NorthWest Sports Blog brings you daily features on Oregon, Washington State, and BC amateur and pro sports teams.
New NWSB Insider & Seattle Mariners blogger Jeff Budke weighs in on the 2012 season for M’s ace Felix Hernandez. This offseason the million-dollar question for Jack Zduriencik becomes whether or not he trusts the 3 up and coming pitchers to take the reigns from the King before his value diminishes. (Hernandez is signed with the Mariners through 2014). He says Danny Hultzen, Taijuan Walker, and James Paxton will be ready soon.
NWSB Insider and Seattle Mariners blogger Danny Ferguson reports on the Mariners series matchup between the M’s vs. Texas Rangers from Arlington in Game 145. The pitching matchup features Mariners RH Hisashi Iwakuma (6-4, 3.39 ERA) vs. Rangers RH Yu Darvish (14-9, 4.14). They went against each other six times in Japan and were teammates on the Japanese team in the 2009 World Baseball Classic.
NWSB Insider and Seattle Mariners blogger Jonathan Irwin reports on the third game of the series versus the Boston Red Sox. The Headline: pitching is the name of the game as the Mariners squeeze out a series win from the visiting Red Sox. Eric Wedge runs through his bullpen in this pitchers duel, and a timely Dustin Ackley single gives the M’s the edge.
NWSB Insider and Seattle Mariners blogger Clinton Bell weighs in with another M’s Week That Was. Intended to be a fun column, with lots of laughs and other good stuff. Normally it will be a top 10 list, a la David Letterman style. Moves aplenty in the past week for the Mariners. We say goodbye to Jason Vargas, and Kevin Millwood, as they were placed on waivers. Franklin Gutierrez is finally back up with the big boy club.
NWSB Insider and Seattle Mariners blogger Clinton Bell weighs in with his reasons why the Mariners are playing good ball. With every player on the team contributing, Eric Wedge has taken more of a team first approach to this club now that Ichiro is gone. The one two punch of Felix Hernandez and Jason Vargas has been unstoppable, and the can do attitude that has been instilled is wearing off on these guys.
NWSB Insider and Seattle Mariners blogger Clinton Bell weighs in with another M’s Week That Was. Intended to be a fun column, with lots of laughs and other good stuff. Normally it will be a top 10 list, a la David Letterman style. For everything great that happened for the Mariners this week, none of it even came close to the greatness that King Felix Hernandez showed during his perfect game outing Wednesday against the Tampa Bay Rays.
NWSB Insider and Seattle Mariners blogger Jonathan Irwin reports on the Seattle Mariners farm system in this pitching prospects report. There’s more to Seattle’s farm system than just the Big 3 (Taijuan Walker, James Paxton and Danny Hultzen). Names like Stephen Pryor, Carter Capps and Chance Ruffin round out a farm system rife with talent. Big 3 of starting, meet the Big 3 of relieving.
NWSB Insider and Seattle Mariners blogger Jonathan Irwin reports on the Seattle Mariners farm system in his first pitching prospects report. He weighs in on James Paxton, Danny Hultzen and Taijuan Walker. The Big 3. If any M’s prospect has struggled the most through June and July it’s Taijuan Walker. Hultzen holds a 4.24 ERA, but he’s allowed just 3 runs over his last three starts in AAA Tacoma.
NWSB Insider and Seattle Sports blogger Brandon Choate brings us his mid-season report card for the Seattle Mariners. The team has given fans little to be cheery about and it shows in this breakdown of the season futility. Despite the gloom, the Mariners have produced some good news-worthy items themselves. Here’s to hoping they have a MUCH better second half!
NWSB Insider and Seattle Mariners blogger Clinton Bell weighs in with another M’s Week That Was. Intended to be a fun column, with lots of laughs and other good stuff. Normally it will be a top 10 list, a la David Letterman style. Another bad week for the Mariners in inter-league play. Lost four out of six against the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks, Michael Saunders and Casper Wellls keep hot bats, Felix Hernandez knocks in a pair.
NWSB Insider and Seattle Mariners blogger Brandon Choate gives us his weekly M’s pitching breakdown in the arms under the spotlight segment. Felix Hernandez, Erasmo Ramirez, and Hector Noesi all put up great performances, but only Felix got the win. This goes hand in hand with the way things have been going this season for the starting rotation. Jason Vargas continued his slide with a poor performance.
NWSB Insider Brandon Choate brings us his weekly Fantasy Baseball recap of your Seattle Mariners. Felix Hernandez is always a safe bet in fantasy with Ichiro Suzuki joining him in those ranks right off the bat. Kyle Seager was the man of the week while the rest of the team could not hold a candle to the young third baseman. This includes Justin Smoak who has gone cold…again.
