In this very special nail-in-the-coffin edition of MR, I'm going to truncate the usual leadoff info and get to the broader picture. We went 1 and 5 and got swept by Texas. We have Texas again and St. Louis this week. Joel Pineiro has the double duty.
What little hope the Mariner nation had left for the 2004 season is gone. Our season is over, and I'll tel you when it ended: When Alfonso Soriano hit his 18th-inning home run off Jamie Moyer to give Texas the sweep - that was it. I told Amy at that time that Freddy Garcia would be gone in the next few weeks. The trade happened in less than a week. In the next week or two, I'll take a look at what we got (Miguel Olivo, Jeremy Reed, and a kid named Morse), but this week I'd like to bid farwell to Freddy.
Freddy made his majort league debut with the Mariners at the beginning of the 1999 season. He came as the principle prospect in the Randy Johnson deal (along with Carlos Guillen and John Halama). Freddy went 17 and 8 that year for the 3rd place Mariners. He finished second in Rookie of the Year voting (Carlos Beltran won) and ninth in the Cy Young race. He battled injury problems early in 2000, but finished 9 and 5, and came up huge against the Yankees in the ALCS, winning both games he started (which accounted for the only Mariner victories in the series) and allowing only 2 runs for a 1.54 ERA. He stepped up another notch in 2001 being the ace pitcher for the winningest team of all time. He made his first All-Star team (a game he won), finished third in Cy Young voting, 4th in wins (18), and first in innings pitched (238.2) AND era (3.05). Freddy was sharp enough in the first half of 2002 to make a second All-Star game, gaining the ultimate no-decision as the final pitcher in the tied contest. His second half was not nearly as good and he finished 16 and 10 with a career high 4.39 ERA. 2003 was inconsistent for Freddy from start to finish, and while it was frustrating at times, he was brilliant on accasion too, and still logged another 200+ inning season. Freddy has pitched every bit as well in 2004 as he did in 2001, but the Mariner offense has let him down time and again, and he leaves Seattle with a 4 and 7 mark, a 3.20 ERA, and the best strikeout to walk ratio of his career. Freddy also moved up the Mariner's all-time list in several catagories. He is third on the teams win list (76), 5th in innings (1096.1), and fifth in strikeouts (819). Though the mariners have only a 26-year history, five and a half seasons has left Fredy with a definite place in that history ranking behind only Randy Johnson and Jamie Moyer as the greatest Mariner pitcher of all-time.
There's only about one more week of All-Star voting, and if the recent numbers are an indication of the players we the fans will eventually elect, then, well, yikes! Obviously I could comment on all the current vote leaders, but I just want to single out one position as the worst vote so far. Shortstop is a mess in both leagues: In the NL, the Houston fans are stuffing the ballot box so much that Adam Everett is the current leader. If you said, "Who?" you would be correct. In the AL, Derek Jeter is running away with it. I know Derek's over his slump, but he's not even the most deserving name-shortstop, let alone the most deserving of all AL shortstops. To make matters worse, Nomar Garciaparra and his whole week of stats is solidly in the number 2 spot.
Anyway, here's my 2004 All-Star team. I will be following the rule about every team being represented, but I will not confine myself to using the starters that the fans appear to be choosing.
Starting with the visiting American League:
Starting Lineup:
CF, Ichiro, SEA: Still a premier defender and leading MLB in hits (97).
SS, Michael Young, TEX: This is really a tough spot to call, but Young has been the all-around best.
3B, Alex Rodriguez, NYA: No case needed.
RF, Vladimir Guererro, ANA: He's my AL MVP.
LF, Manny Ramirez, BOS: 1.074 OPS and consistent all year.
1B, David Ortiz, BOS: There's no real AL front runner at first, and Ortiz has 63 RBI's.
2B, Alfonso Soriano, TEX: He hasn't skipped a beat.
C, Ivan Rodriguez, DET: Maybe he went to the NL just to let Posada get voted in one time.
P, Tim Hudson, OAK: He seems to have the best all-round numbers among AL starters.
That leaves 21 more spots, so lets take a few no-brainers and see where that leaves us. In no particular order:
3B Hank Blalock (TEX), SS Carlos Guillen (DET), OF Carlos Beltran (KCR), C Jorge Posada (NYA), 1B Ken Harvey (KCR), and some pitchers, Mark Mulder (OAK), Brad Radke (MIN), Curt Schilling (BOS), C.C. Sabathia (CLE), and Mariano Rivera (NYA).
Miraculously, that leaves only four teams unrepresented: the White Sox, Orioles, Blue Jays, and Devil Rays. We'll take a guy from each team before we fill out the roster. Let's go with P Esteban Loaiza (CHA), SS Miguel Tejada (BAL), P Roy Halladay (TOR), and OF Carl Crawford (TBD).
That gives us 23 players for 30 spots. We have multiple players at every position except 2B where the most deserving candidate is Juan Uribe (CHA). That leaves us with six, three of which should be pitchers. For a final starter we'll go with Freddy Garcia (SEA), and for some closers, Joe Nathan (MIN) and Francisco Cordero (TEX). Three catchers seems like a good idea so I'll nab Victor Martinez (CLE). We can also take the versitile Melvin Mora (BAL). Finally, since no one snub seems to be more pressing than another, lets say farewell in a fitting way, and let Edgar pinch hit once.
My apologies to Frank Thomas, Chone Figgins, Matt Lawton, Mark Buehrle, Kenny Rogers, and Eddie Guardado.
And now the home team National Leagers:
Starting Lineup:
SS, Edgar Renteria, STL: Default (You know I can't write Jack Wilson here).
RF, Bobby Abreu, PHI: Very solid in every category.
1B, Albert Pujols, STL: Might be the next guy to carry the "Best in the Game" torch.
LF, Barry Bonds, SFG: Still seems to have at least a hand on the afore mentioned torch.
CF, Ken Griffey Jr., CIN: Welcome back.
3B, Scott Rolen, STL: The NL boasts 5 All-Star caliber third basemen, and Rolen is head and shoulders above the pack.
2B Jeff Kent, HOU: He's been solid and there's no competition.
C, Paul Lo Duca, LAD: Piazza has been solid, but Lo Duca is hitting .343 and needs some pop.
P, Roger Clemens, HOU: Jason Schmidt has been better, but all the circumstances make Roger the right choice.
The no-brainers (again in no particular order): C Mike Piazza (NYN), 3B Mike Lowell (FLA), Sean Casey (CIN), Miguel Cabrera (FLA), Lance Berkman (HOU) and pitchers Jason Schmidt (SFG), Carlos Zambrano (CHN), Brad Penny (FLA), Randy Johnson (ARI), and Armando Benitez (FLA).
Unfortunately we have only 11 spots left and 6 teams that still need representation. So we'll take P Ben Sheets of the Brewers, 2B Mark Loretta of the Padres, 1B Todd Helton of the Rockies, C Johnny Estrada of the Braves, SS Jack Wilson of the Pirates, and P Livan Hernandez of the Expos (even the Expos still get a representative).
That leaves only 5 more spots, 3 of which need to be pitchers. P Tom Glavine (NYN) is obviously deserving, as are Danny Kolb (MIL) and Eric Gagne (LAD). With the last two spots we'll take 3B Adrian Beltre (LAD), and the lifetime achievment spot goes to OF Craig Biggio.
My sincerest apologies to Lyle Overbay, Aramis Ramirez, Steve Finley, Adam Dunn, Carl Pavano, Odalis Perez, and Danny Graves.
Well, we had another 4 and 2 week, including another series sweep, this time against Pittsburgh. Overall, we're 8 and 4 in interleague play this year, with two more interleague series remaining: one on the 4th of July weekend against the Cardinals, and the other next weekend against our geographic rival, San Diego (I think I've made enough jokes about the I-5 series that I can let it slip by this time). In between we play two series with the Rangers, the first of which begins tomorrow when Clint Nageotte faces Ryan Drese. Nageotte will presumably get the double duty.
I keep trying to supress any optimism about our chances of getting back in the race, but we have reduced our deficit in the standings from 11 to 9 games in the last two weeks. At that pace, we'll overtake first place around the last week of August.
Mariner of the Week: Randy Winn has been our best hitter lately, but as a whole, the hitting has been terrible (so this is just an honorable mention for Winn). The starting staff saw strong individual outings from Freddy Garcia, Jamie Moyer (which included a 2-RBI single), and Joel Pineiro, but none of it is enough to earn the MOW. So, the Mow goes to Eddie Guardado, who got 3 saves in 4 appearances, and struck out 5 in 4.1 innings.
Tune in later this week (or maybe next) for the Odd Thoughts All-Star selection show.
We finally did it - we swept a series (albeit against Montreal) and we went over .500 for the week at 4 and 2. The hitting could have been a bit better against the Astros, but the pitching staff only allowed 5 runs for the week - that's a 0.83 team ERA. This week we hit the road for 3 apiece with Milwaukee and Pittsburgh, so if there's ever been an opportunity to at least appear respectable, this is it. Freddy Garcia will get the double duty this time around.
We finally got a taste of our long-awaited fruits from Tacoma this week when 23-year-old Clint Nageotte made his first start Monday against the Astros. He got a win by throwing 6 scoreless innings, walking 3, and striking out 8. In other news, it was nice to get a game-winning RBI from Pat Borders this week.
Mariner of the Week: This week's undisputed honor goes to Joel Pineiro, who's been generally bad all season, but appears to be getting things together. He lost a huge pitching duel to Roger Clemens on Tuesday, suffering a loss in 1-0 game. The won his second start against the Expos, clinching the first series sweep by the Mariners all year. In his two satrts, Pineiro went 1-1, in 16 innings, allowing only 2 runs (1.13 ERA), striking out 12, while walking only 4. The next few weeks will determine whether or not the team will be dismantled, and every player will have to step up to do that.
A miracle bottom of the 9th in last night's game gave us a 3 and 3 week instead of the 2 and 4 that seemed so likely after the 8th. We're still hanging around at 11.5 behind the Angels, but the Rangers and A's have moved closer to them than they are to us. We begin interleague play this week with an unusual Monday game and an unusual Thursday day off. We start with Houston for three games followed by three with Montreal. Apparently there is now no rhyme or reason to the interleague schedule, as most AL West teams are playing the NL Central, yet we play the Expos of the NL East. Meanwhile, we do not play The Cubs or the Reds. Missing the Reds is a real shame since Griffey will miss an opportunity to come back to Seattle. The other interesting note about this week's games is that we're still at home for a second straight week. Today we'll see Brandon Duckworth of the Astros against Clint Nageotte, who will presumably be the double-duty guy this week. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
In other news, Gil Meche finally got a well-deserved trip back to AAA Tacoma to work on his control problems after he had to throw 89 pitches to get through 2 innings of Wednesday's game against Toronto. The Mariners called up infielder Hiram Bocachica to take his place. Chief Northwest Baseball Corespondant Amy James was the first to break the story. Ramon Santiago has also been recalled to fill the hole Raul Ibanez left when he was placed on the 15-day DL. Ibanez is expected to be out for four weeks with a hamstring problem.
Mariner of the Week: This week's MOW again goes to Ichiro. He's continued his hot hitting through last week, going 11 for 24 (.458) with 6 runs and 4 stolen bases. He now has a commanding lead in hits, leading with majors with 84. The next closest competitors are Sean Casey in the NL with 81 and Melvin Mora and Michael Young in the AL with 78. He has also moved up to 4th in the AL in stolen bases though Carl Crawford is running away with it. He's also raised his average to .340, good for seventh in the AL.
I don't want Mariner fans to walk away from this optimistic, but it's really not over. Take a look at our division itself: The A's are about as good as we thought they'd be - about .500. Maybe a little more right now, but it's not like they're running away with it. The Rangers are playing way above the normal level, but the team batting average that helped them tear it up in April has dropped 34 points to .282. They had a 4.31 ERA in April - third best in the AL! They're now at 4.57 - 6th in the AL, but it took a 4.78 for May (9th) to get them there. Will the real Texas Rangers please stand up? Now consider the Angels. Most of the experts liked the Angels at the beginning of the year, and rightly so: just look at the opening day line up. But two months later, it seems clear that they too are playing above themselves as Troy Glaus is out for the year, Garrett Anderson might be out for the year, and Darin Erstad, Tim Salmon, and Brendan Donnelly will all be out past the All-Star break. How long can they ride the wave of Chone Figgins and Jeff DeVannon? Jarrod Washburn and Bartolo Colon have a combined 4.86 ERA, and that offense can't keep giving them 6 runs a game. I'm not saying the Angels will fall completely apart; I'm just saying that they're leaving the door open.
Now consider 1995: At the end of July, the Mariners were 9 games behind the Angels. The Mariners had a record of 43 and 44 to the Angels 54 and 33 - the Angels even went 20 and 7 in the month of July, and we still came back to win. It's not out of the question. If we can be within 10 games at the end of July there's still hope. In the end though, hope is nice, but I'd really like to have a reason to believe.
We've gone 5 and 7 in our last two weeks, but we appear to be playing a little better. We knocked C.C. Sabathia around for six runs and four each off of Pedro Martinez and Curt Schilling. We've even picked two games in the standings. This week we've got three against Toronto and three against Chicago - all at home. Jamie Moyer has the double duty.
J.J. Putz is killing me. The scout that signed him should be fired. If you're a general manager, and scout comes to you and says, "I got this kid we need to sign; his name is Putz," I recoomend you let that one go. I think we got him in the same draft as Johnny Chokeartist. Seriously - Putz has appeared in 5 games in the last two weeks (all losses) and only pitched well once. That was the first of the five. He did have a second scoreless outing, but he failed to record an out, faced two batters and gave up a walk and a hit. His numbers in the other three: 3.2 innings, 7 runs, 2 losses. We've got a minor league system full of guys that can surely do better than that.
Last week's Mariner of the Week is also this week's MOW, which makes him also the Mariner of the Month. Without a doubt, the honor goes to Ichiro. At the end of April, he was hitting .255 with one home run (that came on the last day of April) 6 RBI and 4 stolen bases. In May he added two more home runs, 14 RBI, 7 stolen bases and went a robust 50 for 125, which comes out to an even .400 for the month. During the process, he raised his average from .255 to .335 and has All-Star caliber numbers again. He's even moved up to seventh in the AL batting race.