The King Reigns, Guti saves the day

I hope anyone reading this post caught the Mariner game last night, because if you watched the whole thing, there is no way you can't be excited about the outcome. Games like last night are the reason why I watch every game I can. People often say that baseball is boring to watch, that its extremely slow. I can't fault them for that, because it can drag on from time to time. However, when you get the right ingredients together, baseball is tops, in my opinion, in suspense and intrigue. Last night was a prime example of what can happen when you have a player who is on fire, a King who is taking his rightful throne, and two teams who realize what is at stake by playing each other.

Franklin Gutierrez...Wow. Noah "touched" on him in his post, but its really exciting to watch this guy come into his own. Currently, in the last 22 games, Guti has raised his average from approx .250 to almost .300. That's insane! Its interesting to watch a pitcher's approach when facing him. It looks like the scouting report on Frank was that the best way to get him out was to bust fastballs in on his hands, jamming him. But ever since the NL West trip, he is CRUSHING these pitches, getting his hands through the zone, and driving balls over the left field wall. His HR's are consistently over 400 feet and in what seems to be the most opportune times. So we have a guy that catches anything that is hit in the air to center field, who is completely on fire at the plate, and is also clutch. Playoff teams have guys like that. Its guys like that that win you division titles because they come through in huge series. My only concern with Guti is wondering what is going to happen when the scouting report determines that the outside pitch is the way to go. We'll see how well he can adjust to a different approach, but after what I have seen lately, I got all the confidence in the world in this guy as of late. Its tough to say who actually "won" the game for the M's last night for me. Frank was a huge part of it though.

King Felix, in my opinion, gets the game ball for the M's last night. This is his upteenth time in a row that he has come out, no matter who the opponent, and dominated. The Rangers lead the league in home runs, and he made them look like a little league team all game long. His two seem fast ball, with all the movement, is basically a 93-95 mph curve ball. Pair that with his actual curve ball, and finish it off with one of the best change up's in the game, and you have your stopper. Your ace. Your King. By holding the Rangers to one run, he allowed the offence to grind away on the Rangers' starting pitcher, Hunter, and get into their bullpen. He did everything an ace is supposed to do. Go 8 innings, hold the other team down by the neck, and allow your team to have a decent inning. A solid ace is another huge piece to a playoff team, and we look to have ours firing on all cylinders. The fact that he did it against a team we are trying to catch is absolute gold, sending a message to the Rangers and Angels that we are for real, and we're chasing you down on the backs of guys who want it.


Lets call last night and the next three games what it really is. A statement series. The closest thing to playoff baseball that you cant get...in July. We came out with our Ace, shut down our rival, and eventually locked it up with a majestic HR by a guy who is exploding onto the scene as a major player. Now I know it was only one game. This is a four game series, and if history has taught an M's fan anything, its that you can't get too excited (two years ago we were a similar situation and found a way to lose 10 or so games a row...). But history has also allowed us to experience the feeling of a playoff caliber team, and what they are able to do on any given night - to excite, along with succeed in huge games. I feel like that's what the M's did last night. They showed the Rangers, the AL West, and their fans that they can win the big game. I still think they are a piece or two away from truly contending, but not too far. Last night's win hopefully sold the powers that be that this season can be a huge success if we make the right moves. Last night got me all kinds of inspired (if you can't tell by this post). I'm heading to the game tonight to hopefully see the M's shave another game off the Rangers' division lead. Let's get excited about this team folks. Baseball isn't all that boring when the team can pull off wins like they did last night.

Garbs

The Bush Leagues Blogcast, Episode 6

Hey everybody! Noah and I finally got around to recording episode 6 of TBL. Listen in as we hit on the AL West, player injuries, and Interleague play. Check it out and let us know what you think!

Garbs

Episode 6

Lookin in the rear-view mirror

Don't look now, but at this time tomorrow the M's could be in second place in the AL West. After taking 2-of-3 from Oakland in what could be described as some of the best baseball this season, the M's faltered in the Texas series as they were swept. But trust me, it gets better! The Rangers are sitting half a game back from the M's in the AL West standings! Thank God this was only a two game series, I would hate to have to send Silva out there to face this Rangers lineup.

Even worse, the Angels are hanging around, sitting only 2 games back of the AL West leading M's. Let's look at the upcoming series for each teams.

The Mariners travel to Kansas City in a showdown of the AL Central leaders and AL West leaders. Ok, seriously...KC and Seattle are leading their divisions?!? Anyone out there who tells me they saw this coming back in February, I'll say you're full of shit. But still, the M's are playing against a hot KC team right now. And what does KC get? Silva and Washburn paired with a very dinged up bullpen and a lack of offense. I'm sorry M's fans, but I'll be happy coming away from this series with a split. What's even worse is I'm sure Willie Bloomquist will find some way to be productive. My [very optimistic] prediction: Split series.

Second place Texas battles the AL West cellar dwellers, the Oakland A's. Oakland just suffered a sweep of their own at the hands of the LA of A Angels while Texas comes to town boasting a 4-game winning streak. Texas absolutely smashes the ball and Oakland will be sending a couple youngsters to the mound in Dan Giese and Trevor Cahill. Oakland picked Giese up off waivers from the Yankees and he has had control problems in his previous starts. Cahill has looked impressive against the M's but has yet to record his first big league win. Texas will counter with Scott Feldman and Brandon McCarthy who, like every other Rangers pitcher, give up runs by the handful. But still, Oakland is in a rut and Texas swings the hot stick. My prediction: Texas sweeps Oakland 2-0.

The Angels have suddenly found themselves back in the picture for leading the AL West. They are only two games behind division leader, Seattle. Not to mention they are doing it without the likes of John Lackey, Ervin Santana and Vladimir Guerrero, all of which are scheduled to return shortly. Unfortunately, for LA fans, the Angels run into the AL East leading Toronto Blue Jays and quite possibly the best pitcher in baseball, Roy Halladay. I can't bet against Roy Halladay, the guy can single handedly win games just by throwing the ball. But game 2 looks to be in the Angels' favor. My prediction: Split series

So if the games go the way I predict. Going into the weekend you will see the Texas Rangers leading the division with the Mariners .5 games behind and the Angels 2.5 games back of the Rangers. The M's had a fantastic start to the season, but they're losing their momentum and it may soon be too late for them to get it back. This is a very important week of baseball for M's fans.

5 hours later...

The Mariners just won another series today, but it took 5 hrs and 5 mins to wrap up the rubber match with the A's. Today was an amazing game, with the A's taking the lead, the Mariners tieing it up, and so on for 15 innings! A couple of things I want to address about today's win.

Testicular Fortitude.

This team continues to show the ability to come from behind, something we haven't seen in Seattle for a while. They were down by two in the bottom of the nineth today, and Kenji Johjima stepped up and hit his 1st HR of the year, tieing it up and sending the game into extra innings. In the top of the 13th, the A's took a 3 run lead after Batista faltered. But in the next half inning, the M's battled back to tie game, and eventually, won it in the bottom of the 15th.

Jose "Mr. Clutch" Lopez.

For the second time in three days, Jose Lopez ends up winning the game with a basehit. On Friday, it was a 15 pitch at bat that was one of the craziest things I have ever seen. Battling off questionable pitch after pitch, he literally just outlasted Oakland's Russ Springer, sending a liner into right field, and the M's to victory. Today, with the bases loaded, he parachuted one in front of the left fielder to lock up the win. Lopez is having a great season, leading the team in RBI's with 17, and proving he is a guy you want up in a clutch situation.

Bullpen comes through, one more time.

The bullpen really came through today, keeping the A's in check after Jak left after 4.1 innings, holding Oakland scoreless from the 6th on in to the 13th inning, before Batista gave up 3. Justin Vargas, who we got in the trade for JJ Putz during the winter, then came in and shut the A's down and ended up getting his first win as a Mariner. He looked extremely impressive with a low 90's fastball and a decent breaking ball. Just another example as to why I think this team is going to be dangerous if they get a shot at post season play down the road.

Wins like today and Friday are what we as M's fans have been waiting for. These are the games that we are talking about when we say, win or lose, this team will be exciting to watch. They have the talent and moxy to come from behind, and the more times they do it, the more confidence they will gain. Great to see us put some distance between us and AL West.

Go M's

Nick

Opening Day!

It's Opening Day! Well at least it is in Seattle. The Mariners come home today to start a three game series with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. There are plenty of reasons to be excited for this one.

1. The M's are 5-2 and leading the AL West. Granted it's only a week of baseball and there is plenty left to play, the M's have looked good of late. The bullpen which was a serious question mark heading into the season looks serviceable and the M's are getting great production from their offensive lineup.

2. Ichiro is back! Starting on Wednesday Ichiro will be back into the starting lineup. Anytime you can add 200 hits and 100 runs to the top of the lineup is a good thing.

3. The return of Griffey. The kid comes home! Today will be very nostalgic for me as the player I idolized as a young child comes home. Not to mention, my seats are on the first base line, prime Griffey territory. I only hope that with the return of Ichiro comes the full-time Griffey DH.

But with the good comes the bad, let's highlight some of the things to watch for in this series.

1. The Angels: It doesn't matter if the Angels are starting off slow. The last two years they have owned the Mariners. In that time they have gone 27-11 against the M's. Not to mention their 3-3 record is deceiving after playing a tough series against Boston. The Mariners need to clean house inside the division. They already swept Oakland, now it's time to take care of the Angels.

2. Starting pitching: The M's are trotting their 3-4-5 starters out for this series. With so much uncertainty surrounding Carlos Silva and Jarrod Washburn it'll be interesting to see if they can turn it around. There is already so much animosity in Seattle over Silva. The man is paid a lot of money to perform...something he has done little of while in Seattle. Silva will need to keep the ball down in this game and mix up his pitches. The Angels will crush Silva's fastball if he throws it as much as he did against the Twins.

Washburn was impressive in his debut against the Minnesota Twins, but let's face it. The Angels are NOT the Twins. This second game will be the telling tale of Washburn's season. Washburn will need to throw strikes and effectively change his speed to keep the Angels honest.

So let's get to it already! It's 11:30 on Opening Day and I'm still at work but will soon be out of here. I can't wait! Go M's!!!