Oddly enough, we went 4-3 for the week, with several exciting games. I recently enjoyed watching the team more than earlier in the year, since there's no longer any expectations to win. I've also enjoyed seeing the young guys play, especially Bucky Jacobsen. Jacobsen's arrival seems to have had another positive effect: Edgar played in only 4 games unstead of 7 this week and turned it into a 6 for 14 week at the plate (.429). As for the upcoming week, we've got a full slate with Oakland first and then Anaheim - both series in their parks. Travis Blackley and Ryan Franklin appear to be the double duty guys.
As for other news, things seem to be quite, but next week could be busy with the approaching trade deadline. But a glance at the leaderboard shows Ichiro is now 4th in the AL batting race (.333), second in steals (26), and first in hits (140). Provided Ichiro can continue his pace, he'll end up around 230 hits for the season. In addition, Ichiro is currently riding a 17-game hitting streak, and is currently hitting .402 for the month. With three fewer games in July because of the All-Star break, another 50-hit month seems unlikely.
Jamie Moyer needs only six more wins to become the Mariner's all-time leader in that category; Randy Johnson holds the mark at 130. If Moyer can match it in his next 13 starts, he will have done in the same number of games as Johnson. Moyer will have it done in 8.5 seasons while it took Randy 9.5 (Johnson was significantly injured in 1996). On another Moyer note, he needs only 9 more wins to reach 200 for his career - that might be a tall order for 2004.
Mariner of the Week: This weeks award is a tough call as Ron Villone pitched well in two no-decisions (1.54 in 11.2 innings), and Randy Winn (.360), Miguel Olivo (.450), and Ichiro (.485) all hit exceptionally well. But with two walk-off Blast, including an 11th-inning grandslam against the Red Sox, I've got to give it to Bret Boone. Boone went 9 for 28 (.321) for the week with 4 doubles, 3 homers, and 11 RBI's.
Coming off the All-Star break, we had a short, 4-game week, in which we managed to win two, makin us .500 for the week. The strange schedule continues as we stay in Seattle for 2 against Boston and Oakland, and a normal 3 game series with Anaheim. Ron Villone gets the start today, but I doubt he'll be a double-duty guy this week. Joel Pineiro goes tomorrow, and he will get double duty as he'll come around again for the series finale against the Angels on Sunday.
Joining Rich Aurilia in the "Designated for Assignment" group this week is John Olerud. I haven't heard anything about the futures of either player. I imagine Olerud will retire, but I will wait until a decision is made before I pay tribute.
In their places we've called up Justin Leone and Bucky Jacobsen, both of which have already hit two homeruns in their short stints with the club. Jacobsen even got pitched around by C.C. Sabathia, which forced in a run; that seems like a tremendous amount of respect for a guy who's only been in the league for a few days. Having only seen one at bat, my impressio0n of Jacobsen is that he's built like for WCW champion, Goldberg, and probably has the potential to be a Jay Buhner/Richie Sexson type player.
Mariner of the Week: Though I'd like to give the nod to Jacobsen for his for huge opening weekend (he's hitting .625 and has a 2.144 OPS), I just can't do it based on 8 at bats. So this weeks honor again goes to Joel Pineiro who actually had enough runs to win. He pitched 8 innins, allowed only one run, while striking out five.
I just thought this was hard last week. We just came off our worst week of the season: 0-6, which gives a 9-game loosing streak, and we've come up short in 16 of our last 19 games. We are now 17 games out of 1st place, but don't fret, we're only 16 games out in the wild card. When we get back from the break we have 18 straight games without an off-day, the we get Monday August 2nd off and play a double header against the Orioles the next day. The stretch includes series against Cleveland and Boston and two apiece with Oakland and Anaheim. USA Today says we will go with a rotation of Pineiro, Blackley, Franklin, Moyer, and Team Pitcher. I really hope Team Pitcher turns out to be good.
Raul Ibanez came back from the DL, but it was at the expense of Rich Aurilia. Aurilia was designated for asignment, which means the Mariners have 10 days to trade him, release him, or send him to the minors. If he's released, the M's would be responsible for all of his 3.15 million dollar salary except for the pro-rated major league minimum (which would be paid by his new team). He will most likely be traded. I haven't heard any rumors about a trade with a particular, but judging from the teams still in contention, my guess is that he'll go to the Dodgers, Brewers, Cubs, or maybe even back to the Giants. Wherever he goes, he's likely to only bring us one marginal prospect.
Mariner of the Week: Randy Winn has been absolutely on fire. Last week he went 12 for 25 (.480), with 4 home runs and 8 RBI's. For the week he also had an astounding 1.559 OPS. In the last week he raised his average from .261 to .278, which is a sizeable 1-week jump for this part of the year. While it's great that he's doing well, his recent success really only means one thing considering the state of the team: He'll be gone by the end of the month.
We've reached the half-way point in the 2004 baseball season. I've already made some All-Star comments, and since the system for selecting All-Stars is generally stupid, I'm going to skip further commentary on that matter. But I would like to make a few other observations so here we go:
Surprise Teams (AL and NL): Texas Rangers (still in the AL West hunt and current Wild Card leaders) and New York Mets (only 3 games out in the NL East).
Competing Teams that Won't Keep it Up: Cleveland Indians (it's hard to consider them a contender even now, but they are only 5 games out) and Cincinnati Reds (the pitching just can't keep it up, that is, Paul Wilson and Corey Lidle are not for real).
Dissapointing Teams: Seattle Mariners (I know a lot of experts didn't expect them to win the division, though some did, but nobody expected this kind of collapse) and Arizona Diamondbacks (see the comments on the Mariners).
Projected Rookies of the Year:
American League
Lew Ford, MIN: .317, 9 HR, 41 RBI, 10 SB, and stellar defense. Should be an All-Star.
Cliff Lee, CLE: 7-1, 4.13, 77K in 93 IP. Big reason Indians are still around.
Jason Frasor, TOR: 8 of 9 in saves, 1.78, 27 K in 35 IP. He's been great since taking over closer duties in mid-May.
Darkhorse Candidate: Joe Mauer
National League
Matt Holliday, COL: .294, 9 HR, 24RBI. Could be in trouble with Preston Wilson and Larry Walker back, but he's been the best NL rookie so far.
Ryan Freel, CIN; .277, 32 runs, 14 SB, plays everywhere. (Not sure about his rookie status.)
Khalil Greene, SDP: .263, 32 runs, 28 RBI. Plays everyday, which is the only requirement for shortstop ROY's.
Darkhorse Candidate: Kazuo Matsui
Projected Cy Young Award Winners:
American League
Mark Mulder, OAK: 11-2, 2.95, 83K, 4 Complete Games.
Curt Schilling, BOS: 11-4, 3.08, 110K, intangibles.
Kenny Rogers, TEX: 12-2, 3.65 for the once lowly Rangers.
Darkhorse Candidates: Johan Santana, Freddy Garcia
National League
Ben Sheets, MIL: 8-5, 2.42, 125K for a mediocre team.
Jason Schmidt, SFG: 10-2, 2.61, 112K. Two weeks ago I pick Schmidt, but Sheets looks better at this point.
Roger Clemens, HOU: 10-2, 2.54, 113K. All three of these guys are close.
Darkhorse Candidates: Carlos Zambrano, Carl Pavano
Projected MVPs
American League
Ivan Rodriguez, DET: .373 (leads MLB), 10, 57, 7 SB, has the Tigers competitive.
Vladimir Guerrero, ANA: .347, 20, 71, will need Angels to be in the playoff hunt to win this award.
Hank Blalock & Michael Young, TEX: Both are worthy; too hard to decide. .314/22/63 for Blalock, .332/11/49 for Young.
Darkhorse Candidates: David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez
Super-Darkhorse Candidate: Carl Crawford
National League
Scott Rolen, STL: .346, 18 HR, 80 RBI (leads MLB), fantastic glove, has led Cards to best NL record.
Bobby Abreu, PHI: .305, 17HR, 57 RBI, 17 SB. Phillie catalyst will ultimately lead team to division title.
Barry Bonds, SFG:.352, 22, 121 walks to 17 K's. Will contend for MVP as long as Giants contend for division title.
Darksorse Candidates: Albert Pujols, Jim Thome
Super-Darkhorse Candidate: Miguel Cabrera
The Mariners have now dropped 10 of 13 since the Garcia trade, including 5 of 7 this week. it's all the usual fare. Joel Pineiro appears to be the new Freddy as he keeps pitching well and loosing. This week we have 3 in Toronto and 3 in Chicago. Moyer appears to be the double duty guy.
The long awaited debut of Travis Blackley came this week. He pitched well - better than the 4 earned runs in in 6 innings indicates. He even won, but it was an accident.
While there's nothing concrete, Rich Aurilia and Bret Boone appear to be hot trade topics. Bavasi kind of said that everybody is available except Moyer, Edgar, and Dan Wilson. I don't think that's actually true. What he meant to say everybody is available except the old guys that have been with us for a while, the young guys that still don't have big contracts, and Ichiro. And probably not Guardado, Spiezio, or Ibanez. So that really only leaves Mike Myers, Boone, Aurilia, Winn, and Olerud (who nobody wants).
Mariner of the Month: After a dismal first six weeks, Pineiro has been more than solid. He has a 2.44 ERA in 44 innings, along with 30 strikeouts and a won/loss record that mysteriously crept over .500 (3-2).