I’ve found that not enough blogs talk about the mariners when they do well.   They only enjoy talking about how terrible they’ve been or how good Felix is.   I believe this to be because it jeopardizes their own self verification of how bad they think this team is, and how Bill Bavasi is an incompetent retard.   They can talk about how fat Jose Vidro is and how bad he blows, and how Beltre was a terrible investment, but when those same players have a very  successful game, those same people tend to get busy for a couple of days and not even talk about how even for this one game, the lineup clicked together and they beat the **** out of the rangers.

   Now do I think this is a harbinger of things to come?   No, not to this extent, but I do think this lineup is better than the one that has shown itself the first week of the season and they proved so yesterday.   I hope like all **** they keep it up, but they probably won’t.   Plain and simple, but I for one am not afraid for one day to eat my words and say this lineup did really well yesterday and looked like a team that can really do some damage this year.    Lets just hope that even a shadow of the team that showed up yesterday perpetuates throughout the year, because if it does, then I really feel good about our chances.   Good night.

   The Rainiers got shutout by Tim Lincecum and Fresno by a score of 2 to 0.   Lincecum dominated Rainier hitters to the tune of 9 strikeouts in 7 innings while allowing just 2 hits.   Why the Giants are keeping this kid in the minors is beyond me, he has proven himself at every level he’s been at and is probably the most major league ready arm in the minors right now.   We’ll see how long San Fran sticks to their guns on this one.   I saw Lincecum pitch last year at UW and it was just unfair how bad he made those college kids look. Adam Jones had a hit, that was about it as far as noteworthy contributions from the rainiers.

   The D-Jaxx defeated Jacksonville by a score of 3 to 1 with Tui going 1 for 2 with a couple of walks.    I haven’t been able to actually watch Tui play this year, but here in the early going he appears to be swinging the bat much better than he has since he started playing professionally.

   Wisconsin’s game was postponed AGAIN due to weather, so hopefully we can get some of those young kids in some games instead of hindering their progress.   Still waiting for Anthony Butler and Chris Tillman to make their debuts.   Well that’s it for today, hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. 

  Hey, sorry I haven’t posted in a few days, been kinda busy lately.   There’s not much I can say about Felix that hasn’t been said by a million other writers and bloggers, but watching him pitch these last 2 games has reminded me of Pedro Martinez in his prime.   The way Felix can throw any one of his pitches for a strike at any time in the count, coupled with the unbelievable movement on his fastball makes him arguably the best pitcher in baseball this year and for years to come.   There’s nobody who even comes close when it comes to felix’s stuff and it’s almost unfair how incompetent he makes quality major league hitters look up at the plate.    I don’t think I’ve ever had as much fun watching somebody pitch as much as Felix and I will mark every day he pitches on my calendar for the rest of the year and so should you.   LONG LIVE THE KING!!!

Am I the only one who thinks Ichiro’s comment in todays Seattle Times was a little strange?    http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/mariners/2003659814_matsuzaka10.html

   Ichiro said in reference to facing Matsuzaka " I hope he arouses the fire that is dormant in the innermost recesses of my soul."   That’s some pretty deep stuff.  I swear sometimes Ichiro thinks he’s Socrates reincarnated or something.   

    But anyways, what I got from that comment is that Ichiro was basically saying that playing with the mariners these past 3 years and having a losing record in each one has killed his fire for the game and the only thing that can get that fire back is by engaging in little trivial matchups throughout the course of the season, instead of already having a fire burning inside to win a world series with this baseball team. 

    I don’t like comments like that, and that type of stuff coupled with the comments Ichiro made earlier in the year about playing for himself and the team will prosper, kinda leads me to believe that he doesn’t want and probably will not be back with the M’s next year and will probably leave for a team that can start up that "fire" for him once again.   But I’ll say one thing, unless Ichiro starts swingin the bat better than he has to start this season then the only fire he’s gonna be lighting is the ones under the hot seats of Bill Bavasi and Mike Hargrove.

I’ve decided that in my minor league updates that I’m only going to write about the mariners who are actually prospects and if they did well.   I’d like to get more in depth, but in reality I’m just some clown paying to even have this blog and I don’t even know if anyone reads it, so if you actually do read this and like it, then let me know and I’ll make it a bit more detailed.

The Rainiers lost to Fresno today by a score of 7 – 6, but all that really matters is that top prospect Adam Jones went 3 for 5 with a double and is hitting .391 so far this year.   Jeff Clement also finished 3 for 5 with a couple doubles himself along with 2 RBI’s, so I’d say it was a good day for the top 2 prospects in the M’s system.

  In AA ball the D-Jaxx won by a score of 3 to 1 today with Matt Tuiasosopo going 2 for 4 with a double, and Tui’s starting the season strong with a .429 Batting average, so lets hope he keeps it up.

   Wisconsin got crushed today 11 to 1, but noone good pitched and Carlos Triunfel got another hit, so I’m happy enough with that result.   Remember that name folks, Carlos Triunfel.  The kid’s 17 years old and extremely talented.

  Well there it is, that’s about all ya need to know in todays mariner minors.

Today was just downright ugly.   Jeff Weaver proved to be the 8 million dollar a year crappy fifth starter we all knew he could be, and I can’t say I was the least bit surprised.    We can all say his pitching today (or lack thereof) had something to do with the long layoff, and it very well could have, but the bottom line is when you fall behind big league hitters and you don’t have an overpowering fastball, you tend to throw nice fat ones right over the plate that get the **** hit out of them.   That is what happened to Jeff Weaver today and something that I could see play out for the rest of the year. Weaver would continually fall behind hitters 2-0 and 3-1, then throw a nice fat one over the plate with a big hit me sign on it.   Not a good omen of things to come.

   As for the hitters, they got mowed down by an extremely talented pitcher who was on his game today, plain and simple.   I feel like even if we had Felix pitching this one it might’ve been tough with the way Josh Beckett was throwin the ball.

   This game had apparently lost its luster until the 8th inning when Jose Guillen stepped up to the plate to face sox pitcher Brendan Donnely (aka Billy Badass). 

         Donnely and Guillen of course being the two stars of last years "Pinetargate" in which Guillen, a former teammate of Donnely’s alerted his manager to the fact that Donnely liked to pitch with a bit of pine tar on his glove which in baseball is known as cheating, and after 3 suspense filled pitches Guillen was down on strikes. That shoulda been the end of it right? wrong. Instead,Brendan Donnely thought to himself "There ya go Brendan, good job.  Ya got the guy back, your wiener is bigger than his.   Your team is kicking the **** out of the mariners and you just struck out the guy who tattled on you last year.  Good for you."   But apparently that wasn’t good enough for him, because Donnelly felt like he had to say a few choice words to Guillen to show off his manliness, and as a result, it took exactly 4 games for us mariner fans to enjoy our first Jose Guillen related altercation.   Good times.   (The over/under in vegas was actually 15 games, so I’m sure a few people made out pretty well.)

   THEN as if Donnelly hadn’t shown to the whole world yet what a manly man he was, he decided to hit the next batter in Kenji Johjima as if he even had a reason to hit ANYONE!.  What the **** did Johjima have to do with anything?   Donnely had a problem with Guillen and he took care of it the best way you can, on the field.   Why then involve the next guy to step up to the plate?  And not only that, but the THE GUY HAD A FREAKIN 12 RUN LEAD!!!!!  Why rub it in anymore?  What an a$$clown.   

I hope Felix just drills Julio Lugo in the ribs with some 98mph heat with the first pitch tomorrow, because beaning Johjima was just ridiculous and we need to let the Red Sox and the rest of the league know we’re not gonna take **** like that from anyone.  But regardless, let’s just look forward to the greatest pitching matchup this young season has bestowed upon us.   Should be a great one.   Felix vs. Dice-k  @ 4:05 for all us west coasters.   Can’t wait.

The Rainiers got annihilated today By Fresno by a score of 16-1.   Jim Parque didn’t fare too well in his attempted return to baseball by going 4 innings and giving up 7 earned runs on 6 hits.   The Rainier hitters followed suit with Wladimir Balentein doing the lone damage with a pair of doubles and an RBI.

The AA D-Jaxx won by a score of 9-2 today behind the hitting of Right Fielder Brent Johnson and his first inning grand slam. While the pitching provided an effort by 4 pitchers after starter Jonathan Woerman had to leave after 2.2 innings.

   Wisconsin was cancelled yet again due to weather, further delaying the anticipated debuts of top prospects Anthony Butler and Chris Tillman.   If these two guys pitch well this year, this could turn out to be one of the best drafts in mariners history (’06)  But we shall see.  Once this godawful weather leaves the country it will make me happy on a lot of fronts.

I’m so sick of this, all I wanted to do this weekend is watch a few mariners games and possibly a doubleheader, and considering I barely ever get weekends off and was planning on spending it watching mariners games is a testament to how much I want to see this team, and all 4 games are cancelled.   

   Now the mariners are already technically 4 games behind the angels to start the season, and have to look at the whole season thinking "If we’re less than 3 games back of whoever is in the lead at the end of the year then we can make the playoffs"   But that shouldn’t even be an issue at this moment. Major League Baseball needs to do something about this scheduling in early April in cold climates.   

Our team has now not played baseball in 5 consecutive days and our hitters are being forced to have to attempt to get their timing down all over again.  It’ll be like opening day, but worse.   

The only good thing we get to see from this debacle is that these weather delays have caused one of the most interesting pitching matchups of the season.    Dice-K vs. Felix Hernandez on Dice-K’s hometown debut.    These guys won’t only be dueling for their teams, but possibly the 2007 Cy Young.   

   There’s nothing I can do about this unfortunate turn of events in Cleveland because they have already come and gone, but I hope something is done about this issue in the future in order to adequately allow all Major League teams to get out of the gate at the same pace instead of possibly setting a team back right at the start of the season. 

  But whatever, lets all just look to the future to this Boston series and hope we get the chance to bash Joel Pineiro’s balls in.   Sox home opener @10:05 Am on MLB.TV.    Go M’s

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