Category Archives: Baseball

Articles, Baseball, Podcast

Episode 069: The back side of the ball

John Stewart guests in our second baseball episode. We talk the back side of the ball in this, the 69th episode of Pucked in the Head.

• Introduction
• Sofa Surfer Girl by the Orchid Highway
• Mike Zunino can’t hit but he frames pitches like a master
• Paxton designed Zunino’s mitt
• Robinson Cano has a sky high baseball IQ
• A happy little dance at shortstop
• John loves Felix Hernandez
• John loves Kyle Seager, too
• John loves being a nerd, three
• Being a manager is a tough gig
• Stompa! by Serena Ryder

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Articles, Baseball, Podcast

Episode 66: Mariners talk, round one

Jason sits down with John Stewart, Pucked in the Head’s official baseball correspondent in the Emerald City. Music this episode by Vancouver-based rockers The Matinée.

  • Introduction
  • John Stewart, ladies and gentlemen
  • John’s shower is a puzzle worthy of Perseus himself
  • A quick trip in the way back machine
  • Dave Niehaus, the Jim Robson of baseball
  • Felix Hernandez, future resident of Cooperstown
  • James Paxton throws one pitch. Really well, but still.
  • Pitchers are like noodles
  • Felix has it all
  • The bullpen has had a slow start
  • Call of the Wild by the Matinée
  • There’s always money in the banana stand
John Stewart and his son Matt visit the Dave Niehaus memorial at Safeco Field in Seattle.
John Stewart and his son Matt visit the Dave Niehaus memorial at Safeco Field in Seattle.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Articles, Baseball

Baseball’s back

Baseball’s back — all right! It’s that time of year when all the other sports goings-on take a break, and we relish the crack of the bat, peanuts, and beer…mmm…beer. But I digress.

[Editor’s note: For those NOT wearing baseball-coloured glasses, of course, it’s playoff time in the NBA and NHL, ramp up time for the Women’s World Cup, and right in the middle of the bloody season for MLS. *evil eye to John* But I digress.]

When last we left our heroes, Spring Training was still in progress. Since then, the Mariners started the season with a great series at home against the Angels… and then delivered a very disappointing road trip featuring some surprising (and painful) implosions on the part of the starting pitching rotation. This was… not expected.

Fortunately the Ms arrived home and put King Felix on the mound to turn things around. The King was as good as gold, fanning 12 and stopping a four-game losing streak.

The Mariners' Nelson Cruz, celebrating his walkoff single against the Rangers April 19th.
The Mariners’ Nelson Cruz, celebrating his walkoff single against the Rangers April 19th.

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Articles, Baseball

Mariners Hot Stove Review

by John Stewart

Mariners fans entered Game 162 of the 2014 campaign with as much excitement as we’ve had in a long time. Felix on the mound, a beautiful fall day, and the Ms in striking distance of their first playoff appearance in… well, a while. [Editor’s note: Please forgive John’s lack of specificity on this one. He resides in a country where they still use quarts, miles, pounds and Republican Senator Thad Cochran.]

King Felix was edged out by Corey Kluber for the American League Cy Young Award, but his performance in 2014 was nothing short of electric. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson nicked from oregonlive.com.)
King Felix was edged out by Corey Kluber for the American League Cy Young Award, but his performance in 2014 was nothing short of electric. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson nicked from oregonlive.com.)

Sadly, despite beating the Angels of Anaheim/California/etc., 4-1, the Mariners were eliminated when the Oakland Athletics won their game that same day. And so another Mariners season ended without a trip to the postseason. The Mariners finished 87-75, one lousy win short of that that bloody Wild Card spot.

Pucked in the Head baseball connoisseur and Hair Club for Men after picture model John Stewart loves him some Safeco Field. And why not? It's purty.
Pucked in the Head baseball connoisseur and Hair Club for Men after picture model John Stewart loves him some Safeco Field. And why not? It’s purty.

Yet for the first time in… a while [ahem]… there was a real sense of optimism at Safeco Field. With a league-low ERA of 3.17, Mariners pitching was generally outstanding, both in the rotation and out of the bullpen. The offense, again, was the weakest link, with later-season moves for Austin Jackson and Kendrys Morales proving to be insufficient to move the needle quite far enough. Still, being relevant on the last day of the season was a welcome change from the previous several years.

With attendance up, and some excitement building about beisbol (to be put on hold by many during NFL season, as the Seahawks mount an amazing run toward a second Super Bowl appearance in as many years), it was on to the Hot Stove League, aka the off-season. What did Mariners General Manager Jack Zduriencik have up his sleeve?

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Articles, Baseball

Mariners Roller Coaster Ends on High Note

Any degree of sports fandom tends to affect things at home. My personal connection to the Seattle Mariners, and to baseball in general, is hopelessly intertwined with my personal life. And so it was that last Sunday, with the Mariners’ playoff chances hanging in the balance, I found myself sitting on the Washington State Ferry Yakima, headed south to Anacortes from Orcas Island, checking and re-checking the MLB app on my phone. Were the A’s winning? How was Felix pitching? Had the Mariners scored any runs? Could Texas come back, and give the Ms a li’l help?

Felix Hernandez (left) fist bumps second baseman Robinson Cano late in a season that saw the Seattle Mariners miss the playoffs by a single win. Kyle Terada photo borrowed from USA Today Sports Online.
Felix Hernandez (left) fist bumps second baseman Robinson Cano late in a season that saw the Seattle Mariners miss the playoffs by a single win. Kyle Terada photo borrowed from USA Today Sports Online.

As I learned in the car after we got off the ferry, the Rangers were incapable of mounting a comeback against the A’s (not surprising for a team whose Disabled List outmanned its 25-man roster). Thus ended ended the Mariners’ playoff hopes, despite their final game 4–1 win over the Los Angeles Angels. The win, while gratifying, did not get the team that Wild Card berth we had dared to dream about all summer.

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Articles, Baseball

Are the 2014 Mariners the 1995 Mariners All Over Again?

Yes, boys and girls, this is what we call a ‘clickbait’ headline. You’ll get over it.

Manager Lou Pinella became the eighth member of the Seattle Mariners Hall of Fame this month. Photo cribbed from the interweb.
Manager Lou Piniella became the eighth member of the Seattle Mariners Hall of Fame this month. Photo cribbed from the interweb.

After watching the one and only Lou Piniella get inducted into the Mariners Hall of Fame, in a ceremony that brought tears to the eyes of even grizzled Mariners fans like yours truly, it’s hard not to get all nostalgic for the ’95 Mariners.

After playing all summer without star outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. (aka “Junior”), who had been badly injured in late May, the Ms didn’t inspire much hope for post-season play. The rest of the team fought through the adversity and kept things interesting, but as August began, they were just another bunch of boys of summer playing out the string. Then, somehow, some way, they started winning. The “Refuse to Lose” Mariners had arrived, and suddenly everyone in Seattle and around the Northwest remembered that we had a baseball team.

The ’95 team started August thirteen games back of the Angels. After two of the most amazing months in recent memory — you could not walk down a street in Seattle during a Mariners game without finding someone listening to Dave Niehaus calling the game on the radio — the team finished tied for the division lead with the Angels. That led to a one-game playoff: the Angels had not made the playoffs since ’86, and the Mariners had never been (before 1995 Seattle had only two seasons with a winning record in their 18-year history).

Continue reading Are the 2014 Mariners the 1995 Mariners All Over Again? →

Articles, Baseball

Offense? What’s That?

Dustin Ackley has been knocking the ball out of the park for the Mariners since the All-Star Break.
Dustin Ackley has been knocking the ball out of the park for the Mariners since the All-Star Break.

A resurgent Dustin Ackley is suddenly knocking balls over the fence with some regularity. Thursday the Mariners scored 13 runs.  No, this is not a misprint. THIRTEEN RUNS! It really happened, I swear.

It’s been pretty obvious since early in the season that while the defense is good, and the bullpen is good, and the starting rotation is even better than we thought (Chris Young! Who knew?) the Mariner offense is… not good. Yes, Robinson Cano is a great player, and Kyle Seager is underrated, and man can Mike Zunino pound the ball when he gets a piece of one, but…

OK, you say, so the Mariners picked up Austin Jackson and Chris Denorfia, and didn’t you write about that already? Why, yes, yes I did – but those two weren’t going to be enough. Kendrys Morales (yeah, I wrote about him too) wasn’t going to be enough, either. We really needed some other guys already on the roster to heat up at the plate for this playoff stretch run. Lo and behold, Dustin Ackley appears to be reading Pucked in the Head.

If you’ve been watching the Mariners for the last few years, you’re familiar with the seemingly endless string of players (Justin Smoak! Nick Franklin!) who were going to be the next big thing. Ackley came near the top of that list as a first-round draft pick in the 2009 amateur draft. The Mariners wanted Ackley at second base… and that didn’t work out real well. Then the Mariners put Ackley in the outfield… and while his defense has been improving, again not so much with the bats.

Until… well, until July, really. Dustin Ackley had a great July. Here are his slash lines before and after the All-Star Break:

Pre-All-Star-Break: .225/.282./335.
Post-All-StarBreak: .360/.368/.587.

Wow.

(Editor’s note: that slugging percentage is in-freaking-sane.)

Now, Ackley’s had good months before, and baseball is nothing if not a game of adjustments. It’s possible the pitchers figure him out over the rest of August and September and he falls apart. It’s also possible he continues hitting at something close to his current clip. Obviously Mariners fans would prefer the latter option.

With the White Sox at Safeco over the weekend and Felix starting on Monday, and the good guys coming off taking two from the Braves earlier in the week, now would be a great time for Ackley (and the rest of the Mariners offense) to keep hitting. As crazy as it sounds in these glorious Northwest summer days, we’re only 48 games from the end of the season. A few more baker’s dozens will go a long way to providing Seattle baseball this October.

Go Mariners.

Articles, Baseball

Trade Deadline: Good News!

1 Comment

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No, the Mariners did not get David Price from Tampa Bay. He went to the Tigers.

Instead, the Mariners got Austin Jackson, who is a legitimate center fielder, from the Tigers. And I am happy.

Does this move by itself mean the Mariners make the playoffs? Of course not. But if you had told me in April that we’d have Austin Jackson for the stretch run, I’d have been thrilled, and I’m (still?) thrilled today.

Jackson instantly gives the Mariners a competent outfielder – and while I was thrilled with James Jones at the beginning of his time with the team, the reality is his numbers have been going the wrong direction for a while now. And that’s both offense and defense. And, the addition of Chris Denorfia in a separate deal gives another competent outfield piece to a team that, let’s face it, really didn’t have a Major League outfield when the season began.

Defensively, Jackson is an immediate win over our current outfield. I would expect to see Endy Chavez out of the mix quite quickly. Once Michael Saunders gets back, I would also expect to see a lot less of Stefen Romero as well. Don’t be surprised to see a Dustin Ackley/Denorfia platoon.

Offensively, Jackson started the season slow but heated up in July. The hope is that reuniting him with Mariners Manager Lloyd McClendon, who was his hitting coach with the Tigers, will help. Even if Jackson is relatively neutral offensively, this is still a win for the team. McClendon has already said Jackson will be the new leadoff hitter.

I think the key takeaway from this trade is what did *not* happen – the Mariners did not give up any of their top talent. They didn’t mortgage the farm, as has been done in years past, in a misguided effort to win it all now. I want to see the Mariners make the playoffs as much as anyone, but if there’s one thing we learned in the Bavasi years, it’s that you can’t jump the queue in baseball. You have to take your time and work with what you have and fill the holes with trades – or you have to be the Yankees or Dodgers. This deal sends a player I personally like, Nick Franklin, whose best position (2nd base) is going to be filled by Robinson Cano for quite a few years to come. In return, it brings back an outfielder who we’ll have this year and next. This means that in the offseason, Jack Zduriencik will not have to worry about center field. And this is a good thing. And the Denorfia trade gives you another outfield piece, albeit not as valuable a one as Jackson, for almost nothing of value.

I don’t know what the next two months hold for the Mariners. But you gotta like their chances more with these two moves than you did this morning, and that’s a good thing. Go Mariners.

Articles, Baseball

Lost Weekend at Safeco

Ouch.

My wife and kids watched two Mariners games this weekend. Both went into extra innings. Both ended as Mariners losses.

Morales in the dugout - not exactly burning down the house so far, unfortunately.
Morales in the dugout — not exactly burning down the house so far, unfortunately.

I only sat through one, Sunday’s 10-inning 3-2 affair. The Ms put up ten hits but could not bring a man across the plate when it really, really counted. Kendrys Morales (and yes, it’s only a small sample size) is 1-for-10 in his return to Mariners blue. Twice Sunday afternoon he came up with runners on, and did absolutely nothing productive. Unfortunately he was not alone in this predicament.

Talking with an old friend earlier today, I realized that part of me just wants the team to tank, go on a 15-game losing streak and erase any possible hope at the playoffs. The certainty of suckitude, in some ways, is better than the ping-pong teasing of having a wild card slot and then losing it. Yes, there is still a chance the Ms can take that wild card slot back – but this weekend did not help that chance.

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Articles, Baseball

The Baseball Bus

Center fielder of the future? Or will the Mariners find another outfielder before the deadline? Image unceremoniously screenshotted from USA TODAY Sports
Center fielder of the future? Or will the Mariners find another outfielder before the deadline? Image unceremoniously screenshotted from USA TODAY Sports

Last night I asked my daughter to pick out stories for bedtime. She handed me a stapled-together booklet, complete with preschool artwork, entitled “The Baseball Bus”.

This original piece by my soon-to-be-famous young lass chronicles
our Seattle Mariners, as they board the team bus in the rain, journey to Safeco Field, beat an unnamed opponent, and win their
playoff game to advance to the World Series. Our clan is of
course in the stands cheering them on.

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