Felix With 5th Complete Game

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!  What a way to end the month of August.  Carp tied the Mariners rookie mark for RBIs in a month, Felix passed Jamie Moyer for 2nd on the strike out list (trailing only Randy Johnson) as well as passed 200 strike outs in a season for the third year in a row.  This game had it all, fantastic defense, pitching, clutch hitting, and a come from behind 2-1 win.

Angels  (73-62)

Aybar SS

Kendrick 2B

Hunter RF

Trumbo 1B

Callaspo 3B

Bourjos CF

Trout LF

Mathis C

Haren P

Mariners (57-77)

Ichiro DH

Gutierrez CF

Ackley 2B

Carp 1B

Olivo C

Seager 3B

Wells RF

Ryan SS

Robinson LF

Hernandez P

With Felix and Haren on the mound, we knew it had the potential to be a great game.  When both pitchers are on, they're ON.  As with the majority of fantastic pitchers, you have to hit them in the first couple of innings or it will be a long night.

Haren gave up a walk in the first and a double in the second... which was followed by retiring the next 15 batters until a single by Carp in the 7th inning.  It was an inning in which we loaded the bases but weren't able to break out for a run. 

At that point we were trailing 1-0 thanks to a leadoff broken bat single by the speedy Trout in the 3rd who came around on another single by Kendrick after advancing to second base on a sac bunt.  The single by Kendrick followed Felix's 3rd strikeout in the game, Aybar, which made him pass Jamie Moyer to the number 2 position on career strikeouts at 1,240.  He ended up with another 6 on the night.

Felix wasn't perfect, but he was definitely sharp.  At one point, from the 4th to the 8th inning, he retired 12 in a row.  His final line:  9 IP, 109 P, 5H, 1 R, 9 K, 1 BB

So here Felix is, pitching his ass off again and looking at another complete game loss.  We got to Haren in the 7th but were unable to score.  Needless to say, I was less than confident with Robinson and Ichiro up 1 and 2 in the order in the top of the 8th.  As predicted, neither produced.  But Gutierrez, having refound his stroke in the month of August, got a single up the middle and WE WERE ALIVE!  Ackley quickly followed with a single of his own and we had runners at the corners.  All we needed was a single to tie or a well placed double to put us ahead.  Carp came up to the plate, needing those two RBI sitting on the bases to tie Danny Tartabull in 1986 for most RBIs by a Mariners rookie in any month (25).

After a pitching change in which Haren was pulled, on a 2-1 pitch Caro smoked it... and I mean smoked, to left center which got past Bourjos for a double that scored both runners!  The crowd went nuts.  Carp had tied the rookie record, we were up 2-1, and with the way Felix was pitching there was no doubt he wouldn't come out to complete the game.  To the roar of the crowd, he came trotting back out to the 9th and retired the first two batters via strikeouts.  Then, Trumbo took a 1-1 pitch deep to RF, but thankfully it was grabbed at the warning track for the final out.  Everyone went home happy and pumped up from the excitement.

Gyro
15-16 when I attend
18,520 att

Carp Snaps Streak

Losing streak, that is.  The Mariners played spoiler, knocking off the Angels 5-3 on one of their better games of the year.  We had everything, great hitting, great defense, and solid pitching.  Seeing as how we came into the game 20 games under, the only thing to look forward to is the role of spoiler and the continued development of our youngsters.  The Angels are fighting for the AL West top spot with the Rangers, but they will have to wait at least another day for a win.

Angels (72-61)

Izturis 3B

Kendrick 2B

Abreu DH

Hunter RF

Trumbo 1B

Wells LF

Aybar SS

Bourjos CF

Conger C

Pineiro P

Mariners (56-76)

Ichiro RF

Gutierrez CF

Ackley 2B

Carp 1B

Olivo C

Kennedy DH

Wells LF

Seager 3B

Ryan SS

Beavan P

Trumbo is a freaking beast of a rookie... he came into the game hitting 256 with 18 homers and 71 RBI.  He added 2 more RBI with his 2 run homer in the 4th.  The Angels added another run that inning, but that was pretty much all she wrote for their offense!

Ackley was a homer shy of a cycle, Wells got two outfield assists (3rd and 7th) as well as walked in 3 out of his 4 plate appearances (one intentional), and Carp crushed the game winning 2 run homer 432 feet to the hit it here cafe in the 8th as the Mariners won 5-3 in a thrilling game.  There were only 16,990 fans, which is pathetic considering the weather was beautiful and it is still August!  The Mariners hit a season high 7 extra base hits.  Ichiro had 2 of them, both doubles in which he came around on a sac fly to left field in the first and Ackley's triple in the 5th (which tied the game at 3).  He now has 153 hits on the year with 29 games to go on his quest for 200.  I really hope he doesn't get it.

Garlic Chicken
14-16 when I attend
I scored, but let my sister score for nearly half of the game.  She did a good job and I think had a good time.

Morrow Returns

It was the return of Brandon Morrow, our former #1 pick from several years ago.  After screwing around with him for a couple of years... we finally traded him away to Toronto for a fresh start.  He has days where he is just on, lights out... and then days when he gets rocked!  I was there for his first ML Start in which he took a no-hitter into the 8th inning.  Tonight was one of those nights.  At one point he struck out 5 in a row, ending up with 12k in 6 total innings.  He gave up just one run and picked up the win as the Mariners fell to the Blue Jays 5-1.

Blue Jays (62-60)

Escobar SS

Thames LF

Bautista RF

Lind 1B

Encarnacion DH

Rasmus CF

Lawrie 3B

Hill 2B

Molina C

Morrow P

Mariners (53-68)

Ichiro DH

Gutierrez CF

Ackley 2B

Carp 1B

Wells RF

Robinson LF

Seager 3B

Bard C

Wilson SS

Beavan P

The Blue Jays scored all their runs via the longball.  After hitting three on Monday they hit three more today.  A leadoff solo in the 2nd, 3 run HR in the 3rd, and another leadoff homer in the 4th.  5 runs was all they needed, and then some.  Wells had entered the game hitting home runs in 4 straight games.  Unfortunately this streak came to an end as he was hit on the nose in the 6th inning after striking out his first two times at the plate.  It turns out he was fine, just a little rattled, as x-rays etc came back negative.  However another streak was extended as Carp pushed his hitting streak to 17 games in the 4th.  Ackley had 3ks, he's struggling a little.  We only mustered 3 hits total in the game.

Ate a slice of Pizza
Attendance 26,579
13-14 when I attend and fell to 53-69 overall.

Homer Happy

Well it was a night of launched rockets with the Blue Jays in town in front of 28,530 fans, which seemed to be half Blue Jays fans.  I called them Stealth 'cause it is very unlike the Red Sox fans when you can definitely see the RED stand out.  Well, it was nice to get them to go quiet later in the game as the Mariners came back and went ahead for good in the 8th inning.

Blue Jays (61-59)

Escobar SS

Thames LF

Bautista RF

Lind 1B

Encarnacion DH

Rasmus CF

Lawrie 3B

Hill 2B

Arencibia C

Alvarez P

Mariners (52-67)

Ichiro RF

Gutierrez CF

Ackley 2B

Carp 1B

Wells DH

Olivo C

Robinson LF

Seager 3B

Wilson SS

Pineda P

Pineda definitely wasn't the sharpest we have seen him.  He gave up three homers, none to league leader Bautista (34), but the real problem was all the walks, 5, in just 5 innings.  He walked the leadoff batter of the game and on the next pitch, Thames launched a homer to right that traveled 357 feet.  It was nearly the same thing in the 3rd inning, except the leadoff batter grounded out to second.  Bautista walked and then on a 1-0 pitch Lind hit a two run homer himself.  In the 4th, Lawrie lead off with a 1-0 homer to left that went 409 feet that put them up 5-4, the score held until the 8th inning.

The Mariners got three in the 2nd to go up 3-2.  Wells lead off the inning by being plunked on the back.  Then, after Olivo Flied out to right, Trayvon Robinson (rookie acquired in one of the deadline trades) hit a solid ball to left that the fielder just got a hand on, but couldn't pull in.  He ended up with an rbi double and it could have maybe been a triple!  On the night, Trayvon had 2 hits (2 2B), and RBI, and run scored.  In only his second big league game last week, he went into the stands to bring back a home run.  Seager then walked, and Jack Wilson got an rbi single advancing Seager to third.  Wilson advanced to 2nd on the attempt at home with heads up base running   So with 1 out and runners on second and third up came the "mighty" Ichiro.  I was pleasantly surprised that he actually produced with runners on, by getting a sac fly to left. Guti then flew out to right. Guti continues his hot streak, extending his hit streak to 8 games with a first inning double.

The Blue Jays went ahead in the top of the third with their 2nd homer... and then in the bottom of third up came Carp. He had entered the game with a 14 game hitting streak, and for some reason I felt like he was going to knock it out.  Sure enough, on a 1-1 count he launched a solo shot to Left Center for 416 feet, and the ballgame was tied!  He hit another game tying solo shot to right in the 8th inning.  After a pitching change, in came Wells who was not to be outdone, and hit the game winning homer to left.  Back to back homers sure are fun to see!  It was a back and forth night, and boy am I glad I stayed.  At one point it was looking like it would be a 3.5 hour game.

League then came in and nailed down his 30th save.  The win went to rookie Wilhelmsen, the first of his career.

The Mariners are now 13-13 when I attend, and are now out of last place in the AL West, having overtaken Oakland.

Brisket.

On a side note, congrats go out to Jim Thome for launching two homers himself today, the second of which was career #600.  He is only the 5th player to ever hit more than 600.  Bonds, Sosa, and Rodriguez do not count as they have all been accused of or have admitted to using performance enhancing drugs.