a fastball to center field to bring the Tigers within a run of tying the game. One inning later, Miguel Cabrera shot Vargas’s cutter to left field, again bringing the Tigers up to a one-run deficit.

Fortunately for Seattle, Cabrera’s fifth home run of the season was also the last run Detroit saw during this game. In the remaining three innings, Steve Delabar, Tom Wilhelmsen, and Brandon League combined for 2 hits, 2 walks, and 3 strikeouts. The Tigers’ last chance to score came in the 8th on back-to-back singles from Cabrera and Fielder. With a passed ball by Olivo putting the tying run on second, Wilhelmsen struck out Jhonny Peralta and Alex Avila to end the inning.

At the plate, the Mariners continued to battle. Chone Figgins started the game with a leadoff walk off RHP Max Scherzer, coming around to score on Jesus Montero’s RBI single. Every other Mariner caught at least one hit, from Michael Saunders’ two RBI doubles to Alex Liddi’s first home run of the season. I would devote more time to writing about the wonderful surge of offense from the team, but I don’t want them to get the idea that this is anything special. You should already be putting up these kinds of performances, Mariners.

Tomorrow, the M’s will try for win #2 against Detroit’s LHP Adam Wilk. I don’t know who Adam Wilk is, but I know who King Felix is, and I have enough confidence that should Seattle forget to bring an offense with them, Felix will handle the likes of Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder just fine.

Next game: @ Tigers | April 25 | 4:10pm

Final score: Mariners 4, Rangers 3

Oh, Mariners. I was so ready to write this recap before the 9th inning. I was going to talk about your 23 1/3 scoreless innings, Jaso’s first-pitch groundout in his debut at-bat, and the plethora of infield popups. And then you had to go and break the Rangers’ lead and make me think that you’re a team capable of winning games. Thanks a lot.

In his first appearance with Seattle, Kevin Millwood weathered a difficult six innings, sweating out 35 pitches in the 1st and finishing with a line of 4 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, and 7 SO. Nelson Cruz roughed up Millwood in the 6th, with a shot up the middle that smacked Kevin’s right forearm. Two batters later, Steve Delabar was called in to extend the Rangers’ lead, serving back-to-back home runs to Ian Kinsler and Elvis Andrus.

While Hisashi Iwakuma was instructed to warm up in the bullpen, it appears he never officially left, and remains the only player on the 25-man roster yet to make an appearance this season. Instead, left-handed reliever Lucas Luetge picked up the win, escaping 1.1 innings with a hit and two strikeouts.

Among the others to debut tonight were designated hitters and backup catchers Jesus Montero and John Jaso. Montero picked up his first start behind the plate, with a quick glove and a base hit off Texas starter Colby Lewis. In the DH spot, Jaso’s first-pitch groundout was easily overlooked by the 8th, when he stretched a double into a triple and allowed Ackley to drive in the Mariners’ first run.

By the 9th, the rest of the lineup perked up. Justin Smoak kicked off the inning with a single to right, Kyle Seager lashed a double to right, and Smoak ran right home on Montero’s sacrifice fly. Michael Saunders followed with another double, Jaso drove him in with a single, and Chone Figgins clinched the game with… a strikeout. (Sorry, I had to.)

If this recap is devoid of the appropriate amount of exclamation marks, it’s because I am still in shock. The Mariners beat the Rangers. The Mariners beat the Rangers with four runs. The Mariners beat the Rangers after refusing to score for 23 1/3 innings. Maybe the Mariners can beat the Rangers again.

Next game: @ Rangers | April 12 | 11:05am | 2 days until Opening Night

The Mariners are in first place.

Before you rush to tell me that the beginning of the season has as much value as Spring Training, let me just say that there may be very few times this season when the above sentence will be true. I have to write it while I still can.

Chone Figgins kicked off tonight’s game with a triple off Oakland starter Bartolo Colon. After a slow start in the Cactus League, Figgins heated up this weekend with 6 hits, 2 runs, and 4 RBIs in his last two games. The leadoff spot appears to be treating him quite well so far this season.

At the other end of the lineup, Munenori Kawasaki made his first major league start, going 1-for-4 with an RBI single. However, his most memorable moment of the night comes courtesy of Shannon Drayer:

After racking up a staggering seven runs in four innings, the Mariners hit a bit of a lull. Felix emerged after 6.1 IP with 8 hits, 6 runs, and 7 strikeouts in 29 batters, leaving the last earned run to RHP Steve Delabar. In the 6th, Michael Saunders came through for Seattle’s last run, a solo shot to right field off LHP Jerry Blevins that would be the game-changer in the 8-7 win.

Not willing to be outdone, Yoenis Cespedes reminded the Mariners of his towering 462-foot home run last night, and went deep to center field in the 7th to score Eric Sogard and Coco Crisp and bring Oakland within a run of tying the game. Fortunately, Tom Wilhelmsen and Brandon League made short work of the rest of the lineup, striking out one batter and nabbing the save in a nailbiting finish.

Tomorrow, the Mariners will enjoy an Easter Sunday free of baseball. Their road trip continues on Monday evening with a 4-game series against Texas.

Next game: @ Rangers | April 9 | 5:05pm | 6 days until Opening Night

Spring Training is over.

Spring Training is over, and today’s game matters as much as the last day of school—that is, not at all. In fact, it matters so little that MLB.com didn’t even show the link to Gameday on their front page, probably because some teams actually have their Opening Day games today. And tomorrow. And Friday.

I give up trying to understand MLB scheduling, so here’s what happened in today’s game.

First, and most importantly, Chone Figgins started to resemble the kind of leadoff hitter the Mariners have been hoping and expecting him to blossom into this spring. He went 2-for-4 with two triples, driving in John Jaso for the seventh run of the game. While I wouldn’t start singing his praises quite yet—he batted .194 with 7 hits in 36 AB prior to this game—it’s certainly a promising start.

Figgins wasn’t the only one to make progress this afternoon. John Jaso went 3-for-4, grabbing a ground-rule double, 2 singles, and 2 RBIs. As Larry Stone pointed out on Twitter, Jaso had only one Cactus League hit coming into this game.

Hector Noesi made his third and final Spring Training start, going 7 innings for 7 hits, 1 earned run, and 3 strikeouts. His replacements, George Sherrill, Steve Delabar, and Lucas Luetge, managed to hold the Rockies to 3 hits and only 1 more run in 2 innings.

Well, that’s about as much as I can stand to write about Spring Training. Good work, Mariners; we’ll see you for Opening Day Part II on Friday!

Next game: @ Athletics | April 6 | 7:05pm | 9 days until Opening Night

Charlie Furbush, pitching, looking goofy. (Credit: Tom Hagerty/LakelandLocal.com")

Every now and then, I have to remind myself that Cactus League games mean squat, and I should probably write about more important things happening to the Mariners—like, say, the final cuts for the 25-man roster.

Three players were moved to Tacoma: OF Carlos Peguero, RHP Shawn Kelley, and LHP Charlie Furbush. If you’re wondering where the rest of the optioned and re-assigned players will end up this spring, the Mariners released the minor league rosters on their blog earlier today.

Here are the final 25 players starting the season at Safeco. The roster is carrying three players on the DL—Mike Carp, Franklin Gutierrez, and Adam Moore—so expect lineups to be shifted as we head towards April and May.

Pitchers (12)

• RHP Blake Beavan — No. 4 starter
• RHP Steve Delabar
• RHP Felix Hernandez — No. 1 starter
• RHP Hisashi Iwakuma
• RHP Brandon League
• RHP Kevin Millwood — No. 5 starter
• RHP Hector Noesi — No. 3 starter
• RHP Erasmo Ramirez
• RHP Tom Wilhelmsen
• LHP Lucas Luetge
• LHP George Sherrill
• LHP Jason Vargas — No. 2 starter

Catchers (4):

• John Jaso
• Jesus Montero
• Adam Moore
• Miguel Olivo

Infielders (7):

• Dustin Ackley
• Chone Figgins
• Munenori Kawasaki
• Alex Liddi
• Brendan Ryan
• Kyle Seager
• Justin Smoak

Outfielders (5):

• Mike Carp
• Franklin Gutierrez
• Michael Saunders
• Ichiro Suzuki
• Casper Wells

What do you think of the 25-man roster? Any unexpected players or moves you’d like to see made?

I bet you weren’t expecting Jason Vargas to hand over 7 runs to the Cubs in the 1st inning. I bet you weren’t expecting Ichiro to flatten Travis Wood’s fastball for his first Cactus League home run. I bet you weren’t expecting Jesus Montero and Kyle Seager to smash back-to-back homers.

Unfortunately, you probably were expecting that this unexpected run support would run out. And you were right. Steve Delabar put the Mariners through a rough inning in the 8th, allowing Chicago to take a 4-run lead on four hits and a walk. By the 9th, that lead sprouted to five runs, and try as they might, the only retaliation the M’s mustered up were a pair of walks.

Sure, it’s just Spring Training. One poor outing doesn’t spell disaster for Jason Vargas—or, I hope, Steve Delabar. This is the time of the year when we see things we normally wouldn’t see, like home runs from Ichiro and 1st inning blowouts by the Cubs. That being said, I feel like Seattle might have a surprise or two in store for us this season.

Tomorrow, the Mariners play their last away game before the trip to Japan. They will play without LHP Hong-Chih Kuo, who was released this morning after putting up a 17.55 ERA over 6 appearances.

Next game: @ Reds | March 20 | 1:05pm

The Mariners continued their winning ways, dominating the Kansas City Royals and bringing their Cactus League record to 10-3-1. As you read on Needle Ball a few days ago, however, Spring Training wins and losses historically don’t mean anything. Even though we look at this team and see that they are carrying a 71.4 winning percentage in Arizona, to think we would match that in the regular season would be silly (interesting note: a 71.4 winning percentage over 162 games would put the team at 116 wins). It would be equally silly to assume that the Mariners’ luck will reverse and that the team is destined for another losing season because they used up all their wins in the spring.

That being said, it’s hard not to be encouraged by the stellar performances by a number of the 2012 Mariner hopefuls. Kevin Millwood looked like a completely different pitcher from his first couple of outings, going 4 innings and only giving up one hit. His control was off, walking three and only striking out one batter, but the Royals were not able to make quality contact off of him. Millwood was relieved by an equally impressive Steve Delabar who went two innings and giving up a couple of hits. Tom Wilhelmsen finished out the game and may have been the most impressive pitcher of the day – his fastball was consistently hitting 96 and his curveball to strike Irving Falu out looking was nothing short of spectacular.

On the offensive side of the ball, Michael Saunders once again showed why he deserves to get a long, hard look in centerfield this year, especially with Franklin Gutierrez starting the year on the disabled list. Saunders went 1-2 with a hard double that drove in Carlos Peguero and Miguel Olivo and showed patience by drawing a walk after falling to 0-2. Vinnie Catricala also continued to further his case for a spot on the 25-man roster by going 2-3 with 2 RBIs and a walk. Ichiro showcased his apparent new stance (which was hard to identify) by going 2-4.

Defensively, there were certainly both positives and negatives. The game started out well with Ichiro making a couple of nice snags in the outfield and the starting infielders turning a couple of slick double plays to support Millwood. After the regulars were replaced, however, things turned south. Both Alex Liddi and Stefen Romero were charged with errors, leading to the two runs scored by the Royals (both unearned).

They say that even the most grizzled of veterans will see something new every time he watches a baseball game – this game was no exception. In the second inning, with Brendan Ryan on first and one out, Dustin Ackley hit a routine fly ball to center fielder Lorenzo Cain. Ryan, thinking there were two outs, was past second by the time Cain caught the ball and had to turn around and sprint back to first. Cain saw that he had a chance to double up Ryan… but ended up stumbling once he caught the ball. After he recovered he fired the ball in and beat Ryan by a few steps… but first baseman Eric Hosmer bobbled the throw, temporarily saving Ryan. Unfortunately, Brendan Ryan was taken out shortly after and left the field with trainer Rick Griffin for what are being called “precautionary reasons” by Shannon Drayer.

Tomorrow the Mariners host the San Francisco Giants in yet another televised game. 7:30 PM. ROOT Sports. If it’s anything like tonight’s game, you’ll probably want to tune in. Even if it’s not, it still is televised baseball, so you’ll probably want to tune in anyway.

Today, the Mariners put aside their workouts and lineup tweaks for some good old-fashioned intrasquad fun. In order of appearance, here is how the team was divided:

Team #1: Jason Vargas, Chone Figgins, Dustin Ackley, Casper Wells, Justin Smoak, Miguel Olivo, Munenori Kawasaki, Carlos Peguero, Guillermo Quiroz, Michael Saunders, Shawn Camp, Oliver Perez, Chih-Hsien Chiang, Brad Miller (Mariners shortstop and 2nd round draft pick in ’11), Nick Franklin, Aaron Heilman, Vinnie Catricala, John Jaso, Jharmidy DeJesus, Steve Delabar, Charlie Furbush, Chance Ruffin, and Jabari Blash.

Team #2: Danny Hultzen, Darren Ford, Brendan Ryan, Ichiro Suzuki, Mike Carp, Jesus Montero, Kyle Seager, Alex Liddi, Luis Rodriguez, Carlos Triunfel, Taijuan Walker, James Paxton, Hong-Chih Kuo, Mike Wilson, Johermyn Chavez, Adam Moore, Cesar Jimenez, Erasmo Ramirez, Alfredo Morales, Gabriel Noriega, and Lucas Luetge.

Jim Evans did fans a great service by live-blogging the highlights of the game over on From the Corner of Edgar & Dave. Here are a few highlights of the highlights: » Continue reading “Mariners Spring Training Report: 2/24″