Where there's Fire...

You will find Smoak, Justin Smoak that is.

The first baseman for the Mariners is RED FRIGGIN HOT right now! Since coming back from the untimely death of his father, Justin is hitting the cover off the ball.

Since re-joining the team, Justin has hit .333 with 13 hits in 39 AB's, 4 doubles, 4 HR's, drawing 5 walks, and driving in 14 runs. I'm liking what I've seen out of him recently. I took a liking to him when he came over last year, but this is just solidifying my fandom.

Keep it up this weekend against the Pale Hose Justin. If we can keep up the winning of late, we could be knocking on the door to the lead in the West. How wild would it be to see this team in first place this late?? I'm lovin' it, GO M's!!

Throw that hat in the ring

Last night was a night of history for #16. Devin Setoguchi became only the third Shark player to ever record a playoff hat trick.

He joins Patrick Marleau who's done it three times,

and Ulf Dahlen as the only players to have done it.

With the 4-3 win in OT, the Sharks have a 3-0 lead. I want to say strangle hold, but the Red Wings won't give up that easy I'm sure. The Sharks are now 5-0 in OT games in this year's playoffs.  Let's hope they can pull it off in game 4 and see who's next.

This Trade is Cool...

Recently Ryan of This Card Is Cool-My Life in Baseball Cards got together for a little trade. I sent him a 84 Donruss DK he needed and a few cards for his Awards/Leaders set he's building. In return, he sent me little of this and some of that. The first card is now in my son's possession:

A nice SHINY Papi card for the boy, and it's #'d to 499. He loves new cards of Mr. Ortiz.

Also were there these nice 1994 offerings from Fleer and Score to help out with the Super Set. Slowly but surely, I continue ever closer to getting this behemoth put together.

Not to be forgotten were some Mariners of different varieties, both newer and older.

Thanks again to Ryan for his help, and give him a read. He does some interesting writing and has fun stuff to show off.

Well Played, Pineda

Micheal Pineda was awarded the honor of being the AL Rookie of the month for April. He is only the third Mariner player to win the honor joining Ichiro in 2001, and Rafael Soriano in 2003.

In his five starts in April, Michael was 4-1. All five starts were quality starts, and Pineda went at least 6 innings in each and never gave up more than 5 hits in each. In April, he ended up with 31 1/3 IP, giving up 22 hits, 7 ER, walked 12, and struck out 30. Until this winning streak that the team has been on, all but 2 wins came on starts by Pineda or Felix.

Congrats to Michael on this well deserved honor, and let's hope he can work his magic tonight in his second start against the Rangers. I'm still not sure where this Mariners team has come from all of a sudden, but I like it!

This is getting good

I'm very happy to say that the Sharks are halfway to the Conference Finals. With a 2-1 win yesterday, the Sharks are off to Detroit with a 2-0 series lead. The scoring came from an unlikely pair of defensemen

Ian White and Niclas Wallin lit the lamp for Team Teal yesterday. Let's hope they can continue with good games in D-town.
The Mariners were able to take 5 of 6 on this road trip. They had a chance to sweep the road trip, but a fly ball lost in the sun cost them the game in the 9th. Still pretty impressive from this team.

Oh yeah, Bin Laden is dead, but I fear the strikes in retaliation. Let's hope this brings an end to some of the strife in the world, and we can start to work together.

Teal Theme Trade

Not long ago, I decided to focus this blog on the Sharks for awhile. I know that most of you are bored to death hearing about hockey, deal with it. Anyways, recently Mike of the newer blogs NYC Cards and Bombers Blog commented that he had some Sharks cards if I was interested. While I don't do much hockey, I'm always open to stuff from my team. I sent Mike a few Jets, Devils, and Islanders and these are some of the sweet stuff he sent me. This would be some of the cards of current players and the General Manager:

Also included were some older cards of all kinds of Sharks players. It is sad that there isn't a name I don't recognize:

After looking through the cards, my son staked his claim to these since he loves Nabby and wishes he was still in the pipes for Team Teal:

Mike blew me away with not one, not two, but three special cards. Autos of Torrey and one of my favorites, "Pickles." Also a nice black relic of Cheech. It is sad how his career has de-railed after being sent to Ottawa. Hopefully after this last season in Worcester, he might make it back.

Mike also is like everyone else and can easily see my obsession with Tony Gwynn. He sent this 1985 beauty. I have never seen these before but I kind of like it. The scan looks off, but I didn't want flatten a 3-D card.

Thanks again to Mike for some fun cards that were different than my other obsession with the Mariners.

Also, if you missed last night's Sharks game it was AWESOME!!  This team seems to thrive on living on the edge by going to OT. Four of the five wins so far all have taken extra time to decide. I didn't think they were going to pull out game 1 at home. Halfway through the 3rd period, Mr. Clutch Joe Pavelski put life in us Sharks fans.

Then, seven minutes into OT the birthday boy gets the game winner. On his 24th birthday, little used 4th liner Benn Ferriero beat Jimmy Howard for the WIN! Benn is the first player in NHL history to get an OT winner on his birthday. I don't think there was a better way for Benn to celebrate it.

I'm not too sure who these characters are that are out in Detroit, and Boston wearing uniforms that say Seattle across the front. These aren't the Mariners that I was not long ago. It is hard to believe they are only 3 games under .500 and playing good baseball. After the unfortunate passing of his father, Justin Smoak must be dedicating his season to him.

This kid is absolutely hitting the cover off the ball. I was happy to see him come from Texas last year. I think he will continue to improve. Off to the Sounders match tonight with my son for a little guy time against Toronto FC.

Northwest Beauties

I know the title is deceiving, and you wonder where I'm going with this one. Things looked beautiful in the Northwest yesterday. The biggest news of the day came from New York when UW's own Jake Locker was drafted 8th by the Tennessee Titans.

You can probably start making new #10 jerseys in Nashville. Congrats Titans fans, this kid is going to be something special for you. It was an honor and a pleasure to watch Jake bring the Huskies back to Being good and going to bowl games. How did your team do in the first round? Are you happy with your team's pick or are you waiting to see what happens in the later rounds?

Where has this baseball team come from?? Are we actually a decent team, or are the Tigers that bad of a team? Either way I will take a sweep any day. This Pineda kid is really getting excited about his future. He's getting better and better each start. It gets rougher now with a series starting in Fenway tonight.

Sharks start the second round tonight against the hated Red Wings. They have had success against them in the past, so we will see how tonight starts the series.

Nice trade post coming tomorrow, hoping for some sun today to get a baseball game in tonight.

Have a Coke and a smile

Can the Mariners play against this guy everyday?

His line in the last two starts against the woefully hitting M's:

8 IP, 14 H, 13 R, 9 ER, 4 BB, 4 K's. In those two games the Mariners have won by a combined 20-6 margin. Thank you Phil Coke, and thanks to Ryan Raburn for the highlight reel homer for Olivo last night.

Awesome sight in sports

One of the greatest things about a NHL playoff series is the sportsmanship. These guys will go at it for anywhere from four to seven games and will try to take each other's heads off. At the end of the series, these guys can put that aside and do this:

My question is why Kings coach Terry Murray refused to take part in the tradition? It was reported on Twitter last night by Devin Setoguchi @seto1661 that he didn't. That is one thing that really gets under my skin as a fan. I know it is hard to know you are out, but show your opponent their proper respect.

Tonight's epic game 7 between Vancouver and Chicago will determine our next opponent. A Canucks win, and we will play the Red Wings. If the Blackhawks can pull it off, the West go through San Jose, and the Sharks would host Chicago. Two game 7's tonight= MUST SEE TV!

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

The Easter Benny came!!

Yes folks, that's right the Easter Benny came a day early to my house. If you remember back a few weeks ago, The Adventures of Napkin Doon held a little white elephant contest. My first winning was an Octavio Dotel as a Met auto that BA Benny stole (thank you). My second pick was this lot of four cards:

Mike, the great mind behind BA Benny's Baseball Card Buffet and the Pack Rip Cafe sent me an e-mail wanting the Tom Seaver out of the bunch. As a guy who had no need for it, I was more than willing to send it his way. Mike sent me a little package of Mariners that got fumbled by the USPS. Thanks to Shawn, who lives two hours north of me my package was found. He contacted both Mike and me and made arrangements to send it down to me. Thank goodness there still is honest people in the world. Mike sent me these older beauties to help out with the Super Set. I slowly getting closer with it.

He sent me some Mariners of old:

And some current Mariners, including The Condor to finish series 1, and an awesome OD of the Moose. I hope that card is in the Topps team sets this year if I can ever find any in the Seattle area...

As you all know by now, Mike has two great blogs and is one awesome trader. Read his words, trade with him, take pity on a Mets fan (they are almost as bad as the M's). Thanks again Mike for the great cards!

Happy Easter to everyone! Enjoy your day with your families.

When a win is a loss

Last night the Seattle Sounders FC played an MLS match in Colorado. In only the 3rd minute of the game, Sounders top player and one of the league's better players Steve Zakuani suffered a devastating injury. It was diagnosed last night to be a fractured tibia and fibula. That's both bones in the lower leg. If you are squeamish or have a light stomach, don't watch. It will remind you of Theismann's injury.


While the Sounders were able to pull off the 1-0 win, it is a major setback for this team. The Sounders have set up ways to show your support for Steve. You can Tweet him directly on Twitter @stevezakuani11 and/or hash tag it #forzakuani. You can go directly to the Sounders website , where a page has been set up. Also, the Facebook page can be used for good wishes. Physical mail may be sent to: Sounders FC Community Relations, 12 Seahawks Way, Renton, WA 98056. After winning tickets to take my son to next week's game, he was devastated to see the injury to his favorite Sounder. Godspeed to Steve for a speedy recovery!

Also last night, the kid Michael Pineda was on the mound again. This young man is really starting to impress me. He now goes to 3-1, and has a ERA of 1.78. His line for last night was 6 IP, 5 hits, no runs, 2 walks, and 5 K's. It's nice to have him and the King in the same rotation. Pineda is starting to look like he could become something special.

Tonight, hopefully the Sharks will close out the Kings in the Shark Tank, and we can move on to the second round...

In the Driver's seat

Last night was a step closer to the intended goal. With a convincing 6-3 win, the Sharks are in the proverbial catbird seat. Going home with a 3-1 series lead and a chance to close it out on Saturday night. In an awesome gesture, the Kings and Sharks were able to secure tickets for the family of Bryan Stow to attend the game last night. Let's finish this out on Saturday and find out who's next. What is going on in Vancouver too?

Last night also, Felix looked like the King again. 7 2/3, 4 hits, 3 walks, 8 strikeouts, and no runs. Granted, the margin for error was slim in a 1-0 game. Felix looked good last night, and let's hope to keep it rolling with "the Stank" tonight. That would be one of the new nicknames for Michael Pineda. When the late, great Dave Niehaus saw him pitch in Spring he said his ball had alot of Stank on it. Good luck kid!

Could it happen?

With the impending takeover of the Dodgers by MLB, could they become the Nationals? A team that is kind of mismanaged, let's players go because of salary and is forgotten about? I would highly doubt that the team could fall to such depths, but with MLB anything could happen. Just think Dodger fans instead of going to Chavez Ravine to see the boys in blue, you could go to Fresno. What if they moved them back to Brooklyn? What's next faithful Blue followers??

BOOM goes the offenses!

Last night was a fun night to bounce back and forth on my TV. Between the Mariners offense coming to life quickly and making the Tigers lives miserable:

To the Sharks looking like a bunch of school kids to heroes:

The Mariners were able to pound out 15 hits, draw 11 walks, and get the Tigers to commit 2 errors in a 13-3 win.

I have not seen that kind of offense out of this team in a long time. Thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Justin Smoak. He left the team yesterday to get home to South Carolina for a family emergency. It was later found out last night that Justin lost hid dad to cancer at the age of 54 last night.

My Sharks were down and out last night. I almost gave up on them at 4-0 early in the second period. But, with 5 goals in the second to tie it at 5-5, they were in it to win it! Devin Setoguchi got the winner 3 minutes into overtime, capping the greatest comeback in Sharks playoff history.

I am a happy boy for at least one day. I love it when both my teams come up big!!