Sunday, June 3, 2001 (W: SEA 8 - TB 4 43-12)

The M's set a franchise record today with their 11th straight win, defeating Tampa Bay 8-4.

Most of their damage came against reliever Travis Phelps, against whom they scored five runs in the seventh inning.

Boone hit his eleventh HR, a two-run shot in the third, setting a new Mariner career record for HR's by a second baseman. This was his 27th of his M's career. The previous record holder...

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Joey Cora!

Harold Reynolds only had 17 in Seattle.
Julio Cruz had 17 as a Mariner, although one was as a DH.
Luis Sojo had 14 with the M's, but six were as a shortstop, one was as third baseman, and there was even one as a left fielder.

Freddy pitched 7-1/3 innings to pick up the win. He's now 6-0. This was his 32nd career victory; he's tied with Baltimore's Sidney Ponson for most career wins among active pitchers under 25.

Kaz picked up his league leading 23rd save.

With Lou Piniella in Tampa until Friday because of the death of his father-in-law, interim manager (and regular bench coach) John McLaren rested Ichiro the only way he could: by DHing him. In the third inning, Ichiro showed he wasn't planning to rest, getting a hit, then stealing second before Boone's HR. Ichiro has now reached base in 37 straight games, tying Edgar (who didn't play today, sitting out with a bruised left foot, after fouling a ball off it last night) for the longest active streak in the majors.

Since it's Sunday, there's quite a few interesting articles in the Times I thought I'd point out:

Shigetoshi Hasegawa, the Japanese relief pitcher for the Angels, believes that pitchers from Japan face a significant risk of injury because of their Japanese workload and strength and conditioning regimes. I wonder what Kaz has to say about that.

Another article attempted to write down baseball's unwritten rules, which are in the news quite a bit lately, after San Diego catcher Ben Davis's bunt to break up Curt Schilling's perfect game. In my opinion, Davis was right, in a close game, to do whatever he could to get on base, and bring the tying run to the plate. And, as far as I can tell, he's not a very good hitter (.299 going into that game), so the bunt was the right move. He just better hope none of the D-Backs ever become his manager. I have a friend who was at that game. He was justifiably upset when Davis bunted.

It's also nice to see a fan cost index article in the mainstream media that says, "[I] discovered that $180 could cover a family of 14 if you stretched the dollar hard enough." I've probably been to 60 Mariner games in my life, and never paid for parking, and never sat in seats that cost more than $5. Of course, I've only been to Safeco twice. My dad always bought a big bag of peanuts across the street from the Kingdome (and he always would buy another nice warm bag from Rick the Peanut Man if he happened by). Now, I sit in $6 pavilion seats in LA (and I unfortunately have to pay $6 for parking unless I carpool and split it), I sit in $6 outfield seats in the big A; I love sitting behind the bullpen and messing with the players. I'll buy a (Super) Dodger Dog and a Coke, but I don't need a $6 beer! (And, I must admit I do usually buy a program once per stadium per season.)

Minor league updates:
Tacoma's Dennis Stark is second in the PCL in ERA (2.17)
Tacoma's Juan Thomas is second in the PCL in RBI (47)
San Antonio's Willie Bloomquist is struggling; his average is down to .249
First year San Bernardino pitcher (formerly an outfielder) Rafael Soriano went seven shutout innings Monday, giving up only three hits, one walk, and recording eleven strikeouts!
Wisconsin's Jamal Strong is hitting .353, third in the Midwest league, his OBP is first at .478, and he's second in SB's with 35. He was called up to San Bernardino on Friday.