Tag Archives: Carp

g118 | dousing the Rays

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Mariners 3 | Rays 2

Way for Kevin to bounce back from his last start and from that first inning…
he scattered EIGHT hits in SEVEN innings, gave up ONE walk and TWO runs and K’d EIGHT

In the post game show, Shannon pointed out a fun fact… 
KW was down 3-0 with THREE different hitters with RISP – and he STRUCK ’em ALL OUT!

Stephen Pryor was none too shabby himself…
the only hit he allowed in 1-2 innings was a lead-off double and then proceeds to strikeout the next two and get a fly ball for the third out.

Moore had been holding left handers to a .176 average but…
Ackley was able to pound out THREE hits
Seager had two hits and scored a run
Smoak (just recalled from Tacoma due to Carp’s injury) lined a double in his first AB

And, in the 9th, vs. the best closer this season…
-Seager singles
-Figgy pinch hits for Wells (who had K’d 3x) and lays down a bunt to move the runner but, Pena makes a bad throw and Figgy ends up on 2B and Seager on 3B
-Smoak hits a sac-fly scoring Seager to tie the game and Figgy gets to 3B
-Olivo strikes out
-Thames (after striking out 3x) singles on a 1-2 count, Figgy scores….

Mariners WIN!!!!!!!!!!
 
courtesy ESPN
courtesy ESPN
BTW ~ Carp to the 15-day DL (after that super stretch) and Smoak was recalled
International Signing front….
Brazilian Left-hander, Luiz Gohara

Moment of Silence tonight to remember a very special community member we lost all too soon…

courtesy M’s twitpic

g117 | sunk by the streaking Rays

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Mariners 1 | Rays 4

Beavan cruised, then sputtered majorly, then recovered remarkably and got through SIX.
Capps had a tad bit of a control issue (3 walks in one inning – yikes!) but didn’t allow a run.
Luetge and Kelley were also able to get through their respective outings unscathed.

They. just. could. not. string. together. hits.
(well, OK, two – Trayvon tripled and Eric drove him in)

Interesting irony…
Montero throws out Desmond Jennings (who had stolen 20 straight)
but allows a stolen base to – Jose Molina

Carp’s MRI apparently not clear…
Wedge said he couldn’t pronounce most of it – that’s never good and that he will likely go on the DL. They will be discussing the corresponding move. Smoak was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the Rainiers game tonight – so, we’ll see. Poor Mike, he had a bit of a skid on the road trip but he had been hitting well since returning from his last DL stint.

FUN FACT ONE…
The M’s have faced the Rays 34 time since David Price came up and the M’s have never faced him.
Won’t in this series either.

FUN FACT TWO…
Curto tweeted re: the Rainiers players (many of whom are exGenerals now) bus trip from Memphis to Nashville – apparently many of them shouted “You missed the exit!” when passing Pringle Park (home of the Jackson Generals)

g116 | Viva la Vargas and Montero Mash ~ what a battery!

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Mariners 4 | Angels 1

Lots to love ’bout Jason’s performance today…
-EFFICIENT – only 96 pitches to get through 8.1 innings
-EFFECTIVE – at one point, retired 13 in-a-row and faced the minimum in FIVE innings
-the only negative “EFF” was in the 3rd when he loaded the bases on scattered singles but got out of it via a strikeout of Kendrick.

And then there was the other side of the battery who provided most of the O…
Jesus with not ONE but TWO homers!
Good for THREE of the FOUR runs!
AND off a right-hander AND, not just your average rightie, we’re talkin’ Jared freaking Weaver!
In fact, TWELVE of Jesus’s last THIRTEEN hits have been off righties. Pro-gress.

Reed Saxon | AP

A bit of a switch-er-roo in the bottom of the SIXTH…
when one of the patented “Carp stretches” – that always looks painful – actually was. Figgy pinch hit for Mike (and got a hit!) and then stayed in the game at 3B, Seager moved to 2B and Ackley shifted to 1B. Later, Chone hit an RBI triple scoring Jaso (who had walked) to give the M’s the 4-1 lead that would hold up for Jason’s THIRTEENTH victory and the “new daddy” Bartender’s SIXTEENTH save.

KEY dp in the 8th…
even with the defensive switch – Seager to Ryan to Ackley

g113 | O’s complete the sweep

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Mariners 2 | Orioles 9

I was unable to watch/listen to any of this one and, it appears that was a blessing ;-(

From the pitching to the hitting, nothing was working.

Even the D has been less than stellar…
since Brendan Ryan has been out, the M’s have only turned ONE dp

The O’s threw a rookie, Steve Johnson, at the M’s and they didn’t have an answer at all.
Kind of a cool story (though too bad it had to be against the M’s) it was 23 years ago to the day that Steve’s his dad, Dave Johnson earned his first major league win (also with the Orioles).

No need to belabor any of the other ugly details…
like hitters 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9 going O’fer AND Mune’s bases loaded bunt in which Carp was tagged out at the plate AND Millwood with his worst outing of the season.

On the slight bright side…
Seager and Montero with the sole offensive out-put
Capps two scoreless innings, including his first two major league K’s (Reynolds and Markakis)

Off to Anaheim … oh joy.

g112 | rough night (early morning) in Baltimore

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Mariners 7 | Orioles 8 (in 14)

It was 5-2 after TWO
Seager a 3-blast in the first, Olivo with a solo shot and Trayvon with an RBI single in the second

It was 7-2 after SIX…
Carp and Ackley each with RBI singles in the sixth. And, it could have been more. Ackley singled scoring Carp but Olivo was called out on a great throw by Adam Jones but, the replay showed that Olivo wasn’t tagged.

It was 7-7 after THIRTEEN
Rough night for Lucas…

In the bottom of the FOURTEENTH…
Ackley made a great diving play, threw high from his knees to Carp who was able to pull it down and do a full splits to keep his foot on the bag. Trouble was, he was called safe.

“It cost us the ballgame” –Eric Wedge in the postgame who was tossed after arguing re: the safe call “

“I have nothing to say worth saying. You guys all saw what happened, thoe whole contry saw waht happeden. Now if someone has the decency to say something abut it. That’s it.” –Mike Carp in the clubhouse after the game

– Beavan posted his third straight quality start
– Luetge gave up the homer that tied the game in the 7th (he hadn’t given one up all year)
– Pryor, Kinney, Perez, and Kelley combined 7IP – 8H – 3BB – 11K
and then the bad call at 1B, followed by a single, sac bunt, IBB, and the game winning RBI single

Lots of great D in this game…
besides the play that was called wrong, Kyle and Trayvon made some really nice plays as well

In a word – heartbreak.

g110 Series win streak ends at TWO

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Mariners 2 | Yankees 6

With the defensive alignment skewed due to Carp leaving to be with his wife and newborn baby and Ryan out with the sore elbow, the defense was shaky to say the least, not to mention the adverse effect on the offense to have two of the hottest hitters (yes, that includes Ryan!) out of the lineup.

They had a chance to get to Freddy in the 1st….
but he was able to limit the damage (3 of the M’s paltry 5 hits were in the first inning). The M’s also walked 4 times vs. Freddy (5 total) but were unable to take advantage of the free passes.

good Jesus: 2 rbi singles (vs. a rightie!)
bad Jesus: running thru the stop sign at 3B to become meat at the plate for the third out and a PB
poor Trayvon: THREE a’ em balls
poor Saunders: with that sun, you know someone was going to get a “sun double”

Interesting stat was referred to during the game, so I took a closer look…
M’s have played 73 of their 110 games vs. +.500 competion
Meanwhile, TEX, OAK and LAA have played 57, 59, 66 repectively
So, all things considered, including the crazy travel and the extremely unbalanced home/road schedule in the first half, this young team has faired that bad.

On to Baltimore…via the train, apparently.
What fun – I love the train and it is my “retirement plan” to visit every major league ballpark via rail 🙂

g109 | Happy Anniversary! Happy Felix Day!

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Mariners 1 | Yankees 0

Today marked the 7th anniversary of Felix’s major league debut.
Today also marked another notch on his crown of of fabulous starts.

Felix added a 2-hit, complete game shutout victory of the Yankees to those he’d already checked off his list (Red Sox and Rangers) this season.

More awesomeness…
Felix is 6-0 in his last ten starts with a 1.42 ERA and 75 strikeouts in 76.l innings vs. SFG, SDP, BOS, BAL, OAK, TEX, KCR (2x), NYY (2x)

And, to those who have been concerned about his declining velocity, fret no more…
It seems the mark of a truly great pitcher is his “ability to adjust to his ability” – in other words, he is evolving. For instance, locating that slider and incorporating that crazy movement on the change up.  Da Yanks were stymied 🙂

Jim McIsaac

“That was the most impressive start I’ve ever seen,” manager Eric Wedge said, “and I’ve seen a lot of great games. Felix had special stuff. The swings and misses, the mis-hit balls, all in a 1-0 game? Every pitch could have changed the game. What you just saw out there? You’re not going to find anything better than that.”

Felix to those pesky NY writers ( courtesy Larry Larue)…

After 10 minutes of questions, one New York writer got to what all New Yorkers believe – that Felix secretly wants to be a Yankee.
“Have you ever thought about being in the other clubhouse here?” he asked.
Felix shook his and said: “No.”
The follow up question said it all about New York.
“Why not?”
Felix smiled. “I’m happy.”

Oh, I should point out that Jaso (double) and Carp (RBI single) were responsible for the LONE run.

And, Brendan Ryan was hit by a pitch on the elbow…
x-rays were negative but, he’ll miss a couple of days

g107 | sweep TWO complete

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Mariners 5 | Blue Jays 3

Blake Beavan with another nice outing…
in fact, that makes the 6th quality start by a Mariner pitcher in the past seven games

Nice to see contributions from top, middle and bottom of the order..
including the “new guy” – Welcome to Seattle, Eric Thames! He only had ONE hit but, it went a LONG way (dead center field batter’s eye) and counted for TWO runs.

AP

Brendan had another hit to stay above Mendoza…
hitting .288 in July and .400 on the homestand!

as usual some awesome defense…
Brendan, no surprise, but also a great turn by Ackley.
And, Carp is “scooping and splitting” very nicely at that 1B bag

g104 | royal sweep complete!

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Mariners 7 | Royals 6

King’s Court was rocKing when Felix struck out the side in order in the first…

Kevin P. Casey | AP

Then there was a bit of a let down..
as he allowed base runners in each of the next FOUR innings but only gave up ONE run. Despite needing 101 pitches to get through SEVEN, Felix finished strong – retiring the last SIX batters he faced
and, though probably disappointed in the chance for a personal victory – no doubt he was happy for the team “W”.

The offense stayed true to their course of late when Felix pitches…
and actually scored some runs for him (they had scored 35 in his last 5 wins).
Carp, Seager and Saunders were on FIRE (with 3, 3, and 2 hits respectively, including THREE doubles). And, Trayvon added an RBI double and a great bunt (that made up for his throwing faux paux)

Unfortunately, he wasn’t rewarded with the win…
as the bullpen (League and Perez) imploded in the 8th when the Royals scored THREE runs to tie it.

Fortunately, the bats showed a little spunk…
regaining the lead (by TWO) in the bottom half of the frame. And, good thing they got that insurance run, as the Bartender (maybe a bit distracted by his impending fatherhood 😉 ) gave up a run of his own – but, was able to hang on (striking out the last batter on three straight 98mph FB’s to earn his 14th save.

g102 | well, they are no Dan and Randy but…

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Mariners 7 | Royals 1

The Battery of John and Blake faired pretty darned well tonight…

  • Beavan went 6.2 innings limiting the Royals to only ONE run on FOUR hits with only ONE walk and SIX strikeouts.
  • Jaso was responsible for FOUR of the SIX runs, including a 3-run homer
And, what did I tell you ’bout Ackley??
another TWO hits tonight, including a ringing RBI double
(Montero, Carp and Ryan also with TWO hits each and THREE runs scored between them)
I think they may be getting Safeco out of their head…
OK, maybe it’s just that caliber of pitching they are facing but, a little confidence could go a long way!