Mariner Report
What a great week! 6 and 0. After loosing the series against the Twins last
week, we swept them in four this week. We also came out of the week with a
5-game lead over the A's. Things are going so well that Freddy Garcia won two
games. Interleague play starts Tuesday. I have to admit that this time of the
year scares me because there are just so many unknowns when we play the NL
teams. It was this time last year when things turned around in the AL West; the
A's and Angels got hot for the rest of the year after having success against the
NL teams. However, the interleague schedule does work quite nicely for the M's.
We drew the weakest NL division (NL East). The Braves are the only really strong
team we'll have to face. Then, when interleague switches to "Geographic Rival"
week, we really come out good: Six games against the 16-40 San Diego Padres,
while the rest of the division looks like this: Rangers vs. Astros, A's vs.
Giants, and Angels vs. Dodgers. Our interleague schedule starts off with
Philadalphia. Jamie Moyer will be going for his ML leading 9th win against Kevin
Millwood. Millwood is the toughest pitcher we'll face for all of the interleague
games. We finish the week with a series against the Mets, before returning home
for the Braves and Expos. As of this very moment we are tied with the Braves for
the best record in baseball (although the Braves have not yet played today), so
this series should be especially interesting. Ichiro and Edgar Martinez are
currently leading in votes at their positions for the All-Star game. I expect
they'll both hang on to those leads. Bret Boone and Jamie Moyer will likely make
the team as reserves. Boone hit his 200th career home run this week, and John
Olerud is just 11 hits away from 2,000.
Mariner of the Week: I have to give an honorable mention to Freddy Garcia for
his 2 wins and to Joel Pineiro for his shutout of the Twins. I have not been
able to make a decision for just one winner this week, so we'll have our first
ever tie for the MOW. Bret Boone and Edgar Martinez were both fantastic this
week. Boone went 12 for 32 (.375) with 4 doubles, 4 homer runs, and 10 RBI's.
Edgar went 11 for 30 (.367) and also had 4 homer runs and 10 RBI's. If both of
these guys maintain their pace for 40+ homers and 130+ RBI's we'll be in good
shape the rest of the year.