Noesi and Montero Shine

I have attended four shutouts in a row at Safeco Field, thankfully today was the first time the Mariners had won in that span.  Today's final score was the reverse of yesterday's, as we won 4-0.  The stars of the game were traded for in the Pineda trade. 

Athletics (4-4)

Weeks 2B

Crisp LF

Reddick RF

Cespedes CF

Smith DH

Suzuki C

Barton 1B

Donaldson 3B

Pennington SS

Milone (1-0, 0.00)

Mariners (4-5)

Figgins CF

Ackley 2B

Ichiro RF

Smoak 1B

Montero C

Liddi 3B

Olivo DH

Wells LF

Ryan SS

Noesi (0-1, 21.00)

It was the first time we got to see Noesi, I had no idea what to expect as he was shelled in his first start in Texas.  He was very effective and induced a ton of popups.  Ackley alone had four of the nine. The only major trouble he got in was in the 8th inning.  He was at 88 pitches through 7 and at the rate he was going I thought he had a possibility of a complete game.  He retired the first two batters of the 8th, but then Pennington got a single up the middle and Weeks launched a double to right center.  We were lucky that it bounced over the fence for a ground rule double, 'cause Pennington was already around third ready to score.  Noesi then induced Crisp to pop up on the next pitch, and he stranded the runners on second and third.  Fantastic first outing at home, I was very impressed.  League came in to finish off the game in the 9th.

Milone faced only 1 batter above the minimum through 5 innings, that was Montero's 2nd inning full count rocket of a home run to deep center, estimated at 415 feet.  It was literally a line drive, I thought it was going to hit off the top of the wall for a double but it kept carrying.  It was his first home run as a Mariner.  That was all of our offense until the sixth inning.  There was a questionable call in the 4th in which Ichiro hit a solid stroke just past first base.  Barton was able to deflect it, but it hit the first base umpire so instead of going to the wall Barton was able to snatch it and throw to Milone covering first.  Wedge came out to argue, pointing animatedly.  It was bang bang, huge boos came from the concourse after the replay on TV, but according to twitter he was out. 

In the sixth inning we broke out for three more runs.  We loaded the bases with 1 out via a Ryan single, Figgins double, and Ackley walk.  Ichiro, not surprisingly, popped out.  So the bases were loaded with two out for the "meat" of our lineup.  Smoak has been struggling but he patiently worked a walk for his third RBI of the year.  Then, Montero came through again with a double down the right field line, it dropped right in front of our section and cleared the bases... except Smoak was thrown out at home (9-3-2) so we only got two runs on the play.  The collision at home was a little scary at first, as Smoak seemed to take some time getting up.  But he played the rest of the game so he must be okay.  Montero was the hero, his final line: 3 AB, R, 2B, HR, 3RBI

Montero quietly has an 8 game hitting streak.  I guess he has done so because they had all been singles prior to tonight.  Also, he caught his second game of the year.  We have won both games, and unlike Olivo he has done a decent job blocking pitches.  The kid is only 22, I can see Montero moving to being the starting catcher if he continues to make progress.  The Athletics did steal a base on him in the third, but the more repetitions he gets the better he will be.  Of course, he won't be one of the top notch defensive catchers out there, but his better than average offense will offset that.  Your DH should not be a 22 year old.  

I would like the add that the Saturday curse is officially broken!  Last year I attended 9 games on Saturday and we won none of them!

The Mariners are now 1-1 when I attend, 5-5 overall.
Attendance: 21,071
Time of Game: 2:29

Mariners Disappoint in 2012 Home Opener

Opening Day is full of optimism and excitement.  I look forward to new additions to the food, ballpark, and to seeing old friends.  I love singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame and counting down from 10 at the home plate entrance before they open the gates.  I love the brass band that tours the concourse, bringing that "old time" feel.  I had reason to be excited this year, as we were 4-4 on our road trip and our offense had showed some signs of life.  Well, it didn't tonight as we lost 4-0.

Athletics (3-4)

Weeks 2B

Crisp LF

Reddick RF

Cespedes CF

Smith DH

Suzuki C

Barton 1B

Donaldson 3B

Pennington SS

Colon (1-1, 5.89)

Mariners (4-4)

Figgins LF

Ackley 2B

Suzuki RF

Smoak 1B

Seager 3B

Montero DH

Saunders CF

Olivo C

Ryan SS

Hernandez (1-0, 4.40)

Unfortunately the best part of the ballgame was in the first inning and prior to that with the traditional Opening Day ceremonies.  The team trotted out on a red carpet, they had the annual "run around the bases" by a make a wish kid.  The most exciting was Mike Cameron threw out the first pitch and it was announced that he signed a contract earlier in the day so that he could retire as Mariner.  What a class act.  After he left years ago, I bought a t-shirt on sale and pulled it out of my drawer.  I'd never worn it!  It was a little big, but had to sport my Cammy attire.  There was also a nice tribute to Greg Halman before the game.  Such a loss.

Felix looked fired up in the first inning, striking out the first two batters he faced.  The rest of the game, he got into a few jams but as he learned a couple of years ago he held fast and kept us in the ballgame.  As was often the case last year, his offense failed him.  In the second inning, he struck out Cespedes from Cuba (already has hit 3 homers against us this year), then gave up his first hit to Smith who was doubled up as Suzuki ground into a 6-4-3 DP.  In the third inning the ballgame was pretty much decided.  Felix gave up three hits, walked one, and gave up his two runs before escaping.  The next inning, Oakland loaded the bases with 1 out via a double, walk, and single. But, he got out of trouble again.  It was unfortunate that we couldn't muster any sort of offense against Colon. 

Because of the way the weird opening in Japan has gone... this was the third time we've faced Colon already this year.  The first time in Japan we sucked, he lasted 8 innings of 1 run, 3 hit ball in a 4-1 loss. The second time in Oakland we roughed him up on our way to an 8-7 victory: 4.1 IP, 10 H, 7 R.  This year is was yet again 3 measly hits in 7 innings.  It started out with getting two runners on in the first, which made me think that we had a chance today with the way that Felix looked in the first.  But we scattered our three hits and was never able to get any offense going.  Really frustrating, so the last three games I have attended the Mariners have been shut out.

A positive, Ichiro is now out of the lead off spot.  Unfortunately they have him in at the third spot... but really I can't see anyone filling that role for now.  Singles hitters should be down at the bottom of the order, not in the meat of your lineup.  Another positive, my new seats on the aisle in row 7 look to be great seats!  There were a lot of people walking up and down, but hopefully that will die down with smaller crowds.

Olivo had another passed ball in the 8th.  Appalling.  It led to us being down 3-0 instead of 2-0.  But it didn't matter, I guess, since we couldn't score.

The announced attendance was 46,026 but there were noticeably empty patches in the outfield and 300 level.  Could this be due to the fact their credit card processing system was offline most of the game?  I doubt it.  More likely someone swooped in at the last minute to purchase tickets to make it seem sold out, or people decided not to go.

I got the new brisket sandwich, which was $9.75, cheaper than last year, but absolutely disgusting.  It was cold, the meat was of poor quality, and it was much less tasty than last year.  I will not be getting it again.  They did add sweet potato fries, though, so that should be interesting. 

All in all, a disappointing and frustrating night.  1 down, 80 more to go!

The Mariners are 0-1 when I attend.

2012 Preview

I'm writing this less than two weeks before the start of the 2012 season!  A lot changed, we lost Greg Halman in November.  In January, Pineda was traded to the Yankees for Jesus Montero, the young catcher we initially were going to get for Cliff Lee.  Instead, we got Smoak, Beavan, and Josh Lueke.

I like the trade for a couple of reasons... we need hitting and maybe it will get Damn Yankees off our back over Felix.  They have been in pursuit of our ace for a couple of years.  Pineda is still young, nobody know exactly what type of pitcher he'll turn into.  His sophomore year will be interesting, especially under the New York spotlight.  Same goes for Montero, not really sure what we are getting.  He is projected to be great, but it all comes down to what happens on the field.  Supposedly not that great behind the plate, but anyone is better than Olivo!

The Mariners are opening in Japan on March 28th and 29th vs Oakland.  That's right, in Japan.  I'm not pleased on many levels. These are games that will count in the standings! Exhibition games during the off season are fine, but regular season??  NO!  They are trying to make up for the jet lag/travel issues by not having another regular season game until April 6th, in Oakland.  Between the games in Japan and the "real season" we are playing a few more spring games.  I know they played exhibition games in the old days during the regular season sometimes, but this is 2012.  Let the players go out there during the off season. 

Another reason I don't like it, is that I will somehow have to avoid spoilers on the games as they are played live, in Japan, at around 2 or 3 in the morning.  Thankfully I have Tivo, but avoiding the tv/internet/radio until I get home from work is going to be daunting.

Other issues, Florida changed their name to the Miami Marlins with horribly garish new uniforms and colors. It was announced that the Astros are joining the AL West in 2013.  Are you fucking kidding me?  This is to even out the leagues at 15 teams apiece and coincides with another huge change, adding yet another wild card team for the playoffs.

Instead of 4 teams from each league making it (3 Division winners, 1 Wild Card) there will now be 5.  With 30 teams in MLB that means 1/3 will make it.  It dilutes the sanctity of the postseason, and in my opinion is done solely for ratings as you can pretty much guarantee Boston and New York will make it practically ever year.   The two wild card teams will have a one game playoff.  They should have only expanded the playoffs if they expanded the league.  They could have added 2 to the AL which would have left 16 in each league.  Split that up into 4 Divisions and each Division winner makes the playoffs.  No wild card!  Or, go back to two divisions and the top two teams make it from each division.

The realignment means that interleague games will have to go on every day.  I HATE INTERLEAGUE.  It ruins the excitement that you used to have over the All-Star game and World Series.  Okay, if they had to have realigned they could have picked someone better than Houston.  Denver seems more like an AL city than Houston. That would have been much better for us travel wise..  Or, Milwaukee should have returned to the AL.  But why did it have to occur at the same time as expanded playoffs???  By the way, MLB announced expanded playoffs are going to start this year.
They were mulling expanding instant replay but thankfully are holding off on that, for now.

Instant Replay is evil.  Baseball is an imperfect game with split second decisions, they are always talking about trying to speed up the game... yet instant replay will only take away from the flow.  I have been against IR from day one, and I will go to my grave hating it.  If you look at the replays on TV, most of the time the umpires are spot on.  The way MLB is going there will soon be robots.

For some reason MLB continues to try and ruin the game I love:  Interleague, steroids, instant replay, realignment, and expanded playoffs.  I can't imagine how I'd feel if I had been born before the DH rule came into effect.  Yet, for some reason, I keep coming back. 

Our Division keeps getting tougher.  Texas lost in the World Series for the second straight year, and added Yu Darvish, a Japanese pitcher, in the offseason.  He's supposed to be good, but there is a reason all of the best players come to MLB.  It is the highest level of baseball competition in the World and just 'cause he was successful in Japan doesn't mean that will translate here.  The Angels signed Albert Pujols to a 10 year contract and pulled C.J Wilson away from the Rangers.  I was angry with the Pujols situation.  He left the Cardinals, arguably the greatest fan base in baseball, after spending his whole career there.  There is no loyalty in sports anymore.  St. Louis must be heartbroken.  The 10 year contract is a big mistake too.  Pujols is "32" years old.  He's from the Dominican Republic.  They are notorious for fudging ages down there to attract scouts.  Some rumors are that Pujols is more in the 35/36 age range.  If that's the case, his numbers will start to decline in the next couple of years.  Remember, steroids are supposedly out of baseball now.  No miraculous feats of prowess after the age of 40 anymore.

I almost forgot, Eric Wedge announced that Ichiro is no longer the leadoff batter!  This brings me such joy, I can't express it!  Unfortunately he has been moved to the 3rd spot in the lineup.  Ideally Ichiro would bat 8th or 9th.  He has yet to prove to me that he can hit with runners on, or with power.  Supposedly he can hit a home run whenever he wants to.  Well, he's going to need to prove it.  And he's going to need to do more than hit choppers in the infield.  The first month or two should be very interesting.  Usually when I player is in decline they don't put him in the middle of the order.

We look to be an improved offensive team, but anything would be an improvement over last year.  Our big question will be pitching.  After Felix and Vargas, all of our starting spots are pretty much up for grabs, and numbers wise the Bullpen doesn't look too strong.  Time will tell.  I can tell you that I am excited by the possibilities of this year.  You can see that we are turning in the right direction.  I'm aiming between 73-75 wins.  Anything more than that and it will be above and beyond expectations.

A Day of Sadness

I woke up yesterday to read the horrible news that Greg Halman had been killed at the age of 24 at his home in the Netherlands.  His brother was arrested in the stabbing.  Words can't express what a horrible tragedy this is.  He was so promising earlier this year.  I loved his passion, skill, and the way he held himself.  Nobody knows what type of player he was going to turn into.  And now, we'll never know.  In the history books he will come across as hitting .207 in 44 career games with 2 HR and 9 RBI.  He was so much more than that.  My heart goes out to his friends, teammates, and family.  Just a horribly senseless act.  I can't recall the Mariners ever losing an active player before, it is quite a shock and left me disoriented throughout the day.

The only solace we can all take is that he was able to live his dream, if for only a fleeting moment.  Not many of us can say that.

Rest in peace, brother.

2011 and Pitcher Recap

,

I wanted to see how well the starting pitchers did during the games I went to.  However, the W/L does not mean the SP necessarily picked up the Win or Loss.  It refers to the final result for the game.  As you can see, the Mariners scored only 1 freaking run in Fister's 3 starts.  Poor guy, I'm sure he's feeling much better in Detroit.

Let's compare run support.  Fister, as I stated, only had 1 run scored for him in three games, or .33 runs per game.  That's definitely at the bottom.  Bedard, traded to Boston, was given 4 runs in three games, 1.33/game.  Furbush, Vasquez, and Pineda were all even at 2.3/game.  Felix was 2.89/game, and Vargas 3.22/game.  The man with the most support was Beavan at 3.6/game.  If you take out the first game Felix pitched, the historic come from behind win, then the Mariners only scored 2 runs per game in which he started!!

To the side you will find the SP ranked from lowest to highest ERA.  This isn't the best gauge always, but is a good indication on how their totals compared.  Then I decided to take out the "outliers".  That is, a game in which they just weren't as sharp as usual.  I only did this on pitchers who had 5 or more starts, 'cause it enabled me to see trends more easily.  I removed the 4/8 game for Vargas, 4/11 game for Felix, 8/15 for Pineda and 9/27 for Beavan.  We had a 2-2 record in those games.

It looks like the top two starting pitchers duking it out are Felix and Pineda.  They are pretty even in all categories, if only Pineda had 3 more starts then it would have been really easy to pick the top guy.  Statistics wise, Pineda not only tops Felix in ERA, but also in run support, strikeouts per 9 innings (9.44 vs 8.97), and Strikeout/Walk Ratio (4.1 vs 3.58), and Walks & Hits per Inning Pitched (.95 vs 1.06).  But Felix did last deeper into the games, and like I said he had 3 more starts.  Some of the stats could have something to do with the fact that he was a rookie.  They tried not to push his innings too far, and a lot of the teams did not have scouting on him.  Felix won the Cy Young last year, he had a lot of people gunning for him.  Ask me who I want on the mound and I would pick Felix over Pineda any day.  Felix is proven, Pineda still has a few more years to develop.
It was much harder for me to compare the hitters.  We had so many injuries and roster moves that I was only able to find 6 players with at least 100 plate appearances over those 41 games: Ichiro, Olivo, Ryan, Ackley, Smoak, and Kennedy.  Carp was just under at 91 PA.  The result?  They were pretty much pathetic!  I don't know how many more ways I can prove that our offense sucked this year. 

Below you see our team hitting organized by month.  April and August were our best months, followed by May.  Remember, this is only with the top seven players mentioned above.  Doing the whole team would have been too large of a project.

Team batting by month, combining Ackley, Carp, Ichiro, Kennedy, Olivo, Smoak, and Ryan

Overall, not good at all. No single player has ever had that many plate appearances in a season.  But let's ignore that part.  Even if this had been a regular season length, 17 homers with 63rbi could be seen as a pretty poor season, akin to the seventh man in the lineup.  The .216 batting average is terrible, the 191 strikeouts vs 66 walks is horrible.  That's 2.89 (nearly 3) per walk.  We struck out 23% of our plate appearances. 

The tables above compare the 7 players.  The first organizes by On Base Percentage, Batting Average, and finally by plate appearances.  I was surprised to see how low Ackley's BA was, it seemed like every time I saw him he got a hit, or at least got on base.  I'm excited to see what he brings over a full 162 games next year.  In general I care more for On Base Percentage than Batting Average.  A good batter will have an OBP of at least 75 points higher than their BA.   A great one will be 100 or more above.  For the seven players, here is how they ranked:

1. Smoak (.116)
2. Ackley (.113)
3. Ryan (.082)
4. Olivo (.051)
5. Carp (.051)
6. Ichiro (.042)
7. Kennedy (.027)

I also like extra base hits.  I like them because if you have someone on, they are more likely to score!  I like them because the only way you can score in baseball is if your runner gets around the bases.  The faster they move from base to base, the less work the player behind them has to do.  If you leadoff the inning with a double, you can get two productive outs and score the runner without a base hit.  So, here are the players listed by the percent of their hits being extra bases.  For the team it was .067, just below the "good" threshold.

1. Smoak (61.90%)
2. Carp (47.37%)
3. Olivo (41.18%)
4. Ackley (36.84%)
5. Kennedy (33.33%)
6. Ichiro (20.51%)
7. Ryan (13.04%)

Ryan isn't really surprising, he went a really long time without an extra base hit to start the season.  OlivoSmoak's and Carp's numbers can probably be partially attributed to their lack of games played.  Overall, the "team" percentage was 34%.

Finally. let's look at the Strikeouts per Walk ratio.  The lower, the better.   As stated above, the team ratio was 2.89:1

1. Ackley (1.71:1)
2. Smoak (2.00:1)
3. Ryan (2.50:1)
4. Ichiro (2.86:1)
5. Carp (4.67:1)
6. Kennedy (6.67:1)
7. Olivo (8.00:1)

I like RBI almost more than I love extra base hits, 'cause I don't care how we get them!  Let's compare the leaders in the percentage of time a plate appearance led to an RBI.  It may not exactly be fair because the meat of your order is generally who will produce your most runs.  So, it isn't surprising that Ichiro and Ryan are near the bottom.  Olivo hit in the 3/4/5 spots most of the year, and he should be higher.  Kennedy is the real surprise.

1. Carp (13.19%)
2. Smoak (11.32%)
3. Kennedy (9.00%)
4. Ackley (7.92%)
5. Ichiro (6.29%)
6. Olivo (5.22%)
7. Ryan (3.23%)

Now, if we "weigh" all the leaders in the categories I talked about above, here is a list of the top batters for the year.  There are 7 categories: OBP, BAA, PA, BAA above OBP, XBH%, BB/K, and RBI %. 

1. Smoak
2. Ackley
3. Ichiro
4. Carp
5. Ryan
6. Kennedy
7. Olivo

The top two hitters were Ackley and Smoak.  I was surprised to see Ichiro that high, although that is attributed to being first in plate appearances and second in batting average.  He was second to last in two categories and smack dab in the middle for the other one.  Olivo was at the bottom, and we got him for his bat, 'cause his defense sure sucks.  I'm hoping we either pick up a new catcher, or Adam Moore stays healthy.

Well, that's it.  That wraps up 2011.  I'm sure I could spend months digesting and regurgitating different statistics but I think this will suffice.  2012 is right around the corner, and our kids are going to deliver (or heads will roll).

End of Year Recap

 I ended up going to exactly half of the home games, if you include the away games we played against the Marlins.  I ran short of my goal, but this was due to missing around a month because of my back injury.  From the statistics I compiled, I pretty much proved that if the Mariners scored more than 4 runs, they would win.  Their record was 12-1 when they scored more than 4 runs, which means they won 92% of the time!!!   Unfortunately, it seemed a little too difficult for them to score that many.

Mariners Record By Team Played

As you can see from the stats, I saw the Mariners play 15 different teams, 4 NL and 11 AL teams.  Since there are 14 in the American League, I only missed 2: Baltimore, and Boston.  Our record in Inter-league games was 2-4.  It isn't surprising that the top two teams I saw most frequently were from our division.  Nearly 20% of the time I hit Safeco I had the pleasure of seeing the green and gold of the Athletics, but that is helped by our positive record (5-3).  I was a little surprised that I saw the Rangers as many times as the Blue Jays, but maybe that is a good thing (1-3).

Now I will show a game of all game results organized by date played.  I will do another post on individual batter/pitcher statistics, although that is turning into a bigger venture than I thought!.  As you can see by the chart below, losses are in red and wins in black.  There are so many different ways I can rank/calculate, the options are endless and I could do 15 posts about it.  But I won't, at least for now.

The Greatest Loss was on Opening Night, as we lost by 9 runs to Cleveland.  Our Largest Win was July 1st (Game 19) against San Diego.  Interesting that the Starting Pitcher both games was Jason Vargas. 

Average attendance per game I attended was 22,798.  The capacity of Safeco Field is over 45,000.  The average time of game was 2:41.  The shortest game of the year (Game 34) clocked in at 2:04, and the longest was the historic comeback in Game 3 at 3:46.

The smallest crowd of 12,770 for Game 6 was only 4 tickets above the second smallest (Game 5).

From the table at the top of the page as well as to the left, you can see our pathetic run totals.  We scored 1 or fewer runs in 15 games.  That is over a third of all games I went to!  We won only 1 of those (Game 5), the lowest attended game of the year, and were shut out in 6 of them.  At least we threw 5 of our own!

The absolute worst day to go was Saturday. I find it hard to believe that we lost every single Saturday game I went to! But the stats don't lie, they were 0-9.  That can't be a coincidence.  It will be interesting to see if I find a similar result in 2012

I'm glad I compiled all these, it will be interesting to look for patterns year after year.

September Games Recap

The final month of the season wrapped up poorly.  I didn't keep track of food the final games, but that ended up being too hard to keep track of anyway so I won't do again next year.

Thu 9/1 LAA L 4-3, Furbush,  Baked Potato, scored, 19,453
Thu 9/8 KC W 4-2, Vargas, Pizza, scored, 14,473
Sat 9/10 KC L 4-2, Pineda, Torta, scored, 17,883
Sun 9/11 KC L 2-1, Vasquez, Cafe, scored, 20,951
Tue 9/13 NYY L 3-2, Furbush, Burger, scored, 18,306
Fri 9/16 TEX W 4-0, Beavan, scored, 17,607
Sat 9/17 TEX L 7-6, Vasquez, scored, ROOF, 22,159
Mon 9/26 OAK W 4-2, Vargas, scored, ROOF, 17,507
Tue 9/27 OAK L 7-0, Beavan, scored, 18,600
Wed 9/28 OAK L 2-0, Vasquez, scored, 20,173

Record by Starting Pitcher
Felix: N/A (6-3)
Pineda: 0-1 (4-2)
Vargas: 2-0 (3-6)
Beavan: 1-1 (3-2)
Furbush: 0-2 (0-3)
Vasquez: 0-3 (0-3)
Fister: N/A (0-3)
Bedard: N/A (1-2)

Record by Day (Overall)
Mon: 1-0 (6-3)
Tue: 0-2 (2-3)
Wed: 0-1 (3-2)
Thu: 1-1 (2-1)
Fri: 1-0 (5-4)
Sat: 0-2 (0-9)
Sun: 0-1 (0-1)

Record By Food
Baked Potato: 1-0 (2-1)
Cookies: N/A (1-1)
Pizza:  1-0 (4-1)
Gyro: N/A (3-2)
Garlic Chicken N/A (2-2)
Garlic Fries: N/A (1-1)
Kettle Corn: N/A (3-2)
Crepe: N/A (2-3)
Brisket Sandwich: N/A (1-1) 
Burger: 0-1 (0-2)
Cafe: 0-1 (0-1)
Torta: 0-1 (1-1)

Record with Roof Closed: 1-1 (3-3)
Record while Scoring: 3-7 (10-17)

Attendance:
Mon: 17,057;
Tue: 18,306; 18,600
Wed: 20,173
Thu: 19,453; 14,473
Fri: 17,607
Sat: 17,884; 22,159
Sun: 20,951
Avg Attendance:  18,666 (21,953)

Overall Score:  Opponent 33 (135) Mariners 26 (121)
Run Differential: -7 (-14)

Avg Runs Scored
Mariners 2.6
Opponent 3.33

Greatest Run Differential Win: 4
Greatest Run Differential Loss:7

Mariners total Runs Record:
0: 0-2 (0-6)
1: 0-1 (1-8)
2: 0-2 (1-4)
3: 0-1 (4-4)
4: 3-0 (5-0)
5:       (3-0)
6: 0-1 (2-1)
8:       (2-0)

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

Overall 3-7 (18-23)
One Run Games: 0-4 (6-7)

Mariners Blanked to End Year

I couldn't wait to get out of their fast enough, it is really frustrating.  Yesterday was bad, but today we only managed TWO measly hits the entire game.  TWO.  We also had 3 walks, but 11 strikeouts.  It feels like the players couldn't wait for the season to end fast enough so they could go fishing.

Athletics (73-88)

Crisp CF

Taylor LF

Weeks 2B

Willingham DH

Sizemore 3B

Carter 1B

Miller RF

Powell C

Rosales SS

Gonzalez (15-12, 3.25)

Mariners (67-94)

Ichiro RF

Robinson CF

Ackley 2B

Smoak 1B

Carp LF

Kennedy DH

Liddi 3B

Seager SS

Giminez C

Vasquez (1-5, 8.89)

I'm not going to talk much about the game. The Athletics scored the lone runs of the game via a 2 run homer to right center by Miller.  Vasquez never impressed me, I would be surprised if he makes the club next year.  And that was the ballgame... even though we were only down 2 runs it just wasn't going to happen today.  Horrible way to end the season, being shut out the final two games.  20,173 hard core baseball fans were there for the final one this year.

Ichiro failed to get above 200 hits for the first time in his ML career, ending 184, a .272 BA, and a pathetic .310 OBP.  He is now 37 and his numbers will continue to decline.  He's only got one more year on the contract and then it is sayonara and we can finally get a real lead off hitter. 

It was a tough first year without Dave Niehaus.  But we're getting younger, we've got a new Manager in Eric Wedge that I believe is competent, and some exciting players to watch.  Ackley is going to be solid.  Pineda is young, if he develops a third pitch he'll be locked in the two spot for years.  Carp, did he finally have a breakthrough after years in the Minors?  Will Smoak match his potential?  So many questions, and after a sometimes frustrating year I am optimistic about 2012.  We're definitely turning this franchise around, you can see it.

Here's to next year!!

A Stinker

That's the best way I can sum it up.  We just stunk.  Total blowout, our offense was inept and only managed 4 hits as we lost 7-0.  Beavan, who had been doing pretty well lately, was not sharp.

Athletics (72-88)

Weeks 2B

Crisp CF

Matsui LF

Willingham DH

Dejesus RF

Sizemore 3B

Suzuki C

Allen 1B

Sogard SS

Cahill (11-14, 4.31)

Mariners (67-93)

Ichiro RF

Rodriguez SS

Ackley DH

Carp LF

Smoak 1B

Olivo C

Seager 2B

Liddi 3B

Saunders CF

Beavan (5-5, 3.82)

Beavan ended up going exactly 5 innings, giving up eight hits and all seven runs.  It started in the first with a 3 Run BOMB by Willingham to deep left field.  The Mariners threatened in the 1st inning with back to back singles by Ichiro and Rodriguez, but Ackley struck out and Carp ground to second for a double play.  Beavan gave up two more runs in each of the third and fifth innings.  The 5th inning runs were thanks to another homer, this time by Sizemore.  The only other possible scoring opportunity by the Mariners was in the 7th inning with runners on 1st and 2nd with one out, but the runners were stranded.  The Mariners had 4 hits, 1 BB, 8 K, and 4 LOB.  I'm hoping that we will end the season on a positive note tomorrow, with some signs of offense.

Att: 18,600

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.