The Mariner Monitor

Well, Oakland is in first place no longer.  The Mariners carried their win on Monday over Texas into a three game winning streak with two straight against the Athletics. 

Jarrod Washburn had his best start of the season yesterday as he threw a three hit shutout.  He walked two and struck out two and it was his first win of the season.  Jose Guillen and Kenji Johjima each hit solo homers in the 2-0 win.

Then today, the Mariners got some more solid pitching and this time it was Miguel Batista.  He gave up two runs on five hits and two walks with six strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings and the win improved his record to 2-2.  Jose Vidro had three hits, a run and an RBI while Jose Lopez helped out with a two run shot that put the Mariners ahead in the sixth inning.  Final was 4-2.

And next up is three against the Royals, who are one of the worst teams in baseball.  A series win would push the Mariners back to .500 and at this point, if you’re .500, you’re within striking distance.

The Mariners finally picked up a win and it turned out to being the only game against the Rangers this time around because the game was postponed and it’ll be made up in late July.

Cha Seung Baek didn’t have his best stuff as he filled in for Felix Hernandez.  Fortunately, the pen and the hitters picked him up and the Mariners walked away with a 5-4 win.  He gave up four runs on eight hits and two walks with one strikeout in 4 1/3.  Rookie Brandon Morrow had a very nice outing and he picked up his first career win.  He struck out two in 3 1/3 shutout innings and J.J. Putz got the final four batters out and he picked up his first save.

Ichiro was the hitting star and he picked up three hits and he drove in three.   Jose Lopez finished with three hits, a run and an RBI.

Next up is two against the first place Athletics.   If the Mariners take both, they’ll be tied with Oakland.  And of course the bad news is that Felix Hernandez was placed on the DL although he sounds like he’s progressing fine.   He’ll be eligible to pitch on May 4th and that day can’t come any quicker.

The Mariners went to Anaheim and left with their tails between their legs after suffering a three game sweep.  When the series began, the Mariners were in first place.  Now they’re in last.  The good news is, they’re just two games back so anyone who puts together a winning streak in the AL West can make a move.

Miguel Batista took it on the chin on Friday. He gave up six runs on ten hits and a walk with two strikeouts in six innings.  The loss drops his record to 1-2 this year.  Adrian Beltre was the hitting star.  He finished with two hits and he both scored and drove in a run in the 8-4 win.

Saturday’s game saw the Mariners attempt to come back from a 7-0 deficit only to fall one run short and lost it 7-6.  Ben Broussard hit his first homerun of the season and Ichiro had two hits and an RBI.  Horacio Ramirez took the loss and he gave up six runs on seven hits and six walks in just four innings.

Then yesterday was more of the same as the Mariners were shut down on just one run on six hits.  The lone Mariner run came in the seventh inning off of Adrian Beltre’s solo homerun.  And Jeff Weaver dropped to 0-3 with another bad start.  He gave up three runs on seven hits in just three innings of work in the 6-1 loss.

The Mariners head to Texas for two games and hopefully hey can get back on track there.  Cha Seung Baek will make his first start of the season in tonights opener.

Well, nobody said it would last and after the Twins rolled into town and took three games, the Mariners went from first place to a losing record in a hurry.  And to make it worse, Felix Hernandez is going to miss at least a couple of starts with his elbow injury.

Tuesday was the worst beating with Jeff Weaver having another rough start.  He gave up seven runs on ten hits and a walk with three strikeouts in six innings.  Jose Lopez finished with two hits and he both scored and drove in a run in the 11-2 loss.

Yesterday was the scariest because of Felix Hernandez leaving the game in the first inning after calling for the trainer.  It looks like a strain and Felix will be shut down for five days to see if that helps.  In total, it’s expected that he’ll miss two or three starts.  Anyway, Hernandez gave up three runs and Jake Woods two as the Twins scored all of their runs in the first two frames.  The Mariners tried to come back but they fell a run short.  Richie Sexson hit a three run homer in the 5-4 loss.

Today’s game wasn’t as close as the 6-5 record indicated because the Mariners scored three in the ninth.  Jarrod Washburn took the loss and he gave up four runs in 6 1/3 innings.  Raul Ibanez was the hitting star. He homered and drove in four of the Mariners five runs.  The other run came on a solo homerun by Yuniesky Betancourt.

The Mariners face another struggling team next with three against the Angels in Anaheim.  Miguel Batista starts tomorrow and hopefully he can right the ship.

No that’s not an error in your standings.  The Mariners are the only team in the AL West with a winning record and they sit atop the division.  They’re a full game ahead of the Angels who had their game rained out yesterday with today’s game a question mark.

Things didn’t start out well though.  Jarrod Washburn gave up four runs on seven hits and a walk with four strikeouts in six innings and he lost his first game of the season.  The Mariners picked up eleven hits but they only scored two in the 5-2 loss.  Kenji Johima went three for three and Raul Ibanez went two for four with a run.

On Saturday, the Mariners got their sticks going.  Adrian Beltre homered, drove in three runs and scored twice in the 8-3 win.  Jose Guillen also went yard with a two run shot while Miguel Batista picked up the win with a nice start.  He gave up three runs on five hits and a walk with five strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings.

Then yesterday, the Mariners really got it going at the plate.  Jose Vidro homered twice and drove in four runs while Adrian Beltre homered and drove in four.  Even Ichiro got in on the action and he went four for five with a homerun, two RBIs and three runs in the 14-7 win.  Horacio Ramirez didn’t have a great start, but it was more then good enough to pick up the win.

The Mariners stay home and they’ll host the Twins beginning tomorrow.  Jeff Weaver will look for his first win after a pretty rough start and then Felix Hernandez will get the start on Wednesday.  Then on Thursday, the Mariners have to contend with Johan Santana, which should be interesting.  Regardless, I’ll be enjoying first place while it lasts.

Some day, the Mariners are going to get to finish a series.  At least they got two games in though as the Mariners and Red Sox each took a game in the rain shortened two game series.  The first game was pretty ugly.  Jeff Weaver was hammered and he gave up seven runs in just two innings.  Jake Woods also got hit hard and the end result is a 14-3 loss.  Richie Sexson doubled in two runs for two of three Mariners runs.

Felix Hernandez happened yesterday.  With Daisuke Matsuzaka getting most of the play, Felix Hernandez showed everyone he’s the real deal on the national scene.  He held a tough Red Sox lineup in their own park to just a single hit in a complete game shutout  He walked two and struck out six.  Jose Vidro was the hitting star with two hits and an RBI in the 3-0 win.

Then the rain came and today’s game was postponed.  They’ll make it up on May 3.  As it stands, Seattle is just a half game back of the Angels although they’ve played in five fewer games.  The Mariners return home and they’ll take on Texas in a three game series beginning tomorrow night.

Three hits isn’t going to cut it as Rich Harden shut down the Mariners today.  Raul Ibanez had two of those three with Ichiro picking up the other one in the 9-0 beatdown.

Miguel Batista was bombed for nine runs on ten hits in 4 2/3 innings.  He walked two and struck out five.

The Mariners take their 2-1 record to Cleveland beginning tomorrow.  Horacio Ramirez will throw for the Mariners in the series opener.

Huh, maybe the Mariners won’t be as bad as a lot of people thought.  I know it’s only two  games but the A’s are supposed to be pretty good and so far, the Mariners have had no problems with them.  Last night, the Mariners racked up eight runs in the 8-4 win with Ichiro Suzuki, Richie Sexson, and Yuniesky Betancourt all driving in two runs.  Sexson hit his second homerun in as many games and Betancourt also went yard.

Jarrod Washburn threw six solid innings but it was Julio Mateo who picked up the win.  Miguel Batista gets the start tonight and a sweep sure would be nice.  We’ll also get to see if Rich Harden is really back.

King Felix is here and man did he shine in the Mariners home opener today.  He threw eight shutout innings and gave up only three hits with twelve strikeouts in the dominating win.  J.J. Putz threw a shutout ninth and the Mariners became the first team to toss a shutout this year.  Hernandez threw 111 pitches and 77 of them were for strikes.  With the nice lead, it was prudent to get him out of there and let him go for a shutout.

The Mariners scored all four of their runs in the sixth inning and three of them came off of a big three run shot by Richie Sexson.  The Mariners were held to four hits themselves but they just bunched them all up and put together the good inning.

No day off for the Mariners and Jarod Washburn will start tomorrow.  We’re on the right track though so hopefully the Mariners can keep it up.

John Sickels took a look at J.J. Putz minor league career in a prospect retro column.  This guys been around a while, being drafted in 1999.  As early as 2004, he only had a C+ rating but some solid minor league seasons pushed him up to the majors before he had that great year in 2006.