Updates anyone?

[Rennie Stennett]

In other news, the A's just keep winning so we better pray for a sweep in Arizona to keep pace.

Yes, and so do the White Sox & Tigers, which means we have to win the West. The M's are playing (.660) baseball this month, but so are the A's, as you mentioned.

A look at the AL Wild Card:

East Boston (.611)

Central Detroit (.671)

West Oakland (.547)

Wild Card
Chicago (.653)
New York (.575)
Toronto (.547)
Minnesota (.527)
Texas (.526)
Seattle (.494)

We are four games away from the half way point in the season. There is still a bunch of baseball left. Boston looks strong, as well as Detroit and Chicago and Oakland. Even Texas continues to pound the ball and their pitching is better. Will Texas wilt in the summer heat ? Can Detroit continue this pace ? They have confidence and they know they can win now, which is dangerous. The Yankees are a question mark, with their age and injuries, but you cant' count them out. Boston is smokin' hot. Minnesota is playing good, as well as Toronto. Even a Bay Area (knock on wood) Earthquake couldn't slow down the A's, it seems.

The good news is the Mariners will get to play all these teams in the second half of the season, which includes road trips back East, during the dog days of summer. We have some youth and a good bench so lets get on that magic carpet and ride !

[Rennie Stennett]

Seattle's Win on Thursday along with the Texas loss, puts the M's in second place (1/2) game ahead of Texas and (2) games behind first place Oakland.

Ibanez hit # 17 to tie the game and Betancourt hit a two out, go ahead single in the ninth to score Willie, who pinch ran, after Kenji's triple.

[Rennie Stennett]

Oakland 42-37
Texas 41-39
Seattle 41-40
LA 35-44

As mentioned earlier, Oakland and Texas have Postponed games that will need to be made up. Oakland was rained out @ KC in April and they figure to make it up when they visit the Royals in August. The A's have played two fewer games than the M's, and are three games ahead of Seattle in the Loss column. The road for Texas is a little tougher.

Texas, who traditionally has to face the dog days of summer in the Arlington heat, has to make up three rain outs against the powerful Boston Red Sox. Texas is one game ahead of Seattle in the loss column. Texas has made two trips to Fenway this year in May and in June. With the Exception of one scheduled make up game on July 20th, which is sandwiched between a three gamer @ Toronto and a three gamer @ Chicago, Texas has no more trips to Boston. This is hugh for both Texas and Boston, who both figure to be in it all the way and these games are sure to be made up.

This is good news for Seattle. The bad news is divison leader Oakland has played two fewer games than the M's and lead the Mariners by three games in the loss column. The M's can't get these games back.

[Rennie Stennett]

The Mariners trade minor league infielder, Asbrudal Cabrera, for Edwardo Perez of the Indians.

Ashbrudal Cabrera hit (.236) in (203) ab's over (60) games for Triple A Tacoma.

In (37) games, Edwardo, who hits against lefties, hit (.303), slugged (.636), with (9) doubles and (8) HR's in (99) ab's.

[Rennie Stennett]

Ichiro was voted to the starting nine and Jose Lopez is a reserve.

A complete list: http://www.baseball-fever.com/showth...388#post600388

[Rennie Stennett]

The Rockies are playing good right now. It's nice to see them go.

NL Wild Card:

Cincinnati 44 38 (.537) -
Colorado 42 39 (.519) 1.5
San Francisco 42 40 (.512) 2.0
LA Dodgers 41 40 (.506) 2.5
Arizona 40 42 (.488) 4.0
Milwaukee 40 43 (.482) 4.5

NL West:

San Diego 43 39 (.524) -
Colorado 42 39 (.519) 0.5
San Francisco 42 40 (.512) 1.0
LA Dodgers 41 40 (.506) 1.5
Arizona 40 42 (.488) 3.0



AL Wild Card:


Chi White Sox 53 28 (.654) -
NY Yankees 45 33 (.577) 6.5
Toronto 46 35 (.568) 7.0
Minnesota 45 35 (.563) 7.5
Texas 41 40 (.506) 12.0
Seattle 42 41 (.506) 12.0

AL West

Oakland 42 39 (.519) -
Seattle 42 41 (.506) 1.0
Texas 41 41 (.500) 1.5
LA Angels 37 44 (.457) 5.0

[SABR Matt]

You know what's BS about that AS roster?

Where the hell is JJ Putz?

[Rennie Stennett]

Yea, Oz said he would take his guys. Out of the pitchers, the only one that is on the bubble is Buerhle, who got bombed (he gave up (11) runs on (13) hits in (5) innings) by the Cubs today. Buerhle is (9-5). Zambrano hit his third HR of the year.

Jenks and Contreras are lights out. The rest of the AL pitchers are having good years. I'm glad Jose Lopez made it.

[papa~smurf]

You know what's BS about that AS roster?

Where the hell is JJ Putz?

JJ > Rivera.

Rivera is just there because we are Seattle. No one will ever pay any attention to us unless we have another '01 season.

But I do think JJ should be there instead of Mo.

[SABR Matt]

Mark Redman????

I know the Royals are a bad team and it's hard to find an AS on there, but SURELY there's someone better on that team than Redman...If I'm picking reserves, call me crazy but I think I'd go with Emil Brown.

[Rennie Stennett]

and lose to the Angels 14-6. The M's have lost 4 out 5. In this one, it seemes no one could get anyone out. The Mariners try to turn it around tonight, as Jamie Moyer takes the hill. The Angels go for the sweep. It doesn't get any easier, as the Detroit Tigers fly in for three before the ALL-STAR BREAK.

[Rennie Stennett]

The million dollar question is will the Mariners continue to build their positive energy and grow into a playoff contender ? Will they compete for the American League West ? Or will they wilt in the Summer heat ? The M's are still doing dumb stuff on the bases and they kick a ball now and then. They go through these stretches where they lose four or five in a row and look like they cant' buy a hit. Other times they pound the ball all over the yard and get great pitching. They were flat against the Rockies. They lose one in extra innings, which stretchs out your pen and they compound it by the starters getting pounded in the next few starts and it's the snowball effect. The M's got to shore that up, because after the all-star break, the M's play a bunch of good teams.

They have twenty nine (29) games against the divison. The Mariners have thirty (37) seven home games and fourty (40) on the road. Fifty (50) of their seventy seven games are against teams with better than (.500) record. I included Texas {(9) games}, in this. We have to beat Texas and Oakland. I believe (9) games against both. It's a tough road to hoe, but the bright side is, these are the teams that are above us in the wildcard and in the divison, as stated earlier in this thread. I believe (.500) the rest of the way, won't do it. (.660) throughout the Dog Days of Summer and into the Stretch Run should win the divison.

[Rennie Stennett]

The previous night Carl went behind closed doors and had a discussion about playing time with Grover. Wednesday night, Everett got tossed for words he said after an at bat against the Angels in which the strike zone was the topic.

Now, I know many are going to say, I told you so, in regards to Carl Everett. His true self is coming out. He's a hot head...blah....blah...blah.

Personally, I think it's great that he is getting P.O.ed. It's about time, someone on the M's got P.O.ed. You can't get mad at a guy who wants to play more, whether he deserves playing time or not. Hitting is timing and you got to be in there on a regular basis. Also, I love it when a ballplayer doesn't want to talk to the media and blows them off. This puts all the heat on Carl and off the rest of the team and their bad play for a few days. You have to have guys like this. Al Bell comes to mind.

[Rennie Stennett]

I went to Safeco Field to watch the M's on Sunday afternoon. It was Pilot Uniform Day. It was a blast. Many former Pilots were there and they were honored before the game. The organist from the Pilots was there. He played during the game. The public address announcer was there along with the radio play by play guy also.

I was thinking that this is just the thing to get the M's out of the funk they are in. A little Pilot Mojo, if you will. I wasn't sure if it would happen though. It was a great game, don't get me wrong, but the pitching duel had it's share of base running mistakes. Perez, who reached early on, got picked off between first and second. He was almost half way between the bases. The funny thing is, the first baseman didn't know, and he was way off the bag. The catcher caught the pitch and looked suprised when he finally realized that Perez was that far off the bag. Perez had his hands on his quads and just stood there. Maybe he was thinking that If I don't move, he won't see me. I'll have to check out a replay of it.

Betancourt hit the go ahead RBI but got thrown out at second trying to stretch it into a double. It was an error and the ball was a few steps behind the shortstop. With two outs, it was a rally killer. We haven't had many base runner the past week so it's frustrating. That one run was the difference, as it turned out and the M's win the Pilot Tribute game 3-2. Meche pitched great, with the exception of that one inning,where the wheels fell off.

Rivera smoked a two run homer and added another hit to lift the M's.

[papa~smurf]

I wish we were in the NL west...

[Rennie Stennett]

Gil Meche went a solid six innings and Beltre had a couple of RBI's, as the Mariners beat Toronto. Ichiro, Beltre and Lopez had two hits each. The offense banged out 10 hits, which is good to see, as the M's play their toughest stretch of the season. JJ Putz got his 17th save. Next up: Halladay, who's 12-2.

Adam Jones, just called up from AAA Tacoma, walked and was CS on a close play at second. Some say this kid will continue to grow, but he looks pretty big right now, with speed to burn. Hopefully he does well or the Seattle fans will sent him out of town on a freight train. Remember, Willie Mays went 0-fer 20 to start his career and he turned out okay. Say Hey !

[M'sfan4ever]

Saturday July 15, 2006

Today Jamie Moyer goes up against Doc Halliday at Rogers Centre nee Skydome in Toronto. This one could be a 1-0 final, as it should be a dandy pitchers duel. Let's go Mariners

[Rennie Stennett]

The Mariners lose two of three to the Blue Jays to open up the second half of the season. Both of these losses where in extra frames, one in 11 innings and the other in 14 innings. Our bullpen is tired and we have the next three @ NY Yankees who just stomped on the White Sox. Good Grief !

[papa~smurf]

If we are hanging with these Eastern teams, I think Bavasi is likely to get someone. I mean, if we had 1 or 2 more runs, we could have won those games in Toronto.

[leecemark]

--If we had used Putz in those extra inning games we might have won one or both too . Why did Hargrove let our best pitcher rust in the pen and run out the bottom of the staff? Soriano only pitched one inning of those 25 too (out of 11 relief innings). I couldn't believe he left Mateo (who doesn't get strike outs or ground balls) in there with the bases loaded and nobody out in the 11th.

[Rennie Stennett]

Putz or Soriano could have started the ninth or the tenth, as you mentioned, with Soriano going 1.0 the day before and Putz riding the pines. Perhaps, he is saving them for the Yankees or Grover doesn't want to mess with their roles. I hope he's not saving them for the next game, because this is bad managing. You play for today. You play to win today. Worry about tomorrow when It gets here.

[Rennie Stennett]

...and the boo-birds give him a Bronz Cheer. This is not new for A-Rod, who usually gets Booed @ home in the Bronz. After three errors they really gave him the business. The M's could not capitalize on these errors by the Bombers and tough luck Washburn loses another one. Again, he really didn't pitch that bad, giving up three runs early (one earned) and one late. The M's offense goes in the tank again. There is no clutch hitting by the M's. They are knocking 10 hits a game, but they are leaving just as many on base (18 LOB). This is getting frustrating. Today, we face Ponson, and then it's Meche vs. The Big Unit. We fly home for a weekend set against the Red Sox. Let's see if we can get a win today.

[leecemark]

--It was not a good day all around for A-Rod. Besides the errors, the M's intentionally walked Giambi (loading the bases) to face him. Rookie Mark Lowe came on to strike him out and then got the next guy to escape with no runs allowed (and spare Washburn some additional runs - I disagree that he pitched well yesterday). Lowe looks like he can really pitch and hopefully he'll be taking more high leverage innings away from Mateo.

[Rennie Stennett]

--It was not a good day all around for A-Rod. Besides the errors, the M's intentionally walked Giambi (loading the bases) to face him. Rookie Mark Lowe came on to strike him out and then got the next guy to escape with no runs allowed (and spare Washburn some additional runs - I disagree that he pitched well yesterday). Lowe looks like he can really pitch and hopefully he'll be taking more high leverage innings away from Mateo.

6 1/3 innings pitched with one (1) earned run is a bad outing ? They never score runs for this guy. You go out there and pitch with little run support. The Yankees made four (4) errors and we can't score one (1) run off them ? If one run in 6 1/3 is not good, what is your opinion of a good start ? I know, he has to pitch like the Big Train or he's no good, right ?

[Rennie Stennett]

-- Lowe looks like he can really pitch and hopefully he'll be taking more high leverage innings away from Mateo.

you'll find something wrong with Lowe anyday now, and you'll want to ship him to Siberia ! To the Russian Front Colonel Klink and you can't take Hilga with you !