Olivo and Ackley Go Back To Back

Joy of joys, the Mariners scored more than a couple of runs, and even had TWO homers in the 8th inning as they won 6-3.  And, we saw a little history as for the first time in ML History a team featured three Japanese born players in the starting lineup.

Orioles (42-36)

Andino 2B

Hardy SS

Betemit 3B

Jones CF

Thome DH

Wieters C

Davis RF

Reynolds 1B

Pearce LF

Hammel (8-3, 3.29)

Mariners (34-47)

Ichiro RF

Wells CF

Jaso DH

Seager 3B

Olivo C

Ackley 1B

Figgins LF

Kawasaki 2B

Ryan SS

Iwakuma (1-1, 4.75)

Iwakuma had his first ML start due to injuries, he's been our long reliever all year.  He pitched pretty decently.  There was one pitch he would have liked to do over, the three run homer by Davis in the 4th.  But he went 5 innings, and the Bullpen came in and did what they've been doing pretty much all year long.  The Bullpen only allowed two base runners the final four innings, a walk and a hit batter! The walk was to Thome, passing Mantle for 7th all-time.  Thome just joined Baltimore a few days ago, I can't believe he's still playing!

The Mariners were down 3-1 going into the bottom of the seventh, but we put ourselves up for good with a bases loaded double by Wells in the right-center gap to put us up 4-3.  We added two insurance runs in the 8th via back to back one out homers by Olivo and Ackley.  Ackley's was on the first pitch.

It was nice to see the Mariners come back and score some runs.  However, they need to start learning how to score early to reduce the pressure on their starting pitchers to be perfect.


The Mariners are now 11-12 when I attend.  The roof was closed the entire game.
Attendance: 14,805
Time of Game: 2:34

Masterful Felix Goes the Distance

It was probably in the top three performances I've seen by Felix... possibly the number one.  He was spot on, fired up, gutsy.  Striking out a career high 13 via 128 pitches.  And, just his luck, the Mariners were able to pull out a walk-off 1-0 win.

Red Sox (40-35)

Nava LF

Pedroia 2B

Ortiz DH

Saltalamacchia C

Gonzalez 1B

Middlebrooks 3B

Ross RF

Kalish CF

Aviles SS

Morales (1-1, 3.12)

Mariners (32-44)

Ichiro RF

Gutierrez CF

Seager 3B

Montero DH

Wells LF

Olivo C

Ackley 2B

Ryan SS

Felix (5-5, 3.36)

It was Morales' third start of the year, and he pitched 7 good innings.  However, Felix showed once again why he is The King!!!  

Scary moment in the 4th after Gutierrez got on with a the Mariners' first hit of the night.  In a pickoff attempt, Morales hit Guti in the face with the ball.  He was down on the ground writhing and remained on the ground for several mintues while they checked him over.  He was replaced by Saunders.  We weren't sure exactly where he was hit.  At one point someone said his jaw, but it looks like it hit him on his ear and he has a slight concussion.  That's the best possible outcome I can think of.  The dude has just horrible luck.  First his stomach issues last year, then his torn pec muscle and foot issue this year!  Hopefully he won't be out too long, but it was scary for awhile.

Casper Wells made two fantastic plays in the 8th inning to rob Aviles and Nava of base hits, the last a sliding grab toward foul territory to end the inning.  In the bottom of the 8th the Mariners went meekly in 7 pitches.  The 9th inning was probably the most gutsy and clutch inning I've seen in awhile.  Felix had 105 pitches through 8 innings.  He matched his career high 13 strikeouts with Pedroia then gave up a first pitch base hit to Ortiz, followed by a full count walk to Saltalamacchia.  It was his one and only walk.  Lillibridge came on to pinch run for Ortiz.  So we had runners on 1st and 2nd with one out.  Felix then proceeded to battle Gonzalez for an epic 9 pitch at-bat.  He was now in the 120s for his pitch count and running on pure guts and determination.  The ninth and last pitch of the at-bat was a towering fly ball that seemed to travel forever to left-center, but Saunders tracked it down to everyone's relief.  Next pitch, pop-up to second and Felix finished pumped up.

Wells, with those two fantastic plays in the eighth, stroked a one out double to left-center.  Boston intentionally walked Smoak to get to Olivo.  Except, Mr. Clutch John Jaso came in to pinch hit, and needed no time to stroke the game winning single to right.  The throw was close, but Saltalamacchia dropped the ball and the ballgame was over!  Celebration ensued.  Jaso continues to impress, stepping up time and again with the clutch hit.  Baseball sure is fun when you win.

The Mariners improved to 10-12 when I attend, with their 4th shutout.
Attendance: 20,692
Time of Game: 2:40

The Roof was closed the entire game.

Rookie Ramirez Runs into Support Problems

Erasmo Ramirez went a strong 8 innings pitched, striking out 10. He made one mistake, giving up just a solo homer.  Unfortunately the Mariners offense was shutout for the 2nd straight game.

Oakland (35-38)

Crisp CF

Weeks 2B

Reddick RF

Cespedes DH

Smith LF

Inge 3B

Moss 1B

Suzuki C

Pennington SS

Milone (7-4, 4.13)

Mariners(31-43)

Ichiro RF

Gutierrez CF

Seager 3B

Montero DH

Smoak 1B

Saunders LF

Olivo C

Ryan SS

Ramirez (0-1, 5.40)

The lone run of the ballgame occurred in the 2nd inning when Seth Smith took the first pitch he saw of the game into deep center field, an estimated 418 feet.  Ramirez struck out the side in both the 1st and 7th innings, 10 total, and gave up a mere TWO hits.  Yep, 8 innings of 1 run 2 hit ball and he picks up the loss.

Meanwhile, the Mariners had two hits alone in the 1st inning,  7 total, but ground into 2 double plays and couldn't take advantage of the scattered opportunities.  This script is getting a little old.  SCORE SOME DAMN RUNS!!!

The Mariners are now 8-12 when I attend
Attendance: 17,101
Time of Game: 2:18

The Roof closed in the top of the 7th inning

Mariners Can't Break Out

The Mariners couldn't break through as they left the Bases Loaded in top of the 1st and lost 3-1.

Rangers (26-17)

Kinsler 2B

Andrus SS

Hamilton CF

Beltre 3B

Young DH

Murphy LF

Cruz RF

Napoli C

Moreland 1B

Harrison (4-3, 5.21)

Mariners (20-24)

Ackley DH

Liddi 3B

Ichiro RF

Montero C

Smoak 1B

Seager 2B

Wells LF

Saunders CF

Ryan SS

Noesi (2-4, 5.61)

Noesi was stellar, he only had two mistakes all game and unfortunately those mistakes cost him as our offense just couldn't give him enough support.  We had ample opportunity, especially in the 1st inning as we loaded the bases after already scoring one run on an RBI single by Smoak.  Wells, on his first pitch, absolutely crushed the ball to left center and for a few seconds nearly everyone in the ballpark thought he'd hit it out.  Unfortunately Hamilton was able to haul it in at the warning track to end the inning. 

The Rangers had pretty much their entire offense in the third inning as Noesi walked two, then gave up a triple to left-center to Andrus followed by a double to left by Hamilton (both with two outs).  3-1 Rangers at that point, and that was pretty much the game.  The Rangers only had two base runners the rest of the game, and the Mariners couldn't break through.

In the third, Liddi lead off the inning by crushing a ball himself... once again Hamilton tracked the ball down.  This time it was against the wall and he may have taken back a home run, it was hard to tell from my perspective.  He ripped the bottom of the wall from pushing off of it.  The Mariners had a couple of more chances in the game to score but were unable to do anything.  In the 5th, there were runners on 1st and 3rd with two outs after a double by Ryan and error by Beltre on Liddi's at-bat.  But, Ichiro hit into a fielder's choice to end the threat.  In the 8th, we had our first two hitters reach base via singles but Montero, Smoak, and Seager couldn't come through.  That was our last threat.

It is always a shame to waste a good pitching performance, but something we have all become accustomed to the last few years.  You can see the players are getting better.  Baseball is a game of failure and most of the time you aren't going to come through.  Only in those rare seasons, like 2001, does everyone hit lights out and come through in nearly every situation.  And hell, we ended up not coming through in the ALCS against the Yankees!  So you just have to chalk this up to one of those games, and hope that tomorrow they will hit that grand slam with the bases loaded if the opportunity should arise.

There was a lot of debate after the game about moving the fences in to improve the mental approach by Mariners hitters.  I say, if you move in the fences it improves the opponents as well, and that they never seem to have a problem hitting homers.  This was only 1 game in which we would have won because of homers, the Wells and Liddi fly balls.  Well... what about every other game in which our own fielders haul down shots that would go out if the fences were drawn in?  We just need the right players.  Hell, we just need players to hit to their potential!

They started closing the roof in the top of the 1st inning, about 4 minutes after the game started.

The Mariners are 6-6 when I attend
Time of Game: 2:28
Attendance: 15,604

Unlucky Seven

I think this is the most angry I've felt after a loss this year, we had this game in the bag but blew our 2-0 lead in the seventh inning to end up losing our SEVENTH straight game, by a score of 3-2.  Nowhere near the 17 game losing streak last year, but still painful and frustrating.

Twins (6-18)

Span CF

Carroll SS

Mauer DH

Willingham LF

Doumit RF

Valencia 3B

Parmelee 1B

Casilla 2B

Butera C

Pavano (1-2,4.91)

Mariners (11-16)

Ackley 2B

Liddi 3B

Ichiro RF

Montero C

Seager DH

Smoak 1B

Carp LF

Saunders CF

Ryan SS

Vargas (3-2 ,3.38)

Earlier in the game we found out that Figgins has been demoted to a utility player.  Despite the promise of the first couple of weeks he just isn't cutting it, which is a huge shame since he was such a great player for Anaheim.  For now, Ackley will take the lead off spot.

Vargas pitched well, once again we couldn't do much offensively, and a huge mental lapse in the 7th by Wilhelmsen ruined another great outing by Vargas.  We got our hits, but except for the 5th inning couldn't capitalize.

We got leadoff singles in the 1st and 2nd innings, but hit into double plays.  Then, in the 5th inning we got three doubles.  Montero and Seager hit back to back doubles to left center to start it off, followed by a flyout by Smoak.  Montero's looked like it had a chance to go out.  Then, Carp, in his first home game since coming off the DL (after injuring himself in the first game in Japan) hit a rocket line drive to right that drove Seager in.  We were up 2-0 with one out.  A sacrifice fly and single should have made it at least 3-0.  But Saunders was caught looking, and Ryan's single (second of the game) up the middle was stopped by Carroll from going into the outfield.  Carp had to hold up at third.  If Carroll hadn't snagged it... my feelings about the game may have totally changed.  So Ryan was denied the RBI, and Ackley hit a fly ball to left to end the inning, stranding runners on 1st and 3rd.

Ryan's single in the 3rd broke an 0-26 hitless streak.  He came into the game batting only .125, so at least one positive of the game is that he got two hits and broke out of his slump.  Montero continues to hit well with his single and double.  Olivo injured himself on the road trip so we will be seeing more of Montero behind the plate until he comes back.

With one out in the 7th inning, leading 2-0, Vargas gave up his 4th hit on his 103rd pitch of the game via a double by Parmalee.  It was the first extra-base hit by Minnesota in 25 innings.  So Wedge decided to pull Vargas for Wilhemsen, our usual 8th inning guy, who proceeded to load the bases by walking the first two batters he faced.  Then, Span hit a ball back to the mound which Wilhelmsen barehanded.  He had plenty of time for the force at home, but for some reason whipped around and went for the force at 2nd.  Well, he had a wild throw and Ackley had to work to keep it from going into the outfield and causing more damage.  The run scored, the bases were still loaded.  So instead of a minimum 2 outs with the bases still loaded (and possibly being out of the inning via a 1-2-3 DP) the score was now 2-1, bases still loaded, only 1 out.  The next batter, Carroll, took the count full and he hit a grounder to Smoak who went to second to try and start a 3-6-3 DP.  We were only able to get the first part, forcing Span.  The runner scored, tying the game.  Wilhelmsen was replaced with a round of boos, and Furbush then gave up the lead on a single by Mauer.  That was the ballgame.  Wilhelmsen has probably been our most solid relief pitcher this year, but he just didn't have a good outing.  To top it off he had a brain fart. I don't care what team you are playing, you can not give a ML team an extra out.

Sometimes it is the little things that turn into the game changers.  Carroll kept Ryan's single from making it through the infield, saving an RBI.  Wilhelsmen, with a brain fart, lets the Twins off the hook. 

The Mariners are now 0-3 on Fridays, and 2-5 when I attend.
The Roof was closed.
Attendance : 22,492
Time of Game: 2:42

Historic Night at the Safe

It was a long, cold, night in front of the fourth smallest crowd in Safeco Field history, 12,461, as the Mariners blew an 8-1 lead to lose 9-8 to the Cleveland Indians. It was also a game in which a couple of players had career nights, and the Mariners attained their 50,000th hit and 25,000th run in team history.

Indians (4-4)

Brantley CF

Kipnis 2B

Choo RF

Santana C

Hafner DH

Duncan LF

Kotchman 1B

Hannahan 3B

Donald SS

Masterson (1-1,  2.77)

Mariners (6-5)

Figgins LF

Ackley 2B

Ichiro RF

Smoak 1B

Seager 3B

Montero C

Saunders CF

Ryan SS

Jaso DH

Millwood (0-0, 1.50)

There were three ex-Mariners in the starting lineup for Cleveland: Choo, Kotchman, and Hannahan; as well as the son of a former Mariner (Brantley).  The game started out with Millwood in trouble, he gave up a leadoff full count single to Brantley, who ended up stealing second.  Montero was much better than the previous game in making it a close play at second.  He will continue to improve, hopefully.  Millwood got Kipnis and Choo to fly out, but walked Santana and then gave up an RBI single to Hafner.  Just like that, it was 1-0.  The Mariners went down in order in their half of the first,

Nothing truly of note until the third inning, except Smoak got the first of a new career high 4 hits in the 2nd inning, this after the Indians went down in order.  In the top of the third, Smoak got all three putouts, unassisted, broken up by a single by Choo.  Then, in the bottom of the third, our offense started to kick in.  Ryan got a walk with one out, then Jaso hit his first home run as a Mariner to right, putting us ahead 2-1.

In the bottom of the 4th and top of the 5th, 13 runs scored and 23 batters came to the plate.  It lasted around 45-50 minutes and started out epically awesome, followed by total exasperation as we wasted a seven run lead!!!  First, the Mariners.  Smoak lead off with his second single of the game on the first pitch, followed by yet another first pitch single by Seager.  Seager' hit was the 50,000th hit in Mariner history!  Montero swung at the first pitch but flew out to left for the first out.  Saunders got a single off a 3-0 count to right, and the bases were loaded!!!

Ryan, believe it or not, drew a bases loaded walk, his second walk of the game, to force in Smoak.  That run, our third of the game, was the 25,000th run in Mariner history!  In one inning we surpassed two pretty cool milestones.  Everyone was really pumped to see Jaso up with the bases loaded, as he had hit a homer in his first plate appearance.  Well, he got another RBI with his second... by getting hit by the pitch!  So we had loaded the bases and scored two runs via a walk, and a hit batter.  On the next pitch, Figgins got a sacrifice fly to center to score Saunders.  Ackley drew yet another walk, Ichiro got a two rbi single, and we had batted around.  Smoak, in his second at-bat of the inning, got his THIRD single of the game, driving in Ackley.  At this point Masterson was replaced.  Seager then hit a fly ball to left, ending the inning but not before we had pushed across six runs on five hits.  We were up 8-1, and all 12,461 seemed very confident.

The confidence and lead would not last long.  The Indians quickly roared right back with double and a single to start the inning.  Then, on what was a routine double play, Ryan bobbled the ball and couldn't get an out.  You can't assume a double play, but it was as routine as they get.  The runner scored, and instead of two outs with only one run in, there were runners on first and second with nobody out.  You can't give a ML team extra outs, no matter the score.  That was just the window/opportunity Cleveland needed.  It could have been a whole different ballgame if Ryan's head had been in the game.  He's one of the best fielders out there.  Two more singles produced two more runs and it was 8-4 with two runners on with the cleanup hitter at the plate.  He launched a three run homer to right and it was now a run run ballgame, and Millwood's night was over.  They added another run to tie it up.  In total, 13 Indians batted in the 5th inning.  The produced 7 runs on six hits.

It seemed like we were going to quickly answer back, as we got the first two batters on via a walk and an error.  But they were stranded there as Ryan and Jaso struck out swinging, and Figgins.  That was pretty much their last chance until the 9th inning.  In the sixth, Smoak got a broken bat single with two outs, his fourth hit of the night.  All singles, but a career high.  Two were hit to opposite field, and I'm hoping this means he will break out of his early season struggles.  He entered the game batting just .186.

The Indians added a run in the 7th to go up 9-8, but this was never a game in which I felt we had no chance.  In the 9th inning we nearly pulled it out thanks to a wacky play.  After Smoak was retired for the only time of the night, Seager had a fantastic at-bat with a single to right on the eighth pitch.  Montero, on the first pitch, hit what was probably a game ending double play.  However, it took a very strange hop and hit the shortstop in the face, the ball ricocheted to shallow center and Seager was at first.  There were runners at the corners with 1 out.  All we needed was a sacrifice fly, and the ballgame was tied.  Kawasaki came into the game to pinch run for Seager, and Olivo for Montero.  But Saunders was unable to get a deep fly, and there were two out.  Ryan then drew four straight balls and walked for the fourth time in the game.  That is a career high for Ryan too.  Bases loaded!!  But it wasn't to be as Jaso ended the game with a routine fly to right.  And, after 3 hours and 33 minutes, the ballgame was over.

Some promising events occurred, our offense is definitely improved from last year.  We scored 8 freaking runs!  However, it is our pitching that is going to be an issue this year.  Also, we only had one extra base hit the whole game, Jaso's single.  We should and could have broken this thing wide open. I always joke when we score a bunch of runs that we need to "save" some offense for the next game, especially because Vargas is on the mound tomorrow and the Mariners tend to not score much for him.  But, in this case, I wish we hadn't.

I would say that Smoak and Ryan with career highs were the players of the game, but Ryan's 4 walks and two runs didn't make up for his huge mental error in the 5th inning.

Oh, another record was made today but not at the game.  Former Mariner Jamie Moyer, now pitching for the Rockies, won his first game of the year.  He is now the oldest pitcher to ever win a game, at 49 years and 150 days old.  Awesome feat by a man who took the entire 2011 season off to have Tommy John surgery.

Record when I attend: 1-2
The Roof was closed the entire game.

Vargas is Stellar in Final Start.

Fantastic pitching by both starters, as Mariners won 4-2 in front of 17,057 fans.  There was a little excitement in the 5th inning as Carter hit the roof with a foul ball!!!!!  This is a rare occurrence, occurring only two other times that I can recall.

Athletics (72-87)

Weeks 2B

Crisp CF

Matsui DH

Willingham LF

Sizemore 3B

Suzuki C

Carter 1B

Taylor RF

Rosales SS

McCarthy (9-8, 3.26)

Mariners (66-93)

Ichiro RF

Rodriguez SS

Ackley 2B

Carp DH

Smoak 1B

Olivo C

Robinson LF

Liddi 3B

Saunders CF

Vargas (9-13, 4.38)

The Mariners scored all of their runs via the long ball.  Olivo got a solo shot in the 5th to tie up the ballgame.  Then, in the 6th, Smoak launched a 3 run homer 403 feet to right center, scoring Ackley and Carp with 2 outs.  I'm hoping that Ackley, Carp, and Smoak will be producing like that for the Mariners for the next decade.  Smoak has had a tough year with the passing of his father, and injuries.  I'm hoping next year he's healthy, and finally proves that we made the right trade for Cliff Lee.  Olivo is now the all-time leader in single season home runs for a Mariners catcher with 19.  If only he could actually catch the damn ball. 

I was a little pissed that they pulled Vargas after 8 innings.  He got his career high 10th strikeout in the 8th. Vargas only had 105 pitches, and it was his final start of the year.  They way he was cruising, I don't think an extra 12 pitches would have put him in imminent danger of injuring himself.  Plus, League struggled and practically blew the save.  He gave up 2 hits and a run before getting Suzuki to ground to short for the final out.  My heart started racing for a few minutes, thinking that League was going to ruin the night.  But he pulled it out, and Vargas got a much deserved 10th win of the year.  The lone run he gave up was in the top of the first, after that it was smooth sailing.

I guess McCarthy deserves some praise as well... he had a complete game.

The Mariners are now 18-21 when I attend.

Mariners Appreciate Fans With Another Loss

Tonight was not as good of a pitching performance, for either team.  It was fan appreciation night for 22.159 in attendance, but the Mariners couldn't put together a good pitching performance, and despite the six runs they scored they only got one runner on base past the 5th inning.

Rangers (86-65)

Kinsler 2B

Andrus SS

Hamilton LF

Young 1B

Beltre 3B

Napoli C

Cruz DH

Murphy RF

Gentry CF

Lewis (12-10, 4.29)

Mariners (63-87)

Ichiro RF

Seager 3B

Ackley 2B

Carp 1B

Kennedy DH

Bard C

Ryan SS

Robinson LF

Saunders CF

Vasquez (1-3, 7.29)

Vasquez was never in it, struggling from the beginning.  He only went 3 plus innings, giving up two hits in the first and second innings (including a run in the 2nd).  Then, it pretty much fell apart in the 3rd inning.  To lead off the inning Vasquez gave up back to back home runs to Andrus and Hamilton, then another solo shot to Beltre that traveled 408 feet.  This was after the Mariners had scored 4 runs of their own in the 2nd inning.  They enjoyed their 4-1 lead for only a few minutes.  After starting the 4th inning with a walk, Vasquez was pulled for Gray.  But he himself struggled and the Rangers scored another 3 runs in the inning to go up 7-4.  Carp made it interesting in the 5th with a 2 run homer of his own, to pull the Mariners within 1 run at 7-6.  But there the score remained.  The Mariners were lucky to escape without giving up more runs.  Let's take a look at the Rangers' box score, everyone contributed.  They left 10 men on base, the damage could have been so much worse.

Kinsler:  BB, R
Andrus: 1B, HR, RBI, 2 R
Hamilton: 3H, 2B, HR, 3RBI, R
Young: 2 BB, 1B, SAC, RBI
Beltre: HR, RBI, R
Napoli: 2 2B
Cruz: 1B
Murphy: BB, 1B, R
Gentry: 1B, RBI

On a historic note, Ichiro passed Mantle with his RBI base hit in the 2nd inning.  He now has 2,416 base hits for his ML career.  Never thought I would talk about Mantle in the same sentence as Ichiro.  This will be the last time.

I would also like to add that this is the second year in a row that nobody from my seating section has won a prize.

The roof was closed in the bottom of the 8th.
They are now  17-21 when I attend.

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.

Our Offensive Offense Strikes Out

Yesterday the Mariners won 2-1 in the 10th by scoring Ackley from 3rd on the 3rd pitch of an intentional base on balls to Peguero!!! 

Lineups 

Atlanta

Heyward RF

Lugo 3B

McCann C

Jones DH

Freeman 1B

Uggla 2B

Gonzalez SS

McLouth

Ramirez LF

Beachy P

Mariners RF

Ryan SS

Kennedy DH

Smoak 1B

Ackley 2B

Olivo C

Carp LF

Gutierrez CF

Figgins 3B

Bedard P

 

I am getting really pissed off... like REALLY pissed off at the way our offense continues to suck.  Our pitchers pitch their asses off and one little mistake means they take home the loss.  In our last six losses we've scored a total of FIVE RUNS!  Tonight, all the scoring came via home runs, and unfortunately all we got was a solo shot from Kennedy in the 4th.  The Braves got two monster homers, one from McCann, their star catcher, in the 1st... and a 2 run homer by rookie Freeman in the 7th as we lost 3-1.  Bedard picked up yet another loss while producing another quality start.  You can't ask for much more from our pitchers. They keep us in it, our offense just doesn't produce and hasn't for a couple of weeks.

Their rookie closer, Kimbrel, had NASTY stuff.  Just, nasty! He picked up his 21st save of the year.   Totally fooled Smoak and Ackley.

I had a Turkey Crepe again because it was still $1 off.  It was very good, taking out the cheese improved it 200%! 

The attendance was 25,467 with a very vocal and quite prominent Atlanta contingent.  I didn't realize they had so many  "followers".  It wasn't until McCann's homer that I noticed how many of them there were.  I swear, must've been a third of the crowd!  But, I guess after winning 14 straight division titles you earn some fans.  At least they weren't obnoxious.

Roof was closed, scored for the sixth straight game.  The Mariners dropped back under .500 again at 39-40 and are now 9-9 when I attend.

And All I Got Was a Bag of Dirt

Well, it was another historic night at Safeco Field. 1 week ago today, I attended the lowest attended game at Safeco which was eclipsed two days later (12,407). Tonight, the second smallest crowd of 12,774. I have to say, it was kind of nice walking through the concourses without having to weave around the slow people. Food lines were short, no lines for the bathroom! On the other hand, it was depressing to see how far the team has fallen the last few years. It will take a long time to work their way back, I'm sure the attendance will improve with warmer weather, but it is still pathetic and must be noted.

We played the Detroit Tigers, Vargas was on the mound again. I thought he did a pretty good job, it was just his defense failing him again as we literally threw the ball away. The Tigers scored six runs in the seventh off a couple of "wild pitches" and just plain bad pitching by Lueke and Ray. Milton Bradley had a good game (batting wise, he had a huge error) going 2-3 with two walks, a homer, and 2 rbi. He put us up 2-1 in the third and then in the sixth he had a huge error that let the Tigers score the tying run. The next inning our bullpen fell apart. Smoak launched a solo homer in the 8th. And while that was the only thing he did hitting wise, I'm still liking what I am seeing and he has been our most consistent everyday player. Final score, 8-3.

One thing of note, the annoying Tigers pitcher in the 9th, Valverde, who had a very methodical way he went about things... his routine is ridiculous and when he struck out Bradley he was very demonstrative while he bowed. Yes, he bowed. To God, to himself... I don't know. But it was very unsportsmanlike and I can only imagine how insulted Bradley felt. According to my twitter feed he was pacing back and forth in the dugout giving him a staredown.

Stayed the whole game... I'm never leaving again! It was a very long game, over three and a half hours, and even though we lost there were several highlights. In the first inning, we had a Safeco Field first. The first ball to hit the extended roof (that's what they call it instead of closed)! They started closing the roof before the game because we got a few sprinkles. Anyway, that had never happened before, and it dropped in foul territory between Figgins and Olivo. I didn't see it hit, but I watched it go up, heard the reaction of the crowd, and watched it fall.

Another highlight, we saw somebody get escorted out of the game in the 9th inning. A dude a few rows in front of us and his buddies had been trying all game to get on TV with some signs they had made. Eventually with the sparse crowd they moved to a different section and I guess they got a little too close to the camera operators. Security told them to back off and a bird was flipped. A few minutes later they were escorted out. A kid behind said something, don't remember exact words, like "they don't censor in soccer!". Oh kid, you will soon learn that at Safeco they care more about being family friendly than fan friendly. Anyway, that's the first ejection of the year.

Okay, enough of the game... let's talk about the food. Went to the game with my sister who hadn't been in at least two seasons. We entered in The Pen entrance and I showed her the new food and the changes to the layout/view, also pointed out the out of town scoreboard from last year and new LED scoreboard this year. I think she was excited about those. Tonight was my turn to try the new burger... it took them a little while to figure out how to give me a burger minus the cheese, $8.50, and I didn't realize that the mayo wasn't going to be on the side... so I had to scrape as much off of it as I could. It came with pickles, onions, lettuce, and tomatoes. I squirt some ketchup and mustard (oops turns out a little too much as you can see from picture) and took a bite. I didn't "dress" my burger the way I usually do so maybe that had something to do with my enjoyment of it. Frankly it wasn't very good and was pretty much generic, and a little cold. I couldn't finish the whole thing. I will not be getting it again and instead if I want a burger will get the cheaper Kidd Valley one (which has its own temperature problems).

Then we were off to find my sister dinner. We headed to the healthy option behind home plate where I knew they had garden burgers. Guess what, they took them off the menu tonight. Are you kidding me? Who wants a veggie dog, those are gross! So then we walked a little more and found some new food choices this year... the have "potato fries" on a stick and buffalo tenders/wings. She didn't want fries. She ended up settling on a veggie roll at the sushi place for $9. I never realized that they had veggie sushi, wondering if this is a new thing the last couple of years. I had a few... and it was decent! I now know this is an option for me. This is also where they moved the teriyaki choice that used to be in the Bullpen Market. I was still hungry so we headed back to The Pen to share a dessert crepe. We went back and forth on the strawberry or banana one... and finally settled on the banana w/nutella. I'd never had nutella before so was excited to see what it was like. We waiting a couple of minutes as they made it fresh! It was okay... the nutella was too similar to chocolate for me and it got pretty messy in the end. For $6.50 it was a decent price for a ballpark dessert. I will give the strawberry one a shot at some point.


In other news, Guti still isn't okay and they are sending him to the Mayo Clinic. I'm starting to think it is psychological and hope it is nothing too serious. We really need him back, Langerhans let a ball drop that Guti probably would have gotten to. There have been many of those plays already this year.

I'm glad we stayed 'til the end, you never know what is going to happen and we got to see the Smoak homer and the ejection of the fan. There is always something to take away from every game, no matter how frustrating they can be. The Mariners are bad, really bad, but we have a few bright spots and you can always see history on any given day... like we did tonight. The first time a ball hit the roof! The second lowest attendance ever!

Most of the fans left in the disaster of the sixth inning... there was a giveaway tonight with bags of dirt made from compostable items from Safeco last year. When we left, there were still 3 remaining, and they only had 5000 total to give. I didn't get a foul ball, but I have my very own bag of Safeco garbage. Yee haw!

My record is now 2-3. The Mariners fell to 5-12 overall.