Cal Raleigh has confirmed he'll participate in this year's HR Derby. I both love and hate this. I just hope it doesn't mess up his rythm...
All three games went to extra innings. 34 innings total during the weekend. The bullpen is in ruins. Everybody had at least one blown save. The offense kept falling short time after time... The Mariners still won the series in Texas. Feels like I aged 15 years and I only watched one and a half games. The Mariners now hold the third wild card in the AL. The Royals come to town tomorrow.
Cal Raleigh is the first Mariner to be named all-star starter in 10 years. All it took is the best season ever for a catcher. Andres Muñoz and maybe Brian Woo should join him in the pitching side. Nobody else deserves it...
The Mariners continue their Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde act by splitting the 4 game series against the Royals. One game they look unstoppable and the next they can't hit a beach ball. The pitching has started to come back, and when all things click this team can compete with anyone...guess you could say that about every other team, uh? Anyway, series against the Pirates starts in a couple hours. We'll get Skenes on sunday which should be fun. The Mariners still hold on to the third AL Wild Card by one and a half games over the Angels and remain 7 games back in the AL West.
The Mariners swept and SHUTOUT the Pirates over the weekend. That's right. Not a single run allowed in all 3 games (first time in franchise history). Two of them ended up 1-0 including a showdown between George Kirby and Skenes from Pittsburgh, who I'm really starting to feel bad for because he has a sub-2.00 ERA and only 4 wins to show for. He's Felix Hernandez reincarnated. The most brutal stretch of the schedule is over. 17 games in a row, in which the team went 11-6. Unfortunately the Astros had the exact same record during that span so nothing was gained in the division. Now a much needed day off today and series in the bronx against the Yankees starts tomorrow. The Mariners still hang on to the third AL Wild Card, 2 games over the Angels, but only one game behind Wild Card 1. They remain 7 games back in the division. BTW I almost got it right!! Muñoz and Woo were named to the all star game. Julio Rodriguez was too, for some reason...maybe his defense, because he's having his worst season so far as a hitter, to the point the fanbase is starting to get really divided over him. 4 all-stars!! I'm surprised...
Wow...shutting out a team for an entire series is impressive. The Pirates were playing pretty well going into that series too.
The Mariners suffered a devastating sweep in Yankee Stadium. The first two games were complete blow outs. The third game was worse. Brian Woo took a no-hitter to the 8th inning, the bullpen blew it AGAIN, and they walked us off in the 10th inning. I just can't, man...I can't... And now we get the Tigers before the break. If the Red Sox win tonight, we're out of the wild card. I can't be bothered to check right now...
The Mariners swept the Tigers a.k.a. the best team in baseball so far this year, on the road, and scoring 35 runs in all 3 games. Yes, Skubal started against us. Yes, Mize too. I don't understand it either. I went from "the break can't come here soon enough" to "no!! Not the break, it will kill our momentum!!" In less than a day. Mariners re-gained the third wild card right before the break. Cal Raleigh fell 1 HR short of Barry Bonds record and I'm glad. He has the no cheating record, anyway...
Cal Raleigh won the HR Derby joining Ken Griffey Jr as the only Mariners to win it, and also became the first catcher to do so. I would be excited but I'm kind of concerned on how it will mess up his rythm. It was very fun, despite ESPN's efforts to make it unwatchable. In fact, I might have turned the TV off if Cal hadn't participated or the moment he was eliminated.
The HR Derby definitely messed with Alec Bohm's swing last year. He has not been the same since. I hope it does not happen to Cal.
