Results tagged “themariners”

The Mariners have hired longtime coach and manager Lee Elia as a consultant. Elia--who had two tours as a Mariner coach in the 90s--will likely have no impact on what the Mariners do in 2008, but his hiring gives us all the excuse we need to post the below, which may be the greatest rant in the history of the world.

The Mariners announced yesterday that Manager John McLaren and General Manager Bill Bavasi will both be back next year.

You may not agree with his conservative politics, but if you like the Mariners, you owe an elaborate tip of the cap to ex-U.S. Senator Slade Gorton.

Your Seattle Mariners played their biggest series in four seasons this week. With a chance to overtake the first place Angels if they could win three games, the Mariners won zero games.

With unseasonable weather descending upon much of North America, schools getting ready to reconvene, and sports seasons getting exciting, it's a busy time of year for us here in the Ist-A-Verse. Luckily, even with all the things we have to do, we still managed to get together to let you know what we've all been up to.

The Mariners announced that they're calling the M's Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday series with the first-place Angels "Lolla-Blue-za."

Got an email from a friend the other day: "My boss says he's officially back on the Mariners bandwagon."

Vitals: Scott Edward Kazmir, 23 yo LHP. Born in Houston, Texas. 6-0, 170. 24-22, 3.75 career. 2-2, 3.83 in 2007. $424,300 salary.

--It may be just a Wednesday night for you, but Japan's already buzzing with anticipation about Dice-K vs. Ichiro. Via Deadspin

When you don't have to worry about Willie Bloomquist getting a hit with your job on the line, well, life becomes a little easier.

Even the best managers, for instance, Earl Weaver, admit that--at best--they can win an extra two or three games a year for their team.

Today is Mariners Opening Day, and we are feeling optimistic (buoyed mostly by the two dollar Rainiers at the Triangle). However, there are people in the world who don't like the Mariners. One of those people is our college friend Bill Arkansaw, who besides being an A's fan also loves to punch kittens in their face. We asked Arkansaw to preview the upcoming Mariners season.

--The Mariners faced Lou Pinella and the Cubbies in AZ yesterday.

The Mariners' player payroll will top $100 million in 2007. $111 million, to be more precise, an $18 million increase over last year.

Which of the following will you not hear on a Mariners television broadcast this season:

Since day one we've said that being a Seattle sports fan is like sneaking up behind Kicky the Paranoid Mule. The past week has reminded us of this all too well.

If you want to read the many reasons why the Rafael Soriano for Horacio Ramirez deal sucks, USS Mariner (humorlessly) and Lookout Landing (hilariously--check the poll) can satisfy you.

According to the P-I, the Mariners aren't kidding about going after Barry Zito.

The Mariners aren't backing off their interest in Oakland left-handed starter Barry Zito, the pitcher expected to come out of the winter (if not the winter meetings themselves) with the most lucrative contract awarded a pitcher.

In yesterday's NL Division Series game vs. the Mets, the Dodgers' Jeff Kent and J.D. Drew got tagged out at home on the same play (video available here).

The Mariners announced in a letter to fans yesterday that Mike Hargrove will be back as manager. The man has now led his charges to six consecutive losing seasons--two here, four in Baltimore. Over at USS Mariner, the masses are in revolt--if "revolt" can be defined as "leaving angry comments on a blog."

The Mariners fired bench coach Ron Hassey yesterday. This puts the team in quite a quandary, according to a P-I story.

The Mariners are too far behind to win in 2006.

The Mariners completed a three-game getting swept yesterday, losing 7-6 to the A's. But the team's marketing department, desperate to unload tickets for a mid-week series vs. the Devil Rays, found a silver lining, as evidenced by this "Mariners Mail" we received this morning:

The Mariners released Carl Everett today, to overwhelming joy of the M's blogosphere. Better yet, they brought up Chris Snelling, the Job of the Mariners minor league system, whose string of awful injury luck began in this game.

The Mariners mood swing of a season continues tonight in Toronto. The blue and teal are three games under .500 and three games back of the first place A's and Rangers.

The Mariners play a children's game called "Flip" before they play each baseball game. In Flip you use your glove, hands and feet to pass a baseball around a circle. If you permit the ball to hit the ground, you're out.

Chim Chim Cheree! The Mariners finished a three-game sweep of the hapless Diamondbacks last night, scoring two runs off Arizona closer Jorge Julio in the 9th for a 3-2 win.

Yes, the M's won yesterday, pulling within 3.5 games of first-place Oakland. But not without another startling managerial gaffe. With runners on the corners, and two outs in the Dodgers fourth, Hargrove had Joel Pineiro pitch to the #8 hitter instead of walking him to get to the pitcher. Of course, the #8 hitter singled, driving in a run, and even Dave Niehaus, who is rarely critical, lamented "I don't understand why you don't walk that guy!" Neither do we, Dave.

The Mariners continued their season-long 26th anniversary tribute to former shortstop Mario Mendoza last night, managing nine mostly groundball singles in a 2-0 loss to Cleveland.

Shanghaiist probably knows a little more about China than the Chicago Sun-Times. Giving them the benefit of the doubt on that one. The city does to have a music scene. Don't even front like they don't. They also have Dorito bananas and white guys shopping for wives. What they don't have is any more tolerance for jaywalkers.