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I decided to skip watching the game today and hang out with my friend Kelly. The Mariners swept the Angels to give people a false sense of hope right before the All Star break. Anyway...we went to Value Village and I found some real Major League bats. I bought a Bob Kearney model, but if you want Ricky Nelson, Al Chambers or Luis Salazar, they're still down there for $5 each. We also went to a great new pizza place called "Slices" on Alki and I picked up some CDs at Easy Street.

Also, I found a great new Mariners site: Marinerds! Check it out... (http://marinerds.blogspot.com/)

And, finally, I would like to let everyone know that I had a dream that the Indians will end up with Bret Boone. You heard it here first...

So, I wanted to do a post earlier, but my Internet isn't working properly. Without the Internet, I'm like a cokehead in rehab. I hope that sounds funny and not pathetic. Although, I guess I'd be OK if it came off as both. Anyway, here's some stuff I wanted to discuss...

 

Did anyone see the Dodgers' lineup on Friday? I looked at it and almost started laughing, because almost every player made me say, "Who?" Check this out...Robles (SS), Repko (CF), Werth (LF), Saenz (1B), Perez (2B), Edwards (3B), Ross (RF), Rose (C). Not one of those guys was in the the Dodgers' Opening Day starting lineup!

 

After the Angels intentionally walked Ichiro last night, Randy Winn stepped up and  hit a grand slam It's the fifth grand slam of Winn's career, which means that 9.4% of his long balls come with the bases loaded (for what that’s worth). Here's hoping that other teams were watching. Since the Cubs optioned Corey Patterson to AAA, I think they might be interested...

 

Word is that Ichiro won't be competing at this year's Home Run Derby, which is both good and bad. I would really love to see Ichiro compete, because I've seen him take batting practice several times, and he almost effortlessly launches ball after ball into the cheap seats. I really think that he'd have a legitimate chance to win the darn thing, but at what price? Can you imagine how many times he'd have to answer the question, "So, why don't you hit more home runs that count?" Not only that, but can you imagine what it would do for baseball to have a guy who hits 80% singles come in and win the freaking HOME RUN derby? A guy that's 5'9", 160 lbs. coming in and beating these huge, ripped sluggers? It would turn baseball on its proverbial head! What's next…Mo Vaughn coming out of retirement to break Rickey Henderson's single-season stolen base record?

 

I know this is sort of old news, but I wanted to get my two cents in about Kenny Rogers. As you may know, he was one of players that made up the "Not My Guys" team. I didn't really like the guy before this whole cameraman escapade. That said, I think the whole situation is getting blown completely out of proportion. He made a mistake. He's human...it happens. Were his actions acceptable? Absolutely not. However, some people are going crazy with this. I read a column the other day that said he shouldn't be allowed on the All-Star team because being an All Star means being an All Star on the field as well as off the field. Uh...yeah, because we all know that every All Star ever has been a model citizen. Give me a break! So he snapped and broke a camera...quit crying. His anger got the best of him, but one incident shouldn't define him or totally destroy his character.

 

P.S. Morgan Ensberg should be an All Star.

The next time I go to Spring Training (hopefully next spring!), I'm definitely going here. I can't wait!

Sorry for the infrequent posts. Well, I'm sort of sorry. Ok, I'm not sorry at all. Hey...what can I say? I'm a busy guy. Anyway, I'm pretty sure the only people visiting this site are looking for pictures of Jenny McCarthy and Carmen Electra mudwrestling. They're probably pretty disappointed when they find that this site is just some geeky kid's baseball "blog." But let's get down to business...can you believe the season is already half over?

 

Ka-BOONE!

To celebrate the 4th of July, General Manager Bill Bavasi started to blow up the Mariners. As I'm sure you know by now (unless you're strictly a mudwrestling fan), Bret Boone was designated for assignment. The M's have 10 days to trade or release Boonie and many believe that he'll be going to the Twins or the Padres. Bavasi said in the PI, "I've found that very little happens in baseball unless there is a deadline. So, we're putting a deadline out there to see if we can get a deal done. We've put a deadline on ourselves as well as anyone who has an interest in him." I never thought that Boone would be the crying type, but he was blubbering like a baby at his press conference. On the other hand, with the way the M's have been playing, maybe those were tears of joy...

By the way, any talk of Boone being a Hall of Famer is laughable.

The fireworks are expected to continue throughout July. Randy Winn and Eddie Guardado are also expected to be goners, and who knows...maybe others will be wearing different colors in August. This could be an exciting month!

 

Setting The Pace

Here is what some of the Mariners are on pace for...

Ichiro!: 206 hits, 56 fewer than last season's record breaker, but noteworthy nonetheless in that it will be his 5th consecutive season with 200+ hits. Ichiro is also on pace for 16 triples, tied with Carl Crawford for the most in the American League. Right now, Ichiro has as many triples as everyone else on the roster! He's on track for 36 stolen bases, which would be the same as last season. Ichiro is also on pace for 48 walks, half of which would be intentional.

 

Adrian Beltre: Hopefully Beltre is on his way to turning things around, but his first half has been pretty disappointing. He's on pace for only 16 home runs, one less than Richie Sexson has already. Right now, Beltre has only 8 bombs. Last year, Beltre had 8 by May 1st. He's only on pace for only 30 walks, which is just ridiculous considering that he has one of the best P/PA ratios on the team (4.13). In fact, Beltre has one of the best P/PA ratios in all of baseball, ranking 14th in all of MLB. Excluding Beltre, the other players in the top 20 for P/PA have an average of 41 walks.

 

Richie Sexson: 34 long balls & 184 strikeouts, but more importantly...ZERO dislocated shoulders!

 

Raul Ibanez: 24 home runs, which would tie his career best. So far, Raul's been the best hitter on this team. Whodathunkit?

 

Randy Winn: 42 doubles, which would be the most by a Mariner since John Olerud hit 45 in 2000.

 

Ryan Franklin: On pace to be the next 20-game loser. Hopefully he won't be in the rotation long enough to join that club...

 

Checking MY mid-season pace...

At the beginning of the season, I made some predictions. Let's see how I'm doing so far...

*Only 2 of the teams I thought would finish in first place are currently in first place (both last year's league champs, the Red Sox and Cardinals). However, of the 4 teams I picked that aren't currently in first place, 2 of them are in second place. My biggest busts so far have been predicting the White Sox to finish fourth in the AL Central and picking the Nationals to finish last in the NL East.

*My closest award prediction looks to be the HR titles, which I predicted would go to Mark Teixeira and Adam Dunn. Tex is currently leading the AL in dingers, while Dunn has 21 bombs, 5 behind the leader, Andruw Jones.

*As for my "10 Random Predictions," I'm about 50/50.

Looking Good...

-Randy Johnson will get more wins than Curt Schilling

-If he stays healthy, Eric Milton will break Bert Blyleven's single-season record for HR allowed.

-Matt Clement will have more wins and strikeouts (and a lower ERA) than Carl Pavano.

-Under the tutelage of Leo Mazzone, Jorge Sosa will have the best season of his career.

-Ichiro! will collect 200+ hits for the fifth year in a row.

Probably Not Happening...

-Eric Chavez may hit .300, like I predicted, but he's not on the All-Star team.

-Justin Morneau will hit 35+ home runs.

-Bob Melvin will be fired during the season.

Could Go Either Way...

-No player will hit more than 50 home runs.

-Last season, Oakland's top 5 starters collected 62 total wins. This year's staff will have more than 62 combined wins. Right now, Oakland's top 5 starters have 26 wins, but with Harden off the DL, and with Haren, Zito and Blanton looking better, who knows what could happen. We all know how hot the A's can get after the break...

 

Isn't watching baseball good enough?

I'm always amazed at how many promotions teams have. For me, simply watching baseball is reason enough to come to the ballpark. In fact, most of the times there are giveaways, I couldn't care less. There were huuuugggggeee lines for the Edgar Martinez statue. I got one, but I gave it to my girlfriend's mom. I was looking through the M's promotions that are coming up and I noticed that they've already changed "Bret Boone Bat Night" to simply "Bat Night." That's probably a good thing, because you wouldn't want everyone walking around, flipping their bat everywhere.

 

Here are some other promotions the M's have scheduled...

 

Thursday, July 28: "The First Annual Stitch 'n Pitch Night." I guarantee they don't let people into soccer matches with foot-long needles!

 

Friday, July 29: "Mariner Wives "Favorite Things" Auction." "Mariners Wives will auction off baskets of their husbands' 'Favorite Things.'" One of Eddie Guardado's favorite things is playing pranks. If you win his basket, you get to light Willie Bloomquist's pants on fire! Joel Pineiro's basket will contain some bleach, so you can go blonde, just like him! And hey...Jamie Moyer has six kids...maybe his basket will contain a "Have Sex with Karen Moyer" token!

 

I can’t follow that, so I’m done. Until next time…