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Friday, August 31st, 2007
Posted by Larry LaRue @ 08:22:54 pm
It’s not the offense. It’s not the defense. It’s not even a bullpen that finds its arms hanging by a thread with a month left to the season. What’s killing the Seattle Mariners in their latest losing streak – this one a second seven-game stretch – is the starting rotation. Manager John McLaren said hours before Friday’s game the team needed a starter to make 100 pitches last eight innings, not five. Then Jarrod Washburn made 102 pitches last just 3 1/3 innings, putting his team behind 6-2, and McLaren spent the rest of a 7-5 loss trying to eke innings out of a worn down relief crew. At issue all season, the rotation’s glaring weakness has jumped up and bitten the Mariners again, and the timing is crucial. Who is going to give Seattle seven or eight quality innings? Felix Hernandez can, but hasn’t regularly, and won’t pitch 200 innings this season. Miguel Batista is a six-inning man most good starts, Jeff Weaver left a start in Texas last week when he told McLaren he was ‘cooked’ after 84 pitches. The Mariners are happy on nights when Horacio Ramirez goes five, and Jarrod Washburn has won once since the All-Star break. That’s the group that must devour innings in September if the Seattle bullpen is to have a chance to regroup. It’s not impossible, but it’s not likely, either. All year the strength of this team has been it’s offensive tenacity – nearly 40 of their victories have been come-from-behind affairs – and a lights out bullpen. Now, that bullpen is staggering under the workload. And the offense is being asked to come from behind every night. Among the September callups, there are no complete-game wonders Seatttle can slide into its rotation. What they have is going to have to be enough, or there won’t be an October that matters.
Categories: General
• 3 comments
Thursday, August 30th, 2007
Posted by Larry LaRue @ 08:41:00 pm
Mother Nature did Thursday what the Seattle Mariners have not – she benched Richie Sexson, at least temporarily. Sexson, batting .207 and booed roundly at Safeco Field this week, will likely have to sit out a few games with a strained left hamstring. That means Ben Broussard will play first base. If that adds more punch to the lineup, the Mariners need it and more – they’re mired in a six-game losing streak, and their bullpen is running on empty. By the time they got to the bottom of the ninth inning Thursday and Eric O’Flaherty stumbled, there weren’t many options. By Saturday, when major league rosters can expand, the Mariners will have more arms available – Ryan Feierabend, John Parrish and Sean White will all join the team. So will outfielders Wladimir Balentien and Jeremy Reed, and catchers Rob Johnson and Jeff Clement will be up within a week. Not unless the Mariners can snap their losing streak and get a winning run going on the road, against Toronto, New York and Detroit. None of those spots have been kind to Seattle this year – the team is 4-6 in those cities. What the team needs tonight is a rock-solid performance from Jarrod Washburn, who needs to get through seven innings or more. It needs help from Broussard and a mistake-free game by Jose Lopez at second base. More than anything, it needs to stop the losing.
Categories: General
• 7 comments
Wednesday, August 29th, 2007
Posted by Dale Phelps @ 12:17:06 pm
Our reporting on the Mariners goes beyond just the stories Larry LaRue and others write. Staff photographers also capture interesting and important moments. A good example is this sequence shot by Peter Haley on Monday night.
Categories: General
Posted by Larry LaRue @ 09:50:14 am
There are tough losses and then there are beatings, and heading into the series finale today the Seattle Mariners have simply been beaten by the first-place Angels. It’s a reminder that, against the division leaders they’ve played this month – Boston and now Los Angeles – Seattle simply does not have a starting pitcher that can match up with the best of those other teams. Daisuke Matsusaka and Josh Beckett flattened the Mariners offense, and John Lackey shut them out. Against other wild card contenders, the Mariners match up a little better, but it’s a harsh reminder that – even if they should make the playoffs – the kind of post-season pitching they’d face is likely to send them home frustrated. Seattle has come a long way in 2007, from a 78-win team a year ago to contention, but they don’t have the starting rotation to hang with the best. And the best is good enough to stifle if not stop the Mariners offense. It’s not just Richie Sexson that’s going to hold Seattle back – it’s a rotation that’s good enough to contend, but not nearly good enough to hold its own against the best. Seattle doesn't yet have that No. 1 starter, and no one this season has pitched much better than a No. 3. It's the difference that will keep them from being an elite team.
Categories: General
• 9 comments
Sunday, August 26th, 2007
Posted by Larry LaRue @ 08:58:59 pm
It’s the series the Mariners and their fans circled on the calendar a few months ago – a three-game set at Safeco Field against the Angels, with first place in the American League West hanging in the balance. Seattle opens the series two games behind Los Angeles, and the matchups are locked in. Miguel Batista vs. John Lackey Jeff Weaver vs. Ervin Santana. Felix Hernandez vs. Jered Weaver. You’ve been waiting for it, now call it. How do you see the three games going, and where will the Mariners be when the series ends and they head out on a four-city trip through Cleveland, Toronto, New York and Detroit? It’s crunch time. You make the call.
Categories: General
• 4 comments
Saturday, August 25th, 2007
Posted by Larry LaRue @ 09:33:03 pm
For those who don’t remember the last three years – or don’t choose to – the Seattle Mariners put together a little reminder against the Texas Rangers. Two errors, each disastrous. Two hits in 15 at-bats with runners in scoring position. One hanging changeup turned into a three-run home run. Going into Saturday night 20 games above .500, the Mariners had almost let their fans forget games like this one. Even in defeat, they had chances – even in the ninth inning – to tie or win the game. “Uncharacteristic,” manager John McLaren said. Thank God. Horacio Ramirez continued to pitch his way out of a season-long funk and deserved a better fate. Coming in with a 7.15 earned run average, Ramirez had beaten Minnesota in his last start, then shut down Texas for 4 2/3 innings. He got a ground ball that should have been the final out of the fifth, but Adrian Beltre threw it away. Given the chance to pick up his third baseman, Ramirez threw a changeup that did the wrong thing and floated over the plate. Ian Kinsler turned it into a three-run home run that tied the game. All the runs were unearned, and Ramirez’s ERA dropped to 6.67. Another Beltre error in the seventh inning set Texas up, and then Rangers catcher Gerald Laird got a suicide squeeze bunt down – despite having the pitch thrown at his head. “It was either get the bunt down or eat through a straw,” he said. Veteran Rick White was on the mound, saw the runner break from third and did what coaches tell pitchers to do in that situation. I threw at his face,” White said. “Most times, the batter gets out of the way and you make the play at the plate. You look at the replay, Laird’s bat is directly in front of his face when he bunts that ball. He made a great play.” Maybe that’s one of the differences between 2007 and, say, any season since 2003. Even on a night when they don’t hit, field or pitch their best, it takes a great play to beat the Mariners this year. Friday, August 24th, 2007
Posted by Larry LaRue @ 09:28:09 pm
If you live in the Northwest, you probably begin to stumble when temperatures hit the 90s – the kind of heat the folks in Texas don’t notice. Down here, where they had a month of 100 degree temperatures last summer, 90s is spring weather. Which gives the Texas Rangers a sizeable advantage on the opposition during summer months. The Mariners won the first two games of their series in Arlington with both starting pitchers – first Jeff Weaver, then Felix Hernandez – exiting after six innings. By the eighth inning Friday, the e-mail was already demanding John McLaren’s head for pulling Hernandez out prematurely. Rest yourselves. It wasn’t a quick hook. “The heat was killing me,” Hernandez said. “My shirt weighed about three pounds. I wanted to go deeper, but it was so hot out there.” It was so hot that Saturday’s batting practice was canceled by McLaren, who planned to rest center fielder Ichiro Suzuki and shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt, too. The heat and humidity take a toll on visiting players, and McLaren isn’t about to exhaust his starting pitchers or position players here before a huge three-game series at home with the Angels beginning Monday. McLaren doesn’t want his team looking ahead, but as a manager he must. If babying his starting pitchers in weather they rarely work in keeps them fresher, that’s good decision-making On Thursday, Weaver told the Mariners he was done after six innings. Hernandez wanted to go deeper into the game, but admitted he was fried. Five weeks before the end of the season is too early to push pitchers beyond their limits. A month from now, McLaren and the team may have to demand more.
Categories: General
• 2 comments
Thursday, August 23rd, 2007
Posted by Larry LaRue @ 09:35:37 pm
 Not everyone agrees with any one major league manager, and certainly not all Seattle fans – especially the ones who visit here – are in the court of John Lowell McLaren. He has steadfastly stuck with veterans when others clamored for change. In July, fans and much of the media wanted Adam Jones in left field every day for Raul Ibanez – and they wanted anyone at first base except Richie Sexson. Jeff Weaver and Horacio Ramirez have stretched everyone’s patience. McLaren stood with each, and if the fans and media didn’t appreciate it, his team did. They’re 14-6 this month. “John is always positive, he’s always got your back,” Jose Vidro said. “He’s told us all from the start, ‘Don’t try to be The Guy. Trust yourself, but trust your teammates. We all have to do the job.’ “Has he been an influence in here? Yes, sir, he has. He knows veterans have been through this before, and he’s stayed with us.” Ichiro Suzuki, as always, had a unique perspective on the man who has been manager since July 2. “The person who isn’t always honest cannot see that. The honest person can. John sees through dishonesty.” For his part, McLaren has followed his mind and heart. “I believe in people, and I’ve seen these guys go through the pain of struggling,” McLaren said. “I’ve seen how hard they work behind the scenes. You give me players who play with passion, with heart and intensity – and you put them in an environment where they can relax – and you have the best chance to see them reach their full potential. “Yeah, I’m honest with guys. And sometimes that’s not always positive, but I try to keep it positive. The team comes first, always.” Since taking the job upon Mike Hargrove’s departure, McLaren has survived a seven-game losing streak and the team is 27-20. “During that streak, he got a taste of what it’s like to have to be the guy answering all the questions,” George Sherrill said. “He had our backs. He didn’t change. He stayed positive and showed he believed in us. That meant a lot.” McLaren hasn't yet won the favor of all Mariners fans, and may never. That's the nature of the job. More important, he has his team believing that, against all prognostications in spring, it can get to and win a World Series.
Categories: General
• 4 comments
Posted by Larry LaRue @ 02:46:44 pm
Rick White, the very definition of a journeyman reliever, is in uniform with the Seattle Mariners in Texas – one of the many major league uniforms he’s worn in a pro career that began in 1990. “I’ve been with 13 teams, some of them more than once,” White said. “My dad says I should just keep pitching until I’ve played for all the teams.” A 38-year-old right-hander, White was released by the Houston Astros last month, picked up by Seattle and had been closing games with the AAA Tacoma Rainiers when he was brought up. Sent down in the transaction was lefty John Parrish. “After what happened in Minnesota, we needed a fresh arm in the bullpen and Rick had been pitching well,” said Jim Na, the team director of baseball administration. In seven appearances with Tacoma, White went 1-1 with two saves and a 1.00 earned run average. Twice on the disabled list with Houston this season, he was 1-0 there with a 7.67 ERA “I went home for three weeks and thought that might be it, now I’m in a pennant race,” White said. “It’s a funny game. I’m here to try to help these guys keep winning.” Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007
Posted by Larry LaRue @ 01:53:58 pm
After they won the series from Minnesota and headed for a plane to Texas, the Seattle Mariners allowed themselves to look ahead to a four-game series against the Rangers. “We owe them,” Miguel Batista said. Do they ever. A year ago, the Mariners beat Tampa Bay when Jarrod Washburn shut out the Devil Rays, and flew to Texas with a 56-57 record and high hopes. The Rangers then swept that four-game series and started Seattle’s infamous 11-game losing streak. Adios, any shot at a winning record. Just three weeks ago, the Mariners limped into Texas after losing two in a row to Toronto and were swept again. And yes, it was another four-game series. “I don’t think there’s any danger of our looking past Texas to the series at home with the Angels,” manager John McLaren said. Nice as it might be to look ahead to those first-place Angels, the Mariners can’t afford to. They know all too well what can happen to them in Arlington if they’re not totally focused on the Rangers. They need three wins here. They’d love a sweep. Then they can look at the Angels.
Categories: General
• 4 comments
Monday, August 20th, 2007
Posted by Larry LaRue @ 08:43:33 pm
 In the Why Doesn’t My General Manager Dump This Bum And Get A Better Player File, place Horacio Ramirez. Fans have listed every option they could think of and demanded Bill Bavasi pick one this month, and with Ramirez it was hard to see any upside to not making a move. He went into his start against the Twins with a 7.38 earned run average. He came out with one of 7.15, and while that won’t staunch the calls for his removal from the roster, it was a huge step in the search for a No. 5 starter down the stretch. GMs don’t have the luxury of burying players they acquire – if they did, they’d all be employed forever and no team would ever stop moving players. What the Mariners saw in Ramirez when they acquired him wasn’t a dominant left-handed pitcher, but a winning one – and as bad as he’s been this season, Ramirez has won eight games. This one, he earned. He allowed two runs in the first seven innings, two more in the eighth when Jose Lopez simply blanked after fielding a double play grounder. That led to two more ‘earned’ runs that never should have scored. What will Ramirez give Seattle in the next five weeks? With new mechanics and renewed confidence – plus a lot of runs – he might give them what all teams hope for from their fifth starter. The chance to win.
Categories: General
• 13 comments
Posted by Larry LaRue @ 01:27:36 pm
Sometimes the contribution to a team doesn’t come on the field – and Willie Bloomquist and Ben Broussard are the two most obvious examples for the Seattle Mariners. Both have had game-winning moments this season, but neither has had the chance to play regularly, despite injuries and slumps by teammates. Not once has either gone public with obvious disappointment. Instead, each has remained a solid teammate and a factor in the clubhouse. Broussard is a guitar-playing, song-writing entertainer who keeps team flights loose and is always being asked to play this song or that one. Bloomquist is the more in-your-face teammate, the man at the heart of most pranks. Neither is certain of his future in Seattle. Broussard has little choice – he’s arbitration eligible. Bloomquist is signed through next year, but has talked to the front office about being dealt or even voiding the final year of his deal to test free agency. They are, John McLaren will tell you, valuable pieces of the ’07 team. But the team hasn’t turned to Broussard often during Richie Sexson’s 4 ½ month struggle at the plate, and since Mike Hargrove resigned neither Broussard nor Bloomquist has played as often. Their contributions over these final weeks may be minor on the field, but they’ve been large off it. Neither wants to become a distraction and both want to be part of what they hope will be a playoff team. Bloomquist and Broussard are doing more than their share, considering how little has been asked of them.
Categories: General
• 3 comments
Saturday, August 18th, 2007
Posted by Larry LaRue @ 10:27:27 pm
The one thing anyone who follows Major League Baseball has to learn eventually is that what a player does in April – or even April, May, June and July – doesn’t necessarily dictate what they can do in August. Put another way, players who seem done at one stage of a season can and often do dramatically rebound. Sometimes it takes a trade. And sometimes is doesn’t. No one who saw Jeff Weaver start the year 0-6, then head for the disabled list, was anxious to have the right-hander come back to the Seattle rotation. And even though he was pitching better, the same Weaver went 0-4 in July. Weaver is 3-0 with a 2.79 ERA in August. Similarly, outfielder Raul Ibanez struggled with back, shoulder and hamstring injuries and on Aug. 7 was batting .253 with six home runs. Ibanez is batting .439 with seven home runs and 17 RBI in August. As a team, the Mariners are 10-5 this month and are now two games back in the American League West. Yes, they might have the division lead if Weaver had started fast or Ibanez had been healthy all year.
Categories: General
• 8 comments
Friday, August 17th, 2007
Posted by Larry LaRue @ 11:01:27 pm
 There’s a reason Seattle manager John McLaren hasn’t pulled Jose Vidro out of the lineup to make room for Adam Jones or anyone else – and Vidro helped win a game Friday to remind anyone who wondered why. Veterans like Vidro understand the value of small things, and work to get them done. Two sacrifice flies against the Chicago White Sox pushed home two of the five runs it took to win the game. That gave Vidro five sacrifice flies this month. None of them was accidental. “You get a runner on third base with less than two outs, your at-bat is all about getting that run home,” Vidro said. “In batting practice, I work on doing that – on hitting a little under the ball to get a run home with a fly ball. “It’s a little thing you realize the longer you play: The more you practice those things, the likelier it is you do the job when it matters.” Jose Guillen, who scored Seattle’s final run from second base on an infield single, praised Vidro’s work. “Home runs don’t always win games, little things do. Jose knows how to do the little things that win games.”
Categories: General
• 4 comments
Wednesday, August 15th, 2007
Posted by Larry LaRue @ 01:38:09 pm
 Horacio Ramirez will stay in the Seattle rotation for the simplest of reasons – the Mariners don’t see an alternative good enough to make a change. Manager John McLaren said before Wednesday’s game that Ramirez, 7-4 with a 7.38 ERA, will make his next scheduled start. It will come in Minneapolis against the same Twins who pounded him Tuesday night. What the team hopes to do with Ramirez between now and then is put some differential in velocity in his pitches, make better use of his fastball and tinker just a bit with his changeup grip. There are no options in the Seattle bullpen, no one who’s pitched so well he’s ready to move from relief to rotation. Pitchers who might have been able to start early in the season – like rookie Brandon Morrow – have been used all year in short relief situations. Extending them to five or six innings isn’t practical. And in the minor leagues, the Mariners don’t have a pitcher breaking down the door to the majors. Ryan Feierabend isn’t pitching poorly, nor is he pitching great. Justin Lehr has pitched consistently well but isn’t on the 40-man roster. For now, the Mariners will stick with Ramirez as their No. 5 starter and hope he keeps the opposition close and that their offense wins a few more games for him. Once the September rosters expand, Feierabend and Cha Seung Baek become better options because bringing them up won’t necessitate sending someone out. It’s not a perfect solution, but the only one the team thinks makes sense.
Categories: General
• 7 comments
Tuesday, August 14th, 2007
Posted by Larry LaRue @ 01:58:00 pm
One of the best beat writers in the Northwest, Kirby Arnold of the Everett Herald, had a great column Sunday – the top 10 baseball moments he’d seen. No hitters? Playoff wins? A day at the park with dad? Think a bit and roll them out. They don’t have to have anything to do with the Mariners, just your personal favorites. So here we go: Your three favorite baseball moments.
Categories: General
• 11 comments
Sunday, August 12th, 2007
Posted by Larry LaRue @ 03:03:38 pm
Back in the dark ages, when the earth was still cooling, there was a great pitching matchup in the Kingdome. It was 1988 and Boston was in town. Mark Langston vs. Roger Clemens. The game drew 17,000 – and a lot of people in the media wondered just how Seattle was ever going to be known as a baseball town with crowds like that for games that should have drawn more. Tonight, near where the Kingdome was imploded, Seattle will host Minnesota, and the pitching matchup is about as good as you could hope for – Felix Hernandez vs. Johan Santana. Good seats still remain – about 16,000 of them – but at least advance ticket sales are about 26,000 for this one. Seattle has long ago run down the theory it wasn’t a baseball town. It did that drawing three million fans to the park one season. At least one Mariner, though, is hoping Seattle fans will turn out this home stand and bring cheers with them. The last time the Mariners were at home, Richie Sexson remembers the boos. “I thought they were a little boo-friendly just before we left Safeco Field last time,” Sexson said. “Me? I earned it. I deserved it. Some other guys didn’t, though. I don’t think all our fans have bought into this team yet. That’s a shame. “I think we have a great team.” At worst, it’s a good team on a great run. Against teams they could easily have let down against – Baltimore and Chicago – the Mariners went 5-1 on their six-game trip. Take Sexson’s thoughts or leave them. Cheer or boo or both, as the game dictates. But show up and enjoy tonight’s game, or tune in and watch or listen. Seattle is a baseball town – and this is baseball worth enjoying.
Categories: General
• 15 comments
Saturday, August 11th, 2007
Posted by Larry LaRue @ 09:32:41 pm
The Seattle Mariners will awaken Sunday morning with 64 victories in their first 114 games, and if you need a reminder of how far they’ve come since 2006, consider this. Last year they won their 64th game on Sept. 2 in Game No. 135. No, they’re not a perfect team, nor a first-place team. They have an over-achieving group of players that, occasionally, reminds you how far they’ve come and how far they still have to go. Arguably, shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt cost them a game Friday with a terrible throw on a relay to the plate. Instead of making that throw overhand and putting something on it, he hurried a sidearm throw home that sailed high and away. Jermaine Dye, no speedy runner, scored the go-ahead run. Infield coach Carlos Garcia had a long talk with Betancourt, who’d made the same mistake in Baltimore. “You have to remember, Yuniesky didn’t have a lot of minor league experience, so he’s learning on the job,” manager John McLaren said. On Saturday night in the ninth inning, closer J.J. Putz served up a thigh-high inside fastball that rookie third baseman Josh Fields hit for a grand slam – startling in large part because that simply hasn’t happened much this year to Putz. He recovered, got the final three outs and his 34th save. It’s been a season where the team hasn’t gotten much from Jeff Weaver or Horacio Ramirez – two fifths of its starting rotation – or from pitcher Chris Reitsma. Yes, there have been issues, including manager Mike Hargrove’s mid-season resignation. McLaren inherited a team that was stunned by that resignation, one that stumbled early in part because Sexson, Raul Ibanez and Jose Guillen all slumped at once. Now, Guillen has heated up and Ibanez has gone nuclear – five home runs and 11 RBI in the last five games, four of those wins. McLaren is trying to take a team playing slightly over its head and keep it pushing forward. Jones is ready to play and McLaren knows it as well as anyone. In time, Jones will be a regular. For now, McLaren is riding the horses that have made this team go all year, the guys who have improbably rebounded from slumps and forged a chemistry where they expect to win. For Mariners fans, it’s time for a little patience and more than a little appreciation. These guys are playing baseball that’s far more exciting and watchable than anything they produced over the last three years.
Categories: General
• 14 comments
Friday, August 10th, 2007
Posted by Larry LaRue @ 09:04:52 pm
Let’s start with the obvious – second-guessing in baseball in so common it’s become a part of every fan’s right. In New York in May, Yankees fans wanted Joe Torre’s head. Now that the Yankees are back to within five games of Boston? Not so much. Coming out of spring training, Mariners fans wanted Bill Bavasi and Mike Hargrove fired, predicting another losing season. So here we are, into August, and the Seattle Mariners are 63-50. And the man most folks mentioned when they discussed firing Hargrove – John McLaren – is a manager under whom the team has gone 18-17. The e-mails coming in blame McLaren and it’s easy to see why. Adam Jones isn’t playing. Richie Sexson is. Therefore, McLaren is killing the Mariners. Everyone gets an opinion, but only McLaren has to make the decision. Bavasi has not told him to play Sexson – or not to play Jones. McLaren’s reliance on the veterans he has is entirely his choice. He has stuck by Sexson and Raul Ibanez, Jose Vidro and Jose Guillen. Ibanez, Vidro and Guillen have responded marvelously this week. Even Sexson has shown signs of life at the plate. McLaren will spot-start Ben Broussard and Jones, but almost certainly will stick with his decision to use the Mariners veterans more often. This is a man who has waited most of his life to manage and, given the chance, is going to do it his way. You have the right to second-guess him and pull your hair out after every loss. That’s not about to change how McLaren feels or how he manages. He asks a lot from his pitching staff, demands maximum effort from his position players and has mixed-and-matched lineups since taking over. The team is in far better position than most anyone expected in April. Accept it or not, McLaren is his own man and will manage his own game.
Categories: General
• 20 comments
Thursday, August 9th, 2007
Posted by Larry LaRue @ 09:18:23 pm
The feel-good story of the summer – at least until Adam Jones arrived – was comeback reliever Mark Lowe, who fought back from major elbow surgery last year to pitch again out of the Seattle bullpen. When the Mariners acquired veteran lefty John Parrish on Thursday, it was in part because of Lowe. “Basically, we can’t use Mark in back-to-back games yet,” assistant general manager Lee Pelekoudas said. “That limits what we can do out of the bullpen on days after Mark’s pitched. “Now we have the luxury of keeping Parrish and giving Mark regular work in Taoma. He’ll pitch every other day for them, get his arm strength up, and be back in September if not earlier.” Lowe, 24, understood completely. “Right now, after I pitch I handcuff us the next day,” he said. “I look at this as the final baby step in my comeback, getting stronger and to the point where I can pitch two games, three games in a row. “I’m lucky to be pitching at all. I’m lucky to have the opportunity to play in the major leagues. Part of this business is handling the ups and downs, and I’ve handled them all so far. I’ll handle this one and get back.” No matter what Parrish does for Seattle – and the Mariners like him looking ahead to 2008 – Lowe showed again why the team loves him. The kid can pitch, and he can take one for the team when it’s required.
Categories: General
• 5 comments
Posted by Larry LaRue @ 12:46:02 pm
For everyone who wanted the Mariners to make a deal at the trading deadline, here’s a deal pulled off today – minor league outfielder Sebastien Boucher for Baltimore left-handed reliever John Parrish. There’s a Seattle player to be named later involved, and the move gives the Mariners four lefties in their bullpen – George Sherrill, Eric O’Flaherty, Ryan Rowland-Smith and Parrish. To make room for Parrish, feel-good story of the summer Mark Lowe was optioned to Tacoma. Parrish is coming off two years of rehab from ‘Tommy John’ surgery and other elbow ailments, and this season appeared in 45 games for the Orioles, going 2-2 with a 5.40 earned run average. What’s the impact? At 30, Parrish is a veteran and the Mariners clearly prefer experience to inexperience as they push down the stretch in the American League West. Clubhouse reaction – including that of manager John McLaren – will be posted a bit later.
Categories: General
• 6 comments
Wednesday, August 8th, 2007
Posted by Larry LaRue @ 09:23:14 pm
A Chicago White Sox scout asked if the Seattle Mariners were planning on playing Adam Jones fulltime this month, and told that wasn’t going to happen said something intriguing. “Man, that’s a great situation for the kid if you’re got the luxury of doing it,” the scout said. “You let him play a little, watch a lot and get a feel for the game up here. You let him relax.” Jones is learning on the fly again, something he barely remembers doing in a call up last year. In games he has started on the bench, he’s subbed late – playing left, center and right field – and pinch-run. “Finding playing time for Adam isn’t a priority,” manager John McLaren said Wednesday. “He deserves to be here, there’s nothing more for him to prove in AAA. This isn’t a knock on Adam at all – this was the plan from the beginning.” In the last two days, against Baltimore pitching, Raul Ibanez, Jose Vidro and Jose Guillen have all had big games and even Richie Sexson has kicked in three hits. Veterans are going to have the priority over Jones, McLaren said. The kid will play a bit, and so will Ben Broussard, who wasn’t available Tuesday and arrived in Baltimore after the birth of his daughter just in time to watch the Wednesday game start. Truth is, the Mariners do have the luxury of not having to throw Jones into the fire of a pennant race. Is he nervous? Of course – he dropped a routine fly ball in center field Sunday. But each day he’s here, he’s more at home. And veterans, including Guillen, have spent a lot of time talking to him about hitting, about opposing pitchers and what he can expect. Almost certainly, he’ll be a better player for it. Without a doubt, he’d rather be playing.
Categories: General
• 8 comments
Tuesday, August 7th, 2007
Posted by Larry LaRue @ 10:04:16 pm
The thing about a pennant race – something the Seattle Mariners and their fans haven’t been in the last three seasons – is that it takes a village just to stay in one. If the Mariners want to catch the Angels or win the wild card, it’s going to take more than Adam Jones. And more than Raul Ibanez. It’s going to take every man on the 25-man roster, and probably contributions from a few September call ups. Slumping players don’t always emerge from their funks, but down the stretch veterans often do. They have been here before. They know the importance of every game and, as the season winds down, every at-bat. Ibanez won a game for Seattle in Baltimore on Tuesday. Jones may win won here, too – or in Chicago, or back in Seattle. To contend, it’s going to take everything the Mariners have, and that includes Jeff Weaver and Horacio Ramirez. It includes Jamie Burke and Richie Sexson. In fact, the Mariners will need something from everybody’s least favorite player, whoever that may be. Sexson and Ibanez aren’t going to be benched. Ben Broussard and Jones are going to get playing time, but they’re not going to start every game. What Ibanez did Tuesday was serve up a reminder – every player in Major League Baseball is there because he can still play. Maybe not as well as his best fans or worst critics would like, but well enough to win a game when it matters. It was great to see Ibanez rejoin the race. It will be as much fun when Jones or Sexson or Adrian Beltre or Jose Vidro carries off a much needed win over the next eight weeks.
Categories: General
• 10 comments
Posted by Larry LaRue @ 11:27:19 am
A trip through Baltimore and Chicago this week should give the Mariners the chance for a great trip – a 4-2 record would be the realistic expectation against two teams out of the running. That’s in theory. The reality is, Seattle is once again going to have to rely on two key starting pitchers, Jeff Weaver and Horacio Ramirez, to do considerably more than they did in their last starts. Both Weaver and Ramirez lasted four innings in starts last week, and asking the Seattle bullpen to eat more than half a game does more than risk one game. It puts Mariners relievers in jeopardy of being overworked – and in August and September, that just cannot continue. It’s supposed to be well over 100 degrees today in Baltimore, and Seattle players – like Northwest residents – aren’t used to that heat or the high humidity that accompanies it here. All the more reason for every starting pitcher to take the pledge this week: Six innings, minimum. Do that, John McLaren can mix and match for the final nine outs. Fail, and a very winnable trip may turn into a disaster.
Categories: General
• 4 comments
Friday, August 3rd, 2007
Posted by Larry LaRue @ 11:07:31 pm
 Adam Jones energized the crowd, the Seattle bullpen ate up five innings and Yuniesky Betancourt continued to emerge as a force for the Mariners. Not a bad way to start a three-game series against Boston. Jones had two hits, and somehow worried veteran reliever Mike Timlin into one error and another huge mistake, leading to the go-ahead run in Seattle’s 7-4 victory. As for Betancourt, the 25-year-old shortstop hit his sixth home run of the year – and all six have put Seattle ahead. He added a fourth RBI and, in the ninth inning, made a spectacular play – throwing Julio Lugo out from his knees. “Before every pitch is thrown, I think about ways to get the hitter out,” Betancourt said. “That was a good one.” The same could be said of Betancourt. Over his last 20 games, he’s batting .373, he leads the team with 12 game-winning RBI and is fun to watch play defense. The kid can play.
Categories: General
• 6 comments
Posted by Larry LaRue @ 02:43:46 pm
 The arrival of Adam Jones – No. 1 in your hearts, No. 10 on the field – is going to be the first major challenge for manager John McLaren. He’s already survived a seven-game losing streak. Now, he has to deal with getting veteran players their at-bats, giving Jones a reason to be in the majors and keeping clubhouse chemistry from going off-line. Jones is an outfielder on a team with three regulars, and while he will mix his playing time in left field with Raul Ibanez, his arrival is going to impact Ibanez, DH Jose Vidro and Ben Broussard. All three are veteran professionals. None is going to enjoy sitting on the bench in a pennant race. It’s amazing, but for the first four months of the season, not one position player went down with an injury requiring time on the DL – and the team had used the same 13 players all season. Now, that mix will change. Jason Ellison has been designated for assignment, left field will become a daily matchup against whoever the opposition is pitching. The DH is likely to involve several players. And Broussard? McLaren isn’t about to fully bench Richie Sexson, and with Jones on hand Broussard isn’t going to get many at-bats as an outfielder. How it all works out will likely mean the difference between making the post-season and going home with a much-improved record this season. McLaren’s job is to make it all work smoothly. Something to keep in mind in the weeks to come. Upon Jones arrival, the Mariners were 12 games over .500.
Categories: General
• 5 comments
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Mariners Insider
Ryan Divish has been with The News Tribune since 2006, covering the Tacoma Rainiers and high school sports. Divish played baseball at Dickinson State University and also earned a journalism degree from the University of Montana. You will find news, observations, anecdotes, analysis and photographs on this blog. The purpose is to keep readers informed, but also give them a feel for the team and its players, and a place to go to read about baseball. Category
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