Tag Archives: Pryor

g91 | of rookie struggles and non-clutch bats . . .

Posted on by

ON the MOUND
To say it wasn’t Roenis’ night is a bit of an understatement . . .
He gave up SEVEN TIMES as many hits AND runs in his 3.1 innings as the bully did in their 5.2
On the broadcast, the camera caught Felix, Roenis and Lloyd deep in conversation in the dugout. Shannon said she asked Felix about the conversation, was he just interpreting? Apparently not, Felix told her that he reminded Roenis that you learn more from your bad games than your good games 🙂
THREE.ONE innings ~ SEVEN hits ~ SEVEN runs ~ SIX earned runs ~ THREE walks ~ THREE strikeouts

} Stephen (just activated!), Dom and Brandon combined for a stellar FIVE.TWO innings allowing only ONE run on TWO hits and striking out SIX

AT the PLATE
The M’s actually out hit the Twins 12-9 . . .
though Robbie’s double was their only EBH (compared to the Twins FOUR doubles – all off Roenis)
~ Batters 1-4 had EIGHT hits, unfortunately that whole RISP is still a bit of an issue
~ And, only ONE walk (after ZERO yesterday)

IN the FIELD
I remember when the Twins were known for their fundamental DEE – not sure if that’s still a general impression but, they sure looked beyond fundamental in the field tonight.
* Brad with a nice little low pick and flip to Robbie in the 4th
* Kyle with a nice snare of a grounder to start a DP that ended the top of the 5th
* LoMo with a very unfortunate error that led to a couple of runs and, for all intents and purposes, put things out of reach

tweets of the game . . . 

 

Skip not ready, Stephen DL’d again, Jesus serving 50 . . .

Posted on by

ERIC WEDGE UPDATE
According to Jack, via Greg Johns, who speaks with him everyday, he’s progressing well but, won’t join the team just yet when the team returns home . . .

“I don’t think Eric will be with us this week,” Zduriencik said prior to Sunday’s series finale with the Orioles. “I know he has a couple appointments ongoing. He’s got something midweek where he’s going to sit down with doctors.

“He’s doing well. I talk to him every day and he sounds normal and he’s excited to get back here. He wants to get back. But when Eric gets back, you want him to be back. His anxiousness to get back here in the dugout is one thing, but this is a life-long health issue for him. When he gets back managing this club, we want him to be here. You don’t want him to come in here and be here for two or three days.

“The stress of a ballgame, the length of time a manager has to put in and the way he is — he comes early and leaves late — from our standpoint, they just need to sign off and say you’re 100 percent ready to go so we don’t have a bump in the road where he’s out here 3-4 days and then has to take a step back. That’s not fair to Eric or fair to the ballclub. I think we’ll just wait and give it a little more time.”

M*A*S*H
Really disappointing news on Stephen Pryor – here’s Shannon’s report

Reliever Stephen Pryor has suffered a significant setback in attempt to return to the Mariners this year from a lat injury. As I reported yesterday, Pryor was to get checked out further by team doctors to see what was causing a “bruising sensation” in the area of his triceps. General manager Jack Zduriencik told us this morning in Baltimore what was found on his MRI was concerning enough to shut him down for the remainder of the year.

“They really didn’t like what they saw,” Zduriencik said. “He is going to get re-evaluated and we are going to look through this thing further as it is very unusual.”

Zduriencik was not sure how or specifically when the injury occurred. He said it is not related to the previous lat injury, however.

This is tough news for the team that could use a healthy Pryor in the bullpen but even a bigger blow for Pryor, who has been working hard to come back from the original injury.

Disappointing on another level (though we’ve been hearing it would happen for months now) – Jesus’s suspension . . .
Larry’s story

“The Seattle Mariners are disappointed that Jesus Montero has violated the terms of Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.  Our organization fully supports the Program and its efforts to eliminate performance-enhancing substances from our game.”

The Mariners said that will be their only comment on the matter. Commissioner Bud Selig  and union chief Michael Weiner also had lengthy statements which can be found at the end of this post. Weiner said of the 12 players who didn’t appeal (excluding A-Rod): “The accepted suspensions announced today are consistent with the punishments set forth in the Joint Drug Agreement, and were arrived at only after hours of intense negotiations between the bargaining parties, the players and their representatives.

The Mariners haven’t had a player on their 40-man roster suspended for PEDs since Ryan Franklin, Jamal Strong and current Mariner Mike Morse in 2005. One of the unique things about this case is that none of the players failed a drug test. However, baseball still has the power to suspend players based on a “non-analytical positive” — evidence other than a drug test. The 23-year-old Montero is currently playing in Tacoma. It is believed Montero will be able to serve his entire suspension this season even though Tacoma has just 28 games remaining this season.

Montero has been linked to the Biogenesis Anti-Aging clinic since Februry – an association he strongly and repeatedly denied when the story first broke in the New York Daily News on Feb. 6. The Daily News reported that Montero had been named in the records of Biogenesis, the clinic which is at the heart of MLB’s latest PED scandal.

Congrats to Kuma and The King ~ 2013 All-Stars

Posted on by

CONGRATULATIONS to the M’s collective 1-2 punch!!!

Felix named to his 4th ASG | Marinerds, etc. blog

Felix named to his 4th ASG | Marinerds, etc. blog

Kuma gets first ASG selection | NewsTribune

Kuma gets first ASG selection | NewsTribune

Felix earned his fourth All Star selection and Hisashi his first. If the rotation stays as is – Kuma would be scheduled to pitch the Sunday before the ASG which, in recent years, would deem him ineligible to actually pitch in the game. But, some changes in the CBA have changed that . . . Larry’s run down of the new rules

Iwakuma, however, is scheduled to start for the Mariners next Sunday, the last day before the All-Star break. If that happens, MLB rules dictate he may opt to be replaced on the American League roster, or be limited to one inning.  Iwakuma would still attend the game at New York’s Citi Field and go through all the festivities and be introduced with the team.

Iwakuma has the lowest ERA in the American League (2.60), followed by Hernandez at No. 2 (2.69). Iwakuma also has the lowest WHIP in the AL (0.88) to go with a 7-4 record. Hernandez is 8-4 and ranks fourth in the AL with 130 strikeouts. Iwakuma’s chances seemed to have dimmed with a stretch of four starts in which he went 0-3 with a 5.54 ERA to raise his ERA from 1.79, but his body of work over 18 starts prevailed.

Unfortunately, no Rauuuuuuul . . .

 

Alex Liddi traded to the O’s and International Draft picks swapped . . .

The Mariners have traded third baseman/first baseman Alex Liddi and their international signing slot No. 3 for the Orioles’ international signing slot No. 2.

Liddi is reportedly headed for the Orioles’ Triple A affiliate in Norfolk.

Liddi, 24, has appeared in 8 games with the Mariners this season (.059/1×17), spending most of the season with AAA Tacoma. With the Rainiers he is batting .263 (63×240) with 11 home runs and 43 RBI. Liddi was originally signed by the Mariners as an international free agent on Sept. 9, 2005. The native of Sanremo, Italy is the first Italian-born and developed player to appear in a Major League game.

This basically gives the Mariners more money to spend on the international free agent market.

Liddi was designated for assignment when the Mariners called up Brad Miller. The team had 10 days to either release, trade or outright Liddi. With the Orioles likely to claim him off of waivers, the Mariners picked up some more money on the international market instead.

 

Good news on the bullpen front . . .

g14 | third time’s the charm for Brandon, series split with Texas

Posted on by

Mariners 4 | Rangers 3

ON THE MOUND
Great outing for Brandon, especially considering the competition, which should go a LONG way in building his confidence. Though he had runners on base in FOUR of the SIX full innings he pitched, he was able to either work out of trouble or limit the damage. He also had a nice balance of fly outs to ground outs.

SIX innings ~ FIVE hits ~ THREE runs ~ TWO earned runs ~ ONE walk ~ FIVE strikeouts

Bobby walked the lead off guy and then fielded a sac bunt as that runner advanced but, it wouldn’t matter, as Stephen came to strikeout the next two batters (one on a curve, another on a 98mph fastball) of the 7th.

Unfortunately, after getting TWO outs and walking ONE in the 8th, Stephen had to come out due to some sort of injury (UGH!). Ollie came in and battled the first batter he faced (Murphy) who eventually hit a high fly ball that Dustin A L M O S T got to but, it skimmed of the tip of his back-handed glove in shallow center field. Thankfully, after another fairly long battle with the next guy (Soto) Ollie got him to fly out to right field for the third out.

Then, the Bartender came in for “closing time” and got a fly out to center field, a strikeout with his signature NASTY curve and then a fly out to right field to earn his FIFTH save and preserve Brandon’s FIRST big league victory!

AT THE PLATE
Back-to-back doubles by Justin and Kyle tied it at ONE in the 2nd

Just as I was thinking Rauuuuuuul needs to make up for the late / weak throw that allowed a runner to advance to 3B in the 4th (even though he was stranded there) he BOMBS one to right center in the bottom of the inning to give the M’s the 2-1 lead in the 2nd

Not to be outdone in the “making up for boo-boos” department, Jesus drove Kyle in (after he’d checked in with his second double) to tie the game at 3 and help atone for his passed ball in the top of the inning.

Kyle scores! | Elaine Thompson, AP

Dustin recorded his first RBI of the season – a single to score Jesus from 2B (yes, really!) to give the M’s a 4-3 lead that they would not relinquish!

Jesus scores! | Elaine Thompson, AP

IN THE FIELD
Not a real sparkling day in the field – no double plays, but, they did nail a runner at home with one out in the 5th and a runner at 3B, Dustin snared a ground ball and threw home to Jesus to just barely nail the runner.

The execution was much less than stellar on the next couple of plays when Jesus made a poor throw to 2B and Dustin makes an equally poor catch and tag, allowing the runner to swipe 2B (and he’d eventually score) then a runner aboard via HBP eventually scored on a passed ball to give the Rangers the lead 3-2. But, great pitching and just enough O made it all moot 🙂

Tweets of the game . . .

 

 

And now, a MUCH needed day off at home . . .
the M’s are the only team to start the season with FOURTEEN straight games. They get the day off tomorrow and then play for SIXTEEN straight #ImTiredJustThinkingAboutIt

 

g12 | Happy Birthday, Kuma!

Posted on by

Mariners 3 | Rangers 1

Nice outing, Kuma! | Ted S. Warren, AP

ON THE MOUND
Kuma was fabulous tonight ~ getting his 2nd victory on his 32nd birthday!
I’ll admit I panicked a bit when Wedge took him out with TWO outs in the 7th after only 90 pitches and the fact that the both the batters that Charlie faced reached base (ONE hit, ONE walk) did not provide me with any warm fuzzies. It wasn’t till the post game show that I was reminded about his “finger issue” – apparently, he’s still dealing with it but, luckily it wasn’t a factor tonight. Kuma did give up his first walk of the season – after 18 full innings without one (second longest in M’s history, behind Cliff Lee).

Anyhoo, Stephen came in and promptly recorded the 3rd out via a strikeout of the 7th and, despite allowing a couple of singles in the 8th, he escaped unscathed turning the ball over to The Bartender who recorded his FOURTH save.

Mariners Win!!! Mariners Win!!! | Ted S. Warren

AT THE PLATE
Apparently, playing RF at The Safe is a dangerous proposition lately . . .

Michael Saunders made that awesome catch and then injured his shoulder slamming into the wall on Wednesday. Then Michael Morse gets hit by a pitch that breaks his pinkie finger last night. Then Jason Bay gets hit by a pitch TWICE (thankfully, no injury and he ended up score once)

* No homers tonight, only ONE double (Kendrys) and the hits were scattered throughout the lineup
* Good news is that the M’s scored early and fairly often (THREE runs in the 1st) and were FOUR fer TEN w/RISP (Kendrys is SIX fer TEN!)
* Bad news is they didn’t score after the 1st
* Good news is, the pitching was so stellar, they didn’t need to

IN THE FIELD
* Ackley took a throw from Shoppach and tagged Kinsler out trying to steal 2B ~ unfortunately he was called safe and advanced to 3B on the next batter’s ground out ~ fortunately, he didn’t score
* Murphy made a nice over the shoulder catch in the LF corner on one of Dustin’s hardest hit balls this season
* the Rangers turned TWO double-plays, the M’s turned none

None of that, however, stopped the M’s from handing Yu Darvish his 3rd career loss in as many tries at The Safe

Sorry, Yu (not!) | Ted S. Warren, AP

Tweet of the game . . .

 

 

g10 | so much for the “lowly” Astros . . .

Posted on by

Mariners 3 | Astros 8

Earlier today, a couple of announcement were made regarding the roster . . .
* Casper Wells (designated for assignment after ST) was claimed by the Toronto Blue Jays
(Good Luck, Casper!)
* Lucas Luetge sent to Tacoma and Bobby LaFromboise re-called from Tacoma

ON THE MOUND
And the Astros just keep on hitting (including THREE more home runs) . . .
* Blake needed 102 pitches to get through 5.2 innings ~ FIVE runs (FOUR earned) ~ ONE walk ~ FOUR K’s
* Carter gave up THREE runs (including TWO homers)
* Bright pitching spot of the evening was Bobby’s major league debut ~ retired all THREE batters he faced: struck out TWO (including Chris Carter who had FIVE hits, including THREE homers, in the series) and got a ground ball out.

AT THE PLATE
* Kelly provided the M’s first hit and run of the game in the 3rd inning via his first Mariner home run

Kelly’s first Mariner homer | Elaine Thompson, AP photo

* Rauuuuuuul checked in with a ground rule double into right field in the 4th but is left stranded
* Kelly also an RBI double in the 5th (reviewed for a homer) finished 3/3 w/a run, a walk and 2RBI
* Guti with a solo shot (and the last M’s run) on the 9th pitch he sees in the 6th brought the M’s to within ONE

IN THE FIELD
* Scary first play of the game when Michael Saunders made a great catch up against the wall in right field . . .
unfortunately, he hit the wall HARD and had to leave the game with a shoulder injury. During the game they gave an update: strained shoulder, will be re-evaluated tomorrow and expected to miss some time

Michael catches the ball, hits the wall and leaves the game | Elaine Thompson, AP photo

* Guti was inexplicably charged with an error after Brendan lost a ball in the lights (which led to the M’s first unearned run of the season)
* Kelly nice throw to cut down a would-be base-stealer at 2B in the 3rd
*Raul collected an assist with Kyle as they nailed a runner trying to stretch a double into a triple

IN THE STANDS
* new attendance low: 10,493 (sad)
* “BeerCatch” ~ a fan actually caught a foul ball in his beer cup

#BeerCatch

 

Tweet of the game . . .

 

Tweet of the day . . .

 

g6 | it’s the little things . . .

Posted on by

Mariners 3 | White Sox 4

(or lack thereof….)
like being able to lay down a bunt with two on, no out and just getting a clutch hit here and there.

ON THE MOUND
ChiTown has rarely been kind to Felix (1-4 and a 4.75ERA in 7 games)
Unfortunately, his numbers didn’t improve in that regard today. And, he missed an opportunity at history  ~a win would have been the 100th of his career and five more K’s would have equalled 1500~ which would have put him in elite company as only the fourth pitcher (w/Bert Blyleven, Walter Johnson and Dwight Gooden) in MLB history to collect those milestones before his 27th birthday. I’m sure the team loss hurts him more than the loss of the history notation . . .

“There was just one mistake — the homer. That was about it,” he said. “When it left my hand I thought, ‘That’s going to be up.’ It was a changeup, and I was trying to go down, but it didn’t work. It was a good call, but a bad changeup.”  –Felix Hernandez (Greg Johns | MLB.com)

Felix has a decent shot to reach the milestones a few days after his 27th birthday (which is Monday) at home during a Supreme Court Night (for which I’ll be in attendance!) on Thursday vs. the Rangers.

Felix leaving in the 7th | David Banks, AP

Considering what he inherited in the 7th, bases loaded and ONE out, Charlie did OK, giving up a sac-fly and recording a strikeout. Then Stephen pitched a nice 8th getting TWO fly outs and ONE strikeout.

AT THE PLATE
The M’s scattered only SIX hits and went OH fer SEVEN w/RISP 😦
The Mariners fans in the stands with the sign for home run in “Morse Code” were disappointed, as Michael only had a single and a walk. The other Michael (Saunders) hit a TWO-run, pinch hit homer  in the 8th to bring the game within ONE run – unfortunately, that would be the last run of the game.

Ryan congratulates Michael on his 1st homer of 2013 | Getty Images

IN THE FIELD
* Kyle muffed a routine ground ball that would have been the third out of the 2nd inning but, no harm done (save a couple extra pitches for Felix) as the next batter to flied out to right (note: Kyle’s recovery was super as his throw was a strike to Justin but just a hair late because he wasn’t able to find the handle immediately after the ‘boot’)
* DP count = 1

Quote of the game . . . 

“Every single game we’ve played this year we’ve had runners on base and are just missing that timely hit in the gap or whatever it may be,” said Saunders. “But we fought hard, we were in the game the entire way and gave ourselves an opportunity. If we do that over the course of the season, we’re going to win a lot of ballgames.”

Tweet of the game . . . 

 

g5 | bonus baseball on the south side…

Posted on by

Mariners 8 | White Sox 7

I didn’t get to watch the game, only caught the last couple of innings on the radio, but, it sounds like the home plate ump may have had an interesting perspective on the strike zone tonight.

But, I digress…

Mariners Win!!! Mariners Win!!!
Words rarely uttered in recent years at the conclusion of a game on the south side of Chicago.

ON THE MOUND
Bit of a mis-mash, as there was good Blake for 4 and bad Blake for 1 and then an up, down and all around bullpen effort: Carter so-so, Stephen and Kameron pretty good and then Tom was bent severely but did not break!

Tommy TumTum | Charles Rex Arbogast, AP

AT THE PLATE
* Top of the order = 6H + 2BB + 6RBI + 4R
* Extra base hits = 4doubles (Bay, Guti, Morales, Seager) 1triple (Saunders) 1homer (Guti)
* SIX fer ELEVEN w/RISP has a very nice ring to it!

Guti heads to the happy dugout after his lead-off homer | Charles Rex Arbogast, AP

IN THE FIELD
Seager made this great, bare-handed play . . .
Seager charges the bunt

and shannon was a bit peeved they didn’t replay it on Chi TV . . .

(he also made the first error of the M’s young season – but we won’t dwell)

LOVERLY TOP OF THE 10th . . .
As the M’s plate TWO to take the lead via a Guti single, a Saunders bunt, a Morales RBI double and a Montero RBI single. Seager also had a double but Montero was out on the relay home.

TUMS-TIME IN THE BOTTOM OF THE 10th . . .
The first walk came in the bottom of the 10th and, unfortunately, it would not be the last. Tom got the first batter to fly out, then gave up the FIRST walk, then gave up a LONG, LOUD out to Dunn that, thankfully, landed in Michael Saunders glove instead of in the seats). Indifference and a wild pitch got the runner to 3B and, after the SECOND walk, a single got the runner home and brought the Sox to within ONE run. Tom would give up a THIRD walk before striking out the last batter he faced to end the game and earn his SECOND save of the season. Whew!

Tweet of the game . . . 

 

g1 | watching the game in OakTown from The Safe = awesome!

Posted on by

So the Mariners did this REALLY COOL thing….
Since there were SO many changes to our “summer home” over the winter, they decided to have an Open House on Opening Day! Free parking, free admission and the freedom to roam all over the field and check everything out prior to the home opener, while our boys were down in Oakland on Opening Day!

I'm home!!!

I’m home!!!

The field was roped off, of course but, fans could walk all around the warning track to inspect the new dimensions (and, some even sat in the dugout!)

I decided I would check out the new restaurant, Edgar’s Cantina, for several reasons: it was located where the most significant “fence movement” occurred, it had a great view of the new video board and last but not least, I was in the mood for a margarita (or two!)

Edgar's Cantina ~ new at Safeco Field for 2013

Edgar’s Cantina ~ new at Safeco Field for 2013

yum!

yum!

The bar at Edgar's Cantina

The bar at Edgar’s Cantina

The hand operated scoreboard was just above us

Of course the main attraction of the night was the new, HUGE video board! Which we were glued to all night as we watched Felix and the guys take on the A’s . . .

First pitch in Oakland

First pitch in Oakland

Fans at the Open House

Fans at the Open House

Jen talking to our "host"

Jen talking to our “host”

It was an awesome evening and the best part was, of course, the VICTORY!

Mariners Win! Mariners Win!

Mariners Win! Mariners Win!

Speaking of the game, here are the particulars . . .

Mariners 2 | Athletics 0

ON THE MOUND
A very Happy Felix Day, it was!
7.2 IP ~ THREE hits ~ ONE walk ~ ZERO earned runs ~ EIGHT strikeouts

Happy Felix Day! | Ezra Shaw, Getty Images

Felix got TWO outs in the 8th, then gave up a double and his only walk of the game.

In came Charlie, who walked the only batter he faced. Then Stephen got the last batter to ground out and then The Bartender entered, reminding us about “Closing Time” by preserving the win for Felix and recording his first save of 2013.

AT THE PLATE
Well, the offense wasn’t exactly lighting the baseball world on fire tonight . . .
They only managed FIVE hits (all singles!) but they also walked FOUR times
Thankfully, with Felix pitching, all it took was to string a couple of those hits and walks together (which they did in the 5th)

IN THE FIELD
* Brendan with a stolen base
* no DP’s 😦

Tweet of the game . . .

 

g158 | out in extries once again

Posted on by

Mariners 4 | Athletics 7

EIGHTEEN games in-a-row with at least ONE home run…
Seager and Saunders each hit their NINETEENTH home run in the 4th inning

Really a shame for Vargas…
He pitched SO well in this, his final start for 2012, going 7IP – 5H – 1ER – 0BB – 7K
~ Jason racked up 217 innings for the season, giving the M’s their first TWO 215+ starters since Garcia and Moyer in 2002 ~
The first ground ball Vargas surrendered didn’t come until the 4th inning (everything to that point had been a fly ball out or a strikeout) and it got through for a hit and an RBI with Cespedes scoring from 1B. Vargas left the game with a 4-1 lead and a good chance at his 15th victory.

The A’s, however, had other (post season) plans…
In the 8th, Wilhelmsen relieved Capps with TWO on, ONE out and got the first batter to pop out on the first pitch. Then, CoCo Crisp stole 3B and Tom gave up a double to Moss, scoring Crisp but Wells and Ackley made an awesome relay home to Olivo who nailed Stephen Drew at the plate.

Unfortunately, the adrenaline of that great end to 8th didn’t carry over to the 9th…
The Bartender blew a rare save – allowing a walk to Reddick and then a homer to Donaldson to send the game into extras (and hand poor Jason an ND)

Things didn’t get any better from there…
the M’s failed to score in the top of the 10th
Perez gave up a single and got an out
Pryor walked a batter and, despite Lucas being ready, was left in to face Moss who deposited the first pitch he saw from Stephen into the seats – and that was all she wrote.

this gave me a bit of a chuckle…

Brandon McCarthy (@BMcCarthy32)

Guys I think Bob Melvin might be a witch