Phillies Win, but Future Looks Bright!

King's Court - Newly Expanded!

Tonight, it was King Felix on the mound! About a month ago the Mariners implemented a "King's Court" promotion in which you can buy a ticket in a special section and receive a shirt and crown. Genius marketing guys. Because of popularity they extended this to an additional section. Also, in quite an awesome coincidence, there was a Felix giveaway with King Felix knit caps for the first 20k fans.  It was very Felix oriented tonight, and the reigning Cy Young award winner deserves it!  Coming into the game Felix had the top June winning percentage in ML history with a minimum of 15 starts at .810.

I was unable to attend yesterday's game because of family bonding, but Ackley singled in his first ML AB and our starting pitcher, Pineda, had 5.2 innings of no-hit ball. We ended up winning 4-2 to stay just half a game back in the AL West! It was pretty magical yesterday. Today, a little of that magic remained. I am proud to say that I was there, and scored, Dustin Ackley's first Major League Homer!

Philadelphia came into the series having won 7 consecutive games with the best record in the Majors.  They have a potent lineup and top notch rotation.  Thankfully, we get to skip Cliff Lee and Roy Hallada in the series.  Here are the starting lineups. 

Phillies (43-27)

Jimmy Rollins SS

Shane Victorino CF

Chase Utley 2B

Ryan Howard 1B

Placido Polanco 3B

Raul Ibanez LF

Ross Gload DH

Dominic Brown RF

Carlos Ruiz C

Vance Worley P

Mariners (36-34)

Ichiro Suzuki RF

Brendan Ryan SS

Adam Kennedy 3B

Justin Smoak 1B

Miguel Olivo C

Carlos Peguero LF

Dustin Ackley 2B

Mike Carp DH

Greg Halman CF

Felix Hernandez P

Unfortunately, while not part of the Phillies' heralded top 4 of Halladay, Lee, Oswalt, and Hamels... we were only able to score one run off of Worley and the bullpen shut us down.  That means that Felix had to be perfect tonight.  He wasn't, and he picked up his 6th loss of the season as we lost by a final score of  5-1.  While he was in and out of trouble through various parts of the game... an unlucky double in the 7th down left field line that hit the chalk and bounced into the stands turned a tied ballgame into a 3-1 game, and his sixth loss of the season.  It looked like he was going to get out of the jam, but the Phillies aren't the best team in the Majors out of luck.  They're good.

Jimmy Rollins led of the game with a single to right then advanced to second on a Wild Pitch.  Honestly, it should have been on Olivo.  He continues to have problems blocking at the plate and catching the ball.  I know he has won us a few games with his bat, but he's lost us a few games with his glove.  Rollins had a great day as he went 3-4 with a BB, SB, and 2 Runs scored.  Victorino, batting 2nd, had an even bigger day.  He went 3-4 with a BB, 2B, 3B, HR, 1 Run and 4 RBI.  Rollins scored on a SAC Fly by Howard in the first (his 58th of the year!).

In the bottom of the first the Mariners threatened...  after Ichiro and Ryan made two easy outs, Kennedy singled to right which brought up Justin Smoak batting cleanup for the second day in a row.  He hit an opposite field bomb to left that hit off the wall for a 2B, it was just a foot shy of a home run.  Kennedy didn't come around the score, not sure if he would have been thrown out or not but we'll never know.  That would have tied the game up, but you never want to make your third out at home.  Olivo then grounded out to the pitcher.

Ackley and Smoak, both from North Carolina,  warming up.

In the second inning Peguero struck out swinging which brought up Ackley.  On a full count he launched a pitch 386 feet to the right field stands, and the crowd went absolutely wild.  People were jumping up and down, high fiving strangers.  Ackley got a standing ovation, which continued until he stepped back out of the dugout for his curtain call.  It was a pretty awesome experience.  Carp, coming into the game 5-18 on the year with a .409 OBP worked a walk, and Halman followed with a single.  He entered the game batting .409 (9-22)  Halman ended up going 2-3 with a SB and his first BB of the year.

I am really liking what I'm seeing from Halman.  Ever since he was called up this year he has hustled and produced.  Carp quietly goes about his business, Peguero has ridiculous power (In the 6th inning his broken bat went 20 rows the section behind 1st base).  Smoak, while struggling at times, has the best OBP on the team (.354 and he drew another BB today).  Ackley, there is no reason he won't be a productive hitter, he has been at every level he has ever played.  With Pineda and Felix in our starting rotation and these young fielders, how can you not be optimistic about the future!?

So the game remained 1-1 until the 7th inning, when Felix loaded the bases on 2 hits and a BB.  The walk to Rollins brought up Victorino and his ground rule double.  It hit the chalk line!  2 runs scored and that was the ballgame.  If the ball had only hit a few inches to the left, who knows what would have happened.  It is a shame, 'cause Felix had a gutsy performance and another quality start.  He wasn't in top form, but he kept us in it.

In the 9th Jamey Wright came in after Pauley pitched a scoreless 8th.  Wright has been struggling in June, and his struggles continued as he gave up a 1B to Rollins followed by a 2 Run HR to Victorino.  This was all with 2 outs.  Then, he hit Utley, but got Howard with a swinging strikeout.  So, instead of going into the bottom of the 9th within striking distance, we were down 5-1.  Halman had a 2 out single in the 9th but Ichiro ended the game with a strikeout.  He went 1-5 and ended his streak of 6 straight multi-hit games.

Tomorrow is the final game of the homestand, then we go to Washington for 3 and come home for a unique series against Florida.  U2 is on tour and will be using Florida's stadium, so the series was moved to Seattle and will be played with National League rules!  It should be interesting and I'm looking forward to it.  The Marlins aren't doing very well, only 1-17 in June!  

I went to 3 games this homestand (scored them all) and the Mariners were 1-2.  I had Garlic Chicken tonight, which is now $9.75. It wasn't as good as usual, they must have changed the recipe.

The attendance was 35,829 and the roof was closed (a lot of Phillies Red).  The Mariners dropped to 8-7 when I attend and 36-35 overall.  We are now 1.5 games behind Texas. I heard that only 1000 tickets remain for tomorrow's game.