Last Leg of the 2010 Voyage
Mariners win 3-1,Felix lets out another long Cyyy
Cy Young considered the greatest pitcher in MLB history
The Mariners rallied in the bottom of the eighth inning tonight scoring three runs to beat the Angels 3-1. That’s the good news, the bad news is that despite going seven innings of 3-hit shutout ball Felix Hernandez was once again denied a victory.
Manager Daren Brown decided to pull Felix after he had thrown only 103 pitches tonight bringing in Brandon League in a strategy that looked for a minute like it would backfire as League was tagged for a pair of doubles that resulted in a run for the Angels. Fortunately League was able to get out of the inning without further damage thanks to a double-play.
The Mariners put together a sweet little rally of their own in the bottom half of the eighth thanks to hits by Lopez, Moore and Josh Wilson combined with a walk to Branyan to lead-off the frame and a nice sac-fly by Michael Saunders that also drove-in a run. This 3-run outburst came a few innings too late once again for Felix Hernandez who desperately needs to add a few more wins to his total of 10 in order to have a shot at the Cy Young award this year.Full Box Score
I don’t usually subscribe to players playing for stats or awards in lost seasons like this, but Felix is having a heck of a year and it would be nice to salvage something in the way of hometown bragging rights if Felix continues to blow teams away and somehow gets the votes to win the Cy Young award.
Believe it or not tomorrow is September 1st which usually means it is time to expand the roster and bring-up some of the AAA guys to get a taste of “The Show”. However due to the fact that the Rainiers have a good shot at making the play-offs, it looks like the Mariners will be holding-off on bringing guys up till the Rainiers are done with their run at glory. Once again like the decision to pull Felix after only allowing him to throw 103 pitches, the decision to let the AAA guys finish out their season is the right thing to do, but it sure doesn’t seem fair to us fans who have suffered so much in 2010.
On a couple other random notes it seems that Mike Sweeney is being well received by his new team the Phillies and their fans. I’m glad to see him get a chance to play for a contender and to be appreciated after all the snide comments tossed his way here in the local press and blogosphere. I also wanted to note that Milton Bradley who is out for the year with an injury, seems to be completely forgotten as a part of the various 2011 visions for the Mariners which are being thrown around. Milton may have been a disappointment this year but we are still on the hook for $12 million next year so look for his name to resurface in the offseason once the denial of his potential return fades away. If Jack Zduriencik wants to get his growing flock of doubters off his back in a hurry I can’t think of a better way than to somehow trade him away even if we have to eat most of his salary. Of course I have no idea who would take a chance on Bradley at this point in his bizarre career, so we may just have to give him a shot at a position next spring and if he doesn’t produce simply let him go…
Still trying to decide which game I’m going to attend in this homestand, I was trying to wait for the Indians but may just sneak down tomorrow for the rubber-match of this series with the Angels. Ciao……http://jeffsmariners.com
Tagged: Cy Young, Felix Hernandez, Jack Zduriencik, Mike Sweeney
Tags: Cy Young, Felix Hernandez, Jack Zduriencik, Last Leg of the 2010 Voyage, Mike Sweeney
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Seattle Mariners Financial Documents
Somewhere in the 8th inning tonight as I was watching Jamie Wright load the bases with walks, my mind began to drift into the much practiced numbness that I have developed over the recent years as a Mariners fan. I was not even particularly upset when another mediocre pitcher of ours in this case David Pauley got shelled for 3 bombs in the 6th to put this one away tonight. Perhaps I have finally begun to accept the fact that our ownership group was ok no matter what happened tonight because 20,545 people had paid to be entertained by tonight’s Mariners mediocre effort in the 5-3 loss to the Angels.
It used to bug me in years past when I would here Howard Lincoln or Chuck Armstrong along with whatever GM or manager was playing the role at the time, talk about being ” Competitive” rather than trying to get to the World Series and win. Now I am beginning to realize that this is the role of our team in MLB today.
It could be worse, we could be the Pittsburgh Pirates where it was revealed recently by documents posted on www.deadspin.com that the Pirates owners actually have no intention of trying to win but rather are just happy to lose and receive enough revenue sharing money to turn a tidy profit.
The owners of the Mariners are sort of in the middle of this racket wherein they are not really supposed to win but just compete and leave winning to clubs like the Yankees or Red Sox who then in turn generate enough money to subsidize teams like Kansas City or Pittsburgh so the whole scheme just keeps rolling.
Of course the Pittsburgh fans have a right to be irate, but hey this is a business as they say and the Pirates owners are playing right along with their assigned role as losers so the owners can get their kick-back every year.
It was interesting to review the financial documents posted for the Mariners:
Seattle Mariners Financial Documents
Though I am no accountant I did read some tidbits regarding the paying back of monies owed for back taxes to the Govt. here and the intricate method that was used to defer payments for the taxes on the stadium over a long period of time.
But as a team destined to be mediocre and only be “Competitive” there is a fine balancing act that must keep Chuck Armstrong up late at night figuring out how to continue the charade year after year. So far it is working quite well with the Mariners actually being a team that has had to pay rather than receive revenue sharing money, and yet still turn a profit.
Of course in order for this to continue the fans will have to continue showing up for drill and watching Hydro Races, Groundskeepers dancing, collecting bobble-heads and just generally behaving as if the Win-Loss record is secondary to the privilege of sitting in a nice stadium and clapping when prompted.
I am not quite there yet but wonder how many more years of mediocre ball I can stomach. I have a hunch guys like Armstrong and Lincoln will try to outsmart me again next year with some big-name manager, or perhaps another not quite right trade for another in a long line of players destined to play the role of mediocre players in Seattle..
I know some of you still have some fire in your bellies and want to win, so take a minute and review these documents and see what you can discover, I’d love to find the smoking gun but think our top brass is to clever for that…..http://jeffsmariners.com
Tagged: Chuck Armstrong, deadspin, Howard Lincoln, Seattle Mariners Finacial records
Tags: Chuck Armstrong, deadspin, Howard Lincoln, Last Leg of the 2010 Voyage, Seattle Mariners Finacial records
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Luke French pitches gem as Mariners win 2-1
Luke French pitched a great game today for the Mariners, holding the visiting Minnesota Twins to one run on three hits as he picked-up his third win on the season in the 2-1 affair. French, who came over last year from Detroit in the Jarrod Washburn deal, is making a case to be included in the 2011 rotation and today’s performance by the young southpaw helped make his case a little stronger.
French was matched up against veteran Carl Pavano who also went seven innings today but like French could not keep putting up goose-eggs on the scoreboard all day and eventually surrendered a pair of runs in the 7th inning.
The Twins only run came on a mammoth home run by Michael Cuddyer in the top of the 7th. Cuddyer is filling in at first for the injured Twins star Justin Morneau, and his blast initially looked like it would be all the first place Twins would need in this one.
Fortunately for the hometown boys they managed to respond immediately in the bottom of the 7th with a 2-run rally of their own. Jose Lopez got on base with a 1-out single followed by another base hit by Casey Kotchman. The Mariners runners were able to move-up 90 feet on a wild-pitch by Pavano setting the stage for Franklin Gutierrez to line a shot to left that scored Lopez to tie the game. Adam Moore then tapped a weak grounder to short which would have turned into an inning ending double-play were it not for the great slide at second by Gutierrez to keep the inning alive and allow Kotchman to score the go-ahead run.
The Mariners suddenly reliable bullpen combo of Brandon League and David Aardsma came on to pitch the final two frames without relinquishing a run to the first-place Twins and thus helped the Mariners avoid the sweep.
I was amazed to hear that even this late in the season 28,923 fans paid to see this game. This franchise has been kept afloat by the polite, family friendly sort of fans who were at the park today. I’m not saying this is a bad thing, but just have to wonder how many of those fans besides the Twins faithful really cared about the outcome. Oh well perhaps our absentee-owner will be willing to spend another 10-15 million next year to bolster our worst in the AL offense so that the rest of us grumpy hardcore fans will buy the extra 20,000 seats in order to fill the stadium on a day like today.
August is shaping up as a decent month for our club as we hover around .500 with the Angels coming to town to finish out August, followed by a 4-game series with the Indians.
Interesting to note that Michael Pineda will not pitch any more this year as the Mariners are doing the right thing by saving the young flame-thrower’s arm for next year. Still hoping to see Dustin Ackley up with the big club perhaps against the Indians over the weekend. Feels good to be back reporting on our sailors as we head to the final leg of the 2010 voyage! http://jeffsmariners.com
Tagged: Franklin Gutierrez, Luke French, Michael Pineda
Tags: franklin gutierrez, Last Leg of the 2010 Voyage, Luke French, Michael Pineda
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