Mariners Come Alive Too Late as Felix Struggles

Felix made his first start in 11 days after straining his back in his last start.  He continued his struggles of the last few weeks as he gave up 5 runs on 9 hits, and his offense gave him only 1 run. They scored three in the bottom of the ninth inning to make the final score 5-4, but it was too little too late.

Padres (20-41)

Venable RF

Forsythe 2B

Headley 3B

Quentin DH

Alonso 1B

Denorfia LF

Maybin CF

Hundley C

Cabrera SS

Richard (2-7, 4.58)

Mariners (27-35)

Ichiro RF

Ackley 2B

Montero DH

Seager 3B

Smoak 1B

Olivo C

Saunders CF

Figgins LF

Ryan SS

Hernandez (4-4, 3.42)

I'm hoping he can chalk this start up to being rusty, and not that Felix has lost it.  He was in trouble from the very beginning and didn't retire a side safely until the 5th inning.  The very first pitch was a bunt base hit by Venable. They caught him stealing, but Felix then proceeded to give a two out walk  an then hit a batter.  Thankfully he was able to get out of the jam with no damage.  The Padres got their lead batter on in each of the first four innings.  Denorfia singled in the 2nd, but Felix was able to get a double play and got out of the inning.  Unfortunately, he walked the leadoff guy in the 3rd, Cabrera, who ended up scoring on a two out single for the first run of the game.

Saunders was the first base runner for the Mariners in the third, but was doubled up on a Figgins grounder.  We scored our only run, until the ninth inning, thanks to a broken back single by Ichiro, Ackley single, then Seager ground out.  

Felix gave up 4 runs in his final inning.  He gave up a leadoff walk, then a bloop single that fell in-between Figgins and Ryan.  In fact it hit Ryan's glove, but he was trying to make an amazing over the shoulder "Will Mays" basket catch and just ran out of room.  Denorfia then hit into a fielder's choice to make runners on 1st and 2nd with one out.  Felix then gave up 2 consecutive singles then a "wild pitch" .  The ball hit the dirt before it crossed the plate.  Really, though, that was on Olivo.  He is a fucking catcher and needs to BLOCK THE DAMN PLATE.  Cabrera followed it up with an RBI single to make it - with one out.  He was then picked off of third, and Venable struck out on the next pitch to end the damage.1

Saunders had a fantastic games, 3-4 on the night and some nifty base running.   He almost had a grand slam in the sixth but hit the ball to deep left center and only made it to the warning track.  In the 5th he had a double down the left field line and then immediately stole third on the next pitch.  After Figgins was caught looking and Ryan walked, Ichiro ground to third to end the inning.  Until the 9th, our best opportunity to score was the sixth inning when we loaded the bases on three singles.  But, Saunders didn't quite get enough of the pitch.  He did, however, in the 9th inning.  With 1 out, down 5-1, he LAUNCHED a homer to deep center, and estimated 428 feet, for his 7th home run of the year.  Figgins then doubled, followed by pinch hitter Kawasaki who singled in Figgins to make it 5-3.  Ichiro singled on the next pitch to make it runners on 1st and 3rd with 1 out, and the winning run at the plate in Ackley.  He struck out, but the ball got past the catcher and Kawasaki scored to make it a 5-4 game.  Montero ground out to end the ballgame.  There was some excitement at the end, but unfortunately it was too late.  We had all kind of opportunities, and need to eventually break through on a consistent basis.  Felix can't be perfect every time.

Stephen Pryor, injured himself in the 9th inning, looks like a pulled groin.  Hopefully he isn't out too long.

The Mariners are now 7-9 when I attend

Attendance: 13,084

Time of Game: 3:02

Mariners Throw 3rd No-Hitter in Team History

Oh boy, oh boy.  19 years after the last no-hitter... Chris Bosio's 1993 game ending in the famous Visquel play, the Mariners notched their third no-hitter in history.  But this time, it was a highly unusual combined no-hitter.  It is only only the 10th combined no-hitter in MLB History.  Even more rare than a perfect game, 4 homer game, or unassisted triple play!

Dodgers (37-21)

Gordon SS

Herrera 3B

Ethier RF

Rivera DH

Abreu LF

Hairston 2B

Loney 1B

Ellis C

Gwynn CF

Eovaldi (0-2, 2.64)

Mariners (26-33)

Ichiro RF

Ackley 2B

Seager 3B

Montero C

Smoak 1B

Saunders CF

Jaso DH

Carp LF

Kawasaki SS

Millwood (3-5, 3.90)

We came in after a 5-4 road trip in which we absolutely crushed the ball, scoring 64 runs, including a 21-8 drubbing of Texas.  So all thoughts were that we'd finally found our groove and were hoping that it would carry over to Safeco.  It wasn't the case, but we were able to get just enough offense to win 1-0.

Millwood started out superbly, with only 68 pitches through six innings against the best team in the National League.  He retired the first 12 men he faced until a leadoff walk by Rivera in the 5th, who was immediately erased on a double play grounder.  Millwood didn't allow another batter.  He came out in the 7th inning, tossed one warmup, then left the game.  We weren't exactly sure what was going on... speculation on the radio and twitter was that it was a blister.  I was glad to find out later that it was a mild groin strain.  If he had left a no-hitter for a stinking blister?  Sheesh.  Anyway, at that point it was still a scoreless game, and I was pretty sure the chance at seeing a no-hitter was over.  But... five guys from our bullpen all came out and got the job done.  Furbush came on for the injured Millwood, got a fly ball for the first out, then made a two-base error on a chopper back to the mound.  But he struck out Ethier, and Rookie Stephen Pryor came on to finish out the 7th with a strikeout of his own.  He throws in the upper 90s.

We scored the lone run of the game in the 7th inning, so Pryor picked up his first ML win.  We scored when Ichiro got a two out single (his third single of the game), followed by a walk to Ackley and then an RBI single by Seager.  It was his 23rd two out RBI of the year (our of 37 total), which leads the AL.

In the top of the 8th, Pryor walked the first two batters, so was relieved by Luetge who in 13 innings has yet to give up a run.  He faced one batter, a sacrifice to advance runners to 2nd and 3rd with one out.  Next followed League.  He lost his closing job a couple of weeks ago, and anytime he comes in I get really anxious. Well, Ellis hit a shallow ball to left but Figgins (who had come in that inning as a defensive replacement) was able to get to it, and quickly throw home.  It was a high throw, but Montero was able to save the run by snagging it out of the air.  League struckout Gwynn to finish the inning, and we were only 3 outs from History!!! 

Ryan came in as a defensive replacement in the ninth, and it was a good thing he did.  The dude is insane, I don't care if he is batting below the Mendoza line.  He is probably the best shortstop in the league.  Wilhelmsen came in to close out the game, and all 22,028 on hand were on their feet.  Every no-hitter has one or two spectacular defensive plays.  Seager had one to leadoff the fourth, and Ryan came through in the ninth.  Gordon hit a 0-2 pitch slowly, but Ryan charged it and was just able to get the play at first.  It was damn close, Gordon was incensed but... hell we were on the bad end of a call for the perfect game.  So even if he was safe, that's baseball!!  He sure looked out to me.  Herrera lined out to Ryan, and the final out was a ground ball to Ackley.  History was made, and the celebration commenced!

I think it is pretty cool that I have been to a perfect game and combined no-hitter this year, after 18 years of griping about leaving the Bosio no-no early... I'm rewarded with this.  I felt like the Baseball Gods decided to give something back, after the torture of the perfect game.  It wasn't the most spectacular pitching performance I've ever seen, but truly bizarre.  I think Washburn gave up one hit in a complete game, and that hit was erased on a double play so he faced the minimum batters.  That was better.   This one had a few walks and an error, but it was a great team accomplishment.  And, as it was only the 10th combined no-hitter ever, extremely rare!  I can now finally shut up about the Bosio no-hitter!

The Mariners are now 7-8 when I attend
Time of Game: 2:48
Attendance: 22,028

 

May Games Recap

The Mariners were .500 during the month, going 4-4, and are now 6-8 overall when I attend.  We were 2-1 in one run games and were not shut out, although we did shut out Minnesota 7-0. The average attendance was, 21,028 which is pretty close to April's 22,200 (including Opening Day).  We scored 28 runs, our opponent's 21, for a run differential of 7 runs in our favor.   I would say we were much more competitive this month in that our 4 losses were by a combined 7 runs, whereas in April it was 13.

Our starting pitchers were much better this month, averaging 6.2 IP per game.  Of the 8 games, 6 were quality starts.  Beavan's stats were skewed because he left one game early due to getting hit on the elbow.  The starters accounted for 75% of the innings, up from 62% last month, and gave up 71% of the runs, which was down from 76% from April.  The best start by far was by Felix on the 5th, when he went 8 innings giving up only 1 hit.  Take out his last start in which he gave up 5 runs, and he would have been the best pitcher of the month, by far.  Vargas once again suffered from a lack of run support in both of his games.  An interesting stat, almost 20 extra innings pitched (33.1) yet our starters gave up the same amount of hits and walks and had nearly double the amount of strikeouts (42).

If you compare to April's hitting stats when we had . 200/.284/.319/.603, May's are eerily similar!  Our homers were actually down (5), but we had 6 more doubles and 2 triples (none last month). Hopefully we can start picking up our offense as the weather gets warmer, because batting .200 for half your games isn't going to cut it, neither is getting on base less than 30% of the time.

Carp came back from the disabled list but did not pick up where he left off last year, although he did draw a fair amount of walks.  Figgins was demoted to utility player, and Olivo missed most of the month because of a groin pull.  Smoak's stats look pretty paltry, but he really started heating up the last few games.  Montero, after an exciting first month, dipped.  I was surprised to see Ichiro as our top hitter... as I am not a fan.

Mariners Slammed for 3rd Straight Game

The Mariners turned back the clock to 1955 today and played as the Seattle Rainiers.  The sun was shining, the players looked dapper in their throwback uniforms, King's Court was out in force, but the Rainiers lost 5-3 as Pujols hit a homer in the third straight game.

Angels (22-25)

Trout CF

Izturis 3B

Pujols 1B

Morales DH

Trumbo RF

Kendrick 3B

Aybar SS

Calhoun LF

Wilson C

Williams (4-3, 3.74)

Rainiers (21-27)

Ackley 2B

Saunders CF

Ichiro RF

Seager 3B

Smoak 1B

Jaso DH

Olivo C

Carp LF

Ryan SS

Hernandez (4-3, 2.80)

Sporting replica uniforms, looking nice guys!

The Mariners dressed in some cool duds, King's Court was increased to a record four sections with special retro red t-shirts.  The weather was ridiculous, I had to hide in the shade the sun was so intense!   There was a great crowd on hand, but unfortunately Felix wasn't in his top form.  It would have been great to show the nearly 30k fans how much fun this team can be, but all we got was another loss.

The scoring opened up in the top of the 4th when Pujols hit a monster leadoff homer, 413 feet to the Mariners bullpen.  He had homers in the previous two games of the series, I think we single handidly revived his season!  The Pujols homer wasn't the difference maker, however.  That turned out to be a surprising pinch hit grand slam by  Callaspo in the 6th  .  At that point the Rainiers were up 2-1.

We scored two in  the 5th via a double, fielder's choice, and two singles.  After the grand slam, we tacked on a solo shot by Smoak in the to make it 5-3 Angels.  That was the ballgame, pretty much.  Smoak is definitely heating up.

Felix just wasn't his usual self, giving up five runs on ten hits. He's bound to have an off day here and there, and we were still within striking distance.

The Mariners were 4-4 in May, 6-8 overall when I attend.
Attendance: 29,483
Time of Game:  3:07

League Blows the Game, Smoak Heats Up

I really thought we had this game... until League entered.  I have never felt safe with League, and sure enough he turned a 4-3 lead into a 6-4 loss on Ackley Bobblehead Night.

Angels (21-25)

Trout CF

Izturis 2B

Pujols 1B

Morales DH

Trumbo RF

Callaspo 3B

Aybar SS

Calhoun LF

Hester C

Santana (2-6, 4.22)

Mariners (21-26)

Saunders CF

Liddi 3B

Ichiro RF

Seager 2B

Smoak 1B

Jaso DH

Montero C

Carp LF

Kawasaki SS

Beavan (2-4, 4.46)

The Mariners had ample opportunity to put this game out of reach early, but just couldn't get it done.  We only scored 1 run in the first after loading the bases with one out (via a leadoff single and walks by Liddi and Seager).  Smoak got a fielder's choice RBI.  It looked like Seager was actually safe at second, the shortstop was clearly off the base but the ump made the call he made.  It should have been bases still loaded with only one out. So, Jaso walked to load the bases again, but Montero ended the inning with a groundout.  So it was 1-0 after the first inning, a good team would have at least two, possibly three, runs.  Unfortunately we have a horrible number three hitter in Ichiro.  He isn't a threat for a big homer or solid double with runners on.  The experiment needs to stop, I'm so sick of his rally killers.

We got our second run in the third after a leadoff double by Ichiro and one out RBI single by Smoak.  It was his second RBI of the game.  Then Jaso walked.  BUT another rally died as Montero hit into a 6-4-3 double play.  We finished our scoring in the fifth inning.  Seager hit a double to right field, and then Smoak took a 0-1 pitch into the right field stands to put us up 4-0.  He drove in all of our runs tonight, and is definitely showing signs that he is breaking out.

Beavan pitched another solid game, he tends to quietly go out there and do his thing but runs into an inning where he runs into an issue.  With our offense, it usually means the difference in the game.  Beavan's bad inning tonight was the sixth, when Pujols delivered a monster 3 run homer to center that was estimated at 410 feet.  Pujols came into the game batting only .225 with 5 homers and 22 rbi.  If you recall, he signed a huge contract this offseason after leaving his original team, St. Louis. 

So the score remained until a nightmare of a ninth inning, in which League gave up a first pitch single to Trumbo.  Bourjos came in to pinch run, that dude is fast!  Callaspo then worked a walk, and on an 0-1 pitch Aybar hit a bad sacrifice bunt back to League.  Instead of going for the sure out at 1st, League decided to try and get speedy Bourjos with a force at third base.  Yep, didn't happen.  Instead he threw it away, the tying run scored and the had runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out.  Aybar was then intentionally walked to load the bases and force an out on any base.  Pinch hitter Kendrick then laced his first pitch right up the middle to score the final two runs of the game.  The boo birds came out.  If Trout hadn't ground into a double play for the first outs of the inning, who knows how much more damage they would have racked up.

Needless to say it was a disappointing and frustrating night.  I don't ever want to see League in a save situation again.  I'm not buying it, nobody is buying it anymore.  We should have traded him when we had the chance last year.

The Mariners are now 6-7 when I attend
Attendance: 23,517
Time of Game: 2:52

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

Mariners handle Darvish

The Mariners won their fourth in a row, 6-1, as Felix pitched 8 strong innings against the best team in the American League.

Rangers (26-16)

Kinsler 2B

Andrus SS

Hamilton CF

Beltre 3B

Young DH

Murphy LF

Cruz RF

Napoli C

Moreland 1B

Darvish (6-1, 2.60)

Mariners (19-24)

Ackley 2B

Saunders CF

Ichiro RF

Seager 3B

Montero DH

Smoak 1B

Jaso C

Carp LF

Ryan SS

Hernandez (3-3 ,3.02)

It was the first appearance at Safeco by rookie Yu Darvish, the heralded starting pitcher signed in the offseason from Japan.  It was our second time facing him, and once again the Mariners proved that he is human.  Last time we were unable to put him away early on.  Tonight, he lasted only four innings, trailing 5-0.  In all honesty it probably should have been 7-0 or 8-0, as we didn't take full advantage of our opportunities.  But the way Felix was pitching, the run in the first inning was all we needed for most of the game.

Josh Hamilton came into the game batting .389 with 18 HR and 47 RBI!!  Yep, you read that right.  The dude is leading the league in all categories, and I think we'd have to combine 3 or possibly 4 mariners to match his output.  Contrast that to our third batter in the order, Ichiro, at .280 with 1 HR and 14 RBI... having a true middle of the order guy instead of a 7/8 hitter and who knows what we'd be doing!  Anyway, Felix was able to handle Hamilton, retiring him all four times including two strikeouts in which Hamilton looked like a fooled rookie.

The Mariners got their first run in the opening inning after Saunders drew a four pitch walk, followed by an triple down right field line by Ichiro, it got stuck under the padding in foul territory.  Darvish ended up walking six total batters in his four innings.  We were retired in order in the 2nd, then Ryan lead off the 3rd with a single followed by Darvish's second walk of the game to Ackley.  With no outs and runners on 1st and 2nd, Saunders laid down a bunt up the first base side, unfortunately Moreland went for the forced out at third.  So, once again runners on 1st and 2nd but now one out.  Ichiro, notoriously bad this year with runners in scoring position, laced an RBI single to center.  Ackley raced around to home, and Hamilton tried to throw out Saunders at third for some reason.  The throw sailed into the dugout, so Saunders scored and Ichiro was now on third!  Seager walked, leaving runners on 1st and 3rd with one out.  Montero then came through with a sacrifice fly to the warning track in center, making it 4-0.

In the fourth we probably should have added at least three or four more runs, but were unable to get a clutch hit.  Darvish loaded the bases to open up the inning on three walks, then Ackley hit a single to right to score Jaso, making it 5-0.  Unfortunately we then ground into two consecutive fielder's choices, forcing the out at home both times.  Seager then got caught looking in three pitches.  We had loaded the bases with nobody out, and couldn't muster a sacrifice fly or a ball hit out of the infield.  But, thanks to Felix, it didn't matter in the long run.  It was the last inning for Darvish, and we were retired in order in the 5th and 6th innings.  Our final run came in the 7th when  Montero hit an RBI double to left.

The Rangers got their lone run in the top of the 8th, when Moreland launched a solo shot to right field that traveled 403 feet.  What was funny is that I called it earlier in the game.  There were about 4/5 fans in the row in front of me who were ragging on Moreland all night for some reason.  They were just teasing him and yelling at him.  That homer was his answer.   It would have been nice to shut out the Rangers, but I got a chuckle out of it.

The Mariners improved to  6-5 when I attend!
Time of Game: 2:49
Attendance: 18,672

Pitching, Defense, Clutch Hitting

Tonight John Jaso batted leadoff, only the 2nd Mariners catcher to do so.  The last was in 1978!  Well, it ended up paying off as Jaso once again came through in the clutch and the Mariners beat Detroit 2-1 in just over two hours.

Vargas was absolutely stellar, again.

Tigers (15-14)

Jackson CF

Boesch RF

Cabrera 3B

Fielder 1B

Young DH

Raburn LF

Peralta SS

Laird C

Worth 2B

Smyly (1-0, 1.61)

Mariners (14-18)

Jaso C

Ryan SS

Ichiro RF

Montero DH

Seager 2B

Smoak 1B

Liddi 3B

Wells LF

Figgins CF

Vargas (3-2,3.09)

I bet Detroit will be glad to not see us until 2013, as we went 5-1 against them this year, losing only yesterday's game.

We were only able to muster 4 hits, but we made them count.  Ichiro singled in the 4th, stole second, then came around on an RBI double by Seager which almost went out of the ballpark. Ichiro's single put him at #100 on the all-time hits list.

Vargas, meanwhile, was only in trouble once the whole night.  Sporting a 1-0 lead he gave up a leadoff double to Laird.  Worth followed with a single to advance him to third.  Jackson then got Detroit their only run of the game via a sacrifice fly.  Boesch followed with a single but Vargas was able to get out of trouble by inducing a 4-6-3 double play.  There were about three or four absolutely fantastic defensive plays by Ryan tonight, including a barehanded grab to end the third.  Even if he isn't hitting right now, at least he is flashing a gold glove worthy defense.  One of the plays essentially ended the game, but more on that later.

After Vargas got out of the sixth, he retired the next six batters to finish the 8th with an efficient 90 pitches.  In my opinion he should have probably come back out in the ninth inning, but Wedge doesn't like to play that way.  The score was tied 1-1, and Saunders pinch hit for Wells to lead off the bottom of the inning.  He hit a double to left field.  Figgins then laid down a sacrifice bunt, which brought up Jaso.  He hit a single to center field, scoring Saunders with the eventual winning run.  It feels like the 4th or 5th time already this year that he has produced a game winning RBI.  Unfortunately, Jaso got a little too excited and tried to stretch the single into a double and was thrown out at second.

League came in to close out the game, and proceeded to walk the leadoff man, Jackson, which meant that Boesch, Cabrera, and possibly Fielder were due up next.  Boesch hit an absolute laser to Ryan, who was able to knock the ball down and get the double play.  For a split second it looked like he had caught it, but it was hit too hard.  That turned to our favor, and we easily doubled them up.


The Mariners are now 5-5 when I attend, 2-2 in one run games!
Attendance: 15,655
Time of Game: 2:06

Mariners Spoil Another Fister Start

It seemed like every time I saw Fister pitch last year, we ruined his great outing in some way.  Mostly it was from a lack of scoring, once it was that phantom walk (three pitch walk).  Well, we did it again. Only this time, it was for our benefit as we scored 3 in the 9th to spoil Fister's outstanding start for the Tigers.

Tigers (14-13)

Jackson CF

Dirks LF

Cabrera 3B

Fielder 1B

Young DH

Avila C

Peralta SS

Boesch RF

Raburn 2B

Fister (0-0, 0.00)

Mariners (13-17)

Ackley 2B

Ryan SS

Ichiro RF

Montero C

Seager 3B

Jaso DH

Smoak 1B

Carp LF

Saunders CF

Beavan (1-3, 4.45)

Fister was off the DL after hurting himself in his first start of the year, and he looked like the same old Fister.  I had mixed feelings, I love watching the man pitch but not at our expense.  We outlasted him, got to their Bullpen and were lucky enough to meet a very wild Dotel.

Beavan went out after the third inning after a strange 1-5-4-3 double play to end the third.  Cabrera absolutely smoked the ball straight up the middle and it ricocheted off Beavan's elbow.  Iwakuma came on in relief, only his third appearance of the season, and after a shaky 4th inning in which he allowed 1 run on three hits (sandwiching three strikeouts), he retired the order in the 5th and 6th innings.  Our relievers were outstanding tonight, keeping us in the game. 

The Tigers scored in the first inning on two doubles, the second by Fielder.  It wasn't hit very hard, but was a pop up that just managed to land right next to the foul line, far enough out of reach of Carp, Wells, and Seager.  Wells was roaming around Left Center so he had no chance, Ryan barely missed it.  I would call Fielder's RBI double a bloop one.  He had another softly hit bloop single against Iwakuma in the 4th, and came around to score on a broken bat single by Boesch.  So the Tigers weren't hitting us hard, I would say their hardest hit ball was the one that put Beavan out of the game.

Fister, in the meantime, went 7 strong innings, allowing only 4 hits in the 1st, 3rd, 6th, and 7th with 73 pitches.  He probably could have finished the game, but I'm glad he didn't!

In the 9th inning Ryan and Ichiro both drew walks.  Then, on the first pitch to Montero, Dotel threw a Wild Pitch advancing the runners to 2nd and 3rd with nobody out.  I looked at the remaining players to come up:  Seager, and Jaso, and was fully confident that we had just won the game.  I knew that Montero would either get a sac fly or a base hit to score the runs, and that Seager and Jaso would do something magical.  On his 2-0 pitch, Dotel threw wildly again, Avila couldn't handle it and it got past him to score Ryan and put Ichiro on third via the passed ball.  Montero then launched a fullcount bomb to deep center field.  On a warmer night it would have been gone, but it bounced off the the wall for an RBI double, and the ballgame was tied.  Montero absolutely crushed it.  Dotel was done, and Kawasaki came in to pinch run.  This meant that if we went to extra innings we probably would have lost our DH as Jaso would have switched to catcher.  But we had three outs still to play with, and like I said I was fully confident.

Sure enough, Seager, probably our most consistent hitter lately, immediately put down a sac bunt to advance Kawasaki to third.  And then, Mr. Clutch John Jaso came up to the plate.  He'd already won two games for us this year.  We had all the momentum... and sure enough after fouling back the first pitch Jaso hit a fly to right field, and Kawasaki beat the throw to score the winning run.  The team poured out and swarmed Jaso.  The fans went crazy, and everyone went home happy.  It was a great comeback win and nobody could ask for a better way to end a ballgame.

Can't pin down the player of the game, too many played such an important role.

The Mariners are now 4-5 when I attend and 1-2 in 1 run games
Attendance: 14,462
Time of Game: 2:31

Felix and Seager Snap 7 Game Skid

It was a beautiful night at the ballpark while Felix cruised through 8 innings of one hit ball and Seager knocked in four runs as the Mariners snapped their 7 game losing streak with a 7-0 shut out.

Twins (7-18)

Span CF

Carroll SS

Mauer DH

Willingham LF

Doumit C

Parmalee 1B

Valencia 3B

Komatsu RF

Casilla 2B

Marquis (2-0, 6.23)

Mariners 11-17

Ackley  2B

Ryan SS

Ichiro RF

Montero C

Seager 3B

Jaso DH

Smoak 1B

Carp LF

Saunders CF

Hernandez (2-1, 2.23)

Felix looked good from the start, he struck out nine while giving up just two walks and a hit.  All of those were in the 4th inning as he loaded the bases.  But Felix pitched his way out of the jam and the Twins were unable to reach base the rest of the game.  At that point, it was still a scoreless game.

The home team had at least one runner reach base in each of the first four innings but was unable to capitalize as they hit into three double plays.  They were retired in order in the 5th but then were able to break through in the 6th inning with two runs.  With the way Felix was pitching, I was sure that the two would be enough and it turned out to be the case.  Ackley lead off the inning with an infield single.  Then, Ryan was able to get down a sacrifice bunt to advance Ackley.  In the 3rd inning Ryan had been unable to sacrifice Saunders and Ackley (after back to back walks to start the inning) with failed bunt attempts, and ended up striking out.  In the third, Ichiro then hit into a double play.  This time,  Ichiro then drew an eight pitch walk.  Montero followed with a groundout to the pitcher that advanced the runners, with two outs.   Seager then took a 2-0 pitch up the middle for a two rbi single and we had all the runs Felix would need.  Jaso followed by what I like to call the "intentional unintentional" walk as Smoak has been struggling all year.  Sure enough, he ended the inning with a flyball to left.

We added on a bunch of insurance in the 7th inning.  While it was exciting to see, we didn't need it, but it would good to see production out of our lineup.  Carp leadoff with a walk, then Saunders laid down a bunt for a single.  They put in Wells as pinch runner for Carp.  Ackley drew another walk, loading the bases for Ryan who had already laid down a sacrifice bunt his previous at-bat.  This time, he did his job with a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Wells and advancing Saunders to third.  So here comes Ichiro.  1st and 3rd with 1 out, similar to his 3rd inning at-bat when there were runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out and he hit into a double play.  This time... he didn't.  He launched an 0-1 pitch the the "sweet spot" in right-center for a TRIPLE!  It was now 5-0.  One out later, on his first pitch, Seager launched his 4th home run of the year to right field that traveled 395 feet.  7-0 Mariners and that was the ballgame.

Easy for me to say that Seager is the player of the game with his 2 hits and 4 RBI, closely followed by Felix.  He was excellent, but without Seager's offense it could have been a whole different ballgame.  It is important to support Felix, as he pitches his heart out every game and rarely sees a reward for his efforts.  Felix didn't come out to pitch the 9th, but I guess it was because there was no need.  The game was in hand, no reason to risk his health on a cold night.  I was hoping to see a complete game from him.

Everyone in the lineup contributed, by either getting on base or producing a run.  That's what you like to see.  We had had 7 hits and 8 walks, with only 2 strikeouts.  This has already been a streaky season and we are only a month in, it is going to continue to be a long but interesting ride.

Mariners now 3-5 when I attend
Attendance:  28,437
Time of Game: 2:33