March 18
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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Here's the exact statement from the official release from Major League Baseball ... Pitcher Cliff Lee of the Seattle Mariners has received a five-game suspension and an undisclosed fine for intentionally throwing a pitch in the head area of Arizona Diamondbacks catcher Chris Snyder during the third inning of Seattle's Spring Training game on Monday, March 15 at Tucson Electric Park in Tucson, Arizona. Bob Watson, Vice President of On-Field Operations for Major League Baseball, made the announcement. Unless appealed, Lee is scheduled to begin serving his suspension on Opening Day, Monday, April 5. If appealed, Lee's suspension will be held in abeyance until the process is complete. ..."
March 18
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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Sorry for no game thread. I was behind on my stuff for the paper and with the game being televised, I figured we could skip a night. Obviously, one of the more interesting aspects was Milton Bradley being ejected in the third inning. Manager Don Wakamatsu said that home plate umpire Dan Bellino (an ump I've never heard of) said it was because Bradley dropped his bat on a called third strike. Wakamatsu talked with Bellino between innings and was very animated by Wak standards. "I didn't understand it," Wakamatsu said. "In all fairness to Milton, I actually thought he thought it was three outs. He started taking his gloves after his bat dropped. Then he picked up the bat and walked off - and ..."
March 14
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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T-shirt machine Ken Griffey Jr. had a busy spring adding to the wardrobes of his Seattle Mariners teammates, with his latest being a blowup of a minor league baseball card of pitching coach Rick Adair. Taken in the late '80s, Adair looks like all men did then - too hairy, with a bushy mustache - and the t-shirt got a lot of laughs Friday. A day later, with extra shirts, Griffey brought an armload to Peoria Stadium before the Seattle-San Francisco game, which the Mariners would lose, 8-4."
March 14
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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Forgive the tabloid headline, but if you don't have a little fun blogging, what's the point. And so few people know Erik Bedard ... The left-hander, who's recovering from shoulder surgery, has been working so hard - and this comes from Mariners team doctors and trainers - that he's progressing at a faster pace than expected. Does that mean he'll be back in the Seattle rotation sooner than mid-to-late May? Not necessarily, but it's viewed by the Mariners as good news indeed. Bedard will move from long toss to a light bullpen session on the mound on March 23. Initially, the team didn't expect him to get on a mound for any reason before April. "He's really worked hard, on and off the field, ..."
March 13
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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Four more cuts this morning, none particularly surprising but each a disappointment to the player involved. First basemen Tommy Everidge and Brad Nelson and outfielders Greg Halman and Mike Wilson have been sent to minor league camp, bringing the total number of players in camp to 51. If you're wondering, that leaves the team with eight outfielders in camp, and three healthy first basemen - Casey Kotchman, Ryan Garko and Mike Carp. Thirteen of those remaining are non-roster players, meaning for any one of them to make the club, someone on Seattle's 40-man roster would have to be taken off and put through waivers. It's among the reasons making the team from that position is so difficult."
March 13
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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Jack Hannahan has a strained right quad muscle and will miss 7-10 days, and while one utilityman is down, others get an opportunity to impress the Seattle Mariners. Matt Tuiasosopo is one of those players, and given a start at third base Friday, he hit a long double off the 40-foot wall in center field - then homered into the Mariners bullpen in left field. Yes, Virginia, that's getting noticed. On a team with a decidedly non-power lineup, a big bat off the bench is something the Mariners could use - whether he's right or left-handed."
March 13
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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Jermaine Dye hit 27 HR last season. That's tied for 37th most home runs among players in either league last year, one less than Joe Mauer and one more than Justin Upton. And he has no job. Joe Pawlikowski did a good job breaking down why Dye doesn't have a job on FanGraphs . To recap for the lazy, he had a terrible second half and his defense is utter excrement. Basically, Dye's a DH or nothing. Problem is, AL teams have generally sorted out their DH slots. It seems like everyone has some version of the big dude with bad knees and a boppin' bat. Dye's on his last legs, so he's probably best used on a one-year contract for a team that needs just a little more offense to contend. Sure, he'd ..."
March 13
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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When Ichiro Suzuki entered the league back in '01 he was far from unknown, underappreciated, or underrated. In fact if anything for a guy who had never played a MLB game, there might have been a better argument he was overrated. Since then Ichiro has slowly but steadily fallen out of the spotlight and has become virtually untalked about all around baseball. My question is, why? He has nine MLB seasons and has already broken 2,000 career hits, and he has a career .333 batting average, which in this era is every bit as good as Ty Cobb's career .366 average, which was in an era where baseball and pitching wasn't nearly where it is today. Also since then baseball has become a traveling mans ..."
March 13
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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As a blogger, I really, really want someone to sign Jarrod Washburn. I'm tired of hearing about him, and I'm even more tired of writing about him. It's now mid-March, and he's still a free agent, so naturally he remains a hot topic with fans. We all know the first part of this story. Jarrod Washburn was a Mariner. He was mediocre. Jarrod Washburn got traded to the Tigers. He was awful. The Twins wanted Jarrod Washburn. The Twins made Jarrod Washburn the best offer he was going to get. Jarrod Washburn turned down this offer. Now no one wants Jarrod Washburn, and we're less than a month away from opening day. It's no secret that he would love to come back to Seattle-he's stated that on ..."
March 12
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
columnist Ryne E. Hancock
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As an African-American, I know that racism is still alive. I know this. But while I could go on and on about the injustices of this world from my point of view as an African-American, I will say this: Regardless of what color you are, if you play like horse manure, you deserve to get booed. Period. On Wednesday morning at my office, I watched the ESPN interview with Milton Bradley, which was more like watching college softball with the really gorgeous-looking players. According to Bradley, he said that Chicago is a tough place to play in if you're African-American. That's the same crap that Latroy Hawkins said six years ago, despite the fact that Hawkins that year in Chicago had nine blown ..."
March 12
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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It was cool, wet and breezy here a few days ago, the kind of weather that makes everyone - players, coaches, media - want to get off the field and into some place covered. Near the bullpens, where the players pass enroute to other stops on their day, about 25 fans waited with pens and balls and baseball cards, calling out to everyone who ran by. More than 70 guys in camp, two of them stopped. One was manager Don Wakamatsu. The other was Milton Bradley. Bradley was carrying a heavy equipment bag, but he not only stopped to sign, he took the time to chat, smile and - wrap your head around this! - seemed to enjoy himself. This is a man with a well-documented, at least in the press, ..."
March 12
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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For the second straight day, Manager Don Wakamatsu heaped praise on catcher Adam Moore, who made two nice plays on bunts, threw out a runner at second trying to steal and went 1-for-2 with two walks. On Wednesday, Wakamatsu lauded Moore after a 6-4 win over Texas, in which Moore had a nice double. "He's got a chance to be a special player," Wakamatsu said. "He can swing the bat. We still need to work on some things throwing wise, quicken him up a little bit, but as far handling the pitching staff and his receiving skills, blocking, real happy with that.'' On Thursday, after the Mariners' 6-2 win over the Giants at Scottsdale Stadium, Moore got kudos from Wakamatsu again. "Probably for me ..."
March 11
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
columnist Cliff Eastham
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When the Philadelphia Phillies sent Cliff Lee to Seattle in order to make room for Rory Halladay, I shook my head. I couldn't understand the concept of sending a No. 1 starter and picking up another one. Lee was not ecstatic to realize the team he helped to the World Series had the door open for him with his hat in their hand. So much for gratitude, eh? He is currently with his third team in less than a year. The Phillies obviously rented him from Cleveland in the middle of last season. Coming off his Cy Young win in 2008, Lee was less than stellar in his 2009 season. After the 22-8 season he was 7-9 with the Tribe before they decided to dump him. He had a 7-4 mark with the Phillies and ..."
March 11
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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So yes, I lagged on a postgame report from a spring training game. I'm moderately sorry, yet still extremely happy. Obviously, I wrote earlier about Cliff Lee. And I wrote this for the paper. What's crazy about Lee's showing is that he still could be even better. Both he and Don Wakamatsu believe that. "I walked one guy, and I wasn't really happy with that, but other than that, I felt like I threw a lot of strikes and used all of my pitches," Lee said. Lee was pretty solid, but Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu knows Lee can be even better. "Lee was good," Wakamatsu said. "I thought he was up in the zone, but again, it was nice to get him out there pitching. There were no problems with the ..."
March 10
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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Of course, it was a simulated game and he was facing the likes of Denny Almonte, Danny Carroll and two other minor leaguers. As Ian Snell said: "All these people want to talk to you after you carved up some minor leaguers." Regardless, Felix Hernandez looked sharp throwing 35 pitches, I had him for 20 strikes unofficially. But he struck out five of the nine batters he faced. They had him retire four batters in each inning, and he took a break in between innings as lefty Nick Hill also took part in the simulated game. "Feels good," Hernandez said as he walked past media members after his outing. "That's all you need to know." Um sorry, Felix we need to know more than that. Later he ..."
March 9
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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Sixty-three bodies in camp is too many to find work for, and the Seattle Mariners staff - Don Wakamatsu and his coaches, general manager Jack Zduriencik - will begin trimming that number tomorrow morning. Thought it will seem like it to some of those sent out, the first round of cuts are rarely based on talent, alone. If a good young player in camp has no chance to win a job at the big-league level, he may be better served going to minor-league camp for the rest of the spring. In some cases, there are simply too many players at a given position. There are 31 pitchers here, too many to get quality innings for, and the last thing the Mariners want is to slow the development of a player. So, ..."
March 8
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
columnist Todd Hayek
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If Seattle had a sports-themed amusement park, the roller coaster ride would probably be called the "Moose-a-lini," "Marinator," or "M's-Sir-Mount-able." For some, a roller coaster is a frightening event. Others enjoy the thrill of getting jolted and twisted through the ups and downs and upside-downs. Depending on the constitution of the average baseball fan in Seattle, the first decade of baseball in the new millennium may have been either orgasmic or revolting, as there were more highs and lows for the Mariners than the scariest coaster at Six Flags. That initial climb the coaster uses to gain momentum started in the mid-'90s and carried the Mariners to scream-filled playoff appearances ..."
March 8
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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Overnight rain left the streets and fields of the entire Phoenix area soaked and spotted with standing water, and with not one but two games scheduled today, the Seattle Mariners do not need more rain. Forecast? Scattered showers. If they can play today, the Mariners will make up for their Sunday rainout and get work not only for starters Ryan Rowland-Smith and Doug Fister, but for plenty of other arms behind them."