Friday, June 1, 2001 (W: SEA 8 - TB 4 41-12)

Jamie Moyer picked up his 7th win tonight, leading the M's to an 8-4 victory of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The Mariners have now won a season-high nine straight. The club record is ten in a row, set in September of 1996.

Seattle scored a quick two in the bottom of the first, on a double by Boone. Tampa Bay kept the game close, breaking up Moyer's no-hitter on a blooper that McLemore, playing left field, appeared to catch, and eventually scoring two in the fifth on a two-run double by their Right Fielder, Randy Winn.

The bullpen was the hero for the M's tonight, as Jose Paniagua, Arthur Rhodes, and Jeff Nelson combined for 4 shutout innings that allowed the Mariner bats to pull away from the D-Rays.

The crowd of 41,094 put Seattle's home attendance over 1 million in their 26th game, the fastest ever in Seattle. In 1997, the M's took 27 games to reach seven figures (and that was in the "ugly Kingdome that nobody wanted to see a game at").

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.

Wednesday, May 30, 2001 (W: SEA 12 - BAL 5 39-12)

Another day, another win. Are we getting spoiled expecting this?

John Halama started for the M's and pitched a solid six innings for the win. That's good enough for me after his last start.

Bell, Olerud, and Boone all hit HR's for the M's, who broke the game open in the eighth against the young Ryan Kohlmeier. Baltimore had hoped Kohlmeier would develop into a closer, after picking up thirteen saves last season as a rookie and six more this season before BJ Ryan took over a few weeks ago. Kohlmeier gave up six runs in only one third of an inning tonight.

Cal Ripken was 1-4, with a sac fly in the top of the first to put the O's ahead.

McLemore had 4 SB's.

The M's are now 39-12. Griffey and A-Rod's teams, the Reds and the Rangers, have 39 wins combined.

A note of interest: For the first time, all three three-generation families were represented in today's game, with Bret Boone and David Bell on the field for the M's and Jerry Hairston, Jr. on the field for the O's. All three players' fathers and grandfathers played in the majors.

Jay Buhner ran for the first time in quite a while today; only about 60 yards, but it's a good first step on his rehab from plantar fasciitis.

Edgar's beard watch: It's starting to itch. His wife doesn't like it. I give it four more days before Edgar breaks out the razor.

A longer All-Star article in today's paper gives more voting details. Edgar's in 1st among DH's, Ichiro's 2nd among OF's (only 41 votes behind Manny Ramirez) with no Japanese votes counted, Olerud is 2nd at first, Boone is 2nd at 2B, Cameron's 6th among OF's.

Tuesday, May 29, 2001 (W: SEA 3 - BAL 2 38-12)

I'm back. I apologize for going on vacation just as I was starting to get a few visitors. Hopefully some of you have returned.

Lesson learned: Never start a blog right before a vacation.

A sort-of related note: In doing this, I've gained quite a bit of respect for those who post daily. All you bloggers/journalists who have daily deadlines, wow! It's really nice to know I can quit this any time I get bored with it -- but I'll try not to. Unless my counter doesn't move for a few weeks at a time, I'll keep posting.

Back to the blog:

Another win tonight for the M's, as they beat the O's 3-2 behind a strong seven innings by Freddy Garcia. Garcia is now 5-0, one of only two opening day starters still unbeaten (the other is Philadelphia's Omar Daal, who went 4-19 last season, but is now 6-0).

Kaz picked up his 20th save. McLemore hit his 4th HR.

Ichiro got the GWRBI (I miss that stat from the back of my Topps baseball cards in the late-80's) with a single in the 5th to up the score to 2-1. He also made a few great catches to save runs, including one to end the game.

The first All-Star balloting results were released today. Ichiro is second among AL outfielders, behind Manny Ramirez (who went 0-4 last night to drop below .400 for the first time since May 4). However, Manny hasn't yet played in the field this season, so I'd argue he should be on the ballot as a DH, like Edgar.

Good article in today's Times about Ray Fosse, who played for the M's in 1977. The article discusses the infamous play in the 1970 All-Star game, when Pete Rose ran over Fosse in a play at the plate.

My opinion: Baseball's just a game. It's entertainment. The All-Star game doesn't mean anything. It's an exhibition. Go out, play hard, have fun, but don't end anybody's career. I think Rose crossed a line with this play. In the heat of competition, I don't know what I would have done, but the play, and Rose's subsequent comments, just don't sit well with me.

Remember: Baseball is entertainment. The players are entertainers. That's all it really is.

As long as I'm discussing my All-Star game opinions, here's another:

Every team should have a representative. If you're like me, a Mariners' fan, you endured a few years of poor teams. As a kid, if Harold Reynolds didn't have a chance to pinch run for somebody or Mark Langston didn't have a chance to come in as a LOOGY, I wasn't about to watch the game. As an adult, I've learned to appreciate the game no matter who the players are (I can go to the park down the street and watch a little league game and enjoy it), but as a 10-year old, I was watching for one thing: Harold Reynolds. This creates interest for the local fans in the local players, especially when the team sucks. I don't even care if they don't play. When I was a kid, I would watch just to see them sitting on the bench or in the bullpen.

Bob Finnigan has an article in today's times about the next Japanese star, Kazuo Matsui, who will be eligible to come across the Pacific for the 2003 season. He could become the first Japanese infielder to play in the majors, but scouts believe he projects better as an outfielder, with "the strongest arm in Japan." According to the article, he's as fast as Ichiro. Wouldn't you love to see a 2003 outfield of Matsui in left, Cameron in center, and Ichiro in right? They'd probably steal 150 bases, with an 80% success rate!