Sonics Night

Sorry about the formatting, it is acting all wonky!

Well, the last game I went to they honored the 116 win Mariners team.  The hi-light of this evening was before the first pitch, as the Seattle Mariners brought many Supersonics legends to Safeco in a pregame ceremony.  Michael Cage, Tom Chambers, Jack Sikma, Lenny Wilkens, Shawn Kemp, Gary Payton, George Karl and others all gathered around the mound.  It was the largest gathering of former Sonics since the team was ripped from our hearts.  It was cool to see so much green and gold in the stands, but bittersweet as well.  They never should have left.  I can't believe it has been three years already.

Tampa Bay Rays Jennings LF Damon DH Longoria 3B Zobrist 2B Upton CF Kotchman 1B Shoppach C Joyce RF Rodriguez SS Niemann P Mariners

Suzuki RF
Ryan SS
Ackley 2B
Olivo C
Carp LF
Smoak DH
Kennedy 1B
Gutierrez CF
Figgins 3B

Bedard P

Unfortunately all the goodwill ended when Erik Bedard, coming off the DL, couldn't make it through the second inning.  I can't recall the last time I saw one of our starting pitchers have such a short stint.  He lasted on 1.1 innings on 57 pitches, giving up 3 hits, 4 walks, and 5 runs.  If he had a good outing we were sure to trade him.  Some think he sabotaged the outing on purpose.  Who knows... but it was disappointing regardless.  The Rays ended up scoring 8 total in the inning... and the Mariners only mustered 3 hits the whole night.  We were shut out 8-0.

There was also a moment of silence for Rick "The Peanut Man" Kaminski who had been a fixture at the Kingdome and Safeco since the inaugural season.  He passed away from a Brain Aneurysm earlier in the week.  It has been a tough couple of years for the Mariners family, both on and off the field.
Coming into the game the Mariners had snapped a 17 game losing streak, the most in franchise history.  We are now 1-18 in our last 19 games.  We started the streak at 43-43 and only 2.5 games back.

Ate Brisket Sandwich, pretty good.  Attendance was  26,570 and they dropped to 10-13 when I attend.  Went with my bro-in-law

Some movement from the Mariners as we get near the deadline... they DFA Cust and traded Langerhans for cash.

A Celebration of History

The rolled out the red carpet tonight for the 2001 team, at least those who could make it to the game.  It was a little weird to remember all of the wonderful memories from that year, especially in contrast to the offensive ineptitude of this year.  It almost feels as if any of those retired ballplayer... whether it be Dan, Jay, Edgar, Olerud, Boone... could pick up a bat and come up with better results than any of our current team.  We haven't made the playoffs since the historic 116 win 2001 season, which is hard to believe, but isn't.  Between 1995 and 2001 we made the playoffs 4 times and haven't been back since. Will we ever go back!?

Rangers (53-41)

Kinsler DH

Andrus SS

Hamilton LF

Beltre 3B

Young 2B

Cruz RF

Moreland 1B

Torrealba C

Chavez CF

Wilson P

Mariners (43-50)

Ichiro RF

Ryan SS

Ackley 2B

Olivo C

Smoak 1B

Kennedy DH

Gutierriez CF

Seager 3B

Halman LF

Hernandez P

Coming into the game we had 26 consecutive scoreless innings, the team record being 29.  Well, we made history tonight.  Kinsler led off the game with a solo shot to left, and that was the game.  We had to score 2 runs to win and were only able to get 1, in the 5th inning.  The inning prior we had reached the club record 30 consecutive innings without scoring.  Yippee, History of Ineptitude.

The tie was short lived, as Texas regained the lead in the 6th inning.  We looked like we could maybe get another run in our half of the sixth when Smoak got a 1 out walk, but Kennedy grounded into a double play.  The Rangers added three more insurance runs (including another solo shot by Kinsler) in the 8th and we lost by a final score of 5-1.  The Rangers picked up their 10th win in a row, we dropped our 8th in a row, and we are now 10.5 games back in the AL West.  We're done, cooked... I wish we were Smoaked but the kid has been struggling.

Eric Wedge was ejected in the 8th inning on a "Balk" called against Felix, I was hoping for an exciting Lou Piniella impression since he was in the ballpark.  Nope.  I went to the game with a friend from Iowa, she said she had fun!  Unfortunately we couldn't pull a win for her.  I tried to explain scorekeeping.  She asked me why the DH and not pitcher.  Don't know, those are the rules!  That's like asking why they have four balls and three strikes! 

Had a Turkey Crepe, shared onion rings, and we got 116 shirts.  The Mariners dropped to 10-12 when I attend.  They were also outscored by the Sounders 4-1.  The Attendance was 30,896.

Lather, Rinse, Repeat

Same old, same old.  The Mariners had come into this game having dropped six in a row.  Well, let's make it seven as we fell to the AL West leaders Texas Rangers by a final score of 4-0 infront of 30,551 on 2001 116 wins Bobblehead Night.  You know things are bed when you can barely draw 30k on bobblehead night.  We mustered only 2 hits through the first 8 innings against Colby Lewis, and got a token 2 in the ninth.  Our scoreless inning streak now runs 26 innings.

Texas Rangers (52-41)

Kinsler 2B

Andrus SS

Hamilton LF

Beltre 3B

Cruz RF

Moreland 1B

Torrealba C

Chavez CF

Lewis P

Mariners (43-49)

Ichiro RF

Ryan SS

Ackley 2B

Olivo C

Kennedy 1B

Cust DH

Gutierrez CF

Seager 3B

Peguero LF

Fister P

Fister was great as usual, the first three innings he let the leadoff man on each time, who ended up scoring in the first and second to make it 2-0.  Then he retired 15 in a row until the 8th when the Rangers tacked on 2 more.  It didn't matter.  1 run would have done it.  Absolute BULLSHIT!  Where is our fucking offense?   We don't have a singular batter above .300 batting average.

I'm not going to get into this one too much.  Tomorrow is the 2001 celebration with Lou Piniella and players like Charles Gipson, Bret Boone, etc.  MacLemore threw out the first pitch tonight

Ate Garlic Fries, Roof was closed.  Scored.  First time seeing Seager at home.  We are now 9.5 games behind the Rangers.  The Mariners dropped to 10-11 when I attend.

Offense Fails Fister

The big story of the game is in how the only run of the game scored... but if the Mariners had been able to muster a mere TWO RUNS, it wouldn't have mattered.  Instead, Doug Fister picked up a complete game 1-0 loss.

Padres (37-46)

Venable RF

Bartlett SS

Headley 3B

Ludwick DH

Denorfia LF

Phillips C

Maybin CF

Rizzo 1B

Gonzalez 2B

Luebke P

Mariners (40-42)

Ichiro RF

Ryan SS

Gutierrez CF

Smoak 1B

Halman LF

Cust DH

Bard C

Figgins 3B

Wilson 2B

Fister P

Interesting lineup for the Mariners with Gutierrez in at the number 3 slot, obviously to try and get his .192 batting average going.  Wilson was in at 2B because Ackley was out for the second straight game to rest bruised ribs.  Well, with Ichiro, Cust, Figgins, and Wilson in there with the way Guti has struggled and Smoak mired in a slump... we were pretty hopeless.

The only two hits for the Mariners were from Greg Halman, batting 5th.  The kid doesn't play enough!  He was 12/34 (.353) coming into the game and went 2-3 with a double in the 2nd and single in the 5th.  The only other base runner for the Mariners the entire game was Ryan who reached on an error in the 7th.  He stole a base but then ended up being stranded at third.  The Mariners only had 29 total plate appearances, 2 above the minimum.

There were questionable calls by Homeplate Umpire Phil Cuzzi throughout the game.  There were 8 called strikeouts (4 by each team), and in the 5th inning after a "discussion" with Phillips (caught looking) and Manager Bud Black... he let Maybin advance to 1st on a THREE BALL WALK.  I was scoring and thought that I had missed a ball somewhere.  Nope, it was confirmed that there were only three balls in the at-bat.  Why nobody noticed in the Mariners dugout is beyond me.  Unfortunately Maybin ended up coming around on a hard hit single through short... and that was the ballgame!!

Fister didn't deserve this.  He retired the first 11 he faced until giving up two consecutive singles in the 4th.  Then, the phantom walk in the 5th.  He went the distance, maybe was even better than Vargas yesterday, but it didn't matter 'cause his teammates were inept.  His final line:  9 IP, 114 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 7 K .

Needless to say everyone was talking about that walk after the game.  It is one of those fluke things that happens sometimes, and if the Mariners had scored two runs it wouldn't have mattered.  Unfortunately, the baseball gods were not on our side tonight.  I'm just so pissed off at the lack of run support for Fister this year.  His 3-9 record is absolute bullshit!

I ate a Gyro and picked up a Brendan Ryan autographed baseball in their Mariners Care Auction.  The attendance was 22,798.

They dropped to 10-10 when I attend and 40-43 overall.

Vargas Goes the Distance

Well that was refreshing to see!  As I had stated in a previous post, the Mariners were 1-5 in games I attended that were started by Vargas.  Most of those losses were because of our inept offense.  Well, tonight we had hitting up and down the lineup and over multiple innings!!!  Hell, we even scored in the first as we beat the Padres 6-0 on Turn Back the Clock Night (to 1984).

Padres (37-45)

Denorfia RF

Bartlett SS

Headley 3B

Ludwick LF

Guzman DH

Maybin CF

Hudson 2B

Rizzo 1B

Hundley C

Moseley P

Mariners (39-42)

Ichiro RF

Ryan SS

Kennedy 2B

Smoak 1B

Cust DH

Peguero LF

Gutierrez CF

Bard C

Figgins 3B

Vargas P

Vargas was Efficient and effective tonight, the very first pitch he got an out, and started the game retiring 13 of the first 14 batters he faced. The six hits he allowed were scattered throughout the game and he never seemed to run into trouble.  He just quietly mowed them down.  There were some fantastic defensive plays, including a line drive to Figgins and a potential hit into a leaping, stretching grab by Ryan in the la tter innings.  I don't think I've ever seen someone snag a ball quite like that.

His final line... 9 IP, 106 pitches, 6 H, 7 K, 0 BB to improve to 6-5 with a 3.57 ERA.

I wanted to look back at the six previous starts I'd seen him pitch to look at overall performance.  I recall a couple of bad ones but mostly outstanding ones with a lack of run support.  So in the previous 6 games 2 were quality starts.  The Mariners scored a total of 12 runs  those 5 losses which is 2.4 runs per loss. In the 2 wins, the Mariners have scored 9 runs which is 4.5 runs scored per game.  However, he has shut out the opponents in those two wins for a 0.00 ERA.  Basically, he has to be perfect to win.  That, is a shame. In only 2 of the games has he not pitched 6 or more innings.

Apr 8, L (0-1) 12-3, 63 P, 3.1 IP, 7 R, 9 H, 1K, 0 BB

Apr 18, L 8-3, 114 P, 6 IP, 2 R, 6 H, 4K, 2 BB (QS)

Apr 23 L (0-2) 9-1, 100 P, 5+ IP, 6 R, 6 H, 3K, 3 BB

May 18 W (3-2) 3-0, 115 P, 7 IP, 0 R,  4 H, 9K, 2 BB (QS)

Jun 13 L (4-4) 6-3, 108 P, 7 IP, 5 R, 6 H, 6 K, 2 BB

Jun 25 L (5-5) 4-2, 87 P, 6 IP, 4 R, 8 H, 4 K, 2 BB

Our lineup had contributions tonight from pretty much everyone in the order.  Everyone reached base, although Ichiro only through a fielder's choice.  We scored 1 in the 1st, 3 in the 3rd, and 1 more in both the 5th and 6th innings.  Jack Cust had his 6th bases loaded BB in the 3rd, his 6th of the year to tie John Olerud for all-time in a season.  Smoak snapped an 0-22 slump.

Ichiro 0-5, 1 R

Ryan 2-4, 2 R, 2B, SB, BB

Kennedy 2-4, 1 R, 2B, BB, 2 RBI

Smoak 1-3, 2 R, 2B, BB

Cust 1-2, 2B, 2 BB, 2 RBI

Peguero 1-4, 2 RBI

Gutierrez 0-3, 1 BB

Bard 1-4

Figgins 1-4, SB

As you can see Ryan had another solid night.  The more I see, the more I like.  He struggled early on in the year but the dude is just a solid ballplayer.  He hustles, has a great attitude, and produces at the plate.  Kennedy has been our most consistent batter of the year, but he's 35ish and would be a number 7 or 8 hitter in any other lineup.  Hell, he'd probably be the backup infielder!  But, he's still out there practically every day and continues to produce.  Our unsung hero of the first half, without a doubt.  Cust seems to be producing the last few games, but is still only batting .222 on the season!

Attendance was 23,616, I didn't score for the first time in awhile.  Ate Pep Pizza and Garlic Fries.  Bro in Law had some beer, pizza, and a pretzel.  Oh, we munched on some peanuts too and had a good time.  It was an interesting game with clutch hitting, great defense, and masterful pitching by Vargas.

Improved to 10-9 when I attend and  40-42 overall.  We remain 3.5 games back of Texas in 3rd place.

June Games Recap

Back into the swing of things, and I even had time to take in a couple away games.

Mon 6/13 LAA L 6-3, Vargas, Baked Potato and Cookies, 20,238 scored
Wed 6/15 LAA W 3-1, Bedard, Pizza, 19,321 scored
Sat 6/19 PHI L 5-1, Felix, Garlic Chicken, 35,829 scored
Fri 6/24 @ FLA W 5-1, Felix, Gyro and Kettle Korn, 15,279 scored, ROOF
Sat 6/25 @ FLA L 4-2, Vargas, Crepe and Kettle/Caramel corn, 16,896 scored
Mon 6/27 ATL L 3-1, Bedard, Crepe, 25,467, scored, ROOF


Record by Starting Pitcher
Felix: 1-1 (4-2)
Pineda: N/A (3-0)
Vargas: 0-2 (1-5)
Fister: N/A (0-1)
Bedard: 1-1 (1-1)

Record by Day (Overall)
Mon: 0-2 (2-3)
Tue: N/A (1-1)
Wed: 1-0 (2-0)
Thu: N/A (1-0)
Fri: 1-0 (3-1)
Sat: 0-2 (0-4)

Record By Food
Baked Potato: 0-1 (1-1)
Cookies: 0-1 (1-1)
Pizza:  1-0 (2-0)
Gyro: 1-0 (2-0)
Garlic Chicken 0-1 (0-2)
Kettle Corn: 1-1 (3-2)
Crepe: 1-1 (2-2)

Record with Roof Closed: 1-1 (2-1)
Record while Scoring: 2-4 (3-4)

Attendance:
Mon: 20,238; 25,467
Wed: 19,231
Fri: 15,279 (A)
Sat: 35,829; 16,896 (A)
Avg Attendance:  22,156 (21,294)

Overall Score:  Opponent 20 (66) Mariners 15 (51)
Run Differential: -5 (-15)

Avg Runs Scored
Mariners 2.5
Opponent 3.33

Greatest Run Differential Win: 4
Greatest Run Differential Loss: 4

Mariners total Runs Record:
1: 0-2 (1-5)
2: 0-1 (0-1)
3: 1-1 (4-3)
4:       (1-0)
5: 1-0 (2-0)
8:       (1-0)

Opponent:
0:       (3-0)
1: 1-0 (1-0)
2: 1-0 (4-2)
3: 0-1 (0-1)
4: 0-1 (0-1)
5: 0-1 (0-1)
6: 0-1 (0-1)
7:       (1-0)
8:       (0-1)
9:       (0-1)
12:     (0-1)

Overall 2-4 (9-9)
One Run Games: N/A (4-2)