Mariners Blog

Geoff Baker covers the Mariners for The Seattle Times. He provides daily coverage of the team throughout spring training, and during the season.

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February 17, 2007 9:57 AM

Another good mound session

Posted by Geoff Baker

Gotta say, watching Felix Hernandez throw a bullpen session has to be the most interesting part of spring training so far. Hernandez was pure poetry in snapping off some fastballs and change-ups this morning, a couple of them fooling catcher Rene Rivera as they glanced off his glove. Will have to ask Rivera about those later on.

Mea cupla! Yes, I did get my Holman pitchers mixed up down below in the previous item. It was, of course, Brian Holman who came over with Randy Johnson in the 1989 Mark Langston deal and not Brad Holman, who arrived two years later. A thanks to an alert reader who picked up on that. Seems like yesterday that I was an Expos fan growing up in Montreal and eagerly awaiting the arrival of Langston, who was supposed to put our team over the top. Sadly, the first-place Expos blew a ninth-inning lead in Pittsburgh that summer, when they were on the verge of a rare series sweep at Three Rivers Stadium, went into a tailspin in which they lost seven (or was it nine?) in a row and never quite recovered. Langston was gone after that year and the Expos never did make the playoffs ever again. Darned strike!

Saw this noteworthy item in The Wall St. Journal that should be of concern to M's fans everywhere. Yes, it's a good thing the team is staying proactive by trying to change with the times, but the key to success for this franchise long-term depends very much on its ability to sustain stadium revenue.

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