Yankees (27-21) @ Mariners (24-25)

Post #1 » by **Bulltalk** » Thu May 26, 2011 4:54 pm

Big series. Maybe we'll get a real bounce in attendance with the Yanks coming to town. We're 1 game from .500 now. How nice it would be to end this series at least at .500. That would mean at least 2 out of 3 from these Yanks. Possible? With this pitching lineup...

1) Pineda (6-2 2.16) vs. Burnett (5-3 4.02) Friday 7:10pm
2) Hernandez (5-3 3.01) vs. Nova (4-3 4.29) Saturday 7:10pm
3) Vargas (3-2 3.86) vs. CC Sabathia (5-3 3.17) Sunday 1:10pm

...I think it's possible.

Let's make this a great weekend for baseball in Seattle.

Go M's!

Bay_Areas_Finest · Post #2 » by **Bay_Areas_Finest** » Thu May 26, 2011 8:13 pm

I'm going to the game on Saturday!!!

So excited. It'll only be my second Mariners game ever and I get to see King Felix. CANNOT WAIT.

Let's go M's!

TTown · Post #3 » by **TTown** » Thu May 26, 2011 10:27 pm

I only made it up for one series last year, but picked a good one: we swept a very good Reds team. Lee and Hernandez dominated, and just for good measure Ryan Rowland-Smith pitched his one gem of the season.

BIG homestand! I don't want to 'just' get over .500 here, I'd like to end the Tampa series 3-4-5 games over and really respond to the challenge of being a legitimate contender in the West and taking care of some good teams at home. If my rotation is correct, we'll pitch Pineda/Felix/Vargas against NY, Fister/Bedard/Pineda against the O's, and Felix/Vargas/Fister/Bedard against Tampa. We CAN win every series.

Post #4 » by **Bulltalk** » Sat May 28, 2011 4:44 am

4-3 lead headed to the bottom of the 7th. Is that enough? Will that be enough? Can our setup guys and League bring this victory home for us? Another run or two would be nice here.

Let's get to .500 against the Yanks tonight!

Post #5 » by **Bulltalk** » Sat May 28, 2011 7:29 am

It happened. Not since April 4th, the 4th game of the season, 46 games ago when we were 2-2, have the Mariners been at .500. We're 25-25. :rock:

I had my doubts we'd ever make it back here this season. And, dare I say, our run differential is slowly approaching even. Not to mention we're only a half game out of 1st place, and June 1st is only 4 days away.

In a hitting deprived league, our pitching is dragging this team back up to the top of the western division. It seems if we can get some modest improvement (some signs of this) at the plate there's a chance we could be in this thing at the all-star break. Guti is back, Ackley on the way soon, a couple of players bats coming alive a bit. Frankly, it's looking brighter now than I ever imagined it might not long ago.

I've got to give some credit to Wedge and his staff. There were two times already where this team could have fallen all but completely out of sight. But they battled back twice. That's a good thing.

I don't know where this is headed, but it's sure nice to be in it still as the weather is turning nicer and summer just around the corner.

TTown · Post #6 » by **TTown** » Sat May 28, 2011 5:15 pm

haha Lookout Landing's headline: "Power-Hitting Yankees No Match For Mariners' Weak Infield Groundballs".

So true. But we keep finding ways to win.

TTown · Post #7 » by **TTown** » Sat May 28, 2011 11:26 pm

Pineda's initial greatness has been well documented, but I was quite impressed with him last night, in what could have arguably been his 'worst' start of the season, at least in terms of walks and overall control. He didn't 'have' it last night, but the kid battled and didn't panic when things weren't going right against the New York freakin' Yankees. That's maturity beyond what most 22 year old rookies have. I was impressed.

TTown · Post #8 » by **TTown** » Sun May 29, 2011 4:04 am

4-3 M's, top 6. Felix, too, is not quite on top of his game, but a 'B' game by Felix is still better than most others. He's thrown a ton of pitches, though. Mid-90s, not quite through the 6th. Offense has picked him up.

Post #9 » by **Bulltalk** » Sun May 29, 2011 5:00 am

Oh come on M's. You can do it. Let's get a run here in the bottom of the 8th.

TTown · Post #10 » by **TTown** » Sun May 29, 2011 5:33 am

Extras...

Smoak is 0 for his last 10, and 2 for his last 19. Ichiro is actually 1 for his last 17. I'm actually kind of surprised this hot streak is still going.

Post #11 » by **Bulltalk** » Sun May 29, 2011 6:40 am

M's win! 26-25. Above .500. Half game out of first. Beat the Yanks back to back. Winners of 9 out of their last 10 games.

This has been a great stretch here.

TTown · Post #12 » by **TTown** » Sun May 29, 2011 7:59 pm

Hope Vargas can take us deep today, not sure what our main guys in the pen are going to be able to offer. They've pitched a lot the last two games.

TTown · Post #13 » by **TTown** » Sun May 29, 2011 8:05 pm

Have to admit, beating Mariano was pretty cool, too.

TTown · Post #14 » by **TTown** » Sun May 29, 2011 9:18 pm

ruh-roh

Jeff23 · Post #15 » by **Jeff23** » Mon May 30, 2011 4:54 pm

I don't like Vargas at all.

Where is Smoak? He's been bad lately... praised to early?

TTown · Post #16 » by **TTown** » Mon May 30, 2011 5:00 pm

Smoak is certainly slumping right now, but he did go yard last night.

Vargas is... Vargas. Two terrible starts in a row, 4 very good ones prior. A bad start, two good ones before that. You never quite know what you're going to get.

Post #17 » by **Bulltalk** » Mon May 30, 2011 7:08 pm

Jeff23 wrote:I don't like Vargas at all.

Where is Smoak? He's been bad lately... praised to early?

Vargas is really our 5th starter. If you think of it that way, he's a decent 5th starter. I kind of see our staff as such at present:

1) Felix
2) Pineda
3) Bedard
4) Fister
5) Vargas

That may not be how it is in actuality, how the staff is "ordered" on a day-to-day basis now, but rather how my mind at present orders it in terms of strongest to weakest.

Jeff23 · Post #18 » by **Jeff23** » Mon May 30, 2011 8:07 pm

Bulltalk wrote:
Jeff23 wrote:I don't like Vargas at all.

Where is Smoak? He's been bad lately... praised to early?

Vargas is really our 5th starter. If you think of it that way, he's a decent 5th starter. I kind of see our staff as such at present:

1) Felix
2) Pineda
3) Bedard
4) Fister
5) Vargas

That may not be how it is in actuality, how the staff is "ordered" on a day-to-day basis now, but rather how my mind at present orders it in terms of strongest to weakest.

I agree with that list. The thing with Vargas is that he is so damn inconsistent. He has games where he really impresses you and he has games where he really makes you mad.

I really like how this season is going though. I placed a 200$ bet on the M's winning the AL west. 8-)

Bay_Areas_Finest · Post #19 » by **Bay_Areas_Finest** » Wed Jun 1, 2011 5:00 am

Just wanted to say that I was at the Saturday night game and it was absolutely amazing. One of the best MLB games I have ever been too, and it was only my second Mariners game. Crowd was terrific and I think we had around 37k. It was packed. They were really into the game too and Mariners-Yankees fans were yelling at each other all over my area, haha.

4 people ran onto the field as well. 1 streaker. They got big roars from the crowd. And the walkoff made the win even better.

My girlfriend is a Yankees fan so I ofcourse gave her so much ****. Oh, and the train transportation to/from the stadium is MONEY!