Super Bowl Update

By Kshell

Many thought this day would never come but shockingly it has. The Seattle Mariners traded away Ichiro Suzuki to the New York Yankees for two pitching prospects. What the Mariners received at this point doesn't matter what matters is the fact the face of the franchise since 2001 has been traded away. Since 2001 Ichiro has occupied mostly right field and some centerfield while batting leadoff for the Mariners. He had 10 consecutive 200+ hit seasons for the Mariners but his production has dramatically declined in 2011 and this year. Ichiro actually was the one who asked to be traded as he probably would like to win to end his career. Jack Zduriencik didn't receive much in this deal but two b-list pitching prospects. This was a trade that was more about addition by subtraction. This trade was so the Mariners franchise can finally move forward. So the new faces behind Felix Hernandez can finally emerge. Much like the Seahawks last year getting rid of Matt Hasselbeck so the youth can take over this roster the Mariners are doing just that with today's trade. The Mariners franchise led by for better or for worse Howard Lincoln and Chuck Armstrong are showing they are allowing Zduriencik to do what he wants. For that you have to be excited knowing our general manager has no restrictions and most likely never did.

As if Zduriencik's job hasn't been hard enough in Seattle under his watch the two greatest Mariners of all-time had awkward endings. Ken Griffey Jr. the Mariners greatest player ever had a nice comeback in 2009 but in 2010 was horrible. Griffey ended up turning the clubhouse against manager Don Wakamatsu which cost him his job as Griffey quit midseason. I do believe Ichiro is the second greatest Mariner of all-time. He'll finish his Mariners career with .322 career batting average, 2,533 career hits, and 438 stolen bases. He won the MVP and rookie of the year in 2001. He has won two batting titles in 2001 and 2004. He has led the league in hits seven times including 2004 when he had 262 hits which is a major league record breaking George Sissler's record back in 1920. Ichiro has won the All-Star game MVP in 2007 as he was selected to 10 all-star games and won 10 gold gloves. He also won three silver slugger awards in Seattle. Like Griffey and most athletes for that matter his career didn't have that fairy tale ending. Instead his ending leaves a sour taste in your mouth but that is sports. Sadly this is the typical ending we must endear as a fan base when one of our beloved heroes is at the end of his career.

In 2001 the Mariners had just lost Randy Johnson in 1998, Ken Griffey Jr after the 1999 season and Alex Rodriguez after the 2000 season. The Mariners were desperately looking for the new star and they got that in Ichiro Suzuki who came over from Japan. In 2001 Ichiro took the league by storm as he become only the second Mariners player to ever win the MVP award as he led the Mariners to a record tying 116 wins. During that season he hit .350/.381/.457. Had 242 hits, 8 HR's, 127 runs, 69 RBI's and 56 SB's. He took home the rookie of the year award, batting crown, all-star game, gold glove, silver slugger and of course MVP. During that postseason Ichiro hit 16-43(.421) with three RBI's, seven runs scored and 3 stolen bases as the Mariners lost to the New York Yankees in the ALCS.  In 2001 that was a magical time for Ichiro as he came in so mysterious like and immediately dominated the game of baseball. That year would start a run of 10 straight seasons where he had 200+ hits, made the all-star team and won a gold glove. Ichiro due to being such a great player in 2007 was resigned for 5 years at 90 million paying him 18 million per year. The Mariners have been restricted due to that wage and Ichiro's production fell off as he is now 38 years old. Ichiro has declined which is natural but what he gave this franchise in 2001 shouldn't be forgotten as that was the last great moment for the Mariners.

Ichiro was traded for right handed pitchers D.J. Mitchell and Danny Farquhar. Mitchell this year for the Yankees has appeared in four games having pitched 4.2 innings with a 3.86 ERA, 2.14 WHIP and 2 strikeouts. This year in the minor leagues he appeared in 15 games making 14 starts where he is 6-4 having thrown 85.2 innings he has a 5.04 ERA, 1.33 WHIP and 72 K's(7.6 K's per 9). For his career he has appeared in 94 games making 87 starts. He has thrown 538 innings sporting a 3.56 ERA, 1.32 WHIP and 421 K's(7.0 K's per 9). Farquhar has been in three different organizations this year in the minor leagues and has pitched only two innings in the major leagues giving up three runs. In his minor league career he has appeared in 208 games where he is 14-17 with 59 saves in 282.2 innings. He has a 3.06 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and 290 K's(9.2 K's per 9). The Mariners didn't receive much as currently Ichiro is no longer the player he was. Ichiro this season is hitting .261/.288/.353 with only 15 stolen bases. Ichiro last season was worth 0.3 WAR and this year he is at 1.4 due to mainly his defense not his bat. The Mariners didn't receive much and would have gotten more had they dealt him back when I suggested in July of 2010 but that isn't the point. The point is this franchise is moving forward which should be rewarding to so many fans who have questioned this managements leadership over the years.

This day is a bittersweet day for me. Ichiro for years was my favorite Mariner and if I were going to the Mariners-Yankees game tonight I'd cheer Ichiro as he deserves to be cheered. He has done a lot for this franchise and will be our second first ballot hall of famer. Still his production has fallen and this was a move that had to be made. Hopefully Ichiro can finally taste some team success being in New York and hopefully the Mariners young kids can finally grow to be what we had hoped. Zduriencik didn't receive much for Ichiro and they pretty much released him. That shouldn't be held against Jack Z though as Ichiro is 38 with a big contract and is declining fast. He no longer brings in fans as Mariners attendance has been dwindling for some years now. Ichiro will leave Seattle like Matt Hasselbeck, Ken Griffey Jr, Gary Payton and many other stars before him on awkward terms. Saying goodbye to your superstar is tough to do especially when he still views himself as a superstar when in reality he is no longer that guy. The Mariners had to make this move, this move doesn't hurt or help the Mariners right now and I'll always remember the great run Ichiro gave this franchise. I wish Ichiro luck and more importantly I hope the Mariners can start playing some meaningful games in September something they haven't done since 2003.

By Kshell

Happy booze day to all my readers who like liquor! Today of course is the first day in this states history where alcohol can be purchased inside a store such as costco, fred meyers, wal mart, QFC, etc. So now it is much easier to purchase alcohol as you are buying your mix drinks. Not to mention the money now goes towards our state and it actually cheaper despite what many have you to believe. Hopefully those of you out there are taking advantage of this new law as you are reading my blog post. This week I have plenty to rant about as the NBA playoffs are now in the conference finals, while David Stern had yet another fishy NBA lottery, one team in the playoffs is denying tickets to fans who happen to live in 47 states in the United States and the Mariners are bowing down to a legend who is way past his prime.

The big news out of Seattle today is Ichiro is being moved from the 3rd spot in the lineup. That was expected since he is only hitting .271/.305/.367 on the season with just one home run in 223 PA's. He only had 15 extra base hits and when he was given the day off the Mariners erupted for 21 runs against the Texas Rangers. So most people thought the slumping Ichiro would hit at the bottom of the order as the kids develope. Instead Ichiro will bat leadoff in a move that pisses me off. Look I understand batting order doesn't matter and scrubs like Miguel Olivo still play against right handers. The reason this move pisses me off shows that Ichiro still has management by the balls. It shows that Ichiro is still running this franchise that has finished in last place six of the last eight seasons and is currently in last place right now. The Mariners continue to bow down to their legendary right fielder despite the fact he isn't hitting that well the last two years. The last two years Ichiro's production has fallen and with these young kids playing all the time it's time to develope them and worry about Ichiro less.

This week the NBA held their annual draft lottery where they determine who receives the number one pick. This year it matters more so than other years because the player with the number one pick will be Kentucky Wildcats center Anthony Davis. Davis who was the Final Four most outstanding player as he led the Wildcats to their first NCAA championship since 1998. Davis who was the #1 player coming out of high school didn't disappoint as he won the college basketball player of the year award when he averaged 14.2 PPG, 10.4 RPG, 1.4 steals and 4.7 blocks per game while shooting 62.3% from the field. So Davis is the obvious choice what made this lottery so fishy is the fact the New Orleans Hornets won the lottery. Yes the same team that David Stern and the NBA had taken over for over the past year. The same team that nobody wanted to buy then suddenly a month ago New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson bought the team despite not showing any interest in the team before. Look I don't know if Stern rigged the lottery or not but Sonicsgate did show he is a corrupt man. I wouldn't be shocked one bit if he promised Benson the #1 pick if he buys the team from the league. Stern is not someone you can trust as the NBA always has a way of getting the teams they want in the NBA Finals.

For yesterday's game three of the Western Conference Finals the Oklahoma City Zombie Sonics denied all fans who weren't from Oklahoma, Arkansas or Kansas to enter the game. If your billing address wasn't from those states you couldn't buy tickets. So that includes even famous people like rapper Lil' Wayne was denied to go to the game. As Charles Barkley has said in the past Oklahoma City isn't a city for black people and they are holding that statement true by denying a black rapper. This is very North Korea like in an attempt to keep Spurs fans and Sonics fans away. They know most of the NBA is rooting against them as they stole a team from a dedicated fan base like Seattle. Now they are denying people from other states to attend their games. These guys continue to show why they are at the bottom of the NBA when it comes to class. Oklahoma City with the way they still bash Seattle has shown they have no class and they are denying the world from their shithole city because they know the whole world will bash that city. Welcome to Oklahoma City folks where they resemble North Korea more than the United States!

Meanwhile the conference finals are heating up as the home teams have won all five games. The Miami Heat survived game two over the Boston Celtics in overtime 115-111. Ray Allen had hit a three pointer to force the overtime, Rajon Rondo scored 44 points, dished out 10 assists and grabbed eight rebounds as it wasn't enough. Lebron James had a "quiet" 34 points and 13 rebounds while Dwyane Wade was quiet all game until he scored eight in the overtime period to finish with 23 points. The Heat now lead 2-0 heading back to Boston tonight for game three. As for the other series the San Antonio Spurs led by Tony Parker and Tim Duncan led two games to zero winning 20 games in a row before finally losing to the Oklahoma City Zombie Sonics led by Kevin Durant who had been quiet the previous two games in the fourth quarter. That series is now 2-1 in the Spurs favor which should make for a terrific game four which can swing the series. I still like the Heat in five games and I like the Spurs in six games. The Heat-Spurs Finals might be one of the better finals we've seen in years.

Well hope you guys are enjoying your new alcohol freedoms today and watch the Heat-Celtics game. The Mariners are still showing that they will do whatever it takes to bow down to an aging star than worry about the future. Just don't say that to a certain media member on twitter or he'll attack you(and many others) in the process for simply disagreeing with him. Oklahoma City has continued to show they are a classless city, classless fan base and classless organization. For them to deny ticket sales to 94% of the states in this country is straight bullshit! Anyways for the playoffs I'll say this go Heat! Go Spurs! Hopefully when Ichiro retires at 45 years old the Mariners can finally start to win some games because you just know they'll bring his old ass back for another un. Anyways hope you enjoyed my weekly rant and drink safely guys!

By Kshell

The Seattle Mariners just completed their 10 game road trip going 4-6 but ended it with a three game sweep at the Colorado Rockies. This week started off with back to back two game sweeps at the Boston Red Sox and the Cleveland Indians before recovering with a three game sweep at Colorado. For the Mariners this week wasn't all bad as much of the young bats continue to produce on this road trip. The main problem on this trip was the pitching mainly the bullpen which blew a 4-1 lead against the Cleveland Indians on  May 16th then Brandon League blew the save in extra innings as the Mariners lost 6-5. The Mariners did recover from that tough loss with a sweep which showed that this team is mentally tough. This team is just consistently inconsistent which is the sign of a young team. The Mariners did go 3-4 this week meaning I'll talk about the good(the young hitters), the bad(the pitchers including the Mariners 1-2 punch in the rotation) and the ugly(the bullpen which has been shaky this year).

The Good:

All the good that happened this week for the Mariners happened in interleague play with the sweep of the Colorado Rockies in Coors Field. The Mariners saw their young hitting core of Dustin Ackley, Kyle Seager, Jesus Montero, and Justin Smoak all have big weeks. This week also saw Kevin Millwood show that he still does have value on this team as he threw a complete game shutout in Coors Field this past Friday night. Some of the Mariners long relievers and secondary bullpen pieces pitched well this week. Just nice this team bounce back from that horrible series in Boston where they didn't compete and the disaster in Cleveland where they blew a four run lead. The Mariners took it to the Colorado Rockies and that was led by their youngsters despite what Eric Wedge wanting more veterans these young guys need to continue to grow.

Good Hitting:

Justin Smoak: 7-25(.280), HR, run, 2 RBI's
Kyle Seager: 7-28(.250), HR, 4 runs, 6 RBI's, SB
Ichiro: 8-31(.258), 5 runs, RBI, 3 SB's
Jason Vargas: 1-3(.333), run, RBI, BB
Jesus Montero: 5-20(.250), HR, 2 runs, 3 RBI, 3 BB's
Michael Saunders: 7-27(.259), 2 runs, 2 RBI's, SB, 3 XBH's
Brendan Ryan: 5-19(.263), 4 runs, RBI, SB, 3 BB's
Dustin Ackley: 9-31(.290), HR, 5 runs, 4 RBI's, 2 SB's

Good Pitching:

Kevin Millwood: 1-0, 9 IP, CG, SHO, 0.00 ERA, 0.33 WHIP, 7 K's
Charlie Furbush: 4.2 IP, 1.93 ERA, 0.43 WHIP, 4 K's
Shawn Kelly: 4.2 IP, 1.93 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 4 K's
Hisashi Iwakuma: 4 IP, 2.25 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 4 K's
Hector Noesi: 6.1 IP, 1.42 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 5 K's

The North Carolina Tarheels connection is starting to pay off lately. For this year in 140 AB's Kyle Seager is hitting .286/.308/.486 with five home runs, 17 runs and 26 RBI's. Seager is looking like a main stay for the Mariners whether he sticks at third base or moves to short stop.

Dustin Ackley #2 hitter: Hit .221/.275/.305 in 102 PA's with just one home run, 10 runs and 6 RBI's. He had 19 K's to just seven walks.

Dustin Ackley now as a leadoff hitter: Hitting .294/.368/.456 in 76 PA's. Has two home runs, 12 runs, 8 RBI's. He has 13 K's to eight walks.

As you can see Ackley is hitting a lot better since moving to leadoff which is important for the growth of the franchise.

Bad:

The road trip ended well with the sweep but it was looking like a complete disaster before that. Felix Hernandez got rocked twice on this road trip as the Mariners went 4-6 including his worst start of the year against the Cleveland Indians when he couldn't get past the fourth inning. The Mariners still aren't beating good teams this year and seeing Hernandez getting rocked was tough to watch. The other Mariners All-Star who had a bad week was Brandon League who blew the save on Wednesday then got rough up in a mop up role yesterday. The Mariners blew a 4-0 lead on Wednesday and what made it sting the most was Steve Delabar giving up a three-run home run to Jose Lopez in the eighth inning to up the game. Yes former Mariner Jose Lopez who has since bounced around baseball hit that shot.

This week saw some good hitting there wasn't too many hitters who struggled minus one in particular in Alex Liddi who is starting to go back to his bad traits from Tacoma where he is striking out a lot. The Mariners week was bad but like I stated it was saved at the end. Just was tough seeing their two best pitchers in Hernandez and Jason Vargas have such a bad week although Vargas did bounce back against Colorado pitching well.

Bad Hitting:

Alex Liddi: 2-17(.117), 9 K's
Mike Carp: 2-10(.200), 2 HR's, 2 runs, 2 RBI's, 3 K's
John Jaso: 2-10(.200), 2 runs, 2 RBI's, K
Casper Wells: 2-10(.200), run, 2 RBI's, K

Bad Pitching:

Felix Hernandez: 0-1, 3.2 IP, 14.71 ERA, 3.54 WHIP, 3 K's
Jason Vargas: 1-1, 13 IP, 5.53 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 4 K's, 3 HR's allowed
Blake Beavan: 1-1, 9 IP, 5.00 ERA, 1.60 WHIP, 11 K's
Steve Delabar: 2.2 IP, BS, 10.11 ERA, 1.87 WHIP, 3 K's
Brandon League: 0-1, BS, 1.1 IP, 27.00 ERA, 6.76 WHIP, 2 K's

This week saw Hernandez and Vargas go a combined 1-2 having thrown only 16.2 innings with a 8.63 ERA and 1.73 WHIP with only 7 K's. The Mariners won't have too many successful road trips if those two pitch like that.

The Ugly:

The Ugly this week was the bullpen melting down and in particular this season. If a starting pitcher has a 3.60 ERA which is above average for a reliever to match that he must have a 2.00 ERA. None of the Mariners relievers have close to that. The bullpen struggled once again this past week highlighted by that Cleveland game where they blew a 4-1 lead then League blew a 5-4 lead in the 11th inning. This week in only 1 1/3 innings League allowed four runs and nine base runners. This wasn't a case of League getting unlucky as he allowed six base hits and three walks. League has been very shaky this season as has the rest of the pen. The Mariners would be wise to trade League very quickly before he loses all of his value. More bullpen blowups like this and the Mariners will be hurting. They will also be regretting how they didn't deal League sooner and acquire some pieces.

Ugly Pitching:

Brandon League: 0-3, 8 saves, 3 blown saves, 18.1 IP, 3.93 ERA, 1.58 WHIP, .275 BAA, 11 K's(5.40 K's per 9). Nothing about his stats look good at all as his ERA is high for a closer, his WHIP is really high and his K's per 9 is horrible.

Tom Wilhelmsen: 1-1, blown save, 6 holds, 21.1 IP, 3.80 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, .262 BAA, 26 K's(10.97 K's per 9).  Wilhelmsen is the Mariners top setup man and also has a high ERA for a reliever plus WHIP and BAA. At least he records strikeouts unlike League.

Steve Delabar: 1-0, blown save, 3 holds, 19.1 IP, 5.12 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, .186 BAA, 24 K's(11.17 K's per 9). What is hurting Delabar is he has already allowed six home runs as the rest of his numbers are fantastic but the ERA is unacceptable.

The Mariners aren't a good team and their bullpen is making their record even worse as they have recorded six blown saves on the year while recording only eight saves. That isn't going to cut it at all and if this group doesn't improve changes will have to be made.

Al West Standings:

Texas Rangers: 26-16, first place
Oakland A's: 21-21, 5.0 GB
Seattle Mariners: 19-24, 7.5 GB
L.A. Angels: 18-24, 8.0 GB

If the Mariners have any shot at fooling their fans into thinking they can do something this year now is the time to do it. The Mariners play host to the Texas Rangers this week for three games then the L.A. Angels for four games. The following week the Mariners travel to Texas for three games. Both of these teams have kicked the Mariners ass the last couple of seasons. Now is the time to see if the Mariners young kids are up for the challenge. This is a streaky team but boring ole consistency like taking two out of three every series is what the playoff ball clubs do. The Mariners aren't there yet and won't be for a couple of more seasons it appears.

By Kshell

The Seattle Mariners just ended their week by winning two games in a row against the Minnesota Twins which had snapped their seven game losing streak. Earlier this week the Mariners were swept in four games by the Tampa Bay Rays by a combined five runs. This week saw some young hitters emerge while their ace continued to dominate. This week also saw the overdue benching of Chone Figgins who was terrible in his series against the Rays. Unfortunately for the Mariners Figgins isn't the only bat in the lineup struggling. This week since the Mariners only went 2-5 and are only a half game ahead of being in last place I'll go over the good(Young hitters plus Felix), the bad(Justin Smoak and Brendan Ryan's struggles) and the ugly(the Chone Figgins era). I hope you enjoy this weekly recap even though the results weren't very good.

The Good:

For a team that went 2-5 this past week there was some positives actually. The Tampa Bay Rays have the best record in the American League and the Mariners could have won all four games. Then they returned home to take two out of three against the Minnesota Twins as they easily could have swept that series. The main positive this week was the hitting duo of Jesus Montero and Kyle Seager both youngsters had big weeks for the Mariners. Another good thing was the pitching especially against the Twins. Felix Hernandez continues to dominate this year proving his fastball is nothing to be concerned about while Jason Vargas continues to have a solid season once again in the first half. This week also saw Hector Noesi was part of the Jesus Montero trade have a good start this week. So far Noesi has had a rough year and his only two good starts were at home against light hitting teams like the Oakland A's and Minnesota Twins. Still Noesi needed that start to stay in this rotation.

Good Hitting:

Kyle Seager: 9-26(.346), 3 HR's, 5 runs, 10 RBI's
John Jaso: 4-12(.333) run, 2 doubles
Ichiro: 9-25(.360), 3 runs, 3 RBI's, 5 BB's
Jesus Montero: 9-25(.360), HR, 4 runs, 3 RBI's

Good Pitching:

Felix Hernandez: 1-0, 16 IP, 0.56 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, 18 K's
Jason Vargas: 6.1 IP, 1.42 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 5 K's
Hector Noesi: 1-1, 12.2 IP, 2.84 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 6 K's
Lucas Luetge: 2.2 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 2 K's
Steve Delabar: 4.0 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.00 WHIP, 4 K's

Felix Hernandez this year is having an incredible season. On the year he has made seven starts posting a 3-1 record throwing 52.1 innings. He has an 1.89 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, .189 BAA and 51 strikeouts.

Kyle Seager is having a breakout year as well this year hitting .298/.320/.511 with four home runs and a team leading 17 RBI's.

The Bad:

Whenever you go 2-5 on the week and are forced to bench a guy who you owe 18 million the next two seasons it's never a good week. The Mariners bullpen imploaded some in their series sweep to the Rays as their hitters failed to come up with that one big hit. The big trade piece in the Cliff Lee trade was dropped to seventh in the order as he is getting off to where he left off last season which is horrible. The Mariners top young hitter Dustin Ackley continues his struggles this week although when moved to leadoff this weekend he performed just well so hopefully he can produce there. Brendan Ryan finally snapped an awful 0-27 streak that he was in but still didn't hit very well despite Eric Wedge batting him now second in the order.

This was indeed a rough week for a team who is still trying to find their own identity.  They have three hitters who sit below .200 while three others in Olivo(now DL), Saunders and Ackley sit below .240 which is terrible. The Mariners starting pitching hasn't done much better as veteran Kevin Millwood continues to struggle. This week even saw reliable closer Brandon League blow the save in the 11th inning then record the loss in the 12th inning in a tough loss to the Tampa Bay Rays which saw Felix Hernandez goes eight innings while allowing one run the entire game.

Bad Hitting:

Michael Saunders: 3-26(.115), HR, 2 runs, RBI, 12 K's
Dustin Ackley: 5-25(.200), 5 runs, 5 BB's, SB, 7 K's
Justin Smoak: 4-25(.160), RBI, 5 K's
Brendan Ryan: 3-16(.188), run, 2 RBI's, 10 K's, Caught Stealing
Chone Figgins: 0-15(.000), 6 K's

Bad Pitching:

Blake Beavan: 0-1, 5.1 IP, 8.44 ERA, 1.69 WHIP, K
Kevin Millwood: 0-1, 6.1 IP, 5.69 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, 4 K's
Brandon League: 0-1, blown save, 2.1 IP, 7.72 ERA, 2.57 WHIP, K

Michael Saunders had that big game last week but overall still isn't hitting very well. Saunders on the year is hitting .217/.294/.435 with four home runs but 31 strikeouts in 92 AB's.

Kevin Millwood on the year in five starts is 0-3 having pitched 28.2 innings. He has a 5.34 ERA, 1.57 WHIP and .304 BAA with only 19 strikeouts. He is an old veteran who doesn't belong on this team at all.

The Ugly:

The ugly this week I'll focus on three guys who were all acquired by the scout pretending to be a GM Jack Zduriencik. The Chone Figgins experiment with the Mariners appears to be coming to an end pretty shortly. Figgins was recently told by Eric Wedge that he'll be benched and just an expensive utility guy. Figgins was leading off this year hoping that could save his career and minus that opening week in Oakland it didn't work out at all. The Figgins mess hurts the club financially for this year and next year as he is nine million dollars per year.

A much greater concern is Justin Smoak. Smoak is supposed to be a franchise piece to build on and already ussmariner has had two different posts on him how A) he can't hit breaking stuff anymore then B) can't hit heat anymore either. If Smoak busts out like Figgins has I don't see how the Mariners can justify keeping Zduriencik around since those were his two major moves and it appears he will have whiffed on both.  Another player slumping this year is Brendan Ryan and Wedge for some reason is now batting him second despite the fact that he strikesout a lot while not looking at many pitches. In fact this team as a whole doesn't walk at all but hacks a lot why they have so many strikeouts.

Ugly Hitting:

Justin Smoak: Hitting .180/.241/.280 on the year with only three home runs in 100 AB's while striking out 25 times. Smoak as you can see isn't hitting, not getting on power and not hitting for power. He is basically useless right now and you have to think the Texas Rangers bluffed the Mariners on that trade.

Brendan Ryan: hitting .153/.273/.250 on the year with one home run in 72 AB's with 24 strikeouts. Ryan is good defensively despite his untimely errors although he isn't hitting well at all. He is slumping big time and has zero power as well.

Chone Figgins:

2010: Hit .259/.340/.306 in 602 AB's with 62 runs, one home run, 35 RBI's, 74 BB's, 114 K's, 42 SB's
2011: Hit .188/.241/.243 in 288 AB's with 24 runs, one home run, 15 RBI's, 21 BB's, 42 K's, 11 SB's
2012: Hitting .189/.250/.305 in 95 AB's with 10 runs, two home runs, 8 RBI's, 8 BB's, 28 K's, 2 SB's

As you can see in 2010 he was over paid but at least a productive major league player. The past two seasons he has just flat out been awful and the Mariners are STILL on the hook for another nine million for him next year. Time to cut your losses Mariners and release Figgins already just having him around isn't a good thing.

Al West Standings:

Texas Rangers: 19-10, first place
Oakland A's: 15-14, 4.0 GB
Seattle Mariners: 13-17, 6.5 GB
L.A. Angels: 12-17, 7.0 GB

The Mariners are going through another rebuilding season but must get some of their young guys going like Ackley and Smoak. This week was nice to see Hernandez once again be dominate while Montero and Seager continue to provide with the bat. The Mariners are now taking on the Detroit Tigers who they swept earlier this year and are riding a two game winning streak. Hopefully this week will turn out differently than this past week did.

By Kshell

This week the Seattle Mariners went on the road after a disasterous homestand. The Mariners this week won four games in a row including a couple of dramatic wins. The Mariners swept the Detroit Tigers on the road before dropping two out of three against the Toronto Blue Jays. The Mariners saw a big game from Michael Saunders friday night in Toronto as Saunders was playing in his home country. Since the Mariners went 4-2 this week I'll talk about the good(the hitting), the bad(Justin Smoak) and the awesome(more focus on some younger hitters). The Mariners youngsters this week looked pretty good as they took on two very tough teams both on the road.

The Good:

There was plenty of good this week which saw the Mariners sweep the Detroit Tigers in Detroit. Then on Friday trailing 5-3 in the ninth inning the Mariners rallied to tie up the score. In the 10th inning Michael Saunders hit the game winning grand slam to give the Mariners a 9-5 lead which they eventually won 9-5. The Mariners saw their young offense perform this week which was nice to see. With Chone Figgings sitting due to not hitting Dustin Ackley did well in the leadoff role showing that someday down the role he could be the new leadoff hitter. The Mariners offense this week scored 32 runs(5.33 runs per game) which is a huge upgrade from what we've seen the last four seasons and before this week this year as well.

Good Hitting:

Alex Liddi: 7-23(.304), 2 HR's, 3 runs, 3 RBI's, SB
Ichiro: 8-27(.296), 4 runs, SB
Kyle Seager: 5-13(.385), 2 runs, RBI, 2 doubles
Miguel Olivo: 7-25(.280), 2 HR's, 4 runs, 3 RBI's, SB
Jesus Montero: 7-22(.318), HR, 3 runs, 4 RBI's
Dusin Ackley: 7-26(.269), 2 runs, 3 RBI's, 3 doubles, 3 BB's
Michael Saunders: 8-23(.348), 2 HR's, 9 RBI's, 4 runs, SB

Good Pitching:

Felix Hernandez: 1-0, 7 IP, 1.29 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 2 K's
Kevin Millwood: 0-1, 7 IP, 1.29 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 4 K's
Brandon League: 2 saves, 3 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, K

For Michael Saunders to have the big week that he did was a huge week for his career. He was off to another slow start in basically a make or break season for him. Saunders showed why he was a former top 100 prospect and hopefully has more weeks like this past one.

The Bad:

The Mariners went 4-2 this week so there wasn't much bad. Still it is getting a little bit annoying seeing the same people slump every week. Mainly Justin Smoak and Brendan Ryan as Miguel Olivo actually had a good week. Smoak the key piece in the Cliff Lee trade is getting off to a horrible start and has yet to produce a good major league season. Hopefully Smoak can turn it around as the Mariners really need his big bat to start providing otherwise he might have to sit on the bench if Alex Liddi keeps hitting. Hector Noesi who was a part of the Michael Pineda trade as a throw in with Jesus Montero has pitched poorly in three of his four starts as a Mariner. Noesi so far is showing that he probably isn't ready for the major leagues quite yet and the Mariners might want to think how they use him going forward before his confidence is totally killed. The Mariners also had two eighth inning meltdowns in their losses to the Blue Jays this week as the bats went silent those two games. After scoring 30 runs in the four game winning streak the offense scored just two runs in the two losses. The Mariners wrap up April later today as they take on the Tampa Bay Rays hoping to break .500 for the month with a win.

Bad Hitting:

Brendan Ryan: 0-14(.000), run, RBI, 4 K's
Justin Smoak: 2-16(.125), HR, 3 runs, 3 RBI's, 3 K's

Bad Pitching:

Hector Noesi: 5 IP, 7.20 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 2 k's
Tom Wilhelmson: 3.1 IP, 5.40 ERA, 1.80 WHIP, 4 K's
Hisashi Iwakuma: IP, 36.00 ERA, 4.00 WHIP, 2 K's
Charlie Furbush: 2-0, 2.1 IP, 11.59 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 4 K's

Hector Noesi for the season is 1-2 in four starts having gone just 17.1 innings posting an 8.83 ERA and 1.67 WHIP

Justin Smoak on the year is hitting .187/.238/.320 with three HR's and 20 K's in 75 AB's. Like Dave Cameron wrote earlier this week Smoak has average power to be striking out as much as he has been. Like I said I hope Smoak turns it around but so far it's not looking good for him.

The Awesome:

The young hitters of Michael Saunders, Alex Liddi, Kyle Seager, Dustin Ackley and Jesus Montero all did wonderful this week. The Mariners also scored plenty of runs so Felix Hernandez can finally earn a victory who has pitched terrific this season. With the Mariners sweep of the Detroit Tigers they improve to 8-2 since last year against the team who appeared in last years ALCS. The Mariners hitting still isn't hitting very well but they are scoring runs something they haven't done in the past years. The youth movement has been nice especially by the players I just mentioned. It was nice to see Saunders do something and hopefully this is just the start for him who is in a make or break season. The Mariners young hitters some of them are taking advantage of their player time which is nice to see.

Awesome hitting:

Alex Liddi: Hitting .297/.333/.486 on the year with two HR's. He is showing he can be a solid platoon option this year against left handed pitchers.

Kyle Seager: Hitting .279/.290/.426 with only one HR but seven doubles. Seager rarely strikes out but must walk more to further develope into a good hitter.

Michael Saunders: Hitting . 258/.347/.515 with three HR's and eight doubles. He also has nine walks as well. Saunders had a productive week and was once a top 100 prospect hopefully this is just the start of things to come for him.

Awesome Pitching:

Felix Hernandez: 2-1, 5 starts, 36.1 IP, 2.48 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 33 K's. Hernandez is doing what he always does which is pitch like the ace that he is. Hernandez is showing that the myth about his lack of a fastball is just that a myth.

Brandon League: 7 saves, 0-1,  11.2 IP, 1.54 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 7 K's. League minus that one blown save which is going to happen has been lights out once again this year like he was last year. League who made the all-star team last year is racking up the saves this year and could be going back to the midsummer classic once again.

AL West Standings:

Texas Rangers: 16-6, first place
Oakland A's: 11-12, 5.5 GB
Seattle Mariners: 11-12, 5.5 GB
L.A. Angels: 7-15, 9.0 GB

The Mariners are still under .500 ballclub but it was nice seeing that four game winning streak. The young hitters are finally starting to come around while aging veterans like Olivo, Ryan and Chone Figgins continue to take up space. Despite what Eric Wedge thinks these guys aren't veteran leaders and actually set a poor example. The Mariners two all-star pitchers continue to pitch well and it was nice for Saunders to finally show us something which has been long overdue. Hopefully Justin Smoak can take a page from Saunders and have a big week as he desperately needs one. The Mariners did have a winning week which was the positive in this long season as the first month is over after today.

By Kshell

The Seattle Mariners just completed a dreadful week at home which saw attendance numbers reach all-time lows while the team went 1-5. During that 1-5 stretch the Mariners saw a perfect game thrown against them. That was the first ever perfect game and no hitter thrown in Safeco Field history.  I happened to go to a game this Friday which was Ichiro bobblehead night where the first 20,000 fans received a free bobblehead. Too bad less than 20,000 fans showed up. At least I got to see the Mariners first every all-star throw out the first pitch in former outfielder Rupert Jones. In three seasons with the Mariners Jones hit .257/.333/.418 with 51 home runs and 68 stolen bases. Then the Mariners proceeded to ruin that moment by falling behind 6-0 midway through the second inning before having a perfect game thrown against them the following day. This week I'll go over the good(Felix Hernandez and Jason Vargas), the bad(the hitting) and the ugly( this lack of offense in year four under the Jack Zdurienick regime). Anyways hope you enjoy my weekly recap of the Seattle Mariners.

The Good:
Whenever you go 1-5 there isn't much good. The Mariners after that great 3-1 start are now 7-10 on the season. The positives were the pitching of Jason Vargas and especially Felix Hernandez. For all the talk about King Felix's lack of a fastball those talks died after his last dominant start which he showed that his most powerful pitch is his change up. Up 1-0 facing a bases loaded one out jam in the eighth inning Hernandez got out of the jam with back to back strikeouts on a change up. Sadly which has been a theme in his career in Seattle he didn't earn a win as Brandon League blew the save for him. Another positive this week was the long relief trio of Hisashi Iwakuma, Steve Delabar and Erasmo Ramirez. They not only pitched well but saved the rest of the valuable bullpen arms so the Mariners can survive. The hitting once again didn't get much help although two reserves who rarely played did hit well. Justin Smoak also saw his first career four hit game. Hopefully for Smoak that is the type of game that can launch his season as he has been struggling all year long.

Good Hitting:

Casper Wells: 3-7(.429), run, 2 doubles
Alex Liddi: 2-6(.333), RBI, double
Justin Smoak: 4-16(.250), run, RBI, 5 K's
Ichiro: 6-24(.250), HR, 2 runs, 5 RBI's

Good Pitching:

Jason Vargas: 1-0, 7 IP, 1.28 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 7 K's
Hisashi Iwakuma: 4 IP, 2.25 ERA, 0.50 WHIP, 2 K's
Erasmo Ramirez: 4.1 IP, 2.08 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, K
Steve Delabar: 3.1 IP, 2.70 ERA, 0.60 WHIP, 6 K's
Felix Hernandez: 8 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, 12 K's

So far on the year Hernandez is 1-1 in four starts. He has thrown 29.1 innings with a 2.76 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and has 31 strikeouts. His fastball might not be as fast as it was but that is also by choice. His best pitches now are his cutter and mainly his change up. He is still an elite pitcher and fans need to stop worrying about him. He isn't the problem and is actually one of the few bright spots on this team.

The Bad:

The Mariners went 1-5 this week as attendance sank below 12,000 setting a Safeco Field record for lowest amount in a game. The Mariners got bombed in the game I went to losing 7-3 but fell behind 6-0 after two innings. On Saturday they allowed a perfect game and they simply aren't hitting the ball well at all. They began the week off by blowing a 9-1 lead against the Cleveland Indians at home as Kevin Millwood gave it up. The game I attended Hector Noesi who was in the big Michael Pineda trade got rocked and could only give the Mariners four outs. The team is still showing signs of hacking away at pitches which Eric Wedge keeps preaching to attack but at what point are they just hopelessly swinging at everything? At what point does this mess fall squarely onto Jack Zduriencik's shoulders since this is year four? Practically everyone on this roster was put here at the hands of Zduriencik and this team is terrible. The Mariners are 5-2 against the Oakland A's and 2-8 against everyone else. This year looks no different from 2010 or 2011. The pitching is decent but still not good enough. While the hitting has been downright terrible the last two weeks which ended with the White Sox sweeping them. The White Sox are now 19-3 against the Mariners since 2010.

Bad Hitting:

Kyle Seager: 4-20(.200), run, SB, 4 K's
John Jaso: 1-8(.125), HR, 2 runs, 4 RBI's, 2 K's
Dustin Ackley: 5-24(.208), 2 runs, 2 RBI's, 7 K's
Jesus Montero: 3-19(.158), HR, run, 3 RBI's, 5 K's
Brendan Ryan: 2-14(.143), 5 runs, RBI, 7 BB's, 5 K's
Chone Figgins: 3-21(.143), HR, 2 runs, 2 RBI's, 9 K's

Bad Pitching:

Kevin Millwood: 0-1, 9.1 IP, 10.61 ERA, 2.14 WHIP, 4 K's
Brandon League: 0-1, blown save, 2.2 IP, 6.75 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 2 K's, save
Hector Noesi: 0-1, 1.1 IP, 40.60 ERA, 6.01 WHIP, K

The Mariners are 4-9 since starting the season 3-1. They aren't hitting and their pitching has been rough at times too. The Mariners simply aren't making enough on the field progress in year four under Zduriencik's regime.

The Ugly:

The Mariners allowed a perfect game to Philip Humber who isn't an ace by any means. In fact in his career he has only started 30 games with a record of 12-10, 3.90 ERA and 1.24 WHIP. He is a solid pitcher but not a guy who should be putting up zero after zero on you.  The Mariners had a disasterous week seeing attendance numbers look like crap, blowing a huge lead, getting swept at home and the perfect game to a middle of the rotation guy. With the Mariners ownership trying to the block the Sonics return and the poor product on the field the fans have finally spoken. They want a winner and are tired of the gimmicks! This team needs new leadership at the top as Eric Wedge and Jack Zdurienick need to go. Obviously Chuck Armstrong and Howard Lincoln need to go or the manager/gm doesn't matter as long as those two clowns are operating this dog and pony show.

Ugly Hitting:

Seattle Mariners: Hitting .223/.274/.342 on the season. They ranked out of 14 teams in the AL: 14 in on base percentage, 13th in batting average, slugging average and OPS. 13th in home runs and walks while 4th in striking out the most. They rank 11th in runs scored basically this is the same crap we've been dealing with the last two years.

Justin Smoak: Hitting .203/.242/.322 with 17 K's in 62 plate appearances and only three walks.

Chone Figgins: hitting .215/.278/.323 with 20 K's in 75 plate appearnaces only six walks. A leadoff hitter whose on base percentage is under .300 but is striking out 26.7% of the time per plate appearance is just sickening!

Miguel Olivo: hitting .154/.170/.192 with 11 K's in only 54 plate appearances but has just one walk. Despite this piss poor stat line Wedge continues to play him even at DH in a move that makes zero sense to anyone who still cares about this team.

Ugly Attendance:

Tuesday April 17th vs Cleveland : 12,461
Wednesday April 18th vs Cleveland: 11,343(lowest in Safeco history)
Thursday April 19th vs Cleveland: 12,947( on a day when Felix was pitching)

Friday April 20th vs Chicago White Sox: 19,947(bobble head day and a friday)
Saturday April 21st vs Chicago White Sox: 22,472( beautiful Saturday after noon game)
Sunday April 22nd vs Chicago White Sox: 19,975

The fans have spoken they are tired of Jack Z's crap product he has put on the field year after year. He is a major league scout but he isn't a major league GM.

AL West Standings:

Texas Rangers: 13-3, first place
Oakland A's: 8-9, 5.5 GB
Seattle Mariners: 7-10, 6.5 GB
L.A. Angels: 6-10, 7.0 GB

This franchise needs to start getting serious about baseball or Safeco Field might have some games where the attendance drops below 10,000 fans. The fans are tired of this crap as the hitting hasn't improved at all. The hype about this team being improved was just that hype. Felix Hernandez continues to be wasted on a poorly built team that is "building" one brick at a time. Zduriencik is building this thing up much like Paul Wulff built up Washington State football. He is doing it very slowly and hopefully the next guy can lead us to the promise land. This team is a mess and this week was an absolute embarassment.

*Special thanks to my sisters boyfriend Nick Snow on two of the pictures he took. He is a great photographer and hopefully you guys get to enjoy more of his pictures.

By Kshell

Happy 420 to all my readers who happen to enjoy the green. This weekly rant has plenty to rant about this week. First I'll begin by saying that I'm sure every 7-11, smoke shop, fast food drive thru will be quite packed this Friday as it's 420 day which is a big "holiday" for all those weed smokers out there. For those of you who managed to put the bong down(or continue smoking I guess) while reading this I'm very happy that my blog has appealed to you. Now back to what I'll be ranting about this week. In this following post I'll mainly be talking about the Seattle Mariners and I'll spend some time discussing the Seahawks schedule. For the Mariners there will be plenty to discuss this week that has me in a bit of a pissed off mood. Once again I hope my weekly rantings will at the very least entertain you guys. For those who don't smoke you can enjoy this April 20th as well and thanks for reading my blog.

This week the NFL schedules were released and like always people were curious how the Seahawks schedule was. Well earlier this week I broke down the Seahawks schedule week by week to see who the Seahawks play as I gave my two cents on each game. The obvious game that stands out is the third week of the season as the Green Bay Packers come to Seattle to take on the Seattle Seahawks on Monday Night on September 24th. Matt Flynn will be taking on his old team and the Seahawks will be hosting a rare Monday Night game in September. The Seahawks have won four in a row on Monday Night at home and have won five in a row overall. The 12th man will be rocking on that night as the Packers stroll in led by Aaron Rodgers who might be the games best player. The Packers last year went 15-1 as they looked to defend their title but were upset in the divisional round to the eventual Super Bowl champions New York Giants. This will be a big stage for the Seahawks to show the nation they are a serious threat this year as most national experts are picking them as a team poised to bounce back this season.

The talk of Felix Hernandez and his fastball have died down after last night. Hernandez used mostly his cut fastball and his change up as he went eight strong innings, allowing only five hits while walking just one. He recorded 12 strikeouts including back to back strikeouts with the bases loaded and one out in the eighth inning. All that was for nothing as Brandon League blew the save and the Mariners lost 2-1 losing the series to the Cleveland Indians. For Hernandez he once again failed to get the win which has been a sad case over the years. In fact since his debut he has had 16 no decisions where he pitched at least seven innings and allowed one run or less. That is the most in baseball since he's been called up. This year in four starts Hernandez has pitched 29.1 innings with an ERA of 2.76, 1.02 WHIP and 31 strikeouts. What he has to show so far is only one win(which was the start he allowed six of his total nine runs actually). For Hernandez who has been surrounded by the Mariners garbage since 2010 as he is only 28-27 this has to be getting old. Last year in August I actually talked about how the Mariners are wasting an incredible ace in Hernandez. If the losing continues and with Hernandez a free agent after 2014 look for him to demand a trade in the offseason or at some point next year. Every athlete wants to win and he's no different. I wouldn't blame him one bit Bill Bavasi and now Jack Zduriencik have failed to build a winner around Hernandez.

Eric Wedge is starting to piss me off with his stance on Miguel Olivo. His quotes to Mariners propaganda person errr beat writer Shannon Drayer were quite alarming.  "Miggy is our starting catcher, Jesus is going to get time as well, it is going to be tough to get Jaso back there,” he said. “Not that I am against it but right now I feel like I need to give the time to Miggy and Jesus. I still want to get Jaso’s bat in the lineup from time to time if I can so that is what we are trying to do.” Then he followed it up with another gem of a quote as well "We’re trying to get it going,” he answered. “I have had conversations with him. I was really pleased with what he did this spring he’s working up the middle more, he is trying to go the other way which is against what you have seen from him in the past typically. He has done a nice job with it. I think he has been a little anxious here early on I think he has been pressing a little bit but his confidence hasn’t wavered and I feel he is going to hit but he just has to do some things in an adjustment period to make that happen.”. Translation our manager is a moron just like John McLaren. He believes in crap like "this guy is gritty", he just "looks" like a ball player, he's "tough", etc. This is all nonsense when John Jaso is left handed, better and younger than Olivo. This year in only 11 AB's Jaso is hitting .273/.333/.727 with one home run and five RBI's. Olivo on the other hand in 42 AB's is hitting .143/.163/.190 with three RBI's. Another thing that pisses me off about Wedge is with a lead late in the game he keeps Figgins in left field instead of substituting a defensive replacement in Casper Wells. Let's face it guys Wedge doesn't know what he is doing and Zduriencik failed on his second manager hiring in four years.

The problem with this picture isn't that there is so many empty seats the problem is you can't tell which game it is or what year. The Mariners crappy play has caught up to them. On a night when Felix Hernandez was pitching the Mariners barely drew over 13,000 fans a day after setting their worst mark in Safeco Field history. Last year I wrote a piece how the gimmicks are no longer working to draw in the fans. This franchise had a great fan base but they are saying enough is enough with the losing. With the price of concession stands, parking and as Chuck Armstrong pointed out the traffic it simply isn't worth it to go to a game. Sure at home I miss out on hydro races and dancing grounds crew but I can enjoy a meal for 1/10th the price. I can yell at the T.V. and not worried about being ejected by the super sensitive folks at Safeco Field. The Mariners need to build a winner then the fans will show up. As of right now I'm supportive of the fans who don't show up because the Mariners management has spit on us fans lately.

Later on today I'll be going to the Mariners game as I'll be forced to interact with the worst kinds of fans in the world.........the bobblehead fans. I'm going to the game with my sister, her boyfriend and my best friend and they are excited to get an Ichiro bobblehead. Which means I'll have to deal with several idiots who don't know the game and are there for the bobblehead. The same type of fans who like Olivo because Wedge says he is good so he must be good. One of these days I'm going to plan a brown papersack game and I hope I can get a huge following to join me on this. Sure we might get kicked out but it would make for a great story and a better time than watching the groundscrew dancing. Anyways since I'll literally be sitting behind our dugout if we are getting blown out I'll let Wedge know exactly how I feel about him as a manager in this town.

That was my weekly rant I hope you enjoyed it. For those who say I'm too negative on Seattle sports well what is there to be positive about? The fact the Mariners made the playoffs 11 years ago? Maybe our new slogan will be "at least we aren't the Pirates". There is plenty to be upset about in Seattle and since I don't have to worry about having credentials revoked I'll continue to speak my mind on the Mariners poor ownership. Hope you enjoyed my blog and for those tokers out there may this be a special 4-20 to you as well!

By Kshell

The Seattle Mariners entered week two of the season against the two-time defending AL champions Texas Rangers and then returned home to face the Oakland A's. The Mariners this week once again took care of the Oakland A's winning two out of their in their opening homestand that continues into this week. The Mariners like they did last year took a licking in Texas losing three out of four to the Texas Rangers despite some quality starting pitching that went to waste in that series. The Mariners for the week went 3-4 dropping their season record to 6-5 now. Since this was a losing week I'll be going over the good(starting pitching and key bullpen arms), the bad(most of the offense) and the ugly(Miguel Olivo and the domination the Rangers have had on the Mariners).

The Good:

The good this week was the Mariners taking it to a division rival the Oakland A's as they are now 5-2 on the season against the A's. The Mariners also saw their key trade piece Jesus Montero have a big week as he hit his first of many home runs for the Mariners and also had an eight game hitting streak. The Mariners bullpen duo of Brandon League and Tom Wilhelmsen continues to be lights out for the Mariners in late innings. The starting pitching this week was pretty good as well. The Mariners also had their home opening ceremonies which saw Mike Cameron throw out the first pitch. Cameron also signed a one day contract so he could retire a Seattle Mariner the team he made his lone all-star appearance with. It was a touching moment and the next games afterwards was nice to see. Blake Beavan pitched great this week who was acquired in the Cliff Lee trade. Also on Saturday in the Mariners 4-0 victory over the A's saw Montero drive in three runs as Hector Noesi threw eight shutout innings giving the Mariners early returns on the Michael Pineda trade. The Mariners still struggled against the Rangers but at least early on they are showing they aren't the worst team in the division. The Mariners have beat up on the A's to start this year which was the positive of the week.

Good Hitting:

Jesus Montero: 7-20(.350), HR, 2 runs, 4 RBI's
Alex Liddi: 2-8(.250), RBI
John Jaso: 2-4(.500), run, RBI, triple
Kyle Seager: 6-24(.250), HR, 3 runs, 4 RBI's
Ichiro: 7-28(.250), 2 runs, RBI

Good Pitching:

Blake Beavan: 1-1, 13.1 IP, 2.70 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, 7 K's
Kevin Millwood: 6 IP, 1.50 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 7 K's
Felix Hernandez: 0-1, 7 IP, 2.57 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, 6 K's
Luke Luetge: 1-0, 1.1 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 2 K's
Tom Wilhelmsen: 3.2 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.82 WHIP, 3 K's
Brandon League: 2 saves, 3 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 2 K's

The hitting as you can see struggled with only Montero hitting over .300 which was nice to see. Montero went from a top tier organization in sports and a hitting ballpark to let's face it a bottom tier organization in sports and a pitchers park. There will be some adjustment period for Montero who has displayed already great power as his home run was a line drive to deep centerfield at Safeco Field.

The Bad:

The Mariners once again this week proved they aren't ready to hang with the big boys quite yet. The Mariners lost three of four down in Texas where they have been dominated since 2008. The Mariners hitting reverted back to last season where most of their early season surprises went back to their usual ways of hitting bad. Felix  Hernandez although pitched well in his start his fastball still is topping out at 91 miles per hour which has to concern every Mariners fan whether they want to admit it or not. Another problem is the fact that manager Eric Wedge continues to put Miguel Olivo out there every game despite his terrible defense and offense. The Mariners simply can't afford to punt any spots in the lineup and yet they are with the catcher position plus many other guys who have slumped in the past slumped this past week as well.

Bad Hitting:

Chone Figgins: 4-27(.148), 3 runs, 7 K's
Dustin Ackley: 5-23(.217), 2 runs, RBI, 4 K's
Justin Smoak: 6-26(.231), HR, 3 runs, 3 RBI's, 8 K's
Brendan Ryan: 3-18(.167), HR, 3 runs, 2 RBI's, costly error, 5 K's
Munenori Kawasaki: 1-6(.167), run, RBI
Casper Wells: 1-7(.143), 3 K's
Michael Saunders: 2-17(.117), run, RBI, SB, 7 K's
Miguel Olivo: 2-20(.100), 2 RBI's, 6 K's

Bad Pitching:

Hector Noesi: 1-1, 11 IP, 5.73 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 9 K's
Jason Vargas: 0-1, 6.2 IP, 5.40 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 6 K's
George Sherrill: 1.1 IP, 20.30 ERA, 3.00 WHIP
Steve Delabar: 1.1 IP, 13.50 ERA, 2.25 WHIP, 2 K's

The hitting has been a problem for the last few years. After a nice little start by Saunders and Figgins they have gone back to their old form of sucking. While Olivo has just been awful since June of last year and yet Wedge continues to play him every day.

The Ugly:

The Mariners went 3-4 this week so this week wasn't a total disaster but there was some pause for concern. The Mariners were once again beaten up by the Texas Rangers down in Arlington. Last season the Mariners went 1-9 at Texas while this year they went 1-3. The Mariners also seen the return of George Sherrill to the team and he is looking washed up at this point. Sherrill has been lit up and is now on the 15 day DL. Feel good story Steve Delabar has also been getting lit up like a Christmas Tree as of late as well. Then you have Miguel Olivo who every start he makes seem to find one to two balls hitting the backstop since he can't catch despite his position being called catcher. That alone should have him benched then when you factor in that he can't hit either and Montero happens to play some catcher while left handed Jaso does as well makes no sense to keep playing him. Wedge even played Olivo Sunday afternoon after a Saturday night game. It's like Wedge is putting Olivo out there in spite of us fans much like McLaren did with Vidro in 2007 and 2008. The Olivo saga needs to be addressed as he is offering nothing to the team and hasn't for quite some time now.

Ugly Hitting:

Miguel Olivo: 4-36(.111), run, 3 RBI's, 8 K's. Hitting .111/.135/.139 . Since June 6th of last year heading into Sunday's start courtsey of Jeff Sullivan of lookout landing Olivo has an OBP of .212 and has 96 strikeouts to just five walks in that span. Yet Eric Wedge last year called him the most professional hitter on the team. Despite two better options on the team Wedge continues to go with Olivo despite facing a right handed pitcher in 9 of the 11 games so far this season.

Justin Smoak: 8-43(.186), 2 HR's, 5 runs, 5 RBI's, 12 K's. Hitting .186/.239/.349 dating back to last years struggles most were hoping Smoak would get off to a good start. Smoak entering his third season as a Mariner now is no longer this up and coming prospect it's definately now time for Smoak to start producing or else that trade looks worse and worse every day.

AL West domination:

The Mariners have been dominated by the Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim since 2008. Below I'll post the raw numbers which aren't pretty.

Vs Texas:

2008: 8-11, outscored 101-94
2009: 8-11, outscored 79-70
2010: 7-12, outscored 101-51
2011: 4-15, outscored 95-53
2012: 1-3, outscored 20-12

Totals: 28-52(.350) outscored 396-280 during that span.

Vs LAA

2008: 5-14, outscored 98-84
2009: 9-10, outscored 85-71
2010: 4-15, outscored 100-62
2011: 7-12, outscored 70-48

Totals: 25-51(.328), outscored 353-265.

Hard to win when two teams in your division have kicked your ass the last four seasons as the Mariners have yet to beat them in a season series or even outscore them which is pathetic.

Al West Standings:

Texas Rangers: 8-2, first place
Seattle Mariners: 6-5, 2.5 GB
Oakland A's: 4-6, 4.0 GB
LAA Angels: 3-6, 4.5 GB

The Mariners still have a winning record which is good. The bad news is they can't play the Oakland A's every game and this week will take on the Cleveland Indians and Chicago Whitesox at home in what should be a nice test for the Mariners. Unlike the A's neither team will be a pushover while unlike the Rangers neither team is a bad matchup for the Mariners like the Rangers were. Wedge needs to pull the Olivo experiment quickly if the Mariners wish to progress at all this year. While the return of Figgins and Saunders appears to have been short lived as both returned back to their normal crappy ways. Hopefully King Felix can get his fastball back before it's too late for him this year. The Mariners have a winning record though so there are still some positives on this extremely young season.

By Kshell

The Seattle Mariners season has finally begun and the Mariners came out of the gate strong defeated the Oakland A's three out of  four games. In the longest series in franchise history which started in Japan then took a week off to do spring training then resumed in Oakland the Mariners found themselves 3-1 for the first time since 2006. In the two games in Japan both teams had strong pitching performances while over here in the states the Mariners hitting finally woke up. The Mariners also saw two guys who have struggled mightly in the past have a big two game set in Oakland in Chone Figgins and Michael Saunders. The atmosphere in Japan was incredible way to start the season while in Oakland it was business as usual. Like I did last year when the Mariners have a winning week I'll go over the good(the hitting), the bad(there was some hitters who slumped), and the awesome(the great week by Chone Figgins). The Mariners who are now in year two of Eric Wedge as manager are hoping the hitting has improved from last season which ranked last in almost every hitting category. The Mariners are hoping these four games weren't a fluke but just a sign of things to come in the near future for this young ball club.

The Good:

The Mariners went 3-1 against the A's so there was plenty of good. For starters the hitting especially when the series shifted back to Oakland started to pick up. In the first game of the season over in Japan Ichiro playing back in his homeland went 4-5 with an RBI which was a thrill for the future hall of famer. Jason Vargas began the season with two quality starts while Brandon League already has two saves. Felix Hernandez on opening night went 8 innings allowing just one run. The Mariners offense came out of the gate which was nice to see. The Japan series was especially good for Ichiro like I stated he was playing in front of his home fans and responded that series by going 4-9. Dustin Ackley won the game MVP in the first game as over in Japan they reward an MVP each game. In that game Ackley went 2-5 with a home run and also the game winning RBI to earn the game MVP.

Good Hitting:

Chone Figgins: 7-17(.412), 2 runs, 4 RBI's, SB. Hitting .412/.412/.588
Kyle Seager: 4-11(.364), run, 2 RBI's, SB. Hitting .364/.417/.364
Ichiro: 6-17(.353), 2 runs, 3 RBI's, SB. Hitting .353/.368/.471
Dustin Ackley: 6-19(.316), HR, 4 runs, 3 RBI's, SB. Hitting .316/.316/.474
Michael Saunders: 4-13(.308), HR, 3 runs, RBI, SB. Hitting .308/.400/.615
Brendan Ryan: 3-10(.300), 3 runs. Hitting .300/.364/.500

Good Pitching:

Jason Vargas: 1-0, 11.2 IP, 2.31 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, 6 K's
Felix Hernandez: 1-0, 14.1 IP, 4.40 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, 13 K's
Tom Whilhelmsen: 1-0, 4 IP, 2.25 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, 5 K's
Brandon League: 2 saves, 3 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.67 WHIP, 2 K's

The hitting has been great as you can see the Mariners have six regulars right now who are hitting above .300 which may be due to a short sample size. After last seasons failures in hitting this is still a pleasant surprise to see.

The Bad:

Not all was good for the Mariners in their 3-1 start. The Mariners have three regulars including two guys who the organization is hoping to be a cornerstone of the franchise get off to a slow start. Add in the blown save in the second game of the year you'll see a couple of bullpen arms make the list as well. As for the hitting Miguel Olivo isn't hitting at all or is he catching well with already two pass balls. With the trade of left handed John Jaso and facing nothing but righties it was puzzling to see Olivo start all four games this year so far. With the team going 3-1 though it is hard to complain too much. The team played well and players will always be slumping but it was frustrating to see Justin Smoak and Jesus Montero come out of the gate struggling. Both guys are prized prospects who the Mariners gave up some pitching to acquire both. This is Smoak's third year in the major leagues as this appears to be a make or break year for him. So far he has gotten off to a slow start despite the home run over in Japan. For the players hitting well and same with the players doing poorly at first this is just four games into a long 162 game schedule.

Bad Hitting:

Jesus Montero: 3-15(.200), RBI, 2 K's, Caught Stealing. Hitting .200/.188/.200
Miguel Olivo: 2-16(.125), run, RBI, 2 K's. Hitting .125/.125/.125
Justin Smoak: 2-17(.118), HR, 2 runs, 2 RBI's, 4 K's. Hitting . 118/.167/.294
Mike Carp: 0-4(.000)

Bad Pitching:

Shawn Kelly: 0-1, blown save,  0.1 IP, 27.00 ERA, 3.00 WHIP
George Sherrill: 0 IP, 3 hits, 1 run, 1 homerun

Hopefully this week in Texas will awake the bats of Smoak and Montero. Jack Zduriencik's tenure as Mariners GM will be measured up to how those two perform since he traded all-star pitchers Cliff Lee and Michael Pineda for them.

The Awesome:

Chone Figgins in the past has been a pain in the ass for the Mariners. He was a pain in the ass to the Mariners when he played for the Angels too as he was their leadoff hitter constantly getting on base and causing havoc on the Mariners. Then the Mariners signed him moved him to the #2 spot in the order and he was again a pain in the Mariners ass as he never got on base. Last year he hit below .200 as they were having drink specials based on his batting average. Well this year Figgins is hitting leadoff and in exchange for that he is playing everywhere on the field. He was the opening day third baseman and due to Mike Carp getting hurt in left field Figgins is now playing left field which is allowing Kyle Seager's red hot bat to play third base. The Mariners are hoping this isn't just some small sample size instead the return of Figgins. They also saw Michael Saunders who was once a top 100 prospect according to baseball america continue his hot spring training hitting into the major league season.

Awesome Hitting:

Mariners team: Hitting .266/.291/.385 with 3 HR's averaging 4.8 runs per game

Chone Figgins: Figgins has had back to back three hit games for the Mariners something he has only done twice now in his career. Last year in 81 games Figgins had only one three hit performance. He is playing the outfield now and leading off. Figgins is finally starting to hit and hopefully he is due for a big year.

Michael Saunders: Saunders is getting what feels like his last chance in Seattle. With Franklin Gutierrez out due to injury Saunders is starting in his place. Saunders so far has had a terrific spring training and has started off well this year. His home run came off of a lefty where he has struggled in the past.

The Mariners hitting numbers aren't great but they are day and night better than last season. The Mariners have beaten up on the Oakland A's the one AL West team they seem to do well against the last few years. Now comes the real test as they take on the Texas Rangers down in Arlington in a nice four game set.

AL West Standings:

Seattle Mariners: 3-1, First Place
Texas Rangers: 2-1, 0.5 GB
L.A.Angels: 1-2, 1.5 GB
Oakland A's: 1-3, 2.0 GB

The Seattle Mariners are looking to go 4-1 for the first time since 2001. If the Mariners go 4-1 it will be how that 2001 team did as well winning the opener, dropping the second game then winning three in a row. As we all know that 2001 team won 116 games and is the last Mariners team to play in the postseason. Before we get ahead of ourselves it was nice to see the Mariners playing well coming out of the gate especially hitting. This is a big week as the Mariners take on the two-time defending AL champions Texas Rangers a team who has owned them the last four years and then return home for the home opener which should be pretty special. If the Mariners can keep up their hitting they could possibly surprise some people as they hope to compete for a winning season which they have only had two since 2004.

By Kshell

This past week in Seattle sports a ton of stuff has gone down. Due to work and other obligations I haven't had the time to sit down and discuss each item. As you guys know by now I have strong opinions on various topics. In this post this is more or less going to be a rant about various topics. I'm not going to pretend I'm reporting anything just rant how I feel about various subjects. I must admit with opening day happening this week due to the Mariners playing in Japan, sucking for a decade straight and trying to prevent the NBA/NHL to return to Seattle it has been pretty hard to get up for this baseball season.  Throw in the fact that the Washington Huskies basketball team has lost two underclassmen who happen to be the two best players and this week has been tough. The Seahawks debut their new uniforms which most of the fan base simply didn't like. Then you have news from the Washington Huskies football that they don't even have enough lineman to possibly run a spring game. Throw in another five star recruit leaving this state to play in conference and Seattle sports in general just seems pretty bad right now. I'm going to rant on each topic and I'm sure not everyone will agree with my rants. Then again I don't really care if anyone cares for my rants as long as they are heard that is all I truly care about.

Okay first rant which I'm already getting annoyed of. Can we stop with this ridiculous lazy ass analysis that the Huskies will be better off without Terrence Ross and Tony Wroten? I mean come on people! They were our two best players both were named first team all pac-12 and both were up for player of the year. You don't get better losing two NBA players especially when you are an NIT. The Huskies missed the tournament because they still have no low post scoring options which they won't have next year. The Huskies had no leadership which they won't have next year either as Abdul Gaddy and Scott Suggs aren't vocal in your face leaders like Isaiah Thomas, Nate Robinson, Jon Brockman and Brandon Roy were. The Huskies free throw shooting cost them as well which has been a problem for Lorenzo Romar teams the past five seasons now. Next year the Huskies will have streaky shooters in C.J. Wilcox and hopefully Scott Suggs can emerge as well as Abdul Gaddy. The thing is everything has to fall into place just right for the Huskies to make the big dance and I mean get hot in the only games that count apparently(since the regular season means dick). Will fans stop bashing Wroten already unless they like playing in the CBI then go ahead and bash away please.

You see that guys? That is me standing next to a Washington Huskies national championship trophy. You wouldn't know that the Huskies once won a national title 20 years ago according to the Dawgman, Seattle Times and Softy's page crowd. Expectations are such an all-time low right now for Husky football it's embarassing. Steve Sarkisian is heading into year four and yet I'm still hearing about freaking 0-12!! Shoot guys 0-12 is about as relevant as 12-0 back in 1991.  Facts are Sarkisian is entering year four as is 19-19 as a head coach and more importantly he's 4-12 on the road. Last years collapse shouldn't just be on Nick Holt's shoulders when Sarkisian begged Holt to come to UW and bosted how he hired the top defensive coordinator in the nation. Now with Chris Polk leaving to the NFL you see Scott Eklund posting how you make an excuse for a losing season in 2012. I find that talk to be insulting considering most teams would kill to have  junior quarterback as good as Keith Price. Besides I was told the last three years how Sarkisian is this great recruiter so although the seniors might not be good there should be more than enough talent to produce a winning season. This culture of low expectations around Montlake has really worried me. You add in the fact they created the zone and going to Husky games is turning more and more into that crap feeling I get when I go to Mariners games.

Speaking of the Mariners what is this bullshit about the biggest complaint fans give to Chuck Armstrong is the traffic?!!! Are you kidding me Chuck?!! You don't think fans are more upset with you putting a constant loser out there that has finished last place six of the last eight seasons?!! How some are defending Chuck Armstrong and Howard Lincoln trying to sabotage the potential return of the Sonics and NHL to Seattle is beyond me. First of all this gameday traffic myth is just that. From 2000-2003 the Mariners averaged nearly 40,000 fans a game. Now that number is around 23,000 so adding the NBA/NHL's 17,000 that is the same number as back then. When the Sonics were in town back in 2008 they shared just TWO home dates that was it. If the Mariners had a winning product people would go to their games the fact they expect me to pay to see them lose constantly is a joke. A ticket at a baseball game may be cheap but the concession stands alone will cost you over $50. That money is going towards what again?!! Payroll keeps trimming down, they claim they are doing a youth movement yet I see Ichiro, Chone Figgins, Kevin Millwood, George Sherrill and Miguel Olivo out there. Last I saw those guys aren't young. I wish Clay Bennett had been a baseball fan and not an NBA fan. I'd glady sell the Mariners and let them keep mayor Greg Nickels plus they can have Starbucks for the Sonics. We get Kevin Durant you can keep those other morons.

I understand why baseball has the opening series in Japan. I also thought it was very cool for Ichiro to play in Japan in a Mariners uniform. Having said that I think opening the season in Japan is the dumbest thing baseball can do. Due to the season opening in Japan I along with many other fans were robbed of an opening day experience. Due to living a normal life back then meaning I had to get up in the morning I was unable to watch the games so I missed out. So when the Mariners play the Oakland A's this weekend it won't be the same as they have already played. The whole series was ticky tack anyways with Root sports having Dave Sims and Mike Blowers announce the game from Bellevue instead of actually in Japan was dumb as well. Plus the Mariners played two real games then came back for spring training breaking up the season. The Mariners already travel more than any other team by a large margain and Bud Selig asked them to travel some more. I understand why they did the trip but in the future if the Mariners actually cared about winning which they obviously don't they'll say no to this.

The NFL debut the new Nike uniforms this week with the Seahawks being the only team to truly change their uniforms. Now most fans are already bitching about the uniforms and how ugly they are blah blah blah. The important thing is the uniforms were a smash hit as most current NFL players raved about them on twitter. The Seahawks stole the headlines on the new uniforms as they were the talk of the NFL. Now as you guys know I hate the Oregon Ducks but all those wacky uniform combo's makes them the "it" team of college football and definately of the west coast. Notice even our very own Washington Huskies have different uniform combo's now? There is a reason you don't want to be left behind on the times. Recruits also noticed Oregon's uniforms and with the Seahawks having nine different uniform combinations they'll be luring key free agents. So yes these uniforms may ruffle the feathers of some fans but in reality I'd rather they do that than piss off the players. If the Seahawks land good players then the fans will come. Fans don't go to games to see the uniforms they go to see good play a concept the Mariners still haven't figured out yet.

Well I hoped you guys liked my rant. From here on out I'm going to do a weekly rant every Friday morning to catch you up on what is bugging me concerning Seattle sports. A lot of stuff went down this week for our teams and I'll be there to give my two cents on the situation. I like what the Seahawks are doing in general while I continue to hate what the Mariners are doing. I'm just puzzled with UW sports in a nutshell as they have good teams but accept being average so damn much it pisses me off. If the NBA/NHL doesn't come to Seattle look for a lot of fans including myself to never step foot at Safeco Field again. The Mariners ownership continues to alienate their fan base with crappy play and now this nonsense. Well guys I'm out until next week hope you enjoyed the SSB weekly rants!