Results tagged “baseball”

WORLD SERIES GAME 1: It's the defending World Series champs against the reigning payroll champs. We're cheering on Ibañez with the hope that he will someday return to Seattle where we spell his name right.

SIGN LIGHTING PARTY: The original sign, in place since 1930, is damaged beyond repair. The new sign is made from environmentally responsible materials and is 90% more energy efficient. The new sign will be lit for the first time tonight.

To be a Seattle sports fan this weekend was to rediscover that we indeed had a functioning heart.

This weekend the Seattle sports world parachutes into a Midwestern hot pocket as footballers Sounders FC, Huskies, and Seahawks play within about 300 miles of each other in Indiana and Ohio. Their respective opponents are tough. We're hoping at least two, if not all three squads win, because we think imbibing is much more fun in victory than in defeat.

The Mariners are sending free agent bust Carlos Silva out on a rehab assignment today. The original plan was to send him to AAA Tacoma, but Silva will go to A-ball Everett instead. Why? Because the Rainiers have unexpectedly stormed back into the Pacific Coast League pennant race, and having Silva pitch might "jeopardize" their chances, in the words of TNT's Larry LaRue. Yes, a pitcher who'll make $11 million this year (and $11.5 million both next year and the year after) can't be trusted against the Salt Lake Bees. Just shoot us now.

If Griffey isn't coming back, will we have a "Griffey Day" to celebrate his career? A final goodbye for all the fans who grew up with The Kid?

How boring was last night's M's game? Until reserve outfielder Ryan Langerhans' 10th-inning homer, the loudest cheers of the night were for a seagull that landed in the outfield. (Because outfields are for PEOPLE! HA!) The home run, Langerhans' second walk-off of the month, beat the A's--exciting! Here's video of the homer, along with Dave Sims' excited call.

This Friday, Mercer Island's little league sluggers will be playing in the first round of the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. As the current Northwest Region champions, they will be batting against the Mid-Atlantic champions, South Shore National from Staten Island, New York.

Mariners third baseman Adrian Beltre may miss the rest of the season after taking a ground ball to the nuts. Beltre does not wear a protective cup when he plays, he's said it's uncomfortable. Now, though, he's got a bleeding testicle that may need surgery--which would end his season. Beltre becomes the second Mariner in our memory lost to a testicle injury: pitcher Josias Manzanillo, another freeballer, suffered a similar injury in 1997.

Kate Hudson wants A-Rod as a sperm donor, In Touch magazine reports. Says a "friend of Hudson" (ahem): "She just turned 30 and she's ready to have her second child...so she brought up the idea to Alex and told him that they would make a beautiful baby together, and that she would assume all financial responsibility."

Ken Griffey Jr.'s 1190th RBI as a Mariner was a special one--a game-winning hit in the bottom of the 14th inning. Watch the highlight here. Junior's major league career may be winding down, but he's still giving us some memorable moments. The M's play the Yankees tonight in the first game of a four-game series.

A crowd of 51,903, the biggest of the year and fourth-largest in team history, filled the Kingdome one night after Tom Paciorek had hit a walk-off homer. And Paciorek did it again! In the ninth inning, he blasted a two-out, three-run blast over the leftfield fall to win the game for the M's. The Yankees, stunned by the sudden reversal, went on to lose the World Series. box]

Imagine it: You're coming off the field after a baseball game, and a reporter asks this question: "How d'ya like the two-hole?" Rather personal, wouldn't you say? We can't tell whether Russell Branyan is playing along in his response--listen for yourself if you've a taste for exceedingly juvenile humor. We know we do. The audio of the encounter was capture by the Tacoma News-Tribune's Ryan Divish.

The Mariners and Yankees have played some outstanding games here over the years; below we present part one of our top ten. Historic, surprising, violent, record-breaking--the list has it all. We're giving you #6-10 today, with the top five coming tomorrow

Probably worth the eight seconds it will take you this morning to watch this highlight of Russell Branyan's violent homer last night in the M's win over Chicago. The "Las Vegas" sign below the Hit It Here Cafe is still shaking, we're sure. We would give an arm to be able to hit a baseball like this just once.

Safeco's meaty special of the week: The New York Yankees' first 2009 Seattle appearance, in a four-game series starting Thursday.

Saw Catch Me If You Can over the weekend, and it struck me that the 2009 Mariners are working in a similar way--auditioning players for roles on next season's team while still putting on a professional performance.

The Mariners' decision to appeal a judge’s ruling allowing the regional-stripping powerhouse Déjà Vu franchise to open in the neighborhood reeks of the same family pandering of a few years back when they wouldn’t let you wear “Yankees Suck” T-shirts inside the stadium.*

Jarrod Washburn's up-and-down Mariner career is over; Jack Zduriencik traded him to Detroit this morning for two young lefthanded starting pitchers. The M's get 23-year-old Luke French, who's split time between AAA and the majors this season, and 20-year-old Mauricio Robles, who's pitching in A ball. Neither was listed among the Tigers' top-ten prospects coming into this season.

The M's bats once again get shut down by a no-name lefty starter, in this case the Rangers' Derek Holland. Holland showed a mid-90s fastball and a devastating curve, but, still, he came into the game with a 5.56 ERA and held the M's to just one hit through the first eight innings. The loss left the M's a full five games behind Texas for 2nd place in the West. M's 53-49, 8 GB. Box score. Next game Fri @ TEX, 5:05 p.m.; Vargas vs. Padilla.

We're in our 33rd year of Mariner fandom, and we're still waiting for the M's to acquire a shortstop who's worth a crap.

Ryan Rowland-Smith lost a no-hitter bid in the seventh inning, and also a slim 1-0 lead when Aaron Hill hit a two-run homer. But Ken Griffey Jr. delivered a two-run double in the bottom of the inning (matching his previous RBI total for the entire month of July) and the bullpen held on. Ichiro had two more hits, his 149th and 150th of the year, raising his average to a ridiculous .368. M's 53-48, 7.5 GB. Box score. Next game Thu @ TEX, 5:05 p.m.; Olson vs. Holland.

"We have solidified the shortstop position," GM Jack Zduriencik said today after the Mariners traded light-hitting infielder Ronny Cedeno, former first-round pick Jeff Clement, and three minor-league pitchers to Pittsburgh for Jack Wilson and Ian Snell. Wilson becomes the team's starting shortstop. Snell, a one-time 14-game winner, was pitching for the Pirates AAA farm team.

The M's win 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth on Ichiro's two-out walk-off single -- Ich's 148th hit of the season, which puts him exactly at the pace of his record-setting 262-hit season in 2004. Washburn allowed just 1 run in 7 IP in what may have been his last start as a Mariner, but didn't get the win due to a bullpen collapse. M's 52-48, 7.5 GB. Box score. Next game Weds. vs. TOR, 1:40 p.m.; Rowland-Smith vs. Halladay.

Now this is just getting ridiculous. The M's get blown out for the fourth consecutive game, this time with King Felix on the mound. Hernandez had his worst outing of the year, allowing 7 runs and 11 hits in 5.2 IP. A makeshift lineup -- with Branyan and Lopez both out with bad backs -- didn't record an extra base hit. Ichiro had 3 hits, raising his average to .363. M's 51-48, 7.5 GB. Box score. Next game Tues vs. TOR, 7:10 p.m.; Washburn vs. Rzepczynski.

In every non-playoffs sports season, you can date the moment when your team's hopes collapsed. For the last place 2008 Mariners, it was approximately mid-April. This year's Mariners lasted far longer in the playoff hunt. Nevertheless, July 24-26 was their undoing.

All the signs were there--a functional transit system, government endorsement of the weedbud, and all that damn bicycling--but the evidence is incontrovertible now that Portland has banished its baseball team in favor of a pro soccer franchise.

Another day, another masterful pitching performance by the M's, this one from Jarrod Washburn (7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER). The bullpen just barely held on to the lead to get Washburn his eighth win of the year. Mike Sweeney, in his first start since coming off the DL, had two hits including a first-inning RBI double that gave the M's the lead. M's 51-44, 5.5 GB. Box score. Next game Friday vs. CLE, 7:10 p.m.; Rowland-Smith vs. Laffey.

The M's had two hits, but they only really needed one -- Russell Branyan's majestic two-out, two-run homer in the eighth. The homer was Branyan's 24th, tying him atop the AL leaderboard. The homer gave Felix Hernandez his 11th win. King Felix was dominating, striking out eight including two punchouts of MVP candidate Miguel Cabrera with runners on. M's 50-44, 5.5 GB. Box score. Next game Thu. @ DET, 10:05 a.m.; Washburn vs. French.

The M's fought back from 8-1 down to make this respectable, even getting the go-ahead run to the plate in the ninth. Still, the score was secondary in this one after Franklin Gutierrez took a horrific spill after crashing into the Comerica Park scoreboard chasing a flyball. Luckily for those of us having 1995 flashbacks Gooters suffered only bruises -- nothing broken, nothing torn. M's 49-44, 5.5 GB. Box score. Next game Tues @ DET, 4:05 p.m.; King Felix vs. Galarraga.