SECTION 331

I was out celebrating being done with school Wednesday, and we had friends over last night. I did wind up watching the game Wednesday, but again, what was there to say? Another loss on Jason Vargas’ dime. Last night, I did watch some of it, but we turned it off in deference to our company, and watching some awful movie called Galaxy of Terror (yes, we were expecting it to be terrible, and it met our expectations). I wish that Doug Fister could have gotten a win, and it looked like there was a chance he could have, but after Russell Branyan’s 2-run blast that boosted the score to 3-0 (which was absolutely gorgeous, incidentally), I guess we just didn’t feel like giving the Indians any more hassle, and, surprising precisely nobody, lost 6-3.

At this point, a lot of people might ask why we’re all Mariners fans. We all have our own reasons. Personally, I wanted to root for a team that I could actually go watch play. I feel sort of sorry for my friends who are Red Sox and Yankees fans, because they can only see their teams a few times every season – I can go whenever I like. The losses are a lot to take, and the more they pile up, the more I question myself. But the fact is, (and I know I’ve said this before) I like being on the underdog’s side, even when there is so much trouble and drama and just flat-out failure. I would like to submit to whomever is reading this that Yankees fans wouldn’t last two seconds being Mariners fans these days. It’s easy to back a winner; not so much to keep on loving a team that just doesn’t seem to be able to do anything right. Yankees fans may take a lot of flack for being Yankees fans, but they can rest in the knowledge that their team has won the World Series several times, has a long and glorious history, and has been run well for several years  now. A lot of us can’t say that – but we still fly our blue and teal proudly. It’s not easy, but someone has to do it.

I’ll be at tonight’s game with Conor and my Yankees buddy Craig. I’m not expecting anything, at this point, other than to be in attendance at a baseball game, and to be able to try and hone my photography skills further. Am also looking forward to tomorrow’s blogger event, and all the prizes it apparently comes with (fleece blanket, t-shirt, and of course talk with the front office). That said, here are some terrible pictures for this terrible season…

This is what I mean by honing – I have no idea what caused the fading at the left lower corner of this photo, but I think it made an interesting picture, nonetheless. I’m not much of a Photoshop person (read; not at all), so touching things up isn’t much of an option for me. Sure, it’d make for a nicer photo, but I prefer to think of myself as inexperienced, raw, and not well-versed in the art of photography. So here, I win.

Here is an example of something that occurs more frequently than I’d like;  when I suddenly realize that a player is close enough to get a good shot of, but my camera isn’t actually on. Panic. No focus. Jose Lopez being menaced by a giant finger. I wish baseball was played year-round. Sure, we’d all freeze to death during night games, but at least I’d get more practice with the camera…

I try and observe and report. I’m not really interested in interacting with the game or the players because despite evidence to the contrary, I’m actually fairly shy when it comes to meeting new people, and I think that I’d just be too star-struck to not make a fool of myself. So I try and treat the team as if they were animals in a zoo – don’t make eye contact, get a decent picture, try not to be noticed too much, if at all. I botched that last bit this time. I wanted a candid photo of David Aardsma during the National Anthem. I was trying to focus on his face, but ran into a major roadblock when he decided to look at me. Rather than not taking this picture at all, my finger snapped on the shutter, and this was the end result. Oops. Truly, this was completely unintentional. So was this:

I think one of the things that is the most sad to me about the 2010 Mariners is that we got rid of these two, and we’re still a terrible team. We were a better team with Miguel Batista and Carlos Silva on the roster. Let that one sink in for a little while. I don’t know that I’ve ever managed to capture anything more terrifying in all its digital glory. Go, me.

There are a lot of other terrible pictures on my laptop, but I will spare you, because it’s Friday. Four are sufficient. Enjoy your weekend, and see you at the Safe!

Not much clipping, but a win is a win and I’ll gladly take it.

I’ll be honest, I was expecting the Ms to get swept by the Angels. Felix Hernandez is one thing, but Dan Haren against our hibernating offense is quite another. I had no doubts about Felix, Felix is solid; and he was solid through 7 innings tonight, including catching a line drive off the bat of Alberto Callaspo that could have hurt him pretty badly, and actually did knock him down. I don’t think I would have liked to be Daren Brown telling him he wasn’t going out for the 8th, and I’m willing to bet that Felix didn’t take it well. Brandon League was called in, and but for the grace of Jose Lopez and Casey Kotchman taking care of a double play on a Torii Hunter groundout, League could easily have obtained the loss tonight. Had Haren also been able to stay in the 8th, things might not have gone so well for us – but Kevin Jepsen was napping on the mound to the tune of 3 Mariners runs. Three Mariners runs that were scored by the running likes of Matt Tuiasosopo, Lopez, and Kotchman. David Aardsma spent most of the 9th making people wonder if a 2-run lead was enough; I’m starting to think maybe he does it on purpose.

Baseball is certainly a strange game sometimes.

The Mariners were again denied safety at a base because of Jerry Meals. I have never heard of Jerry Meals until this series, but I don’t care for him much. Meals is the kind of umpire that makes fans want replay. He’s the kind of umpire that makes the whole “umpires are blind” concept not so funny. You would think that a man of his stature (he’s a full head shorter than the 6’4″ Daren Brown) would be closer to plays and therefore more able to see them (yes, I just made a short joke), but so far Meals has done little to impress. Last night it was Franklin Gutierrez at second, tonight it was Ichiro at first. Both players were on the bag before the tag or throw even to the naked eye, and both were called out. The idea that we may have to deal with this man behind the plate some day gives me a mean case of the terrors.

So against some fairly hefty odds, we won a game against the Los Angeles Angels, pulling the Angels further back into third place. I can live with this. Unless some ridiculous calamity occurs, it does appear that the Texas Rangers will take the AL West. Had you asked me several months ago if I’d be OK with this in the future, my answer would have been a resounding “No”. But I find myself eerily calm with it, and I’m guessing the reason for that is the presence of Cliff Lee and Mark Lowe on the Rangers’ roster. As things stand right now, I’d like to see the White Sox, Tampa, or the Rangers fight the Yankees for World Series dibs. On the NL side, being as realistic as possible, I am fine with the Phillies or the Padres. I harbor no ill will against the NL Central, there just aren’t any teams there that I really care much about. I know I may lose some folks by saying that I’d actually kind of like to see the Cubs make it sometime soon, but that’s mainly out of genuine solidarity with people that I know who like the team. I honestly don’t know any fans of any of the other teams, and not being a fan myself, my bandwagon ride is short. Of course, I’ll go with any NL team over the Yankees, because frankly, the Yankees have too many rings, and I enjoy watching David beat Goliath – it’s one of the reasons I chose the Mariners, after all.

Tomorrow is a Jason Vargas start that I will likely end up missing. After spending 4 hours at the pharmacy tomorrow, I will have finished up all my externship hours, and I plan to have a bit of a small celebration with Tom around dinner time. I’ve seen more Vargas starts in person than any one person should legally be allowed to, so I wish him a lot of luck, and I’m OK with missing this one. That probably makes me a “bad” fan, as at this point in the season I guess I should be hoping for a loss to push us further down to the first draft pick; but I can’t bring myself to want a loss, I just can’t. Even now, even when I expect to lose, I still hope for a win. Even against the Yankees, or the Twins…or Texas. It’s pathetic, I know. Even with all the baserunning stupidity tonight, the late offensive surge, and Dan Haren just owning us, I still want the guys to win. It doesn’t allow me to make as many jokes on Twitter, but it does make me happy. I guess I just have to buck up and deal.

You know what’s more difficult than finding something to say on the internet about a game loss? Finding that thing to say when you’re running on less than 5 hours of sleep. Sure, people do it all the time, but they get paid; I’m running this mess for nothing, and actually pay to keep it up. That seems pretty masochistic of me this year, doesn’t it? It’s also difficult to say anything that thousands of others aren’t already thinking, it’s difficult to remain optimistic about your team (I’m actually really looking forward to the bandwagoning portion of the 2010 baseball season this year), and it’s difficult to make a game post that isn’t simply a recap of something you already knew was going to happen.

For what it’s worth, I thought that David Pauley did an OK job through his scoreless five innings. But collapse was inevitable, and Pauley did exactly that, giving up the first run to the Angels on a Peter Bourjos solo home run over center field. That would have been fine, but Pauley continued throwing over the plate, which resulted in two more home runs, a single from Bobby Abreu to center, and a two-runner from Hideki Matsui over right field, after a Torii Hunter single.  We managed to grab two runs in the bottom of the 7th, but it wasn’t going to do us any good. Our version of bringing it tonight was somewhat akin to the fat kid who gets beat up every day, and decides one day to retaliate by saying “you suck” to the bully under his breath. I hate to tell you this, Mariners, but whispering falls way out of a bully’s hearing range. Speak loudly and swing a big stick. Maybe next year?

I can’t totally blame Pauley – using Jamey Wright and Sean White in relief isn’t the best idea, and if our offense (outside of Ichiro, Russell Branyan, and Franklin Gutierrez) had the slightest idea how to hit a ball, maybe none of this would have ever been an issue. Is it foolish of me to think that even though our bullpen is not as great this year as it was last year (despite having mostly the same guys in it), our problem is not necessarily pitching? Am I simplifying things too much that way? I feel like I am, but I find myself far more annoyed with the offensive branch of this team than any of the hurlers. Maybe it’s just that mentally I still live in a world where .500 is possible, and I remember what it felt like. I really do think this season has been far more painful than 2008 for me. It’s far more difficult to watch a team made up of players you like lose their shirts and dignity (sometimes in the same night) than it is to see that same thing happen with a team that employs Jose Vidro, Richie Sexson, Brad Wilkerson and Jeff Clement. I’m sure I’ve probably said that before, but for me it bears repeating. This year has been downright ugly.

A questionable call in the 9th did cost us…something – mainly Franklin Gutierrez’s safety at second base. Had the call by umpire Jerry Meals been a little more thorough (Gutz’s foot was on the bag before he was ever tagged), we might have been able to turn things around. Might have. But it took the wind out of whatever sails we might have been hoisting this evening. Even a run on a wild pitch with two outs did not light a fire under us, and the final score of this one was 5-3.

I just found out that Dan Haren will be pitching tomorrow night’s game against Felix Hernandez. I haven’t had enough time to keep up on everything, so it’s been a nice surprise delivered by FSN in the past 5 minutes since the game ended.  I am incredibly excited about this, because Haren did not pitch during last year’s home series against the Diamondbacks, and I was incredibly bummed about it. Haren is a favorite. Seeing him go up against another favorite just about makes my week.

Also coming up in the near future, Friday game against the Cleveland Indians, the annual USS Mariner event, Conor and I go back up to Everett on the 7th to see some sweet AquaSox playoff action, and at least one playoff game from the Tacoma Rainiers, who will be taking care of their playoffs in SafeCo while the Ms are on another road trip. Trying to get the baseball buffet in before winter brings me Thunderbirds hockey and Green Bay football. It’s not easy for someone on my (lack of)  pay scale and time, but someone’s gotta do it.

It’s been just about forever since I’ve been to SafeCo – at least, with the last game I was at being way back at the beginning of the month, it sure feels like forever – and now I have three in less than a week (this upcoming Friday and then the Saturday afternoon USSM annual visit to the park and if you don’t have tickets for this already, why the heck not?) so the last week of school will also be a super busy baseball week, and I could not be happier about that.

Today my game partners were Conor and my friend Cynthia, who is normally a Sounders fan, but she does enjoy a little day at the Safe every so often. We were the first and pretty much only people in the Pyramid beer garden for about a half hour around 11am, and when the wind got to be too annoying for us, we took off for the more protected grounds of the stadium.

When we got to the bullpen area to grab another beer, Jason Vargas was warming up in the bullpen. He was followed by Garrett Olson and Sean White, and then David Aardsma, who threw for a little while, then did dry runs with his back to everyone, air-throwing. There is a name for this practice which I cannot immediately recall – if you know, please refresh my memory.

After the pitchers took their shots, they all disappeared back across the field. Luke French and Carl Pavano took a few on-field warmup tosses before getting into their respective bullpens for the real deal.

Everyone took the last of their stretches, lined up for the National Anthem, and proceeded pretty much as normal…

Brandon League has magnificent teeth:

He was also rocking the crazy hair today:

Then there was some hugging, and it was hamburger and bleacher time for us. I know the pen has done this since John Wetteland came here, but it always makes me think that perhaps the spirit of Mike Sweeney rubbed off a little on these guys:

The game was not much to write home about. It was won by the Ms 2-1 with a pretty decent save by David Aardsma, and an actual pitcher’s duel between French and Pavano. In fact, French lasted 7 full innings, and only gave up 3 hits, including a home run to Michael Cuddyer, which was caught by a guy wearing a Joe Mauer t-shirt the next section over from us. Brandon League had a relatively solid (and somewhat lucky) 8th inning, and Aardsma got out of the 9th with a swift double play from second to first to seal the win on a Michael Cuddyer grounder.

Chone Figgins pulled that one thing he does where he goes for a hit between first and second, then drops it – something he’s done far too much this year, seriously – but then redeemed himself by doing this. I try really hard to not hate on Figgy, but he makes it difficult. There are a lot of people who want him traded as soon as possible. I’d like him here at least one more year, to see if it makes a difference. I’d really love to see Angel Figgins, rather than 2010 Mariners Figgins. The glimpses of that we’ve seen this year have simply not been enough; I want him to stick around and prove us all wrong.

Today was also my first game seeing Matt Tuiasosopo in left field. There was nothing impressive for him to do this afternoon, but it was at least a different view than the normality of Michael Saunders or Ryan Langerhans. I found myself wishing that we could see him make a good play or have a great at-bat, but no hits came his way, and he went 0 for 3 today, so my hopes were dashed. It looks like he’ll see more playing time in that part of the field this year, however, so maybe eventually we’ll get to see something great from him. Langerhans replaced him in the top of the 9th.

David Pauley dukes it out with Ervin Santana and the Angels tomorrow, and the game is at 7pm, so I will be able to watch it. Finally. Twenty more hours of school, then I am free to take it easy, spend the month of September looking for work and taking in as much baseball as possible, and trying to salvage a little bit of my summer.

Just a  quick post from me tonight while I watch the game.  This is something I’ve been wanting to write about for awhile, and with Minnesota in town, now seems like a good time to do it.

Joe Mauer is the best pure hitter in all of baseball.

Yes, even over venerable hitters like Ichiro and Albert Pujols.  From a pure, unadulterated hitting perspective, Joe Mauer with his amazing swing is the best hitter in the game right now.  His swing is so simple, so clean, so effective, that it’s just amazing to watch.  That swing combined with one of the best eyes for the strike zone have made Mauer into one of the hardest batters in the league for a pitcher to work against, and his presence in Minnesota’s lineup is a major part of why the Twins have been successful in recent years.

The smooth, compact stride, the quick wrists, the bat speed… there is nothing not to like in that swing that Mauer brings every day.  On any given pitch, he can drop the barrel of the bat and poke a single the other way, or square up and swing through a pitch to send a ball twenty rows back.

Mauer is also one of the most amazingly consistent hitters in the game.  His .270 batting average in June of this year was by far his lowest batting average in a month since his injury-plagued 2007 campaign.  In fact, that was the first time he had hit below .300 in a month in that time.  Even hitters like Ichiro and Pujols can’t say that.

Oh, and of course Mauer has tortured the M’s over his career, to the tune of a .380 batting average and a 1.085 OPS in 45 games against us.  Yowch.

I know Mauer is generally considered the best hitting catcher in the game and one of the better hitters overall, but what he does at the plate is truly remarkable.  In fifteen or twenty years, I hope people can look back and appreciate just how incredible a hitter Mauer was.

Today it’s just going to be Friday. Apologies for not being around much – east coast games are a killer when you don’t get home until after 6pm, and this has been the last week of school for me. Things should return to “normal” this Sunday, when I go to the Safe to take in a game against the Twins, with what is projected to be Luke French on the hill for the Mariners. After that, I get to spend the rest of the baseball season, well, watching baseball. That’s going to be nice.

I may see if I can talk Conor into writing something here so that there will be something to read with tonight’s game, but since he just went to a Rainiers game last night to scout out Michael Pineda, I’m guessing he’ll be posting something over at ProBallNW. For now, enjoy your weekend, I hear it’s going to be a nice one. Off to my final exam!

Apparently, I am the king of corny post titles. Go me?

Sorry for the silence around here the last few days.  Megan’s in her finals week (her last one, I do believe), and I’ve been rather busy myself.  In fact, I’m not even making this post from home, so there’s that.

The Mariners played a double-header in Boston today thanks to a rainout yesterday.  Frankly, there were times that I was wondering if they’d even get today’s games in as there was a constant drizzle of showers throughout the day.

The first game was pretty forgettable, as four runs were charged to David Pauley’s Foot after Pauley literally booted a grounder back at him with two outs, then couldn’t get anyone out after that.  The M’s would bring it back to 4-3 courtesy of a solo shot by Russell Branyan followed by a two run homer by Casey Kotchman, but they could not score any more than that.

The second game was a much better one for the M’s, because Felix Hernandez was on the mound.  He entered the game just seven strikeouts away from 1,000 in his career, which would make him the fourth youngest pitcher of all time to reach that mark.  Felix was in dominant form today, and he reached that goal easily, whiffing David Ortiz in the sixth inning, and then striking out two more Red Sox on the night for good measure.  Felix would give up just two runs in 7 1/3 innings, but only one was earned thanks to a pair of bad, bad errors committed by shortstop Josh Wilson.  The other run came on a solo bomb by J.D. Drew.

The M’s would go on to win the game 4-2 after Brandon League came in to relieve Felix and shut the Red Sox down for 1 2/3 innings to earn his fourth save of the year.  The M’s managed to manufacture four runs over the course of the game, and with Felix spinning yet another gem, that would prove more than enough to earn a split in the double header.  The M’s also improved their record on this road trip (that is now over, thankfully) to 6-6, which is frankly a better record than I had expected them to earn.

I know I said this after Felix’s start against the Yankees last week, but I really, truly hope that Mariners fans everywhere appreciate Felix and everything he has done.  He is a fantastic and amazing pitcher who hasn’t even reached the top of his game yet.  When Felix becomes all that he possibly can be, I will weep for the fortunes of opposing batters, and weep more for joy that such an incredible pitcher is a Seattle Mariner and will continue to be for at least four more years past this one.

In other news, after the outing that Megan and I took to Everett on Saturday to watch the Everett AquaSox, I was invited back out on Monday to take in a double header after Sunday’s rainout.  Anthony Fernandez was starting one of the games for the AquaSox, so I was more than eager to accept the offer.  I wrote up all three games worth of scouting notes in one big post (including lots of video), so go check it out!

I’ll be heading over to Cheney Stadium Thursday night to see M’s top pitching prospect Michael Pineda, so expect copious notes (and more video!) on him some time Friday.  And while we’re on the topic of Michael Pineda, he’s been nominated for the USA Today Minor League Player of the Year award.  Being as it’s a fan-voted award, I’m personally dubious as to how meaningful the award is on a whole, but trust me when I say that it means a lot to the players.  As of this writing, he’s tied for first, so go vote for him and tell your friends to vote for him as well!

…as they say in the professional journalist world…

Julie at A League of Her Own has posted video of Piniella’s farewell press conference after the Cubs fell to the Atlanta Braves yesterday afternoon. It and a picture of Lou tipping his hat to the Chicago fans can be found here.

Not having been a longtime baseball fan, I (obviously) wasn’t around to witness the Piniella years. Out of total coincidence right after I watched this video, however, someone posted a little fun fact on Twitter: The Mariners went to the post season 4 times during Piniella’s 10-year career here in Seattle, and never before or never since. This is likely old news to most any Mariners fan, but it helped put things into some degree of perspective for me. Outside of understanding the impact Piniella made on the game of baseball (or at the very least being able to appreciate it), I now understand why so many Mariners fans view Piniella as the end-all be-all of baseball management. Not that I didn’t before, but sometimes it takes just a smidge more information before something like that makes an impact. Piniella will easily go to the Hall of Fame, and hopefully he’ll get to Cooperstown before I do.

The Mariners go up against the BoSox today at 4pm PST. Doug Fister against Joooohn Laaaackey, a team that can’t hit in a hitter’s park. I’ll be in school for the bulk of it, but the good news is that I have only a week and three-ish days left of this nonsense and then I’m free…to find a temp job that has nothing to do with the year of school I’ve just taken. Thumbs up.

Looks like I’ve gotten a few hits from people looking for the length of the Russell Branyan home run into the upper deck of Yankee Stadium during yesterday’s early game. The answer is 512 feet. Russell Branyan is a monster.

Word on the street this morning is that Lou Piniella is having to retire even earlier than he initially planned. His mother’s health has been declining, so today is the last game for Lou as a manager in major league baseball. It’s always sad to see the last of anything in this great game, and I hope that Chicago gives him the sendoff he deserves today. If nothing else, it means that his last game gets to be at Wrigley Field, rather than wherever it is that the Houston Astros play (I’m not being glib, I really don’t know, and am too lazy to go look it up). For some reason, I’ve developed this thing where any “lasts” in the game should occur on home grass rather than away. Sometimes it’s unavoidable, but in a perfect world, that’s the way it’d be. Best wishes to Piniella and his family. I didn’t get to spend much baseball time with Lou, but I can fully appreciate his impact on the game.

Luke French had to go up against CC Sabathia today, fighting not only the superior Yankee pitcher, but the wind and weather in the Bronx (the tarp was on the field prior to game time, and Sabathia’s normally-baggy pants spent the game billowing in the elements). French held his own against Sabathia and the Bronx, giving up a home run in the bottom of the 4th to Austin Kearns. The Ms had an opportunity to score with Franklin Gutierrez, but Nick Swisher managed to get the ball to Jorge Posada who tagged Gutz out at the plate…except he didn’t. Replay showed that the ball wasn’t even in Posada’s glove for the tag, but in his right hand. His body was blocking the play to the point where the umpire couldn’t see it. Gutz was safe, but the Mariners were denied tying the game. We don’t need replay in baseball though – that’s just crazytalk.

And things did not get better. French loaded the bases by walking Mark Teixeira in the bottom of the 5th, and Robinson Cano took French over the right center wall on a 76MPH slider over the plate, grand slamming the Yankees into a 5-0 score. When the broadcast came back from commercial, it was pouring rain in New York, and a lot of the crowd had either donned plastic rain ponchos or or vacated their seats for drier parts of the stadium. All Sabathia needed to do now was take his time dealing to our batting order to whittle away the inning, the game being formal at 5 & 1/2. He did just that. I figured they’d call it then, but after a commercial break, the Mariners had taken the field with fresh Diamond-Dri on the mound, but the weather wasn’t having any of our baseball nonsense, and the rain started falling even harder than it had been during the top of the inning.

As I post this, the rain is falling so heavily in New York that the warning track looks like a creek, and I doubt that they will go back and finish the game out. It’s interesting to me that the team with the most money in major league baseball didn’t bother to install a roof over their field to avoid things like this, but maybe that’s just me being annoyed with Posada’s fake and our continued faltering offense. We live in one of the rainiest parts of the country, and we are not familiar with rainouts here. With as much as they charge their fans to come and huddle inside the stadium during questionable weather, you’d think they’d want those fans to see the 9 innings they paid for. Yes, I’m bitter. I’ll get over it. Actually, after having stood out in the rain for the Sounders home opener earlier this year, I have realized that I am not a person who deals well with such things, and our roof has spoiled me as a sports fan. I don’t know how football fans do it.

In the event that you were wondering – and I know you were – the AquaSox game was rained out today – a single A team I can forgive for not having a roof, especially when they play in a high school stadium. As a direct result, there will be a double header tomorrow. If this week wasn’t crunch time for me and school, I’d totally take the day off and go. As it is, I’ll be at school listening to the guys play the Red Sox in Fenway Paaaahk at 4pm. And since FSN has chosen to show BMX cycling tricks – something I have zero interest in – it looks like homework and bad movies for me for the rest of the day. A month and change of baseball to go…

EDIT: they’ve restarted the game on FSN. I’ll watch, but am not expecting a different outcome.

Yeah, I went there…

After spending the morning recovering from last night and watching the Yankees pummel the Mariners, I got in the car and took the drive to Everett to meet up with Conor and check out batting practice, which was already underway by the time we walked onto the grounds of Everett Memorial. Clouds over the mountains east of the city threatened rain, but batting practice went off in the driest manner possible. I decided on the way up that I’d take a different approach to writing this, which is to do it as things progress, rather than my normal method, which is running a draft and then inserting photos later. Hopefully it works…

As we set up in the booth, the guys were going through a series of speed tests in left field, something I’ve never seen before in person. That’s Steve Baron being put through the paces:

The cage was set up, and the guys took the field. The regimen was different this time than last, but still just as entertaining. Willy Kesler, wearing his number 35, took some hacks and some tosses off the hill, and spent a lot of time biting his nails while waiting his turn:

Much like the Volcanoes’ BP, the Dust Devils didn’t seem to have a great discipline for pre-game practice. This could be me having seen the Sox do their pre-game warmups on the field a few times and noticing how well-managed and fluid it is, or it could be personal bias, I don’t know. But the Devils just didn’t seem that into it. After the Sox had vacated the field, rather than get right to the business of working out, the Devils stood around in a circle for about 5-10 minutes doing this:

I don’t know, either.

A little more waiting, a trip to the team store to pick up a first-half champions t-shirt and AquaSox scarf (I’ve become a massive sucker for team scarves), a visit to the Dippin’ Dots stand (even though it’s been far too cold for ice cream today), and the game got underway.

The Devils came out of the gate hard, with centerfielder leadoff man Nathan Hines hitting a triple over the ‘Sox bullpen dirt that left fielder Kalian Sams could not get to in time. Hines was out at the plate in a dramatic flush of dust and catcher’s gear, robbing the Devils of what might have been their first run, had Steve Baron been Rob Johnson. The AquaSox half of the first inning went quickly and without hits. Devils’ pitcher ERik Stavert worked quickly and efficiently, aided by an umpire whose strike zone was apparently rather small. Sox second baseman Terry Serrano could have helped his case by not swinging at the first two pitches thrown at him, as Stavert then drilled one right down the middle that Serrano didn’t even twitch at, getting himself called out on strikes.

The top of the second saw the Devils hitting just as hard, with their final out being a line drive right back to Sox pitcher Edlando Seco, which he easily gloved, then turned into a double play to end the half. Kevin Rivers started off the Sox second by hitting a double out to right field, making an elegant sliding stand onto the bag, with time to spare before the ball made it back to Devils second baseman Joseph Scott. Rivers didn’t survive that inning, however, getting caught out while attempting to steal third.  Kalian Sams would suffer the same fate as Serrano the inning before him, getting called out on strikes while waiting to swing.

Seco started to lose his control a bit in the third inning, walking designated hitter and 8th-slotted Chad Jacobsen. Jospeh Scott advanced Jacobsen with a sacrifice out at first, and Seco gave up a single to Nathan Hines on a questionable call by the infield umpire; Jacobsen moved to third.

Seco didn’t allow any runs that inning, but he was far too close to doing exactly that for comfort; Jacobsen was stranded at third on a double play. The Sox half of the inning was quick, and outside of a Anthony Phillips double, not terribly eventful.

For his first trick in the top of the 4th, Seco gave up a home run to Devils’ third baseman Dominic Altobelli. Mark Tracy did not have any luck with Seco, and struck out swinging. So did Jeremiah Sammy. Chad Jacobsen grounded out to first to finalize the Devils’ side. With one out for the ‘Sox, Kevin Mailloux took a 90MPH fastball to the upper ribs that took him down pretty hard. Not a fun way to get a base.

The event must have shaken Stavert a bit, because he gave Kevin Rivers a walk, too. With the two runners on and Hawkins Gebbers coming up to DH, the Devils had a conference on the mound. Gebbers was able to get his bat on the ball, but the hit was easily caught in left field by the Devils’ Nathan Hines. With Kalian Sams up to bat, Stavert hit him with what looked like it could have been an intentional 79MPH pitch to the left leg. Sams was not pleased and a few seconds after he recovered from the shock, was having words with Stavert, the home plate umpire attempting to stand between the two men. The crowd started going nuts, and both benches cleared into the middle of the diamond:

No punches were thrown, it was all only words, and was over about as soon as it started. Sams was assisted to first by a teammate, kept away from any possible battle.

The inning continued, and the AquaSox came away empty-handed. But with two players hit in one inning, I was hoping for either some revenge from Seco, or some offense from everyone else. But Seco wound up putting two Devils on base instead. He then gave up a left field hit to Bryce Massanari that just escaped the grasp of Mailloux and made it to the outfield, sending those two runners in. It’s funny, I used to think the whole HBP revenge thing was childish, but I have come to understand that it is a necessary part of the game. Seco wouldn’t have the chance for payback, however, and was pulled in favor of reliever Eric Thomas.

With one out, Anthony Phillips took Stavert for a double into center field. Robbie Anston took one for the team, and sacrificed himself to advance Phillips to third, and Terry Serrano ruined everything by lining out to first.

In the top of the 6th, Thomas was able to mete out a little vengeance for his teammates off the side of Mark Tracy, who took his base. The sound of the ball hitting Tracy’s side sounded painful, but it didn’t double him over or seem to cause him any hardship. My verdict is, Thomas didn’t throw quite hard enough.

With Mailloux taken out of the game and presumably having his injuries looked at, Fred Bello had taken over his position at third. Bello, if anyone remembers from the last time I was up here, has been responsible for back-to-back inside-the-parkers this season. I was hoping for more of that sort of thing tonight. Bello is not what one thinks of when the words “baseball player” come to mind. At 5’10″, he’s barely taller than I am – and after having been on level ground and in close proximity of him during our last visit up here, I think 5’10″ is a bit generous. I was hoping for some more heroics, but Bello struck out. Also in the  bottom of the 6th, Kalian Sams had to face Stavert again. Sams was more calculated and patient this time, and waited for Stavert to throw a wild pitch that advanced Steve Baron to third – but he was less patient with the next throw, swinging hard and missing to send the game into the 7th inning.

Nathan Hines was the first up, and lined out to short. Chandler Laurent faced Eric Thomas and wound up with a double. Bryce Massanari was next up, and this is when Thomas decided to dole out punishment, throwing up and in and hitting Massanari on the wrist. The home plate umpire didn’t appreciate this one, and immediately tossed Thomas from the game. This was alright with me, as it meant that I’d get to see Willy Kesler do a bit of throwing in what was quickly becoming a meaningless but violent game.

Arguing continued, Sox manager Jose Moreno was also thrown out of the game, and Kesler ran in to the strains of “Spirit in the Sky” to take his warmup tosses while the row was finalized. It was around this point in time that my camera decided that it didn’t want to take night shots anymore, so no photos of Kesler were to be had at this point in the game. While the Sox batted and Stavert continued to pitch (and walk Anthony Phillips), I messed around with my settings. Stavert was removed from the hill immediately after walking Phillips in the bottom of the 7th, and replaced by Ricky Testa.

Evan Sharpley takes a ball:

With headhunter Stavert out of the game, I thought maybe we’d see some sweet come-from-behind action. Knowing you have to face someone who has no qualms about hurting you has to get into your head.  With Anthony Phillips on base, Robbie Anston took a chunk of triple and a run out of Testa. Phillips was declared safe at the plate, and Anston made his triple safely as well, despite it being a close play. Terry Serrano then hit a decent single, and Anston went home. Score 4-2. Fred Bello lined out to short, but I was hoping that enough damage was done to help us get some work done over the next two innings.

Kesler was back in the 8th, but my camera was still being cranky. For some reason tonight it was honing its focus on the net rather than what was in back of it. I managed this shot of Kesler on a fairly high ISO as he kept the Devils at bay, but this was the best one I got:

Testa was on the hill again for our half of the 8th, and Hawkins Gebbers took him to second base. Kalian Sams struck out swinging. Evan Sharpley lined out – sharply – to right field. Testa was not letting us get away with any shenanigans.

Jorden Merry took relief duty in the top of the 9th, and dealt with his Dust Devils easily. He’s also got a very Jarrod Washburn-esque wind up:

Brad McAtee – I can only assume this was their closer – rode the bump for Tri-Cities in the bottom of the 9th.  He gave up a single to Anthony Phillips, and then a single to Robbie Anston, who arrived on base safely while Phillips was taken out at second. Terry Serrano was our last hope, but flew out to left field to end the game, the first loss I’ve seen in person for the AquaSox.

Tomorrow is Mariners Day for Everett, and Dan Wilson will be on hand for autographs and first-pitch throwing-out. Would be a lot of fun, but I have a Mariners/Yankees game to watch, and possibly some yard work to do, either ours or making good on my season ticket agreement.  Conor may come back up here this coming Monday to see Anthony Fernandez pitch, and there will likely be something over at ProBallNW after he does. For now, good night and cheers, folks. Enjoy your weekend.

So, I’ll be honest with you for a second. I clean forgot that the M’s game was a 10:15 start, and it wasn’t until about 10:14 that I discovered that it was.  Fortunately, I got everything fired up for watching just in time to watch Ichiro take the third pitch of the ballgame into the left-field stands in New Yankee Stadium, and the game was on.

The Mariners simply battered Javier Vazquez, the Yankees’ starter, in his three-plus innings of work.  Two batters after Ichiro’s graceful leadoff shot, Russell Branyan got a pitch belt-high right over the heart of the plate and swung at it for all he was worth.  All he was worth, it turns out, was the upper deck in right field, and it was the first home run ever hit all the way up there.  Branyan already owned the record for the longest home run ever hit in New Yankee Stadium at 449 feet; this one is reported to have traveled 512 feet. Five hundred and twelve feet.  Yikes.

Unfortunately, Jason Vargas started out just as rough as Vazquez did.  It took him 27 pitches to get out of the first inning, and it cost him four runs along the way, including a Jorge Posada two-run homer.  Vargas’ command was not good in the first inning, as he couldn’t hit his spots to save his life.  On the pitch he gave up the homer on, Josh Bard was set up for a pitch low and away, and the pitch wound up over the heart of the plate an up in the zone.  Fortunately, after the first Vargas settled in and pitched much more like the Vargas we’ve gotten used to seeing, and held the Yankees to those four runs through the sixth.

The M’s would equalize in the third, on another Ichiro leadoff shot (hit in nearly the same spot as the first), and an RBI single by Casey Kotchman.  The game would stay knotted at four runs apiece until Vargas started to wear down a bit in the seventh, and gave up a run on an RBI single by third baseman Eduardo Nunez (which was apparently also Nunez’s first big-league hit).  That would be the end of Vargas’ day, lasting 7 1/3 innings despite his rough first.

Jame Wright would come in with runners on first and second, and promptly gave up an RBI single to Derek Jeter, then walked Nick Swisher to load the bases for Mark Teixiera.  He would induce a lineout to Ichiro, but the ball still went deep enough that a run would score easily.  Fortunately, that would be the extent of the damage as Robinson Cano would fly out harmlessly to end the inning, but the score still stood at 7-4 in the Yankees’ favor.

The M’s would threaten in the eighth inning, getting runners on first and second with nobody out, but Yankee manager Joe Girardi brought in Mariano Rivera, who did what Mariano Rivera does.  Michael Saunders worked an admirable at-bat against the venerable closer, working a full count, seven pitch at bat before flying out in foul territory.

The Yankees would play add-on in the ninth, scoring two runs in the frame to extend their lead to 9-4, and partly at the expense of a remarkable record.  Casey Kotchman had entered the game having not committed an error in 274 games, and over 2,300 defensive chances, the longest such streak in Major League history.  That ended in the bottom of the eighth when Curtis Granderson hit a sharp grounder that Kotchman just couldn’t field cleanly.  The ball kicked off his glove and into the outfield, scoring Jorge Posada.  Defensive records like that are not talked about nearly enough, but what Kotchman did was very special and it’s a shame that the streak had to come to an end.

The M’s managed another threat in the ninth when both Ichiro and Chone Figgins got bloop singles with one out.  Curtis Granderson slipped when trying to field Figgins’ hit, and Ichiro was able to scamper to third on the play.  Ichiro would score on a Russell Branyan groundout, but the game would end on the very next pitch when Jose Lopez chopped one right back to Rivera for the final out.

A fairly remarkable game, really.  Shame it couldn’t have come out better for the Mariners.

One last reminder: Megan and I will be heading up to Everett tonight to watch the Everett AquaSox.  We have again been generously invited to take in batting practice from the field, and to watch the game from the press box.  Major thanks to Pat Dillon and everyone else in the AquaSox organization for the opportunity.  Hope to see you guys there!

I am still recovering from a fairly informal and very fun wedding last night, but will be up in Everett later today for the AquaSox game against the Tri-City Dust Devils. Twitter widget moved to the upper side of the screen, or you could just follow myself and Conor on our adventures. I will be trying to Tweet photos from batting practice and maybe a little video if I have the time. From what I can tell of the weather, it looks like it should be a good day for a game. I will remember to wear socks this time, and more Dippin’ Dots are definitely in order.

Now that was a Felix Day to enjoy.

Felix pitched eight dominant innings against the hated New York Yankees, and the offense finally gave him some good support, spotting him a 3-0 lead on a Branyan bomb before Felix even stepped onto the field.  The offense would add three more runs, one of which came on another Branyan solo homer, but Felix didn’t need them.  You want to know why?  Here’s my game notes from the Yankee halves of each inning with Felix in:

Easy first for Felix
Easy second for Felix
Slightly tougher third for Felix, but gets out of it with a DP
Easy 4th for Felix, no hitter broken up by Jeter
Felix loads bases in 5th, then K’s/dominates Pena and Gardner to get out of the inning
Yankees helpless in 6th.
Yankees stand no chance in 7th.  Three swinging strikeouts, 14(!!!!) swinging strikes so far
Yankees get runner to second in 8th, but gets caught in rundown, then Felix whiffs Tex to get out of inning.

In the fifth inning when Felix loaded the bases, it almost felt like he LET the Yankees load them up, because when Francisco Cervelli got to first, Felix’s only reaction was that little “watch this” grin he gets.  He then proceeded to make Ramiro Pena and Brett Gardner look like rookie leaguers as he went about striking both men out to end the inning.  Then he smiled his way back into the dugout as boos cascaded down onto Gardner from the New York crowd.

Felix would end his evening sending Mark Teixiera practically spinning after trying and failing to get his bat on a changeup.  He threw 117 pitches tonight, 74 of which were strikes.  Sixteen of those strikes were of the swing-and-miss variety.  Sixteen.  Most pitchers would be happy getting six, and Felix went up against arguably the best lineup in baseball and got sixteen.

I wish I could give you some proper analysis of Felix’s outing tonight, but there’s just nothing to analyze.  Everything worked for him tonight.  Even when he got into trouble, to look at him he couldn’t have cared less.  Felix’s final line on the night was this: eight innings pitched, four hits, no runs, three walks, eleven strikouts, eleven groundouts, and one flyout.  That is, simply put, sheer dominance.

I hope everyone here appreciates Felix and what he does, because oh man are we seeing something special.

EVERETT, Wash. – The Everett AquaSox and the Seattle Mariners have agreed to a two-year extension to the Player Development Contract, binding the team’s affiliation through the 2012 season. The agreement was finalized Wednesday afternoon. “We are excited to extend our great partnership with the Mariners,” said AquaSox Executive Vice President Tom Backemeyer. “It’s a perfect fit on all levels, and we are thrilled that AquaSox fans will get to continue to see future Mariners here in Everett.” The AquaSox have been the Short-Season Single-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners since 1995.

“We are pleased to have reached an agreement with the Everett AquaSox on an extension of our player development agreement,” said Mariners Director of Minor League Operations Pedro Grifol. “Everett is a great fit for the Mariners. The AquaSox ownership has been great to work with, the players get a first-class environment and get to play in front of great fans.”

The AquaSox play their home games at Everett Memorial Stadium, located in Everett, Wash. Seattle and Everett are less than 30 miles apart. “It’s convenient for us to see the players and staff,” said Grifol, “but more importantly, fans from around the area can see our kids from the very beginning of their career.” The AquaSox have produced numerous Major Leaguers in the 15-year affiliation with the Mariners, including current M’s Félix Hernández, José López, Adam Moore, Doug Fister, Matt Tuiasosopo and Michael Saunders. “The Mariners are a first-class organization and have been a great partner,” said Backemeyer. “We look forward to working with them over the next two years and beyond.”

The AquaSox underwent a creative overhaul last offseason, which included a brand extension to include new logos. The “Trident-E” logo, primarily displayed on the road hats, is designed to celebrate the partnership with the Mariners by playing off the old Seattle Mariners “Trident-M’ logos of the 1970’s and 80’s. “The ‘Trident-E’ logo, along with the team lettering, is a new and unique way to display our strong affiliation with the Mariners,” said Backemeyer. The AquaSox are the first Minor League Baseball team to build their identity based on their affiliate’s throwback logos.

The AquaSox have clinched a spot in the 2010 Northwest League Playoffs by winning the first-half Western Division. The Sox, who hold the best record in the NWL at 39-20, return home from an eight-game road trip to begin a five-game series with the Tri-City Dust Devils Friday night at 7:05.