June 29, 2006
I NEED A HAT:
Mariners making move in AL West: Seattle crosses .500; just two games out of first (DAVID ANDRIESEN, June 29, 2006, Seattle P-I)
The postgame music in the visitors' clubhouse at Chase Field told the story, the hip-hop beat blaring the anthem: "Hey, it's a new day."Is it ever. The Mariners are over .500, within two games of the American League West lead and enjoying every minute of it.
"We're playing happy," second baseman Jose Lopez said after a 10-3 victory Wednesday over the Diamondbacks.
The big things for the M's are that Jeremy Reed appears to finally be getting his act together, Gil Meche looks healthy again, and it's easy to see Jarrod Washburn, Joel Pineiro and Felix Hernandez having big second halves. At some point they'll likely need to flip-flop Soriano and Putz, but that's a nice problem to have. Posted by Orrin Judd at June 29, 2006 10:25 AM
A couple of months ago I said they were a .500 team, and so they are!
Maybe it's just NL pitching, but the team has shown signs of a real offense the last couple of weeks, something missing in all those 1-3 and 0-2 type losses in May. Still, the pitching has to do something better because you can't keep winning games 11-8 forever. (Getting a certain few pitchers to stop feeding ther gopher would be a nice start...)
As for the rest of the league...
Go White Sox! Go Blue Jays!
Interleague play has just been ugly for the NL--the numbers in my NL rotisserie league are amazing, with batting averages plummeting and Eras skyrocketing
Posted by: oj at June 29, 2006 11:13 AMI'm not sure which is more telling between the Ms 12-2 interleague winning record or their 1-9 record vs the evil Oakland As. but it has been a fun couple of weeks.
Posted by: Patrick H at June 29, 2006 11:30 AMThat's OK, those Ms will soon face the 9-3 in interleague Rockies. Sorry, no more feasting on limp-wristed Padres hitting or lawsey D-Backs pitching for you!
Posted by: Brad S at June 29, 2006 11:37 AMThis is how the Arizona Republic described last night's outing by Edgar Gonzalez:
Despite making a quality start, the right-hander was charged with the loss, making him 0-12 with one no-decision in his past 13 starts. Gonzalez, 0-2 in 2006, has made only one other start in the majors before this string of disappointment, some of it simply bad luck.
Why do they keep bringing this guy up? Answer: because there isn't anyone else any better in the system.
Posted by: Brandon at June 29, 2006 11:44 AMSeattle's taking a page from Oakland's playbook, in getting hot after a miserable start to the season. Unfortunately, they'll still have to catch the A's if they want to make the playoffs, unless the Tigers, Yanks and/or the pair of mismatched color Sox decide to go into summer swoons.
Posted by: John at June 29, 2006 11:57 AMReed, who's still having a fair amount of trouble, is less of a factor than Adrian Beltre, who may finally be emerging from his season-and-a-half long slump, and Richie Sesxon, who may be emerging from his own half-season slump.
If Meche can continue what he's been doing, then Pineiro is the biggest question-mark for the rest of the season, something that might be solved by a trade if we're still in the hunt in August.
More importantly, though, Chris Snelling will be replacing Carl Everett (or possibly Reed) at some point in the coming months, which will be fantastic.
Posted by: Timothy at June 29, 2006 12:01 PMSnelling will get hurt.
Posted by: oj at June 29, 2006 12:07 PMlalalalala I can't hear you
Posted by: Timothy at June 29, 2006 6:13 PM