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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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May 27, 2008 11:23 PM

M's win! M's win!

Posted by Larry Stone

Hard to believe, but I called it right. Next stop, Las Vegas.

Yes, I'm going to gloat, because I don't get the chance very often. I did pick the Mariners to win the AL West in our baseball preview section, after all.

Not surprisingly, it was a very happy clubhouse, with a steady stream of players coming up to hug Jose Lopez at his locker (after nearly burying him in a back-slapping scrum around second base on the field). Yuniesky Betancourt led the line of players sprinting out to congratulate his buddy Lopez, but Betancourt was very clearly not happy when McLaren sent Jeremy Reed up to pinch-hit for him in the ninth.

A lot of praise went to Miguel Batista, deservedly so, and Brandon Morrow, who said the key to his relief effort was getting ahead of both Manny and Mike Lowell on first-pitch sliders for strikes. He blew both of them away with high heat. In case you were wondering, the official word on Daisuke Matsuzaka was that he was experiencing shoulder fatigue when he was taken out in the fifth inning, even though he appeared to clutch his back. No one was saying if he would miss his next start.

I'm tired, it's almost midnight, and I need to head home, but I'll leave you with one newsy tidbit. The word on the street is that Cha Seung Baek, who was designated for assignment last week, is going to be traded to the San Diego Padres for reliever Jared Wells. Look for the deal to be announced Wednesday, and for Wells, a right-hander, to be assigned to Tacoma. Considering the proclivity of trading activity between Bill Bavasi and San Diego GM Kevin Towers, it's not too surprising.

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Posted by BrettJMiller

11:43 PM, May 27, 2008

I am crazy excited right now. The Mariners won and...

I CAUGHT MANNY RAMIREZ 499th CAREER HR!

WOO!

...WOO!

Posted by fastrs4

11:49 PM, May 27, 2008

Two things jumped out at me tonight.

- The lack of Sexson in the lineup was so relieving. When I walked into the stadium and saw Cairo there, I looked over at my brother and smiled. We knew it was going to be a good night. Even if they lost.

- That 8th inning by Morrow could be a turning point for this team this season. Granted it's probably too late for this year. But there was electricity in the air. Even though the radar gun wasn't displaying on the scoreboard, you could feel the heat on his fastball. I wish he could have pitched the 9th too...

I really think things are looking up if the can keep Sexson on the bench. Though I really doubt it will hapen.

Posted by Chris from Bothell

11:50 PM, May 27, 2008

Congrats, Brett! One homer later and you could retire on that...

Posted by Chris from Bothell

11:58 PM, May 27, 2008

... and the Yuni thing is also hopefully a sign of things to come too. Sitting guys for errors? Practice before games? Sexson sitting? Hm.

Posted by Nat

12:19 AM, May 28, 2008

Yeah, Yuni got mad about being PH for by Reed. Maybe it will make him think twice about how to avoid fumbling easy catches and hacking away at pitches outside. Just maybe...

Wasn't that win fun, guys? Give it a shot tomorrow night, you might find the habit of winning more fun than losing....

Posted by firemacnow

12:24 AM, May 28, 2008

I hope I catch 500 for Manny tommorow night, if he jacks one its gonna be a mob in Left!! Congrats Larry, so you think manny will get it? Great job by Morrow, that was some heat..Firedavesims.com MUST begin...on a side note Lincecum won his 7th...With the way Jay Bruce played tonight after Junior hits 600, if he wants to come here we can get him on the cheap. Bavasi what a great trade, the two worst teams in baseball make a trade, I'm sure that's espn.com frontpage news

Posted by Bob Loblaw

2:50 AM, May 28, 2008

I was whooping & hollering like rarely before. Go M's! I'm there tonight.

Wondering if warmer weather has any effect? Geoff: Any stats you can pull re: games over 60+ degrees? (sorry - longshot, grasping at straws, etc.)

Posted by RogerC

5:49 AM, May 28, 2008

Wells' minor league stats are worse than Baek's MLB stats! The Padres got a steal. It's hard to say what Bavasi was thinking by cutting Baek, then getting next to nothing for him.

Posted by Will Clark

6:35 AM, May 28, 2008

Typical Bavasi. Should we expect anything less or should I say more.

Posted by Mr. X

6:51 AM, May 28, 2008

Well, well, well. It looks like Ichiro can in fact run into a wall, and be reasonably effective the next day. What a shock. As it turns out, he isn't as fragile as he (and the Ichirobots) thought he was. Hopefully this was a learning experience for him. You can play baseball the correct way and not get hurt.

Posted by whatever

7:04 AM, May 28, 2008

Well, I doubt it about Ichiro...that's not his track record. He's still a whimp.

Posted by John_S

7:07 AM, May 28, 2008

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Chris%20Tillman&pos=P&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=501957

This guy looks like a great young prospect

Posted by M Dogg

7:24 AM, May 28, 2008

"Well, I doubt it about Ichiro...that's not his track record. He's still a whimp." Fact of the matter is, he's the only M's player that every other MLB team would like to have on their roster. Track record? you mean his MVP, all star game MVP, numerous golden gloves and batting titles? Enough of the hating....

Posted by Pheel

7:29 AM, May 28, 2008

I can't imagine anyone being happy with Reed pinch hitting for anyone. Reed would pinch hit for Yuni when he was a rookie and it was disasterous. There is absolutely no reason for Reed to pinch hit for anyone - even Sexson.

Posted by faithful

7:31 AM, May 28, 2008

I also thought this game could be different with Sexson on the bench. If only he would stay there!!!

Posted by Paul

7:36 AM, May 28, 2008

"Wells' minor league stats are worse than Baek's MLB stats! The Padres got a steal. It's hard to say what Bavasi was thinking by cutting Baek, then getting next to nothing for him."

You can't really blame Bavasi for THIS one...you DFA a guy that the world isn't clamboring after, and you get little. Most of us (I know I would) would be complaining more if Baek were still taking up a roster spot to pitch in 5 or 6 games a month and get shelled. He had very little value for even our bad team. If you want to transition to a winning team, you dont' need guys like Baek around anyway.

Posted by byebyeSexson

7:41 AM, May 28, 2008

Please, please, please, we can win without him! Interesting to hear others who become more positive when Richie sits. I'm sure the umps are relieved to be excused from the hang dog looks they get after those close calls.

The hole is too deep to climb out of this year but maybe the M's could learn to win. Going .500 for the remainder of the season is a good goal. It will be interesting to see if Morrow can be an effective starter.

The rebuilding starts with Richie. Sack him!

byebye

Posted by hawks94

7:41 AM, May 28, 2008

Wow, Morrow was on a mission. Chalk this win up for him. He was throwing fire out there. All for moving Morrow into the rotation say Aye...Aye.

Posted by byebyeSexson

7:44 AM, May 28, 2008

Aye...Aye.

Posted by M Dogg

7:47 AM, May 28, 2008

Aye..Aye...Aye...Aye...Aye..

Posted by Adam

8:05 AM, May 28, 2008

Yeah. This is the first time I've EVER seen Ichiro be an effective player. It's amazing. He's stunk his entire career, and NOW, FINALLY, when we are 12.5 games out, does he actually start to produce. What a loser.

Hey, did anyone know you cover more ground by running than by jumping through the air? It's true.

Posted by BillL

8:15 AM, May 28, 2008

Why does Bavasi keep trading for NL players? The AL and NL play a somewhat different style of baseball and since I believe the Mariners are an AL team does he keep loading up on NL players. Am I missing something here?

Posted by BillL

8:18 AM, May 28, 2008

Sorry. In my last post I forgot the all important word "Why."

Posted by Nat

8:19 AM, May 28, 2008

Aye, Aye on Morrow.

As a replacement pitcher, Baek filled in well, in general. Not 100% but in general. It wouldn't surprise me to see him pitch really well for the Padres now. I thought it was kind of crappy the way he was hustled out after that last game he pitched.

Posted by Jacob

8:36 AM, May 28, 2008

Hey Mitch, I'm Listening to you and Geoff on the radio right now. I think the Mariners won because they got Batista an early Lead. After the 1st inning Batista seemed to relax, and wouldn't you know he pitched well...Maybe the M's should put more emphasis on scoring early...

Posted by Kunkoh

9:18 AM, May 28, 2008

While watching the game, and then seeing us take it in the bottom of the 9th; I couldn't help but think of you calling it in your blog and chuckle.

Seeing us win really felt nice.

Posted by Buzz

9:48 AM, May 28, 2008

All we need now is to stretch the current win streak out to 16, and we're back to .500.
When does Bavasi leave?

Posted by colin

10:10 AM, May 28, 2008

that was a pretty intense game. especially when manny ramirez blasted that one. you cant just throw a fast ball right up the middle to a veteran like manny and expect him to just watch it go by no S**t he's gonna blast it out of the park

Go Mariners

Posted by OleJoe

10:22 AM, May 28, 2008

It is only one game, but I enjoyed it.

I will be watching again tonight.

Posted by Aaron

6:36 PM, May 28, 2008

Great win...You can really see the effort again...

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