Kevin Millwood

The Mariners Lose Coming Off the All Star Break, There is Little Rejoicing

Published July 13, 2012 | By Casey McLain | Posted in Mariners

The Mariners haven’t changed one damn bit over the All-Star break.

I’m taking my introductory sentence writing cues from the super-objective writers over a the Seattle Times editorial board. The Mariners struggled tonight. They struggled approaching the All Star break. And they have struggled for 10 years. Whatever. I’m tired of talking about struggle.

We’ve struggled to put content up over the break. Part of that is because I decided I’d take a bit of a break myself. Another part of that is because my laptop broke and early-July is a perennially slow time in sports.

That being said, the Mariners struggled today.

Kevin Millwood pitched alright. He pitched really well early and a lot less well later at points. That’s the Kevin Millwood I know. He’s alright sometimes. That should be on Kevin Millwood’s headstone when his unfortunate passing finally occurs: Kevin Millwood was alright, and was best known for being a notch above-average for a long time.

Millwood will probably go run for office in some southern state now, and ruin my whole fun poking at upper-mediocrity.

The Mariners had no extra base hits today. That’s not good. Because the All Star break is the unofficial midway point of the season, we tend to hear all kinds of weird stats at this time.

“The Mariners rank among the middle or top or bottom of the pack in runs at home, on the road, in night games, in day games, in games amid marine layers, and games amid bad-mustache wearing pitchers” (That last one is actually untrue, and Derek Holland was clean shaven tonight, and the night he gave up eight runs in less than two innings against the Mariners)

“Kyle Seager has the most two out RBIs, somebody else has the most RBIs with one out on a… Continue reading →

Vargas Goes the Distance in his First Victory in Over a Month

Published July 8, 2012 | By Michael Schwartze | Posted in Mariners

With Casey having computer troubles and me out of town, we were not able to recap the first game of the Mariners – A’s series so I’ll go ahead and address that quickly. The game was pretty boring for the most part. Seattle struck first in the first with a run. Millwood dominated on the mound pitching 7 shutout innings. Furbush gave up a run in the 8th though, tying up the ball game at 1-1. Well the score would remain like this until the 11th when Oakland took back the lead. Oliver Perez was on the mound and after giving up two base hits, Chris Carter hit a walk off, 3 run shot to win the game 4-1. It was just a disappointing finish for Seattle and the offense just couldn’t get things done. But now its time for last nights game.

Vargas took the mound for Seattle last night and he’s been putting together a handful of strong starts in a row. For Oakland, it was the impressive rookie Jarrod Parker. Seattle was able to get a run in the first when John Jaso picked up a base hit, moving Saunders to second but he then scored on a Coco Crisp error. The lead wouldn’t last long though as Oakland also brought a run in the first as Josh Reddick hit a two out solo homerun.

Seattle would reclaim the lead in the second. Casper Wells opened up the inning with a base hit and Justin Smoak followed him up with a ground rule double. Brendan Ryan then stepped up and hit a double to left, bringing in both runs. The lead would stick though as Vargas would dominate the rest of the game.

In the second, Vargas had a 1-2-3 inning and in the third, he got… Continue reading →

Clayton Richard Dominates On the Mound and at the Plate as Seattle Loses Game One

Published June 23, 2012 | By Michael Schwartze | Posted in Mariners

Last week, the Mariners were swept by the Padres. Well things were not any better today as Seattle dropped game one toSan Diego. The good news was that the offense continued to do pretty well but the bad news is that the starting pitching was not very good.

Kevin Millwood really hasn’t been all that bad this year. Entering the game he had a 3.69 ERA with a 3.36 FIP. He has been a pleasant surprise this year. Things did not go to well for him tonight though. After an easy first and second inning, the Padres got to Millwood in the third. Nick Hundley reached first to start off the inning after an error by Kyle Seager. Will Venable picked up a one out base hit to put runners on second and third. Cameron Maybin was out on a grounder but it scored one run and Chase Headley followed up with an RBI base hit.

The Padres really struck in the fourth inning. Yonder Alonso was hit by Millwood to open up the inning and Logan Forsythe followed that up with a single. Clayton Richard, that’s rightSan Diego’s starting pitcher, doubled scoring two runs. Venable brought him in on an RBI single and Cameron Maybin reached base after another Kyle Seager error. After a double steal, Headley brought a runner in on a sac fly. The total in the inning would be five runs but Millwood would come back on to pitch the fifth. Alonso lead of the inning again and this time with a lead off base hit and Forsythe followed that up with a double putting runners on second and third. After a ground out, Headley was intentionally walked so thatSeattlecould pitch to Clayton Richard with two outs. Well Richard came up big again, picking up an… Continue reading →

Mariners Beat Giants, Small Giant From Seattle Looks Ordinary

Published June 16, 2012 | By Casey McLain | Posted in Mariners

When today started I had all these visions of grandeur, that I’d write some poetic 1500 word recap of the first ever appearance of appearance by Tim Lincecum in Seattle. But my friend had a 50^th birthday, and after watching all of Lincecum’s outing I left for that. Part of that was amazing to me, because I have a friend who just turned 50 years old. He’s one of those guys that are 50 going on 17, and at 50 years old he’s almost double my age, but damn, I have a friend that’s 50. Another realization is that Tim Lincecum isn’t that good anymore, which from a utilitarian perspective is much more important.

I’ve always felt like the best comparison for Lincecum among all legendary pitchers is Pedro Martinez. We’ve tried to call guys the “next Pedro Martinez” for quite some time, and more often than not those guys end up being the last Ramon Ortiz. Another one of those guys, and also an Angel when the comparison was made, is Ervin Santana. I assume by the fact that the whole world isn’t talking about Santana that he didn’t complete his perfect game tonight. Unless ESPN is just tired of perfect games. But Lincecum is another one of those guys that loses velocity as he approaches 30, and he’s been able to be successful because his stuff is very pitchable. I hope this isn’t the future for Felix, and considering their very contrasting body times there’s no reason to believe that Felix can’t recover or overcome his velocity issues, but still.

Lincecum gave up two homeruns in the first inning though, including an absolute monster shot to Jesus Montero, but then he pretty much cruised until the fifth. Lincecum isn’t dominant anymore, but he still managed 12… Continue reading →

Mariners Toss a No-Hitter, I’m out of Town

Published June 8, 2012 | By Casey McLain | Posted in Mariners

Kevin Millwood left with a groin strain, and I’m out of town and all the other NASORB writers are drunk or something, but he and five relievers combined for a no-hitter! Bosio! Bosio!