Perfect History

When was the last time there was two perfect games in the same stadium in the season?? When was the last time a time a team was perfected only to throw their own perfect game in the same season?? If you answered never you would be incorrect. Those statements were true until about 3:30 PM on the west coast today. The Mariners are young, and sometimes look like they might have some promise to come in the future. They had a superstar that really never connected with the fans and was traded to the Yankees earlier this year. There is a Mariner player that is loved throughout the Northwest.

He is a homegrown talent that is in his 8th season as a Mariner. As he has continued to get more mature, he has found ways to connect with the fans only to fuel the love fest. He loves his fans on Twitter, has fun with his alter ego Larry Bernandez, continues to embrace the King's court sections in the stadium during home games when he pitches, and doesn't hide by making believe that he doesn't speak the language. All the work that he does on and off the field were rewarded today. King Felix gave 21,889 fans at a sun soaked Safeco Field the honor of watching him pitch the 23rd perfect game in MLB history. While I missed the game due to having to work to continue living a modest lifestyle. The text alerts were coming and I was excited even though I couldn't see or hear the game. You can guarantee that I am watching the replay right now as I type. Here's to hoping that we will continue to watch The King continue to expand his already fabulous career in a Mariner uniform.

Today is all about Royal Perfection!!!

It's better to receive than give

I know it sounds selfish, but I'm not talking about myself. That honor would go to King Felix, getting a hit for himself and giving hardly any to the Marlins. Last night at Safeco Field and for the weekend, the Florida Marlins are the "home team." That means NL rules. In the history of Safeco Field, only once has a pitcher stepped into the batter's box. On July 31, 2000 Hipilito Pichardo of the Boston Red Sox had to step in because of a double switch. He would see five pitches and be struck out by Jose Paniagua of the Mariners. Last night, the Mariners were able to get Felix Hernandez to the plate before the Marlins' Ricky Nolasco. On an 0-1 count, Felix would reach out and hit a ball through the hole and get a single to right field.

Felix was a little shaky in the beginning, but he settled down and shut down the home team. His line for the night would end up looking like this: 8 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 10 K, 115 pitches. Yes he gave up TWO hits, and collected a base hit for himself. Felix did have a bigger hit on June 23, 2008 in Shea Stadium against Johan Santana, hitting a grand slam off him.


I kind of like the idea of maybe changing things  up with interleague play. How about NL rules in AL parks, and DH's and AL rules in the NL parks. Something to think about. It looks like my son and I might have a boy's night tonight and head to the Safe to watch some history. If so, I will have the camera with me for some history catching.

Holding Court

The Mariners were back in action last night against the Rays. I thought it would be a tight game with good pitchers going at it. Seattle make this a laugher last night by winning 8-2. The M's got to James Shields early and continued to pile on, I don't know where this offense has been all year. King Felix was on his game and mowed through the Rays. The Mariners have decided to have a special section on Mariner home games when Felix is scheduled to pitch. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the King's Court:

A special outfield section with discount tickets and a SWEET special T-shirt for those seated in the section. I would say it's safe to say "Larry Bernandez" did just fine last night.

Rolling the Right Way

It was 30 years ago yesterday that was the play of the night in Seattle:

Also in the Northwest this happened 20 years ago yesterday:


Things are starting to get back to normal for the Mariners. Big Mike didn't have has best stuff last night, but he got through 5 innings. The best part of the night was to see A-Rod go down swinging on an ugly strikeout.

The bullpen came in for the last 4 and slammed the door. With the win last night, the Mariners have achieved .500 and now sit only 1/2 game out of first place!!

 While I know it is only the end of May, the way this team has been for awhile it's reason enough to be excited. I think that this team is starting to put together a nucleus of a team that we can build around, and start making a future. There are some guys that won't be a part of the longer future, but are surely contributing. If you would have told me that Adam Kennedy, Brendan Ryan, Miguel Olivo, and Luis Rodriguez would be the older guys that are helping this team I wouldn't have believed it. Now if we could just get Chone Figgins and his 9 million dollar head to be a team player, we could continue.

I will be at the Safe tonight to be part of King Felix's court. Let's hope the M's can shoot down the Bombers again, and maybe tomorrow I'll wake up with the Mariners in FIRST PLACE!!

New slogan time

I have been thinking long and hard about this one. None of us are old enough to remember, but the 1948 Boston Braves chant was, "Spahn, Sain, and pray for rain."

Now in 2011, I believe the Mariners should get rid of "Ready to play," and replace it with this.

"Felix, Pineda, and pray for a tornada!"
Works for me. New series starts Tuesday in D-town

All Hail the King!!

Congrats to Felix Hernandez for winning the Cy Young. Thank you to the voters for proving me wrong and crowning the King! It is a good day is Seattle.

Way to go, Bud

Congratulations to former Mariner Bud Black for winning the NL manager of the year. While Bud only appeared in 2 games in 1981 for the Mariners, he did make his debut here. He is much more known for his other travels.

Now, from former Mariner to current player. Here is hoping Felix gets the Cy Young award he deserves today. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but not counting on him actually winning it.

Who would you vote for??

After watching King Felix dazzle again last night with another brilliant performance, the announcers kept saying he could win the Cy Young. I know that I might be a biased fan, but tell me why he couldn't win it? If you look at his numbers, the only numbers he isn't near the league lead in is wins. I know in the old day is was all about wins, but would that keep you from voting for him? I figure because of his name and the team he plays for, CC Sabathia will win it this year. Look at a simple comparison of their numbers:
           Felix        CC

W-L   12-11     19-6
Games   32          31
ERA     2.35       3.03
CG         5             2
SHO      1             0
IP       233.2     217.0
Hits      187         181
Runs     78           81
ER        61           73
BB        64           68
K's       222         179
Avg.    .216        .236
WHIP  1.07        1.18
Quality   26          20
Starts

The numbers that I think are very telling is that Felix has made 17 starts in which the Mariners have scored 3 of fewer runs for him, going 3-11. CC on the other hand has made only 6 starts that the Yankees have scored 3 or less going 1-4 in those games. If the Mariners could score some runs for him once in a while, he would be up there in the win column too.

If you break down the numbers Felix leads or is in the Top 3 in all categories. So, if a guy pitches like a stud, but plays on a bad team that can't score runs for him, can he win the award? Or do you give it to the guy with the bigger name and plays on a team that can buy the best players? I hope the voters do the right thing. Who would you vote for??? I want to give you a Cy Young vote, who gets in the AL this year??

The Dynamic Duo

In my opinion, these two are better than Batman & Robin right now. Have you seen what they have done lately??

BACK TO BACK TO BACK COMPLETE GAMES!! We have won 5 out of 6 of those games. The only one that got away was a no decision in a 13 inning loss to the Cubs. Here's to hoping we continue winning and Cliff stays for the rest of the season.

The thoughtful Sox

I just wanted to put up a post with a big thank you to Adam over at Thoughts and Sox. He sent me a box of about 150 different Mariners cards. Some of those cards were set aside for the super set. Some cards of the new and old variety.

He also sent an assortment of all kinds of cards. Some of the best were the not one, not two, not even three cards of the King, Felix Hernandez. Adam sent over 15 different cards of "El Gato". I no longer own these cards, as they were carted off to my son's room and are now his I guess.

Of all the Mariners cards sent, these two minis from the 1986 and 1987 Topps sets were definitely some of the coolest. Read some of the stats on the back(shameless plug for another great blog). When was the last time we saw pitchers end up with numbers like those. No one pitches 247 or 272 innings anymore, nor do they have 14 complete games.

The last cool cards Adam sent were some cards for my player collections. He sent over these fine cards of "Pops" Stargell. If you don't know him, do your research on the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates and the "We are family" team. They were first memory of becoming a baseball fan.

Thanks again Adam for the cards. Your Package should be on it's way to you. Sorry for the delay in getting it to you.