My wife and kids watched two Mariners games this weekend. Both went into extra innings. Both ended as Mariners losses.
Morales in the dugout — not exactly burning down the house so far, unfortunately.
I only sat through one, Sunday’s 10-inning 3-2 affair. The Ms put up ten hits but could not bring a man across the plate when it really, really counted. Kendrys Morales (and yes, it’s only a small sample size) is 1-for-10 in his return to Mariners blue. Twice Sunday afternoon he came up with runners on, and did absolutely nothing productive. Unfortunately he was not alone in this predicament.
Talking with an old friend earlier today, I realized that part of me just wants the team to tank, go on a 15-game losing streak and erase any possible hope at the playoffs. The certainty of suckitude, in some ways, is better than the ping-pong teasing of having a wild card slot and then losing it. Yes, there is still a chance the Ms can take that wild card slot back – but this weekend did not help that chance.
Center fielder of the future? Or will the Mariners find another outfielder before the deadline? Image unceremoniously screenshotted from USA TODAY Sports
Last night I asked my daughter to pick out stories for bedtime. She handed me a stapled-together booklet, complete with preschool artwork, entitled “The Baseball Bus”.
This original piece by my soon-to-be-famous young lass chronicles
our Seattle Mariners, as they board the team bus in the rain, journey to Safeco Field, beat an unnamed opponent, and win their
playoff game to advance to the World Series. Our clan is of
Seattle Mariners move forth without Paxton by John Stewart
Record: 5-3
AL West: 2nd, a game behind Oakland
One of the nice things about growing up in a family with an affinity for baseball — my grandfather played in the Pacific Coast League in the 1920s — is having a mother who actually enjoys going to games. So, as an early Mother’s Day present, we made our way down to Safeco Field for the home opener.
The usual show ensued prior to the game, with fireworks, red carpets, and an insane amount of cheering for the Super Bowl champion Seahawks, who brought their tropy with them, posed for photos, and had quarterback Russell Wilson throw the ceremonial first pitch – caught by none other than King Felix behind the plate.
After giving up a pair of homers in the first inning, James Paxton settled down and put in a solid performance before going on the DL with Crazy Eye Syndrome. Photo unflinchingly stolen from a random internet website.
The book on Mariners starter James Paxton going into the game was, how will he handle the Angels hitters (who had seen him a week prior) adjusting to him? The first inning was…not a real happy place for the Safeco faithful. Paxton coughed up two HUGE home runs, over 400 feet each, and the home team was down 3-0. Those of us who have been Mariners fans for a long time sighed and hoped the offense could turn things around.
Week one of the 2014 MLB season brought some serious bats to the Seattle Mariner organization, and resulted in the kind of giddy, vibrating happy haps that the Emerald City hasn’t felt since… Well, since February. Damn you, Seahawks, for ruining a perfectly good blog lede. M’man John Stewart giddily shakes his way through this Week One Mariners wrap-up. On with the Boys of Summer!
Felix Hernandez walks off the mound after tossing 11 strikeouts in his first start of the 2014 season. Photo ripped unceremoniously from the interweb.
Being a Seattle Mariners fan always includes plenty of angst. One is simultaneously hopeful (Cano! Miller! Seager! Felix!) and terrified (Hart, Morrison, Ackley, Saunders, Smoak…) So many good things could happen! And oh, so many bad things could as well.
Somehow this team not only swept their opening series against Albert Pujols and the Anaheim Angels, but did so in grand style. Production up and down the lineup! C Mike Zunino, he of so much promise yet so much growing to do, came up big multiple times. CF Abe Almonte, similar to Zunino in the promise-but-growing-needed camp, showed off his speed (and inability to properly play balls in centre field, but hey, he’s learning). In each of those three Angels games we saw either six or seven Mariners with at least one hit – exactly the kind of production this lineup needs to deliver. Second baseman Robinson Cano is looking great, but you can’t expect any player (even one making that much money) to carry the team on his back. Baseball is, inevitably, a team sport.
As I write this, the Mariners have recovered from their single loss so far this season by beating the Athletics 3-1…and lead the American League West, with a 4-1 record. It has been difficult to keep both feet on the ground this week, to be honest.
All-Star second baseman Robinson Cano brings great expectations (and a whole lot of greenbacks) to Seattle this season. Photo cribbed from a random website
That loss to the Athletics could be chalked up to some of the worst umpiring I have ever seen. Sean Barber made his Major League umpiring debut behind the plate, and after this outing, the hope is that he goes back to AAA for some more work. The game also featured (thankfully) the last appearance by pitcher Hector Noesi in a Mariners uniform, as he was designated for assignment yesterday.
Another thing going well for the team is the starting pitching, despite the absence of Hisashi Iwakuma and Tai Walker. Erasmo Ramirez came up big in his first start, a welcome development given last season, and Felix Hernandex is the King for a reason (he had a shutout going into the 9th inning in today’s win over the A’s).
This Mariner team is long on promise and short on proven track record. But the American League West is a very different division from a year ago. The Rangers are hampered by injuries, the Angels’ expensive lineup is far from a sure thing, and as everyone who follows the division knows, the Athletics cannot be counted out – but also can not be counted on before the second half.
So for Mariners fans, this first week has been about as good as we dared hope. The offense has done exactly what it needed to do, the starting pitching has been frankly better than anticipated, and the bullpen has not completely imploded. A solid outing from Fernando Rodney in today’s victory over the A’s certainly did not hurt; while I don’t expect Rodney to be as good as he was last season, a productive year from him in the closer role will go a long way toward keeping the Mariners competitive.
The Mariners need to make it through April and at least keep it close. With Iwakuma and Walker coming back (hopefully some time in May) the rotation will only get better. And if the offense can continue to produce at anything close to the rate they did against the
Angels… well, it’s going to be a fun year.
With the Stanley Cup Playoffs getting underway tonight, you’ll be getting your fill of hockey coverage on Pucked in the Head, don’t you worry. We’ve had a smattering of baseball coverage on the site before, but it’s all focused on the Toronto Blue Jays, and screw Toronto. Today, new PitH correspondent John Stewart takes a look at some ball a little closer to Vancouver with an update from the Emerald City.
The Toronto Blue Jays are no longer the also-rans in the American League East. Or at least that’s what Canadian news outlets would have you believe. The New York Yankees have been called ‘too old to win’ for a decade now, but those geezers won the AL East going away. The Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays both finished ahead of the Jays last season. But Toronto finished 16 games under .500 last year, so plenty of teams did that.
The Jays made a few off-season splashes that will – pundits say – reel those teams in. And let’s just not talk about the train wreck in Boston. (Actually, let’s, but how about saving that for another day?)
Despite having a home run king like Jose Bautista in the lineup, the Blue Jays are building their hopes around younger players like Langley-born infielder Brett Lawrie. Our question: is Lawrie going to live up to the hype? Photo stolen without remorse from a random site on the internet.
More, including a ridiculous picture of Matt Damon, after the jump.
Much like Ichiro Suzuki and other Japanese superstars in the major leagues, pitcher Yu Darvish draws hundreds of his countrymen and women to Texas Ranger games. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
I had the good fortune of catching a game at Ranger Stadium in Arlington, TX this week, and it was one hell of a game. Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish started well, earning four strikeouts in the first two innings, then imploded. He gave up six runs in the third and another in the fourth before more than 42,000 hometown fans.
Interesting note for those of us who have experienced the phenomenon of Ichiro Suzuki in Seattle. While Darvish is a popular young pitcher amongst Ranger fans of all nationalities, there were a considerable number of Japanese fans in the crowd, almost all of them sporting Darvish jerseys. It’s a considerable market for MLB teams to tap into, and we’ve seen it with Dice-K, Godzilla and a few other import stars. For anyone who has heard entire sections of gleeful college-aged Asian girls squeeing for Ichiro, you’ll know what I’m talking about. As an ex-ESL teacher, I’m interested in things like this.
With the Stanley Cup Playoffs getting underway tonight, you’ll be getting your fill of hockey coverage on Pucked in the Head, don’t you worry. We’ve had a smattering of baseball coverage on the site before, but it’s all focused on the Toronto Blue Jays, and screw Toronto. Today, new PitH correspondent John Stewart takes a look at some ball a little closer to Vancouver with an update from the Emerald City.
