Thursday, May 31, 2001 (W: SEA 2 - BAL 1 40-12)

Aaron Sele won the 100th game of his career to extend his unbeaten record to 8-0 with a 2-1 victory over the Orioles.

Kaz got his 21st save.

Cal Ripken hit his third HR of the season off of Sele in the 7th, an upper-deck shot to left for the 420th of his career, earning a standing ovation from the M's crowd. (John: To be honest, I can't find anything online about someone throwing it back, but if they did, that was stupid!!!)

Al Martin robbed journeyman catcher Greg Myers of a HR with a leaping catch against the wall in front of the M's bullpen. Maybe Martin read my post about bringing in Matsui to play left in 2003 and decided to actually try on defense. He's no Gary Sheffield (whose surrounding area in LF should be named "The Laziest Place on Earth"), but I rarely see Martin go all out for a ball.

McLemore and Ichiro each got their 17th SB of the season tonight. McLemore, who started his first game in CF tonight (adding to his list of 2001 starts at LF, SS, 2B, and 3B), is 17 for 17 in SB attempts. Ichiro has been caught 5 times.

Most importantly tonight, it was the seventh Buhner Buzz Cut Night. I'm sure Jason Michael Barker of Strikethree.com was there in full regalia, along with 6,245 others who got in free by shaving their heads, including Helyn Nelson, 77, who was the oldest person to have her head shaved, and one of 122 women.

Cha Seung Baek, in single-A San Bernardino may need Tommy John surgery. Although he was signed as a free agent out of South Korea in 1998 (for first round money), he's the latest in Mariner minor league disappointments. Twelve of the past fourteen number one picks for the M's are still playing baseball, but none for the Mariners: Ken Griffey Jr. (1987), Tino Martinez (1988), Shawn Estes (1991), Ron Villone (1992), Alex Rodriguez (1993), Jason Varitek (1994) and Jose Cruz Jr. (1995) all play for other teams. Gil Meche (1996), Ryan Anderson (1997) and Baek are injured. Matt Thornton (1998) and Ryan Christianson (1999) are still in the minors. Sam Hays, taken last year in the third round with the team's first pick, has yet to play.

Screw the draft. Why pay these kids a ton to sign if they just end up getting hurt or sucking? I say we draft guys and don't sign them, or give away the picks as compensation for free agents who can help now. Or, sign fat guys who are no good but are cheap. Why waste money on draftees? Look at this 2001 team; we didn't need a draft for this!

Or we could draft better players.

Norm Charlton went on the DL yesterday after straining his groin on Tuesday. LHP Brian Fuentes was called up to replace him.

I'll keep trying to catch up with more posts tomorrow.