Saunders runs out of Safeco magic

Joe Saunders continued a mid-May malaise on Friday night in the Mariners' 9-3 loss to the Texas Rangers, Seattle's seventh consecutive defeat. The left-handed starter damaged some remarkable personal statistics in the process, too.

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Missed call leads to unusual debut for Sucre

Jesus Sucre's first Major League at-bat was one to remember, albeit for a very unusual reason. The Mariners catcher rolled into a 3-6-1 double play in which "1" -- Rangers pitcher Justin Grimm -- was not the player covering first base, as umpire Jeff Nelson mistakenly thought Mitch Moreland, who was on the bag, caught the ball.

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Track. Five Women Make Jump To Nationals On Big Night

Sometimes the wait just makes it that much sweeter. Enduring a six hour rain delay, the Husky track team enjoyed some outstanding late night efforts, with five Huskies punching their tickets to the NCAA final site.

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Track. Fermin to Return to NCAA T&F Championships

Washington State University senior Shawna Fermin was the lone Cougar Friday to advance to next month's national championships from the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds at Mike A. Myers Stadium at the University of Texas in Austin. The day included a six-hour delay for some field athletes and a three hour delay for track athletes due to storm conditions that included thunder, lightning and torrential sheets of rain.

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Back of Mariners rotation is struggling

Entering Friday night's game, Joe Saunders had an ERA of 5.64, Aaron Harang was at 8.58 and rookie Brandon Maurer was at 6.80. In other words, aside from ace Felix Hernandez and emerging star Hisashi Iwakuma, Seattle's starting pitchers have been struggling.

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Class A Clinton book scribe visits Safeco Field

Author Lucas Mann, who penned Class A: Baseball in the Middle of Everywhere

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Baseball. Meggs’ 11th-Inning Hit Leads UW Over ASU, 8-7

Senior Joe Meggs' 11th-inning, two-out single drove in Michael Camporeale from second as the Washington baseball team edged 19th-ranked Arizona State, 8-7, Friday at Husky Ballpark.

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Baseball. Cougars Complete Comeback in Corvallis

Washington State rallied from seven runs down to upset No. 3 Oregon State 10-9 in 11 innings at Goss Stadium, Friday.

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Russell Okung honors modern-day Heroes in the Classroom

When the teachers who were being honored as Symetra Heroes in the Classroom reached the Seahawks’ locker room at CenturyLink Field on Friday afternoon, they were greeted by one surprise after another.

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Softball. Huskies Are WCWS Bound

More great pitching, stellar defense and clutch hitting helped the No. 11 Huskies clinch the first spot to the WCWS in 2013 with a 1-0 win over No. 6 Missouri (38-14) on Friday night in Columbia, Mo.

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Pregame news and notes, 5/24

The Mariners enter tonight game against Texas at 20-27 after losing their final six games of a nine-game road trip (2-7). “Safeco” Joe Saunders (3-4, 5.64 ERA) takes his 9-0 mark in 13 starts in Seattle into Friday against Justin Grimm (3-3, 4.02 ERA). Grimm has lost three of his past four starts. With massive turmoil in Mariners land today, here are some storylines to track.

Andino designated for assignment

After a horrendous two-month stint as the Mariners’ utility infielder, Robert Andino was DFA’d today to make room for Jesus Sucre on the 40-man roster. Andino was placed on waivers but was not originally going to be DFA’d immediately. That was until the news broke on Twitter (thank Dave Cameron), and the Mariners rushed to make it officially.

Andino played in 29 games for Seattle this season, posting a .184 batting average and a homer-less four RBI. He racked up an on-base percentage of .253 and slugged just .237 with four total extra base hits, all doubles. He provided average defense, committing two errors while playing primarily shortstop, but also third and second base. Mariners fans won’t remember him fondly, but this is still one of my favorite baseball related pictures. See ya later, Bob.

Truinfel to Seattle

When Jesus Montero was sent to Tacoma yesterday, not many people expected that to signal the middle infield change so many of us bloggers have called for to happen as a result. But, lo and behold, Andino is gone, and Carlos Truinfel has replaced him on the 40-man roster as the Mariners’ utility infielder. As Geoff Baker reported earlier, Truinfel was on his way to Reno with the Rainiers when the Mariners made him turn around and come join the big club. Although not in the lineup and not expected to play tonight, Truinfel, who hit .300 with four home runs and 19 RBI in 44 games in Tacoma this year, could improve the horrid Seattle shortstop position.

Sucre making major league debut

The Mariners are throwing Jesus Sucre right into the fire tonight, as he will start at catcher and hit eighth. Sucre hit .302 in 14 games in Tacoma this year. Here’s the rest of the lineup ahead of the Mariner’s return home at 7:10 PT tonight.

  1. Saunders CF
  2. Ackley 2B
  3. Seager 3B
  4. Morales DH
  5. Morse RF
  6. Ibanez LF
  7. Smoak 1B
  8. Sucre C
  9. Ryan SS

 

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Bye Bye Robert Andino

At least he didn’t talk to Buffalo
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Dave Cameron reported early this morning that Robert Andino has been outrighted to waivers, meaning he is done as a Seattle Mariner. Carlos Triunfel will be called up to replace him and Brad Miller is being called up to AAA to replace Triunfel. Apparently the Mariners were not ready to make the move as Triunfel was in Reno with the Rainiers. But since Cameron leaked the story they were forced to bring back Triunfel and Jesus Sucre will be joining him in Seattle.

It seems fitting that Andino’s Mariner career ends in a confusing story broken by a blogger and not a beat reporter. During Spring Training I was a fan of Andino. If he could hit league average and backup all three infield spots, our stupid five man DH/1B/corner outfield arrangement was going to work out. Unfortunately for Andino, he was nowhere close to hitting league average. But he was a better hitter than Brendan Ryan. So congratulations to you Robert Andino, if nothing else, you showed Seattle fans that you are a slightly better hitter than Brendan Ryan.

I already discussed why this move is necessary, and why Brendan Ryan is better than Andino and why Triunfel gets the call over Nick Franklin. But to sum those points up, Triunfel has some MLB playing time and Franklin would lose a year of team control if brought up now. And Ryan’s defense makes him a much better option than Andino, even if neither can hit.

The real winner in this, besides Carlos Triunfel, is the Tacoma Rainiers. They now have the future middle infield of the Mariners playing together in Miller and Franklin. Add Paxton, Hultzen when he returns from injury and possibly Taijuan Walker later this summer and that Tacoma team is stacked with prospects. So if nothing else, at least the Tacoma Rainiers should be fun to watch this year.

Anyway, Robert Andino is gone. The Mariners should be a better team and a slightly less boring one. I doubt Triunfel pulls a Mike Trout and starts destroying the ball, but he should be a serviceable back up who can hopefully cover Seager at third when he needs a day off. He should be better than Andino, and if he is not, Nick Franklin and now Brad Miller are close to being ready.

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Mariners promote Sucre and Triunfel

The Mariners on Friday promoted catcher Jesus Sucre and infielder Carlos Triunfel from Triple-A Tacoma and designated Robert Andino for assignment.

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Roster moves signal must win for M’s tonight

Yesterday, the Mariners made a major statement by optioning Jesus Montero to AAA. Montero has struggled mightily behind the plate this season, and the team seems to have finally given up on him as a backstop. Catcher Jesus Sucre replaced Montero on the 25-man roster.

Yes no more catching! Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

However, the Mariners still needed to make a corresponding 40-man roster move, since Sucre isn’t on the 40-man and needs to be as a member of the big league club. As a result, Dave Cameron of USS Mariner, Fangraph and ESPN Insider has reported  on Twitter that Robert Andino will be DFA’d to make room for Sucre. Cameron believes that 40-man roster member Carlos Truinfel will replace Andino in Seattle.

However, Geoff Baker is refuting Cameron’s claim, saying he believes the Mariners will still DFA a minor leaguer and Andino will remain with the team, as he said yesterday when the Montero news broke. Cameron asserts that he has had “multiple sources confirm“ that Andino is in fact on waivers.

Most recently, Shannon Drayer dropped a big development on Twitter, tweeting that Brad Miller is heading to Tacoma from Jackson, likely indicating a middle infield move in between the AAA and MLB clubs. This is big, because Drayer is an insider. Baker, a fellow insider, had refuted the Andino news to this point and contradicted an outsider in Cameron.

Despite all of these rumors, one thing remains clear for the Mariners: they need to end their losing streak. They return to the friendly confines of Safeco Field tonight and have the man born to pitch there on the hill with Joe Saunders making the start. They face a red hot Rangers team with a pitcher in Justin Grimm on the hill who has lost three of four starts. They appear to be rid of roster problems like catching Montero and bad-hitting Andino. It’s time to get off the schneid and save the season by snapping the streak.

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W. Golf. Luo Ties For 50th At NCAA Championship

Washington freshman Ying Luo shot 6-over 78 in the final round of the NCAA Women's Golf Championship on Friday to finish tied for 50th.

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