Is This What Heaven Feels Like?

Is this Heaven? Is this the playoffs? Is this happening?

Mariners have now logged 7 Ws in a row. Seven.

Last night almost 40,000 people showed up to Safeco field. The stands were a sea of yellow. Felix wasn’t perfect, but he was Felix. We saw two homeruns (apparently we figured out how to deal with those pesky Safeco walls…), some great defense, and a team and a crowd fired up to be there, in August.

Happy Thoughts:

  • Eric Thames wasn’t friends with Cabrera was he? Holy god is that guy strong. All three of his homers for the M’s (just since Aug. 1, people) have just been smacked out of the yard. The dude is strong. And his twitter feed is hilarious. Example.
  • How about Montero coming through with a 3-run homer? Yes please. Please please please Montero, please be as good as the Yankees think you are. (Pineda’s recent DUI arrest gave the NY media more opportunity to whine about the trade.)
  • JASO! Bummer that the ball bounced over the wall, but hey, Montero took care of that baserunner anyway. Clutch Hitter (def: See John Jaso).
  • Trayvon’s defense anyone? Did you see this one? 
  • Lucas Luetge came in at the end of the 8th so Capitan Fi Fi (if you haven’t seen those shirts yet or heard the story, watch this) could enjoy a much-deserved Standing O, and then he pitched brilliantly to lock down the save. Through 1 1/3, he struck out 2 and only gave up 1 hit. Plus then he clearly enjoyed the Court continuing to cheer for him. He tweeted this after the game: Probably the most fun I’ve ever had pitching. What an awesome crowd!!! 
  • Felix is ours. Not for sale. Not going anywhere. He’s breathing life back into this team, loves the fans, loves his teammates. He made sure B. Ryan knew it was OK after he flubbed a play on his way out. He promised he was staying in Seattle. He dedicated the perfecto to us. 

Does baseball get better than this? We’ll see. This second-half of the season has been almost entirely one big highlight. Personally, I’d rather have a great half in the second than go big in the first half and flame out. This is a sign of very good things to come. Seattle knows it. 

Six in a Row? Could it Be?

Watch out! Mariners are streaking. Again. I can’t say enough how happy the second half of this season has made me. Whether or not we come within breathing distance of the Wild Card spot, the second half of this season has proven this team can and will be competitive next year. 

I’d put money on it. Then again, I’m the one with the positive thinking Mariners blog, so take that as you will. 

How about this game? 2 jacks from Saunders, one from Thames, 10 put-outs by Trayvon Robinson and Mariners have won 13 of the last 14 games played at Safeco. That’s a record, for the record. 

Goodbye Baseball.

Celebrate! M’s Win Series and End Road Trip 5-4

How awesome was that? 

That was a baseball game. It’s so amazing to see this team growing and learning to battle back and not give up just because we might be trailing or the pitching isn’t perfect.

Many happy thoughts from this game AND this road trip. Let’s see….

Happy Thoughts:

  • Seager clocked in with 4 RBI last night, bringing him up to 36 on the season (!)
  • Saunders logged another 3 hit night, on the road trip he hit a whopping .487, that’s 19 hits in 49 at bats. And his .277 average officially makes him the club’s hottest hitter. Can we keep him?
  • Top of the lineup really stepped up last night. First four hitters all came through with 2 hits each. Ichiro, Ackley, Seager, Montero.
  • Noesi was, again, a bit of a bust…but the bullpen really worked out of it. 4 relievers, Kelley, Pryor, League then Wilhelmsen gave up a total of 6 hits, but kept the Angels to 0 runs once they took over in the 5th. 
  • Did you see those two double plays to end the 6th and 7th innings? Clearly Pryor is the type that’s going to give up some hits, but getting those DPs makes all the difference.
  • Ichiro Homerun? Ichiro homerun. Just the insurance run we needed and he breaks up a hitless streak from the previous 4 games. Plus look at this picture:

If this doesn’t make you happy, you don’t have a heart.

Road Trip Happy Thoughts, these stats speak for themselves:

  • In 9 games, we scored 66 runs. Yup.
  • Team batting average .281, .882 OPS
  • 24 doubles, 1 triple, 14 homeruns, and 32 walks
  • Angels are knocked back to .500, we just need a good streak and we’re back in this.

Homeward for some Interleague play! (boy do the mariners love interleague play)

Cope with last night’s loss….because, ugh. Not too much to be crazy happy about. But check out this Happy Thought: Michael Saunders came through with 3 big hits, 1 homerun, 1 double and 1 single. In 5 games in June, Saunders has a .450 batting average, .500 OBP, and .900 Slugging. Whew! That’s 3 Doubles, 2 Homers, 4 RBIs and 9 hits. Yowza. Keep it up Saunders!!!! Now, how about taking this series, Mariners??
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Cope with last night’s loss….because, ugh. Not too much to be crazy happy about. But check out this Happy Thought:

  • Michael Saunders came through with 3 big hits, 1 homerun, 1 double and 1 single.
  • In 5 games in June, Saunders has a .450 batting average, .500 OBP, and .900 Slugging. Whew!
  • That’s 3 Doubles, 2 Homers, 4 RBIs and 9 hits. Yowza.
Keep it up Saunders!!!!
Now, how about taking this series, Mariners??

Celebrate! Mariners Beat Angel Foes

Woohoo!!!! That win starts to chip away at the resentment from the last time we hung out with the Angels. 

Who are these guys? We saw strong, competitive offense again, clutch hitting, and a closer that shut down an Angels rally that was almost a blown lead. 

Can’t tell whose congratulating who here, but Thanks Kawasaki, for blowing all of our expectations out of the water by doing this. 

Lots of happy thoughts after that nail-biter:

  • Jaso! Went 3 for 5 with 1 Run and 1 RBI, 1 for 1 with RISP. Felt good to have him coming through as a reliable hitter.
  • Seager Homer!! Great to get those on the board early, and he ripped that one WAY out. Then put up another hit and drew a walk to round out the evening.
  • Saunders (1 hit, 2 walks), Smoak (1 hit, 2 walks) and Olivo (2 hits, 2 runs, 1 RBI) all looked good at the plate tonight. 
  • Wilhelmsen!!! Saved our bacon after Shawn Kelley tried to give it away in the 8th. Tommy pitched 1 1/3 giving up 0 hits, 0 walks and racking up 2 Ks. 1st Save for the bartender!!
  • Kawasaki?!? If you haven’t watched the 3-run double. Watch it. I don’t think anyone expected him to come up with this hit, but he did. And man did that make all the difference. Hope we see some more of that kind of hitting from him! Clutch!
  • Seager, Olivo, Kawasaki and Saunders ALL put up RBIs with 2 outs. So WHAT?

Let’s keep this up!!! We’re back ahead of the A’s and kept the Angels to .500 with this win. Streak! Streak! Streak!

Justin Smoak is AL Player of the Week!

We’ve been seeing a lot more of Smoak rounding the bases in the last few weeks. And boy does it feel good. He’s providing a whole lot of happy thoughts for the Mariners recently: 

  • Smoak batted .348 in 6 games last week, raising his overall average to .238
  • He’s slugging .403 overall, .783 last week with a 1.265 OPS last week
  • Smoak checked in with a double, 3 home runs, 8 RBI, 6 walks and 7 Runs scored
  • He leads the club with 10 Homers!

Did anybody also see that with this recent offensive explosion of the team’s, we went from being ranked almost last in runs scored, to 12th? That’s pretty awesome.

Dropping two to Chicago was a bummer, but that second game was worth the long, long watch, right?

Let’s hope we remember to bring those road trip bats to Anaheim!

Congrats Justin!!!

Ichiro says: Good job, Smoak!

CELEBRATE: FINALLY A WIN

Not much needs to be said about why that game was so great.

When we were ahead by 1, and even 3 runs against the Rangers, this still felt like a game we were losing. Feeling like you’re losing even when you’re winning is a bad, bad sign. 

Also, I had the thought, Man I don’t want to win this game just because Beltre had a 2-run throwing error. I want to see my team play baseball!

And then, in the top of the 8th. They did!

Happy Thoughts:

  • The M’s seriously lagging offense came up with 4 back-to-back hits, took advantage of another Rangers defensive error (which should make you even prouder of being the best team in baseball in that category), and somehow turned 6 hits into 6 runs and took a 10 - 3 lead. 
  • Saunders and Seager both had a 3-hit night. Jaso had 2 hits and 3 RBIs. Every starter had a hit except Liddi and Montero.
  • Vargas had a fantastic outing. He gave up 5 hits and 3 runs (Hamilton homer. Unavoidable.) 
  • Bullpen only gave up 2 hits and 1 walk in 2 1/3 scoreless innings.

This was a real baseball game. We played good offense. Good defense. Pitched well. And we broke a 5-game losing streak by beating the crap out of the Rangers. 

That feels really good. Happy happy happy thoughts. Onward and upward! (angels have now won 8 in a row now…which means it’s possible…)

Out of our way, Feldman. Jaso has some Runs to Bat In.

Cope: How to Cope After Being Swept in 4 Games by the Angels…

Excellent Question. If you’re lucky, it’s nice outside and you spent at least one day this weekend at a park or other outdoor activity and were unable to watch/listen to/attend the ballgame. That might have taken the sting out. But maybe not. 

This series was so bad that I am starting this post with gripes. Which is not a part of what this positive thinking blog is about, but sometimes gripes are necessary when you see terrible decisions being made about a club that you care about.

Some gripes:

  • What was with sitting Ackley on Ackley bobblehead night? I know the PR has nothing to do with the clubhouse, but….come on!
  • Olivo is back in Wedge’s palm. He started 3 games and got 0 hits, 0 walks, and 3 strikeouts.
  • Figgins started today. He walked once. That is all.

This is a series that reminds us that yes, the Mariners have a lot of great pieces going on, but we are definitely in a growing year and the pieces rarely all line up at the right time. Though these losses were each awful and heartbreaking in their own special ways…there were a FEW bright spots to be found. Let’s see. 

Happy Thoughts (even though I, too, want to mope about after this series, let’s make some attempt at letting it go…)

  • Smoak’s bat! 5 hits and 6 RBIs in 3 games (he sat Thursday) is a promising lift for Smoak.
  • Noesi’s outing today: gave up only 5 hits and 2 walks in 8 full innings, he didn’t get any Ks, but only saw 3 earned runs. He threw 68 strikes in 102 pitches.
  • Beavan went 7 innings Friday, giving up 5 hits and 3 runs. The rest of that game will not be spoken of. 
  • Did you see this play by Ryan? Good defense is so underrated, and this guy is a fantastic ballplayer. 

It’s not much, but there it is! Best of all, this nightmare is over. We go to Texas tomorrow, maybe we’ll remember how to beat them again by then. 

Smoak, the only Mariner who remembered how to hit the last 4 games! Good job Smoak!

Cope: Forget Last Night’s Angels Loss by Looking at these Cute Ackley Bobblehead Pics!

Seriously. Let’s just forget that whole 14 K Heron shutout, Pujols remembered how to hit, Mariners lost all their fire from the last 2 series, game. Start over tonight? (Maybe by the grace of #happythoughts Figgins and Olivo will not be on the roster and we can have Wells back?…..maybe? hey, i’m trying to keep it positive here, but sometimes you have to scratch your head and wonder…)

Forget your worries by looking at these adorable photos of tonight’s giveaway: The Ackley Bobblehead, on his travels around Seattle.

Fremont Troll!

EMP!!

Pike Place!

The Original Starbucks!

Dick’s Drive-In!

Now that Ackley’s been given a tour of Seattle’s highlights, I hope he’s ready to show up to Safeco tonight, bat in hand, and give us all a reason to be happy to continue looking at these photos and sigh thinking “what a great choice for a bobblehead! and a leadoff hitter!”

Let’s Go Ackley!

Let’s Go Mariners!

Let’s not be in last place tomorrow!!!

Check this out. Turns out we shouldn’t be so surprised that Alex Liddi came through with the Grand Slam that won us the game yesterday. In 2011, the first year Liddi played Spring Training with the M’s at the Big League level, he hit Salamis in back to back games. March 9, 2011 and March 10, 2011. 

Here’s the second one: 

And, of course, we should relive this moment as much as we possibly can: Liddi’s Grand Slam = So Many Happy Thoughts

Here’s to many more Italian Salamis!!!