SECTION 331

Mostly that…

Seems like a lot of stuff is going on, yet nothing is truly going on. In spite of outhitting the Rockies today by a significant margin, the Mariners still lost today’s exhibition game. I would marvel at Chone Figgins’ contribution to all that hitting, but he wasn’t on today’s roster. This only makes things easier for me. Casper Wells went 2 for 4, which is neat, and Carlos Peguero was a multi-hitter as well, including a home run. That is also neat.

Less neat and with the added benefit of being confusing is Shawn Kelley’s departure from the big club to Tacoma. I heard about this earlier today, but hadn’t really formulated an opinion on it. I still don’t really have one, other than to be perplexed at what exactly it is that Kelly “knows he needs to work on” (outside of his slower fastball), but this is mainly because I simply haven’t been able to pay attention to everything lately. I thought that getting up at 5.30 every morning would not have an impact on my ability to keep up, but it seems like even with a job that releases me at 4pm every day, a New and Improved(TM) smart phone, and endless internet access, there just aren’t enough hours in the day. I’m going to continue on my path, believing that Shawn Kelley, a player I genuinely like, will be back in Seattle sooner rather than later. I’m optimistic like that.

I literally just discovered this article about Wladimir Balentien in my inbox. I keep Seattle Times emails, sometimes for weeks, in the hope that I will have the time to sit and read them. Sometimes I do, but more often I don’t. There have been numerous times this spring where I wanted to voice an opinion over this or that, but I’m just not fast enough. That article is from the 31st, though, so maybe I’m getting better. I remember Balentien going to Cincinnati, barely, but not what might have happened to him after that. At least I don’t think I did. But I used to like him (one of those irrational player affections), and I’m glad to see he is doing well in Japan, in exactly the same way that I’m glad to see Randy Messenger is doing well in Japan. He was once a Mariner, so he has my support. Sounds like he’s doing better than well. Wish he was doing it here, but those are the breaks.

This is old news by now, and I’m guessing that there are people who are keen to gloat about it. I have not yet quite recovered from the Pineda trade, regardless of how many times I am reminded – both by myself and others – that it had to happen. My predilection is to be glad that it was New York and not us; he could have just as easily shown up overweight (so I heard) and lacking in arm to Surprise. Unless the Mariners have some sort of offseason program or a degree of contractual control over what the players do and eat, it could have been us getting non-power, shoulder-injury Michael Pineda. Or maybe Pineda would have maintained himself in Seattle. There is no way of knowing, and playing that game is a fool’s errand. I’m not convinced yet that we got the “better” end of the deal; only time will really tell me that. But for now, there is a distinct possibility that depending on Pineda’s condition and how it’s treated, we can take a degree of comfort in the possibility – no matter how slight  – that the Mariners won’t have to face Pineda this year. Then again, with three series against the Yanks this season, that might not be so feasible, you never know. Isn’t baseball great?

Also cut from the roster was Aaron Heilman. Poor Aaron Heilman. If I thought I had forgotten what he looked like a few weeks ago, this really seals it. I am now of the conclusion that the Mariners have been toying with Heilman, and will wait for his inevitable return to Spring Training camp in 2014 or possibly 2015. At least they don’t have to remove his giant face from a giant wall on the outside of our giant stadium. Perhaps this whole thing is just going to taper further from here – no photo this time, so next time we won’t even be told he’s here. Terribly unfair, Mariners. Good luck to you, Aaron Heilman, wherever you may land. I hear Japan is nice!

It has been a nice day outside today. Nice enough to get some yard work done and clean the house a little, nice enough to really look forward to a game of baseball at Safeco Field. It’s the kind of day I wish we would have had at least once during the month of March, when any of the Spring Training games were broadcast, so that what I was seeing out my window matched a little of what I saw on TV. It’s the kind of day where someone says “Hey, there’s a game on!” and you think “Man, I hope it’s a Felix/Jamie Moyer matchup.” Wish granted!

I’ve been poking around the internet here during the first few innings, and I haven’t had Game Day up to see it for myself, but everyone (Twitter people, Lookout Landing is “everyone” enough for me) is saying that Felix’s velocity is down. I could propose that perhaps Felix is tipping his hat to Moyer, maybe sort of saying ‘Hey, old man – I can slow it down too‘, but that would indicate that I might be thinking in terms of a Jamie Moyer age joke, and I didn’t want to be a person who makes a Jamie Moyer age joke. But I think I kind of did just there. Dammit. Apparently, Felix’s velocity has been down in general since this Spring Training/Japan/Spring Training mess started, Nobody (Twitter people, Lookout Landing) is saying anything about worrying about Felix’s velocity being down. I even went to USS Mariner to see if maybe they were talking about it over there. I don’t see anything. Until I’m told to worry or see evidence that I should worry, I’m simply not going to worry. Great, the guys on the broadcast are talking about it now. They don’t seem concerned, just talking about it as a matter of the action of the game. Still not worrying. It’s weird, but Felix ended his day with 57 pitches (37 for strikes), four complete innings, and a smile on his face, so that is A-OK with me.

Moyer’s day was done in the bottom of the 6th, and he was spelled by a pitcher named Edgmer Escalona. I have never heard of Edgmer Escalona, but I’m positive I will remember his name because he hit Jesus Montero with an 83 MPH changeup to the back of the helmet. I didn’t see the actual impact, but I saw the result; a very visibly upset Montero. He was surrounded by coaching staff and not saying a word, but the expression on his face told me that Escalona was lucky the coaching staff were spending some time trying to cool our boy down. One might think that given yesterday’s shenanigans, the Rockies might be a little more sensitive about where their pitches were going, especially against a team that has nothing to do with Cleveland. I have to wonder if some of this might come back to the Rockies in the May series at Coors Field. Or later, since as we all know, baseball memories are long.

Hisashi Iwakuma’s three innings of long relief could have gone better, but they also could have gone much worse (that is my way of being supportive without having to really look at anything). If this had been a game that counted for anything, he would have been terribly lucky that Jamie Moyer was just not that effective against the Mariners today. I’m not knocking Moyer. I’m sure that no matter how much “the regular season is just an extension of Spring Training” (in quotes because it’s a standard reply) there is maybe a little bit of holding back because you’re not trying to drive the car, you’re just revving the engine to make sure it works so you can drive it off the lot on Opening Day. Or maybe Moyer truly was giving it his all and it just wasn’t his lucky day against a Mariners batting order that included Chone Figgins (still batting under .200, lest there be any doubt).  I guess I can’t really be too down on the bats today – 14 hits is a really excellent number for the Mariners. I think I’m just getting worse at being enthusiastic over Spring Training, especially since we’re back there now, after playing two regular-season games for No Good Reason in Japan.

I’m at a loss for the remainder of the week. It doesn’t look like the other two Rockies games will be broadcast on the radio, and I have to get back into my work tomorrow so no watching any of this on TV. I find that I am already weary of the Mariners schedule, and I sincerely hope that stops by this coming Friday. I don’t know what it is, but I was really excited (baseball!), then didn’t care so much (Spring Training baseball!), then really excited (Japan), then didn’t care so much (lack of airing exhibition games), then really excited (Mariners! A’s! Japan!), and now not so excited again (more Spring Training!) I would prefer a nice even level of self-generated excitement for summer, baseball, and all of the stuff that comes with that. Just let Friday get here already so we can get into this for once and for all.

Also? Chone Figgins + Left Field = *glazed stare off into the distance*

Last night was not much fun for me sleep-wise. I wound up passing out on the couch around maybe 7, but woke up around 9 because it was too cold in the house. I then proceeded to turn the heat up to 74 and have one of the worst nights of sleep in recent memory. But the iPhone alarm did its job, and I was up and bleary around 1.45AM or so, watching Mariners All Access and being made to crave soba noodles. I have long wanted to go to Japan, but my pay grade makes it cost prohibitive. May have to see what is available for lunch around work this afternoon. Come to think of it, there may be a noodle house down a block from where I work. And today is a perfect day for it.

I was so terribly exhausted that four innings went by before I knew what was happening, and Bartolo Colon was no-hitting the Mariners through 4 innings already! Not that no hitting from the Mariners should come as a shock to anyone, really, but the last time I saw Bartolo Colon he was not terribly good. Jason Vargas wasn’t allowing any runs either through four, but a game being in the 5th inning after less than an hour is usually not a great sign in general. Colon’s luck didn’t last through the 5th, however, giving up his no-hitter to first Jesus Montero, and second Miguel Olivo. Not to mention the walk he gave to Michael Saunders. Brendan Ryan failed to work with the situation though, and grounded into a force out to end the inning. It was kind of a good sign that we could get to Colon with the bottom of the batting order (and I kind of approve of today’s bottom of the batting order), but more was definitely needed.

The game slowed down considerably in the 6th inning, then in the top of the 7th, Justin Smoak took Colon over the wall. Finally! Vargas gave a walk to Coco Crisp in the bottom of the inning, then volleyed with him at first base multiple times, trying to pick him off. Jonny Gomes flew out to center field for the first out of the A’s inning, and Vargas was removed from the hill after 86 pitches (55 for strikes) to a standing ovation from fans behind the dugout. Shawn Kelley came in to replace him, and promptly gave up a two-run homer to Yoenis Cespedes. Poor Kelley. He was replaced by George Sherrill who was just as ineffective, giving up a solo shot to Josh Reddick.

Steve Delabar was sent in to battle Jemile Weeks with two men on base, and succeeded, getting Weeks to strike out swinging. Thankfully. But it didn’t last. The Mariners took nothing from the A’s in the top of the 8th, but Jonny Gomes hit a dinger off Delabar over the center field in the bottom of the inning, score 4-1 Oakland.

In the top of the 9th, Ichiro made his final appearance in front of the massive Tokyo Dome crowd, going 0 for 4 with a groundout to first. Justin Smoak was our last out for the evening, losing to the A’s.

I’m still glad I woke up for this game, but I have to admit that it was difficult near the end to keep myself focused on it. I probably should have gone to bed rather than sleep on the couch and give the cats free access to bother me, but I didn’t and that is the price I pay. It has been an experience watching these games, probably something I will never get to do again. If the Ms do go over to Japan in the future, I would certainly hope that the MLB Network would use far better judgement and air any exhibition games that might come out of such a situation. I am not on the “east coast bias” train, but I cannot help but think that if it was Boston or New York over in Japan (as someone mentioned on Twitter this morning), that the exhibition games would have been broadcast with no question. This trip was a monumental one, and I feel it was terribly mishandled by the very organization that supported it. I am happy for the Japanese fans, but this should have been an event for every fan of the A’s and Ms. And the Tigers and Giants, for that matter.

The Mariners now take a long flight back to the states and Arizona, to play one game with the Padres (not televised), one game with the Royals (televised), and a series with the Rockies in what has to be one of the weirdest Spring Training/regular season schedules ever. These next few weeks until the home opener are going to be really surreal. I don’t think I will really feel like baseball has started until April 13th, when I am sitting in my seats with a beer in one hand and a food item of choice in the other. It’s good to have baseball back, but man are they running us through the ringer in the beginning here!

Lastly, I apologize for any redundancies or oddly-worded things in this post. I’m tired. Catch everyone later!

I did it! I went to sleep at 6pm last night and got up at 2.30 this morning, just like I planned! This may seem easy to some of you – and questionable to those of you who stayed up all night, but I have a lot of trouble with the whole sleep thing to begin with. I fired up the laptop and the coffeemaker (in that order), hopped in the shower really quick because I need to bolt out of here when all of this is done, got my coffee and settled in for Ichiro’s first hit; an infield single. Oh, it’s good to be back.

Michael Saunders tried to heat things up in the third with a single and a stolen second base, but bad baserunning and a fielder’s choice left him out at third. But it was in the top of the 4th when Dustin Ackley took Brandon McCarthy yard on a pitch…and I say that because I really have no idea. This is what GameDay looked like during the first part of the game:

Whatever it was, it was hit to center field and it was hit hard. Ichiro managed his second single after that, and stole second successfully as Justin Smoak grounded out to second baseman Jemile Weeks. Jesus Montero lined out to right fielder Josh Reddick (the learning curve on some other teams’ players is going to be high for me this year, I think) who made a marvelous running catch, mouth guard and all, to get the out. We got our one-run lead (how terribly typical), but nothing further. Mike Carp flew out to left field, and that was that.

Oakland didn’t let us lead for long, though. The bottom of the 4th saw a double by Cliff Pennington, then a sacrifice ground out by Coco Crisp to move Pennington to third, and a double from Kurt Suzuki to bat Pennington in. I got the distinct feeling that extras might happen. Felix looked completely relaxed and like he was hardly breaking a sweat through five, and it was at this point in the game I figured he was probably going to shoot for a CG. That would be just like Felix.

The “I-chi-ro” chant started lightly in the top of the 6th during Ichi’s third at-bat. Ichiro also got his third hit for the game, moving a freshly-on-base Figgins to second with a grounder up the middle. Jesus Montero grounded out for the final, leaving our guys stranded and the Mariners’ side of the inning scoreless. The A’s got runners on first and third in the bottom of that inning, but Felix managed to get Josh Reddick to line out to Mike Carp in left field to strand their men, too, and end the inning.

I kept losing GameDay and having to refresh, so I missed most of what happened in the 7th due to having to get ready for work. But by the 8th inning, Brandon McCarthy was done for the day, and spelled by Ryan Cook. The bullpens in the Tokyo Dome are apparently behind the dugouts, so there was no way for the broadcast to pick up on guys warming up. I like this idea because there is no risk of balls hitting anyone in the bullpens, and the relief is likely a surprise to the opposing team all the time (though I’m not 100% sure what happens during a regular Japanese season), but hate it because we have no way of seeing who is warming up at home, and neither do the broadcasters. It’s not a huge deal during these two games, but I don’t think I’d like it if it was that way all the time.

At the top of the 9th, Ichiro walked up to the plate and the flashbulbs started going like crazy, as they have been the whole trip for the Mariners. Grant Balfour came in to throw for the A’s against him, and the crowd got to their feet while LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem” struck up. It seemed like a good time for Ichiro to go 4-4, but he would remain 3-4. I sure can’t complain about that. Justin Smoak was up to face Balfour next, and was patient about it. Smoak took a full count before hitting one off the first base bag. The ball bounced over the A’s first baseman’s head, and to a running Jemile Weeks, who successfully managed to get it to Balfour, who was  running in to cover. Jesus Montero flew out to center field to close out our 9th, giving the A’s the advantage.

Felix was not allowed to pitch further, and was taken out in favor of Tom Wilhelmsen. Wilhelmsen got Kurt Suzuki to fly out to CF, and Josh Reddick to fly out to Mike Carp, who made a rather dramatic jump to get the out against the left field wall. Oakland newbie Yoenis Cespedes, already 1-2, struck out swinging on a low pitch from Wilhelsen, 1-2-3. On to extra innings!

Brian Fuentes was up on the hill in the top of the 10th against Mike Carp. Carp popped up to Kurt Suzuki, who swiftly but carefully ran over towards the first base dugout to make the catch…and that was about as exciting as things got for us. Brandon Allen reached base on a throwing error by Dustin Ackley, who swore enough – in slow-motion replay – to make any longshoreman proud. Allen’s pinch runner Colling Cowgill got caught stealing second, removing the A’s baserunners. Jemile Weeks was the A’s last batter, and he was called out about as dramatically as I’ve ever seen by the home plate umpire. On to the 11th.

Brendan Ryan hit a nice double into center field off the arm of A’s reliever Andrew Carignan. Chone Figgins moved Ryan to third, and Dustin Ackley batted in his and the team’s second run of the night/morning with a single to center field. After a mound conference and a switch to left-hander Jerry Blevins, it was once again Ichiro time. Ackley used the moment to steal second. Ichiro then sacrificed himself to get Ackley in for a 3-1 lead, and got caught in a rundown, to the thrill of the packed stadium. Ichiro starts out the season with 4 hits in a game, tying Ken Griffey Jr’s record.

And with our two-run lead, Brandon League was brought in for the close. League, steely-eyed and doing what looked like breathing exercises, worked slowly but steadily. Cliff Pennington flew out to left, Coco Crisp was called out on strikes, and Seth Smith hit a comebacker up through center field that almost hit League in the head; the ball went right between League’s face and his glove, which he was holding up defensively in an attempt to catch the ball. Kurt Suzuki was up again next and was caught out swinging. Mariners win the Opening Day game, Ichiro goes 4 for 4, and Dustin Ackley starts the season out right.

Dave Simms and Mike Blowers did a marvelous job calling the game from a few thousand miles away, sitting here at home and working off the long-distance feed. There were a bunch of Twitter folks up and at ‘em from the beginning of the game. Sadly, Felix did not get the win, but the Mariners did, and that makes it totally worth getting up at the hour I did.

Tonight, we do it all over again. Happy Opening Day, everyone!

I listened to maybe 5 or so innings of the Mariners/Tigers game last night with one headphone in, while messing around on Twitter. Found out that the game was being broadcast by those sneaky less-than-legal means, which would have been great, except that I am a woman of my word and was at a friend’s house in Magnolia, eating dinner, drinking homemade scotch, and watching some really awful movies. I didn’t know that there were sites that were running the games until the game was well underway, by which time I, too, was well underway. At the point where the score was 5-1 and Chone Figgins was the best thing that happened to us all night thus far, I decided it wasn’t worth the disorientation that comes with listening to a game that has progression, and a room full of people whose conversations don’t, really. As I get older, I find that my ability to truly multitask is fading, and I know my Mariners – if the game is only halfway through, and there is a 4-run deficit, it hasn’t been easily that we’ve come back from that. I know it sounds pessimistic, but if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck…

I am now faced with the option of staying up until the sun comes up tomorrow morning (which I’m not terribly keen on), or going to bed after we have dinner with friends and waking up at 2.30 and seeing if I can get any sort of feed on the game before either making coffee and starting my day, or going back to bed. I feel that the first option is maybe not something I am physically capable of doing, and the second option might lead to more disappointment than I really want to deal with, should the game not be on anywhere. The second option, however, will sort of put me on track for the Real Thing on Wednesday and Thursday; because those are games that I will be waking up for.

During the period of time last night between the start of the game where my iPhone was alive and working and when I finally had to give up on the earphone/Twitter combination for keeping track of the game because my batteries were dying, I had a lot of fun reading tweets from Shannon Drayer, whomever was running the @Mariners account, and a handful of people who were actually there, including the guy who runs this blog. The pictures were fun to look at, and the reports and sounds I could hear on the radio were about what I thought they would be – a baseball game with a Seattle Sounders/Euro football atmosphere; pretty much everything that Deanna at Marinerds has reported during the time that she was living and working in Japan. I even laughed a bit to myself about times where it was increasingly difficult to hear Rick Rizzs because the stadium and it’s 55,000 inhabitants were so full of cheering and song, the announcers were drowned out. You would think that would be enough, just to be able to hear it; but I’m still really bummed about not being able to see what was happening there. Full disclosure; I don’t make a lot of money, and I am not a huge fan of flying. So a trip to Japan to see baseball is likely something that I will never get to experience. There are other angles to this, but I won’t go into them here. I just really wanted to be able to watch the Ms play against Japanese teams. There was a lot of nostalgia for me upon hearing about Kenji Johjima and Randy Messenger being there; your nostalgia probably involves Mike Cameron, Jay Buhner, or Randy Johnson. Mine involves Kenji and Roy Corcoran. Listening to the crowd reaction for our Japanese players was a lot of fun, too. Only wish I could have seen it.

I think I’m just ready for actual baseball. This has been a strange Spring Training, and the fact that the season starts in an entirely different country – while exciting – is kind of weird. I want to get back into the game, look forward to the home opener, and have baseball to come home to after work. I want to be able to go back to Safeco on a regular basis. I understand that La Nina has just about run its course, so around May we’re supposed to see some nice summery weather. It’s been a long winter, and it’s about time to get things started. Let’s do it.

Having taken the flight from LAX to Fiji on my way to Australia, I can vouch that this may be the most exciting thing that happens on this flight.

Linking to Lookout Landing because that’s the first place I went to read anything about this, but yes indeedy it looks like the Mariners starting rotation has been settled upon. Conspicuously absent; Erasmo Ramirez. Snuggled in the number four spot, where by some miracle I guessed he would be during a conversation with a co-worker via IM the other day; Blake Beavan. In the five; Kevin Millwood, who I still have a nagging feeling would be better in long relief. But it’s this way for now. It might be another way for later, like Jeff says, and our 1-2 is still strong, even without Michael Pineda. If you had told me two years ago that I’d really start to embrace Jason Vargas, I might have looked at you a little strangely. As it is, I still don’t believe it myself, yet here we are. USS Mariner seems to feel indifferent about it as well. Outside of Felix and Vargas, this is not a freak-out-inducing lineup. But it’s our lineup, it’s how Eric Wedge has determined things are going to go, and that’s good enough for me. I have no opinion on the Beavan vs Iwakuma argument.  Iwakuma gets a shot in the bullpen, and we already know that Beavan can pitch decently in relief, so it’s a win-win for everyone. Or a lose-lose. The thing is, we don’t know, and won’t know until we know. Now you know!

We also got rid of Shawn Camp (“get rid of” sounds a little harsh, but I’m running out of synonyms for “release”), but I have no feelings on that, either. Here I thought I was all revved up for Spring Training, but it turns out I’m really just kind of apathetic until the regular season starts.

In blog-related news, I am looking at bringing back Fridays at Safeco, but it might not happen until the home season starts. There will also be a new approach taken with this feature this time. I have been having a lot of fun with the Instagram application on my iPhone. It has helped me look at things differently while taking photos, and that is what I’ll be experimenting with here. I don’t want to start up any sort of discussion that sounds like I’m talking about an artistic process (mainly because I don’t really have one), but suffice to say I’m going to attempt to make looking at Safeco Field and the contents therein a little different this year, so we’ll see where that goes. Fair warning, it might get a little ArtWalk here.

I’ve been trying to figure out what I want to say about the departure of Hong-Chih Kuo yesterday morning, but there’s just not that much to say. We got our look at Kuo, it made us all collectively wince, and Kuo was set free to attempt to pursue his career (or not) in climes other than the Pacific Northwest. I am sad about this, because I really wanted him to do well here and regain whatever level of ability he might have once had, and maybe turn into a nice little single-inning guy here and there for us. But it just wasn’t going to work out. What I am glad for is that the Mariners didn’t drag this out like they did with Ian Snell. There was no down-to-Tacoma, up-to-Seattle movement, no waiting to see if Kuo would snap out of his ills and settle in soon. I know that there is a significant difference in circumstances, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wonder if we’d be taking that ride again. But it’s over. The Ms simply called it a day and released a pitcher who was simply not capable of helping us this year. The circumstances were not pleasant, but what happened had to happen. I probably sound a lot more upset than I actually am about Kuo the player; my sadness is generated for Kuo the person. I wish him well.

Tried to watch the Rockies game on Sunday, but between running errands for a seemingly never-ending home improvement project, and a rain delay (and subsequent stoppage of all play), I got maybe an inning or two in. A loss against the Cubs, a win today against the Reds, and I can just barely believe that we are only a week and some hours away from Opening Day in Tokyo. As for myself, there has of course been no change in the programming for either ROOT Sports or MLB Network on the dates and time slots of the Mariners/Tigers or Mariners/Giants games, so I have been trying to dig into finding a site online that will stream it, but thus far have had no luck. I would happily pay for it if MLB would post a PPV feed, but I haven’t seen or heard anything about that, either. I’ll be going to a friend’s house on Saturday for dinner, having no other options at the moment. That is very disappointing to me. I still plan to have a crazy week next week sleep-schedule-wise with the games against Oakland that will indeed be on TV, but I am extremely disappointed in the MLB’s lack of interest in showing these games to a US audience. I am fully aware that there could be contractual issues preventing them from doing this, but given that the Mariners are an MLB franchise, I find it very strange that this is being completely glossed over on the US side.

Enough of that. One more game tomorrow, and then the guys go to Tokyo and meet these folks:

Photo courtesy Boston.com

Here are some fight songs for the Hanshin Tigers, so you can practice along. The boys might even run into this guy!

I have nothing else to say here. The next 7 days should prove interesting, and I’m looking forward to the reports coming out of Japan on how everyone’s doing. Hopefully there will also be some entertaining Tweets from the guys, though I’m sure that will wholly depend on smart phone rates and whatnot. Not sure how all of that works, exactly. I’m starting to feel really good about at least the beginning of the season, I just need it to start now.

So the goal I had set for myself – paying attention to Erasmo Ramirez’s pitch location via GameDay – lasted for about an inning before I got busy talking to people on Twitter and FaceBook, fielding email, and just generally not paying attention to Erasmo Ramirez’s pitch location via GameDay. It’s times like these when I’m glad that writing about baseball is not my job; though if it were my job, I’d be paying better attention to what was going on in front of me. Also, I’d have a degree in journalism, or I’d just be smarter in general. What I can tell you is that Ramirez threw 12 pitches in the first inning. Of those twelve, only one was tracked outside the strike zone. Nine of them were strikes, and 3 of them were balls. In the first inning, Erasmo Ramirez (with the help of Mike Wilson in right field) racked up two hits and a run. I don’t know what to do with that information, or even if anything should be done. It probably shouldn’t; nothing should be done with that information. I think I might have just wasted two minutes or so of your time. I am the worst. Sorry about that.

Having no good excuses for my loss of concentration, I’m just going to watch the rest of this game and see what I notice…

-Mike Carp hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the 3rd inning. A lot of people like Mike Carp. I like Mike Carp. I have always liked Mike Carp, and I intend to continue liking him. Mike Carp can make things easier on himself and me by continuing to hit two-run homers in the bottom of the 3rd inning. Or any inning, really. I’m not picky.

-Kevin Millwood was interviewed, and it’s the first time I’ve ever heard him speak. I tend to think of Millwood as an Oriole, though he only served on their roster for one season. It was their 2010 season, so maybe that’s why; 2010 was sort of after my impressionable year of 2009. In any event, Kevin Millwood has an accent that makes me wish that we had Waffle House in Seattle. I would now like to scatter, smother, or cover something. Possibly all three at the same time.

-There is someone named Jesus Sucre on our roster.

-Hong-Chih Kuo was up tonight in the 5th and threw 7 pitches. All three batters put their pitches into play, and all three batters were caught or played out. Kuo nearly beaned Gregor Blanco, but definitely not on purpose. I’m still pulling for this guy, and a 7-pitch inning is nothing to shake a stick at. Good for him. Unfortunately, he followed it up with a not-so-good inning. I flat-out refuse to harsh the guy. He already knows, and I am not going to spend my time online attacking someone with known anxiety issues. I would rather stand behind him and hope he does better next time, until both of us can’t do either thing anymore.

-George Sherrill was not as good tonight as I would have liked. He was also wearing a bent-brim Spring Training hat. The part of me that wants to be superstitious and believe in the mental part of the game wholeheartedly thinks that after this is rectified with a normal flat-brim hat, all will go back to Normal. But I know that it’s just the luck of the draw, this is just rehearsal for a grander stage, and analyzing anything based on something intangible is a fool’s errand.

-I often find myself trapped completely in the moment in any given game. So much so that it is difficult for me to pull back to the big picture. I don’t know when this happened or whether or not I can get back to seeing the larger picture while taking in the nuances of the game, but I’m starting to think I have FAR too much going on while I watch games. I’m not ready to blame my perceived failings on that just yet, but I can tell you that having Twitter, the Lookout Landing game thread, and GameDay all up at the same time while trying to keep an eye on the game and post…well, that’s just insanity.

-Aaron Heilman’s GameDay photo still looks like a prison headshot. Heilman himself, however, seems a lot taller and a lot less round than I remember him from 2009.

The only other thing of note to me personally happened during Kevin Millwood’s interview. There were a few fouls hit, and even though Millwood wasn’t in the game, and it is not a game that is truly important in the big scheme of things, Millwood’s attention was diverted to the point of trailing off a sentence and being distracted; I’m not sure he really looked at Angie Mentink the entire time he was in the dugout talking to her. I don’t know that I’ve ever noticed that from a player before, and it made me happy.

A few more dry days before Sunday’s early afternoon game against the Rockies, which I am looking forward to. Until then, enjoy your St Patrick’s Day, keep warm in the weather, and hold tight; baseball will be back in Seattle soon.

*Yes, I’m kidding. Geez. You guys are so serious sometimes!

If you’re not in Seattle (and I can’t imagine that anyone would read this who isn’t, but you never know), it has been miserable and will continue to be miserable weather-wise for the next few days. This is part of what makes nights like tonight so exciting; seeing sunny baseball after a winter of suffering through football and a little hockey, and the light amount of news coming from the Mariners during the offseason, this is like getting a nice glass of water handed to you after a marathon. Or beer after a hard day’s work. Your mileage may vary. Whatever the case, while the handful of games on the radio have been nice, to actually be able to SEE what’s going on is so very marvelous…I don’t even have words. So after a nice dinner of homemade pork pho to ward off the weather, here we go!

I spent a lot of the first half of the first inning looking for my friend Jen, but to no avail. She was sitting down front tonight, but not close enough towards the area of TV camera concentration to be visible. She said that a lot of the seats around the plate were taken up by scouts. Just as long as they look and don’t touch, they can scout all they want. I can’t handle any more deals just yet.

Tonight was my first opportunity to actually see Ichiro’s new batting stance. He was holding his knees slightly farther apart than normal, and his foot remained planted for at least his first at-bat, but any other changes are surely far more subtle than I can immediately detect. All of it translated into an infield single, because it really shouldn’t translate into anything else. You can toss a dialect on a language, but it’s still the same language. Ichiro is rocking a .286 average and a .746 OPS (which will have likely changed for better or worse by the time this post goes up), so I will continue to roll with it. Ichi’s fielding last year started to venture into horror movie territory, but I think that with his new position as third hitter and stance change, we’ll see a little more refinery from the King of Refinement. He was the first run in during tonight’s game, on a Miguel Olivo sacrifice fly. I feel like all is as it should be here.

I am not sure how I should feel about Kevin Millwood’s start. A lot of it looked like this:

But a lot of Aaron Crow’s start looked like this:

Aaron Crow didn’t last as long in the game as Millwood did (3 innings vs 4), both of our early runs were charged to him, and he allowed one more hit than Millwood did. I don’t know right now what all of this means. Would I trust Millwood to start an actual Game That Counts in a major league setting? I don’t know. I get the distinct impression that Millwood’s starter days are pretty much behind him. And right now, that’s neither good nor bad, it just is what it is. Based off tonight’s performance, I’d be alright with him in a long relief position, which I know is probably a terrible thing to say, because he’s probably battling for a starting slot. I’m a jerk.

In the bottom of the 6th inning, Miguel Olivo did this:

Paulino hung everything right in there, and Olivo ignored all of it and took a walk. Pitches 5-9 were in the upper 90s, and were all 2-seam fastballs. It seems that after three changeups and a slider, Olivo figured Paulino and his fastballs out; either that or Paulino just got tired of trying to be clever. Mr Paulino needs to go back and put some work into his two-seamer, because throwing that to Michael Saunders resulted in a double, which sent Olivo and Carlos Peguero, who was already on base, home.

After the middle of the 7th inning, I tried to just relax and enjoy watching baseball. I feel very rusty, like I’ve lost what little analytical skill I ever had, so there is no need for me to even try to push it, since everything above this paragraph has likely failed miserably. Tom Wilhelmsen finished up the 9th beautifully in front of a thinning late-night crowd (I am so envious of all those people in their t-shirts with no jackets, scarves, layers or umbrellas in sight), and the final tally for this one was 2-6 Mariners. As I mentioned on Twitter multiple times tonight, I’d be a massive liar if I said that this wasn’t gratifying for me, even though it doesn’t count.

It’s just nice to know that baseball is finally back. I am even more excited now for the games tomorrow and Sunday afternoon, and the early morning games on TV that will start the season with the Oakland A’s. Speaking of early morning games, I am probably fighting a losing battle here, but I am going to be waging a Twitter campaign towards MLB Network and ROOT Sports, to beg them (not too proud to use that word, incidentally) to show the early morning games against the Hanshin Tigers and Yomimuri Giants. It might be a contractual deal for ROOT to not be able to show them, but what the hell else is the MLB Network going to show at 3 in the morning on a weekday? Or at 8pm PST on a Saturday? So I’m going to try and come up with a Tweet a day. Feel free to re-tweet me if you follow me, or please make up your own. I may never get to Japan; this may be my only chance to see something like this, and I WILL get up and watch it. I know that this will probably fail and that anything I could possibly do is akin to yelling at a brick wall here…but I didn’t love those gladiator helmets and 300 attitude from the 2009 bullpen for no reason.

As you were. Baseball is here.

The annual Mariners commercials are here!

It is actually a little more difficult this year to choose my favorite, as I have only watched all of them once. Why don’t I watch them again, all three of you might ask? Because I’m going to have to watch all of them, a gajillion times in various order, for the next 6 months, starting tomorrow night. So I think one run through is good for now. They are, as they most always are, amusing, but there is something about them that I like more than last year; they go back to the “fun” Mariners of 2009, the club that gets along, the club that makes jokes with each other. Gone is the acknowledgement from the front office that the fanbase should continue to be patient with the organization like last year. There is no player in this set of commercials who is really singled out, ala Cliff Lee from 2010. There is Ichiro, but he has taken a bit of a step back in favor of letting the focus be on players like Dustin Ackley, Justin Smoak, and new guy Jesus Montero. A little civic pride is dangled out there in “A Seattle Welcome”, and Brendan Ryan gets to ham it up in “Impressions”. Felix talks to Eric Wedge through a creepy puppet, and Ackley gets a bit of encouragement Rocky-style. It looks fun. The guys look like they’re having fun, and that makes me want to have fun. It makes me want to watch a Seattle Mariners game, because these players look like they’re having a good time and want to play some baseball.

And that’s pretty cool.

Also, Justin Smoak punches a tree. Your argument is invalid.

A very busy week, last week. My Wednesday consisted of a full day at work and then a quick jaunt down to Fuel and going to the Sounders match vs Mexico, which it turned out made for a very very long day. It was a great game, and I’m not saying that because Seattle won. I was expecting the percentage of dives to be astronomical, but if I’m honest, I think Mexico had maybe 2 where the diving player truly attempted to stop game progress; but the refs didn’t allow it to be a hindrance, thankfully.  I was pleased with the win, and I would go further into the game, but I have decided to acknowledge that soccer simply isn’t my thing. I enjoy the atmosphere and I understand the game, but it’s just not something I can pay that much attention to outside of actually being there. I’ll always support the Sounders no matter what, but I can’t be rabid about it.

I really did a number on my wrist yesterday taking care of some painting, so we’ll see how far I get with this…

Mariners Spring Training games have been going well, if everyone on Twitter who is there and reporting back is any indication. Part of the squad played the Diamondbacks on Friday, against a lineup that included, well, this guy:

Photo courtesy Jen Howson.

I don’t know how JJ did, but I do know that Carlos Peguero hit a dinger off of him, and that we lost the game. That’s pretty much all I really need to know. In spite of our neck-and-neck battle with Oakland for first place in the AL West of Spring Training, and the fact that we are 7-3, I am keeping my perspective.

In the interest of full disclosure, one of my reasons for not being as active here lately is simply writer’s block. Going to the Sounders game the other night was a nice introduction back into live sports, but I think I just need to be thrown into the pool, rather than just dipping a toe in to test the water. So I’ll take the easy way out and write about old news links, so that anyone coming here will have something to read. And away we go, etc.

The Mariners are giving something called “dynamic pricing” a shot. I understand the desire for revenue, but speaking as a person who spends a lot of money that I don’t really have at the ballpark already, I don’t think I like it. It’s what they don’t mention in that article that causes me concern; nowhere does it say that ticket prices will be going down for certain games, just that some prices will “stay the same”. Given the fact that my 16-game plan has already gone up about $100 for the package since last year, this is not a good sign for someone like me, who doesn’t have a lot of expendable income in the first place. Unless there is a special occasion that demands I purchase tickets from the organization directly, I think I’ll be sticking to StubHub. I find it particularly insulting that a price hike for season tickets has occurred after last year’s third appalling season in four years. I could go off on a massive tirade about an awful team price-gauging their customers, but I’ll spare you, and keep that all up here. *taps head*

Doug Fister is already doing well in Spring Training for the Detroit Tigers. I also linked that to give anyone who hasn’t already read it a good laugh at Jonathan Papelbon’s expense. I know that players always want to curry favor with potential new fans, but if I were a Red Sox fan, I don’t know that I’d be too pleased with Papelbon’s assessment of a crowd he hasn’t yet played in front of, versus a crowd that gave him love for his entire career up until last year. Baseball can be a filthy business sometimes.

There were some cuts made yesterday. I got asked by a friend yesterday what I thought about the cuts, and in internet shorthand, my response is pretty much “meh”. I didn’t really expect these three to make the team out of ST. I think fans were impressed by Hultzen’s and Walker’s composure at FanFest, myself included, and they definitely seem to be headed in the right direction, but they’re just not ready. I would not be at all surprised if they’re in Tacoma or  by the end of the season or sooner, but right now, the young eggs need more incubation. Forrest Snow also got sent down, but only as far as Tacoma. I hope he has a good season, would love to see him up here later in the year. The Erasmo Ramirez thing, I’m kind of excited about. I was told by someone who was down there to see him that Ramirez can locate like a fruit bat, so it doesn’t surprise me that he is being held onto for a little while longer.

Anyway, that is enough from me for now. I have a day full of things to do, and not a whole day to do them, really, so I have to get moving. The Mariners are going up against the Rangers today, and we start off with Blake Beavan against Matt Harrison, so nothing new there. It will be interesting to see how we fare against whatever lineup they throw at us, but even if we botch it, I’m not going to worry. Not yet. It’s not time.

My plan yesterday for a pro-active day off was to do some yard work, take care of a painting project that I have been working on, and listen to the Mariners on the radio. I apparently need to go back and check the radio schedule I posted several weeks ago, because the game wasn’t on the radio. I managed to get the yard work and painting done, and the cosmos also threw in the additional luck of me dropping my iPhone flat on it’s face, shattering the stupid thing in over 50 places. It still works, but I need to get it fixed before the month is over, so I can have it once baseball season starts proper. I hate having to deal with a business that I know is going to overcharge me for something that shouldn’t cost as much as it does, but I like having a tiny camera in my pocket that takes pictures that don’t have cracks all over them. If you think about it, my broken iPhone is like season tickets for the Mariners; I don’t want to pay as much as I do for them (and I should not have had to pay more this year, considering the previous few seasons), but the alternative is not having those guaranteed games, and that would make me crazy.

Not being able to listen to baseball when I know for a fact that there is baseball occurring also makes me crazy, but I don’t have much of a choice today. I will put on my big girl boots and open up GameDay and hope for the best on Felix Day against the Cincinnati Reds, a team I don’t really care too much about. I’m sure they don’t care about me, either. So that’ settled.

The big news so far today is that Carlos Guillen retired. I hate to see anyone beg out, but it sounds like it was for the best for him at least physically. He also might have just inadvertently helped us in opening up a spot (so Jeff says) for Kyle Seager. I don’t know how to feel about any of this, other than happy for Seager, so I’ll just keep my yapper shut until something more indicative of the future happens.

I would have written about yesterday’s game, but since I was not able to listen to it, it proves far more difficult for me to write about than it might for someone who was used to looking at numbers or was actually there. I heard we gave the Pads a good nose-rubbing, so for whatever that’s worth, go us? The Padres hit well, so it wasn’t a complete loss for them in a morale sense, I wouldn’t think. Adam Moore hit a home run, which is kind of neat, adn Hisashi Iwakuma won the game, in spite of a terrible, 30-some pitch first inning and not being supported in the field.

There was absolutely no point to this post, and I have to get back to work. Today’s game is already in the second inning. Happy Felix Day!