Emerald City Roundtable

I'm back! (2009-MAY-06)

Hey all, sorry I haven't stayed up to date on the blog this last month.  Hopefully you all understand, I have had AP tests, SAT, and finals to study for.  However that's not to say I haven't stayed up to date on the Mariners, because I have.  It sure has been a rough month for the M's, as they lost first place, and are only 8-15 in the month of May.  Sitting at 21-24 overall, the Mariners are in third place, 6 games behind Texas.

HOMESTAND IN REVIEW

This last homestand has been very encouraging though, the Mariners have been able to score two series victories, one over Boston (2-1), and one against San Francisco (2-1), while dropping the four game set against Los Angeles (1-3). 

While the record might be sitting at 5-5, a lot of good has come from these 10 games.  Adrian Beltre is beginning to heat up, after Manager Don Wakamatsu moved him to the number 2 hole for Saturday's game and to the three hole for Sunday's game.  Ken Griffey, Jr. has also heated up, raising his average nearly 50 points and hitting a home run in Sunday's 5-4 win over the Giants. 

From the pitching rubber, after some intense comments from Wakamatsu following a Tuesday night loss at the hands of the Angels, Felix Hernandez pitched an 8 inning, 1 earned run ballgame on Sunday, and earned his fifth win.  Wakamatsu, who had said that Felix didn't step up for his team, was pleasantly surprised with Felix's performance on Sunday.

DOWN ON THE FARM

The Tacoma Rainiers have stepped it up, and have improved their record to 22-20, and are in third place, 4 games behind first place Salt Lake.  Mike Carp and Chris Shelton continue to hit well, providing the Mariners options in the minors if they decide to make a move for more offense.

2009 JUNE AMATUER DRAFT PREVIEW

Well, we are getting to that time once again, draft time.  Every year, one must ask themselves where thier club needs improvement, and this year is no different.  In fact, it is much more important this season, as the rebuilding process continues.

This season, the Mariners really need infielding.  With a few top picks, they are going to have several oppertunities to get some good ballplayers.  Adrian Beltre, who is expected to leave following this season, needs to be replaced.  The most viable option is Matt Tuiasasopo, who currently plays for Tacoma, however he doesn't have the power that the Mariners need in their lineup that they will lose from Beltre.  The second position the M's need improvement at is Shortstop.  All of you who have continued to follow the blog know how I feel about Yuniesky Betancourt.  I don't think he is in the future of the club and needs to be replaced.  The final area of improvement needs to be starting pitching.  If the M's can draft a good young starter, that would help a lot, as it does on any club.

The second question has to be, "do we draft high school or college players?"  Right now, the Mariners don't have the time to develop high school players.  College players are the way to go at this time, they have already had 4-5 years to develop, and a single year at Triple A could make them Major League worthy.

ASK ANDREW!

"Where wil the Mariners finish this season?" -Jacob, from Puyallup
In my preview, I said they will finish in third, in front of Texas.  That has not changed, I still think they will finish in third, but maybe front of Oakland.  Los Angeles has looked very strong with all the injuries they have endured, and Texas has been very surprising with their strong starting pitching.

"Felix got in trouble with Wak on Tuesday, do you think it was justifiable?" -Bill, from Tacoma
I don't think it was justifiable, although Wak is right on what he said.  Felix is our ace, and he is going to have a bad game once in awhile.  This win today really proved to Wak that he can step up when the club needs him.

THANKS ALL!

Thanks everyone for the questions and for sticking with me even though I haven't been online since about a month ago.  Send your comments, and your questions for the "Ask Andrew!" segment, to AndrewR@MyTeamRivals.com.  Check back next Sunday for my blog!  Thanks again everyone!

Good Old Fashioned Twin Bill (2009-APR-05)

Hey everyone, sorry I didn't do the weekly blog this week.  It was a very busy Sunday and I just couldn't get around to it.  But I promise you all, this Sunday you will get a good old fashioned twin bill of the blog. 

Speaking of a twin bill, we played one today, going 1-1 in it.  Seattle lost game number 1, 2-1, although Jakubauskas pitched a complete game two hitter.  Just goes to show that a single mistake could cost you a win in this league.  In the second game, the Mariners offense exploded, putting up 9 runs.  Felix delivered big also, pitching 8 innings surrendering no runs and four hits. 

My MVP of the day has to be Mike Sweeney though, who was 5 for 5 today, and drove in several runs.  I think the seasoned veteran helped a lot tonight.  But as they always say, hitting is contagious, and Sweeney's bat helped this club more than the stats show tonight. 

Well that does is for today, don't forget to check out the double length Sunday blog, where we will be discussing the M's future (specifically the 2009 June Amatuer Draft) and also potential changes to be made.  I will also start a new feature, "Ask Andrew", so send in your questions for me to discuss here on the blog.  E-mail those questions to AndrewR@MyTeamRivals.com.  Thanks everyone, see you on Sunday!

After 13 Games; (2009-APR-04)

Well, two weeks have come and gone, and boy are we flying through April!  Already 13 games down, and the Mariners are surprisingly 8-5.  A 3-3 start on their current homestand has got the club to a 2.5 game lead in the AL West, with the M's winning a key early-season series against the Angels.  To start, lets review last week's action and the upcoming games for this week. 

LAST WEEK IN REVIEW

The Mariners began the week on Tuesday with an Opening Day tilt against the defending AL West champion, Los Angeles Angels.  The M's were able to squeak out a 3-2 extra inning win on a sacrifice bunt that Angels relief pitcher Scot Shields hurled over the head of the first baseman.

In game two, the Mariners exploded late in the game with a seven run 7th inning to propel them to an 11-3 victory.  In the third game, the Mariners were held to just 4 hits in a 5-1 loss, but none the less, the series was won.

The Mariners then welcomed the Detroit Tigers into SafeCo Field for a three game series.  In the first game, Felix Hernandez pitched questionably, giving up 3 runs in the second inning, but recovered nicely to lead the Mariners to a 6-3 win. 

In a spectacular pitching performance on Saturday night, Edwin Jackson out-dueled Jarrod Washburn to win a tight one, 2-0.  Unfortunately, Washburn suffered defeat for the first time this season, falling to 1-1 on the season.  Silva got the call on Sunday, surrendering 4 runs in a losing effort.

WHY YUNI, WHY?

Even though Carlos Silva pitched sub-par on Sunday, Yuniesky Betancourt commited two key errors in the game.  Yuni bobbled a sharply hit double-play ball late in the game and didn't even get one out on the play.  Thats ok, players make mistakes right?  Well the very next hitter hit a double-play ball right at Yuni, which he completely botched allowed the bags to be full with one out.  The next hitter lined a double into left-center field to bring 3 runs in to really put the game out of reach for the Mariners. 

Did it effect the outcome of the game?  Probably not, but two errors in a row is definately frustrating.  For a player that has commited 71 errors (not counting those two errors on Sunday) in only 4 and a half seasons and has a fielding percentage of only .970, that also only hits .283 for his career, tell me why Yuni is still the shortstop?  Maybe I'm being a little rough on him, but I'm also wondering when he is going to start playing like a Major League baseball player.  The stats were courtesy of www.baseball-reference.com.

LETS TAKE THE GOOD WITH THE BAD

I quickly want to say a little about the players on this team though.  Most of them are interchangable, which is always a good thing.  Cedeno played some infield this week and Lopez played first on Sunday afternoon, giving Manager Don Wakamatsu great flexibility in his lineup.  Thats always good, becuase you can also rest guys, letting them stay fresh for that end of the year run.

PLAYOFFS?  WE'RE TALKING ABOUT PRACTICE!

As for this week's "special feature", I have decided to try and write out what it will take for the M's to earn a spot in the elite 8 game tournament in October.

First off, the M's need to avoid big losing streaks.  One of thier biggest problems last season was dropping three and four and five games in a row.  Avoid those, and your chances of making the show nearly double in my opinion. 

With that out of the way, here is my formula for a playoff appearance.  Lets start off going a few games over .500 until the All-Star break.  This is always hard for me to say, because I want to win all the games, but if you are maybe 6 or 7 games over .500 at the break, your right on target.  After the break into August, thats the time to turn it on.  We all know that 85 games in going to win this division, so just go do it!

But when it all comes down to it, if you win your three game series, and split the four gamers and two gamers, your going to have a decent record.  To get the playoff record you need, make sure to take a couple of extra games from your division rivals, such as the three game series the M's have against the Angels this weekend, and then you find yourself in first place on October 5th!

DOWN ON THE FARM

The Rainiers are doing very well to start off this season.  They are currently 8-3 in the tight PCL Pacific South division.  The club on Friday night paid tribute to Cheney Stadium's 50th season as home of the club, and celebrated by defeating the Sacramento RiverCats.  Elsewhere, M's affiliate Double-A West Tennesse has got off to a 4-6 start, and lost star shortstop Carlso Turifel to a broken leg.  Truinfel, who is the Mariners top shortstop prospect, will miss the rest of the season.  He will be examined in Seattle this week.

THANKS FOR READING

Once again, thanks everyone for reading!  I post every Sunday night, so be sure to check back weekly and also check out my exclusive blog for MyTeamRivals.com.  If you want to email me and give me your opinion on Yuniesky Betancourt, or any other baseball subject, plaese do at AndrewR@MyTeamRivals.com.  Thanks again everyone!

21 - vs. TB - 7:10 - FSN

22 - vs. TB - 7:10 - FSN

23 - vs. TB - 3:40 - FSN

24 - @ LAA - 7:05 - FSN

25 - @ LAA - 6:05 - FSN

26 - @ LAA - 12:35 - FSN

Mariner Explosion!

Hey everyone!  Wow, what a game by these Mariners. I tell you what, it was awesome!  This one not only had the excitement of home runs, but it had great pitching (at least in the first half of the game), and some sticky jams, and also Washburn's perfect 4 innings.  It really had a little but of everything, and it ended in the best of ways, with a seven run explosion in the seventh.

The M’s struck first, on the funny moment of the night; a lazy fly ball smacked to centerfield by Russel Branyan to Torii Hunter was lost somehow, perhaps in the sky or lights or something, and the fly ended up dropping about 15 feet in front of Hunter, which gave Branyan a double.  He later scored for the games first run on an RBI single by Kenji Johjima, after a beautiful sacrifice bunt by Jose Lopez. 

The Angels struck back for two in the fifth on a two run home run by Torii Hunter.  Seattle responded with back to back home runs by Endy Chavez and Ken Griffey, Jr., which was his 400^th homer with the Mariners.  Griffey joins an exclusive, one member club, the 400-200 club.  He has 400 homers with the Mariners and 200 homers with the Reds. 

The Mariners scored one in the sixth, making it 4-2, and then exploded for 7 in the seventh, including Ichiro’s grand salami, which he hit in his first game back with the Mariners.  This gave the Mariners the 11-3 lead that they would hold throughout the end of this one.

Ok, so that was about the awesome offense, but the pitching was spectacular as well!  I did say that everything clicked tonight didn’t I?  Jarrod Washburn got his second win, which is definitely a bright change from last year since Wash only won 5 games all year last season.  Shawn Kelley also pitched well in his 2 innings.  In his first inning, he got out of a two on, one down jam in the top half of the seventh inning.  In the eighth, Kelley was able to get through the inning without surrendering a run after giving up two base knocks.

All across the board, there was just so much in this game that was good for the Mariners and their fans.  I can't even hit all of them in this blog that I'm writing at 11 o'clock at night.  All I know is enjoy this one Mariners fans!!

LETS SWEEP THE ANGELS!

Los Angeles

Angels @

Seattle

Mariners – 7:

10 pm

, FSN, 710 ESPN
J. Saunders (1-1, 2.63) vs. C. Jakubauskas (1-0, 4.50)

Opening Day in Seattle

Ok well sorry it took me so long to get on tonight, but as I'm sure you all understand it was a long, exciting day. 

I left my house with all the guys around 11:30ish and we got to Seattle and SafeCo for all the pregame ceremonies.  It was an amzing game.

Silva pitched very well for once.  He pitched 7 strong innings against the Angels, which is no easy task.  He only gave up 2 runs, and the bullpen looked great in the 8-10th innings.  It went to extras for the first time this season, and in the bottom of the tenth, yuni put down a perfect bunt to the third base side, moving Gutierrez to third, and when Scot Spier threw the ball to first for the out, it sailed over Abreu's head and down the right field line, allowing Gutierrez to come in and score the winning run.  Overall, the Mariners performe very good, and it was an awesome game. 

After the game, Ken Griffey, Jr. said it wasnt just about him, it was about all 25 guys on the roster.  He also went on to say that this club felt like a special group that could go somewhere.  All of this culminates into the best of days for Mariner fans.  The 162 game marathon continues, 154 games left!  Go Mariners!

TOMORROW'S STARTERS

Jered Weaver (1-0, 0.00) vs. Jarrod Washburn (1-0, 0.00)

7:10, FSN, 710 ESPN Seattle

Week One (2009-APR-03)

Well, week one has come and gone here in Major League Baseball, and it definitely was an eventful one.  The Mariners are off to a spectacular start, considering their expectations for the year, the Orioles are surprising a few with their series win over the Yankees, and there was a very unfortunate and tragic event Thursday evening with the death of Nick Adenhart of the Angels.

1ST WEEK OF MARINERS BASEBALL!

For fans, I think it has been great having baseball back.  I was able to keep score of two games this week and take in all of the games on the television and radio.  I have to say that my Mariners have been playing very well.  They very well could have swept the Twins in Minnesota, but a few shaky pitching performance dealt the M's two losses.  However, they only got a split out of the four game series.  In Oakland, the Mariners were able to play very well in their first two games, coming from behind on both nights and also overcame Felix Hernandez's shaky start on Saturday to win 8-5. 

They played very solidly in both series, which leads me to the question, which aspect of the Mariners game is the best so far this season?  The defense and offense was both exemplary, and the pitching was good too with the exception of Silva's start and Brandon Morrow's ninth inning meltdown.  With that being said, the Mariners defense made several key plays, especially on Thursdays 2-0 win over the Twins.  The defense was able to make numerous plays which saved Washburn's 8 inning no run performance.  One diving catch was made late in the game by Franklin Gutierrez, and another groundout putout was recorded by a Mike Sweeney doing the splits.  For those reasons, I think the defense has been the best aspect of this club.

Offensively, the M's have been able to score and do it in a way that they couldn't do it last season.  The runs are able to show up and show up quickly, with the Mariners putting up five spots in two consecutive games, and a three spot on Saturday.  All this is good news because like I said, last season the M's couldn't do that.  So lets keep an eye on those bats and hopefully they can continue to produce.

From a pitching perspective, this club has looked solid.  I have to admit, during the preseason I was skeptical of the bullpen.  Throughout Spring Training, they struggled to get outs and hold the lead, and that was evident in game number two, when Morrow and Batista combined to give up the game in the ninth.  However, other than that, this club's bullpen has been strong.  Lowe was able to get out of a tough jam on Saturday, coaxing a double play to get out of a two on, no out jam.  He got the third out, and preserved the M's one run lead at the moment.  The starting pitching was better than expected as well, with Bedard's awesome game on Sunday.  He has combined for 13.1 scoreless innings in his first two starts this season.  Overall, the pitching has been much better than expected.

From an overall standpoint on the club, everything has been better than expected.  Obviously it is just the first week of the season, but this club is looking promising and strong.  A good week for the Mariners, lets keep it rolling.

DOWN ON THE FARM

With every new season comes the promise of new talent and developing players.  The Rainiers have got off to a 3-1 start, and have played very well.  Chris Shelton, one of the youngsters the M's didn't bring to Minneapolis, is hitting .313 in his first week, and Mike Carp is hitting .500.  In the first game, Jason Vargas tossed 4 innings of 2 run ball, leading to a win for the Rainiers that was completed early because of rain.  Jeff Clement went 0-5 with a strikeout in his opener.

NEXT WEEK

Next week we will break down the Mariners performance for the second week of the season, and I will tell you exactly what the Mariners need to do to make the playoffs.  Until next week, Go Mariners!

By the way all, check out my new blog on www.MyTeamRivals.com for a daily look at the Mariners.  I will be going to the games on Tuesday and Sunday next week so make sure you check out those two blogs exclusively on www.MyTeamRivals.com.  If you want to comment or ask a question for the blog, email me at AndrewR@MyTeamRivals.com.  Remember to check back weekly right here every Sunday evening for my MLBlog!

Opening Day 2009

Hey everybody!  This is my first post, and it comes on a night that has been very special for me as well as many other Mariner fans.  I want to start more on a personal note, and tell you all exactly why this game was special to me. 

So, the day started at 5 this morning, only 12 hours prior to first pitch.  Here in the northwest, it was a chilly, brisk morning, and as I left my home, I was happy to know that baseball would be played that night.  I went about my day, leaving school at 3 as I usually do, the day was hot and beautiful with the rarity in the northwest that is the sun.  I enjoyed my drive home, soaking up the sun through my open window and music.  I arrived at home in time to listen to the Mariners Pre-Game show.  I listened, filled with excitement, and as first pitch got ever closer with each passing moment, my excitement grew. 

As the game began, the M's weren't looking too good, but as the game progressed, we began to play better.  When Ken Griffey, Jr. hit the home run it was one of the best moments I have had with the Mariners.  Felix's masterful pitching also made my day.  As the game came to a close, with my window open, and the hot air still filling my room, we were victorious, 6-1.

So now with all that personal stuff out of the way, lets turn out attention to the game.  In my opinion, you couldn't have asked for a better Opening Night.  A nice groundball by Jr. to move the runner over that would become the Mariners' first run of '09 and the two home runs by Jr. and Gutierrez got the Mariner offense going very quickly.  The did everything right, played as a team, and looked like a club we in Seattle can be proud of.  The M's starter, Felix Hernandez, was outstanding in his 8 innings, only surrendering 5 hits, and 1 run.  He got the win, and the Mariners ousted the Twins, 6-1 on Opening Night.  It was a truly memorable game for Mariner fans, and by the way, we are currently in first place! 1-0 baby, and many more wins to come! (hopefully!)

Hey if you guys have any questions or comments or you just want to talk baseball with me, shoot me an email at AndrewR@MyTeamRivals.com.  Thanks everyone!

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