Results tagged “mlb”

THE LIFE AQUATIC: The aspiring marine biologist in all of us owes a great debt to the achievements of Mr. Cousteau. His contributions to the development of scuba gear alone led to great advancements in underwater exploration. Vashon Island author Brad Matsen reads from Jacques Cousteau: The Sea King tonight. Let's hope that he doesn't leave out the pirate raid and revenge plot against the shark that killed his partner.

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.

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?

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

What team can get thoroughly outclassed, yet consider their game a success? The Sounders, if they draw 65,000 fans to Qwest Field -- most of them in Sounders green -- for a game against international powerhouse Chelsea FC.

Let’s say that you that you excelled at your job to the point where people mentioned you as one of the tops in your field. Also, let’s say that your co-workers kept messing up repeatedly to where it was costing you clients. Well then, you might sit like this after Doug from accounting screwed up your masterful PowerPoint presentation:

Franklin Gutierrez' three-run eighth inning homer gives the M's game one of a crucial four-game series vs. division leading Texas. King Felix kept the M's in the game while the offense sputtered, going eight innings to get the win. His next appearance will be in Tuesday's All-Star Game. M's 44-41, 3.5 GB. Box score. Next game Fri vs. TEX, 7:10 p.m.; Morrow vs. Feldman.

"Listen, we f***ed up. We lost Ichiro."

The most epic ninth-inning collapse you're ever going to see. Up three runs in the ninth, M's closer David Aardsma lost the lead before he even recorded an out -- a botched double play by Jose Lopez fueling the fire. M's 43-41, 4.5 GB. Box score. Next game Thursday vs. TEX; King Felix vs. Hunter.

Phew! What a day!

Jarrod Washburn pitched the best game of his life, recording the 10th one-hitter in Mariner history. Adding to the fun -- his folks were in town for the game! Washburn retired 27 of the 28 batters he faced; only a fourth-inning line-drive single by Nick Markakis kept the game from being perfect. Russell Branyan's first-inning solo homer turned out to be all the offense Wash needed. M's 43-39, 3.5 GB. Box score. Next game Tues. vs. BAL, 7:10 p.m.; Bedard vs. Guthrie.

Erik Bedard returns to the Mariners rotation on Tuesday, having missed the last month with a sore shoulder (according to team doctors--some of our Mariner fan friends contend that the oft-injured Bedard has a sore part of the female anatomy.) Bedard's return takes up a spot in the five-man starting rotation, meaning somebody's headed to the bullpen or, worse yet, back to traveling coach class with the AAA Tacoma Rainiers. Ew.

No doubting it: The Seattle Mariners are legitimate pennant contenders. The Seattle Mariners are legitimate pennant contenders. THE SEATTLE MARINERS ARE LEGITIMATE PENNANT CONTENDERS!!! Sorry, we like writing that so much we had to do it thrice.

A much-needed win at Yankee Stadium gives the M's a .500 record on their road trip from hell, which now proceeds to Boston. After Jason Vargas left because he was suffering from flu, the bullpen (Batista, Lowe, Aardsma) threw five scoreless innings. Ichiro continued his mastery of C.C. Sabathia with two hits, including a 2-RBI double. M's 40-38, 3.5 GB. Box score. Next game Fri @ BOS, 4:05 p.m.; King Felix vs. Wakefield.

A-Rod's second homer in as many nights sinks the Good Ship Mariner, as Andy Pettitte outduels Jarrod Washburn. Half of the M's offense was a solo homer by Griffey, his first in New Yankee Stadium. That's 44 major league parks Junior's homered in, one short of Sammy Sosa's record. M's 39-38, 3.5 GB. Box score. Next game Thu @ NYY, 4:05 p.m.; Vargas vs. Sabathia.

They rallied from behind twice, but a three-run Yankee eighth off the usually reliable Sean White put the Mariners away. The Brandon Morrow experiment continued to deliver inconclusive results, with Morrow going just 4.2 IP and walking 5 batters. Chris Woodward, replacing Beltre at 3B, made two errors on the same play on the first ball hit to him. M's 39-37, 3.5 GB. Box score. Next game Wednesday @ NYY, 4:05 p.m.; Washburn vs. Pettitte.