Tag Archives: Mariners

24 Jul

numbers to crunch

4 – Wins in four consecutive starts for Kendall Graveman, the former Mississippi State star now pitching for Oakland. Graveman went nine innings on Saturday to beat Tampa Bay – thanks to a pair of ninth-inning homers – and is now 7-6 with a 4.15 ERA. At one point, he was 1-6, 5.48.
12 – Hits in his last 10 games for Anthony Alford, the former Petal High star now in A-ball with Toronto. Alford, in an injury-plagued campaign, is now batting .210 with four homers and 23 RBIs for Dunedin.
7 – Wins in their last nine games for the Double-A Mississippi Braves, who beat Tennessee 3-0 on Saturday behind the pitching of Lucas Sims and Jason Hursh. The M-Braves are 16-13 and in first place in the Southern League South.
31 – Steals for Billy Hamilton, the ex-Taylorsville High star playing for Cincinnati. Hamilton, batting leadoff on Saturday, went 1-for-4 with a bag and a run in the Reds’ 6-1 win against Arizona. Hamilton has a six-game hit streak that has boosted his average to .251 with 46 runs in 82 games.
3 – Runs scored by Ole Miss product Seth Smith in Seattle’s 14-5 win against Toronto on Saturday. Smith, batting .273, has 43 runs in 83 games for the Mariners. He also has 11 home runs.
7 – Consecutive scoreless appearances for Jonathan Papelbon, the former Mississippi State standout who pitches for Washington. Papelbon yielded a hit and a walk in the ninth against San Diego on Saturday but got the win thanks to a walk-off triple by Stephen Drew. Papelbon is 2-2 with 19 saves and a 2.56 ERA for the first-place Nationals.
3 – Number of former Mississippi Braves who started for the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday (Yunel Escobar, Andrelton Simmons and Todd Cunningham). Two ex-M-Braves started for Atlanta (Freddie Freeman and Jeff Francoeur).

02 Jul

timing is everything

If you’re going to watch Seth Smith play, you should catch him at home, at Seattle’s Safeco Field, and against a right-hander, which he faces almost exclusively. And catch him when he’s hot, of course, like now. The former Ole Miss standout from Jackson homered for the second straight game on Friday as the Mariners beat American League East leader Baltimore for the second straight time at Safeco. The lefty-swinging Smith is batting .362 over his last 15 games and has six hits in his last three games. For the year, he is at .272 with eight homers and 30 RBIs. At home, he is hitting .298 with six homers, and against right-handers, he’s batting .284 with all eight of his homers and 27 of the RBIs. The Mariners face Buck Showalter’s Orioles again tonight at Safeco, and Baltimore’s scheduled starter is right-hander Tyler Wilson. Seattle is 41-39, battling to keep AL West leader Texas in its sights. The M’s trail the Rangers by 10½ games. P.S. East Central Community College product Tim Anderson got some love on MLB Network’s Quick Pitch show today for drawing the first walk of his big league career on Thursday. It came in his 86th plate appearance for the Chicago White Sox. Anderson did not walk in Friday’s game – or get a hit – but the rookie leadoff man is batting .300 with three homers, 14 runs, five RBIs and a couple of steals while also playing some sharp shortstop over 20 games. The White Sox apparently are pleased. “He’s quiet, but there’s a confidence and a drive,” ChiSox manager Robin Ventura told CBSChicago.com.

30 Apr

mr. 100

The 100th home run of Seth Smith’s big league career will certainly be memorable. The former Ole Miss standout from Jackson hit the milestone bomb on Friday night, giving Seattle a 1-0 win over visiting Kansas City. It was the only hit the Mariners got. The victory went to Seattle ace Felix Hernandez and was the 145th of his career, which matches Jamie Moyer for the most in franchise history. The left-handed hitting Smith went deep against righty Kris Medlen, the former Mississippi Braves star, in the sixth inning. The ball just got over the wall in right field at Safeco Field and was just out of the reach of the Royals’ Jarrod Dyson, the Southwest Mississippi Community College product from McComb. Smith’s first career homer came in 2008 with Colorado. He has also homered for Oakland and San Diego. And if you were wondering, 91 of his homers have come against right-handers.

22 Sep

doing his part

This hasn’t been the season that was predicted for the Seattle Mariners. This was a team expected by many to win the American League West, or at least make the playoffs. Not happening. It’s late September and Seattle, an 87-game winner in 2014, sits in fourth place with a 73-77 record, out of the playoff picture largely because of a terrible first half. General manager Jack Zduriencik already has been fired, and more changes could be coming. But the M’s woes should not reflect badly on the efforts of Seth Smith. The Jackson native and former Ole Miss standout, in his first season with the Mariners, is hitting .247 with 11 home runs, 41 RBIs and 48 runs in 125 games. These numbers are on par with the veteran’s 162-game average (according to baseball-reference.com): .263, 16 homers, 59 RBIs, 67 runs. He has hit .257 with six homers at home in Safeco Field, not a hitter’s park. He has a 2.0 WAR rating, which translates to “solid starter.” Smith, a lefty hitter, doesn’t hit left-handers (.209, one homer in 43 at-bats), but the M’s knew that when they traded with San Diego to get him. This team already had stars (Felix Hernandez, Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz). Smith, a so-called “professional hitter,” was acquired as a complementary piece, and he has held up his end. P.S. Cleveland is another team forecast (by some) as a playoff club that has scuffled. The Indians, who won 85 games in 2014, are 74-74, barely on the fringe of the AL wild card race thanks to a 26-20 surge since Aug. 1. Pitching has kept the Tribe afloat, and some credit there goes to Ole Miss alum Mickey Callaway, in his third year as the pitching coach. Cleveland’s staff ERA of 3.75 is third in the AL, and they lead the loop again in strikeouts. They set an MLB record in 2014 with 1,450 K’s.

31 Jul

target practice

Seth Smith likes to hit at Target Field in Minnesota. On Thursday, the Ole Miss alum from Jackson belted his fourth home run in 11 career games there, a first-inning blow that gave Seattle a lead on the Twins. Of course, Brian Dozier, the ex-Southern Miss star, likes to hit at Target Field, too. He smacked his 33rd career homer there, a leadoff shot that propelled the Twins to a five-run first inning and a 9-5 victory. Dozier, the All-Star, now has 22 homers for the season (10 at home) for Minnesota, which appears headed for an American League playoff berth that no one predicted in preseason. Seattle, on the other hand, was pegged by many to win the AL West but has had a rough go of it. At 46-57, the Mariners are a distant fourth in the division. Smith, in his first season with the M’s, has played well enough: His .263 average is right at his career mark, and he’s got nine homers and 28 RBIs in 270 at-bats. Wonder if he is on the trading block? … On a small ball note: Billy Hamilton, the Taylorsville Tornado, swiped two more bases on Thursday, running his season total to 49, 16 more than the next best in baseball. He also scored three times in Cincinnati’s 15-5 win against Pittsburgh, but his runs total of 47 ranks just 68th in MLB.

16 Jul

breaking away

The big league All-Star break, which continues through today, means different things to different players. Those who are slumping likely welcome the respite, while those on a roll are hoping not to lose their mojo. Seth Smith, the Ole Miss product from Jackson, falls into the latter category. He homered for Seattle in the last game before the break, giving him eight for the year. He is hitting .333 over his last 15 games to lift his average to .268. Former Mississippi State standout Tyler Moore had a big two-run double for Washington last Sunday and has seven RBIs in eight July games for the first-place Nationals. He would like to find his home run stroke, however; his last blast came on June 12. UM alum Drew Pomeranz, who has been rock solid since moving to the Oakland bullpen, had a 1.50 ERA over his last seven appearances heading into the break. The break might have been a good thing for Pascagoula native Joey Butler. So hot for Tampa Bay just a couple of weeks ago, he is batting .098 with one RBI over his last 15 games, dropping his average to .287. Ex-UM star Chris Coghlan’s consecutive games streak ended at 150 when he sat out on Sunday, getting a pre-break break. Coghlan hasn’t produced much of late for the Chicago Cubs, with just one RBI and four runs in 11 games in July. Tony Sipp, the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College product, has a 5.06 ERA – two runs higher than his season number — over his last seven games for Houston, which fell out of first place in the American League West on the last day before the break.

06 Jul

star charts

While we wait to see if Southern Miss alum Brian Dozier is picked for his first All-Star Game and if ex-Mississippi Braves star Brian McCann gets to make an eighth appearance, here’s what we do know about the upcoming All-Star buffet: Biloxi’s Orlando Arcia, one of Milwaukee’s top prospects, is headed to the All-Star Futures Game, set for July 12 in Cincinnati. Arcia, a shortstop from Venezuela, is batting .313 with four homers, 42 RBIs and 10 steals for the Double-A Shuckers. And Louis Coleman, the former Pillow Academy star and Greenwood native, is on the Pacific Coast League roster for the Triple-A All-Star Game, which is July 15 in Omaha. Coleman, 29, is 4-1 with a 1.58 ERA and six saves for Omaha in the Kansas City system. He has a 3.25 ERA over 148 major league games with the Royals, though he is no longer on the 40-man roster. … The MLB Home Run Derby contestants have not been finalized, but former Mississippi State star Mitch Moreland would be a good choice. He has 14 homers for Texas this season and has hit some mammoth blasts in his career. The revamped derby is slated July 13 at Cincy’s Great American Ballpark, a great hitter’s park. P.S. Seth Smith, the ex-Ole Miss standout, delivered in the clutch for Seattle on Sunday, stroking a two-out, two-run single on a 3-2 pitch and propelling the Mariners to a 2-1 win at Oakland. “I loved playing (at O.Co Coliseum) when I was with the A’s and especially day games have a good buzz,” Smith told mlb.com. Smith is 9-for-27 with a homer and five RBIs this year against the A’s, one of the four teams he has played for the last five years. He is batting .257 on the season with seven homers.

04 Jul

the short and long of it

Jarrod Dyson earned a Gatorade shower from his Kansas City teammates on Friday night after simply putting the ball in play. Sometimes that’s all it takes. With the potential winning run at third base and the Minnesota infield playing in, the former Southwest Mississippi Community College standout chopped a ball toward the first baseman and Lorenzo Cain beat the throw home to give the Royals a 3-2 win over the Twins in 10 innings. KC extended its lead over Minnesota in the American League Central to 4.5 games. Dyson said he went up to bat “thinking just put it in play and show the world what speed do.” Cain had just enough speed to score before the catcher’s tag, which was confirmed by replay. Dyson, the Royals’ fastest player, generally does a good job of putting the ball in play, an underrated skill in today’s game. He has struck out just 17 times in 92 at-bats this season and is batting .272. … Ole Miss alum Seth Smith also put a ball in play on Friday that had a big impact. Smith hit one over the wall in Oakland, giving Seattle a sixth-inning lead in a game the Mariners would win 9-5. Smith strikes out a good bit – 55 times in 216 at-bats – but he has power, which MLB teams will always crave. Smith’s homer was his seventh of the season and 92nd of his career. P.S. Another ex-Southwest CC star, Kade Scivicque, made his pro debut on Thursday and went 2-for-4 for Connecticut in the short-season Class A New York-Penn League. Scivicque, a catcher, was a key player for LSU in its run to the College World Series. Detroit drafted him in the fourth round; he could rise quickly.

21 Jun

good vibrations?

Max Scherzer had a much-celebrated great game for Washington on Saturday. His teammate Tyler Moore had a much-needed good game, which makes two in a row for the former Mississippi State star from Brandon. While Scherzer was firing his first career no-hitter against Pittsburgh, Moore, starting for the second straight day, was going 1-for-2 with a walk and two RBIs in the 6-0 victory. Moore had two hits on Friday, when his average for the year stood at .177. He is now batting .200 with four homers and 13 RBIs. Moore, who gets most of his at-bats as a pinch hitter, has one homer and four RBIs for the month. Moore’s value is in his power. He perhaps could have used a tuneup trip to the minors this season, but he is out of options and the Nationals apparently don’t want to risk losing him by exposing him to waivers. Moore hit 10 homers as a rookie in 2012 but has only 12 over the past three seasons. Washington, pegged by many as a World Series team, is only three games above .500. Maybe Saturday’s emotional win will serve as a jolt, for both the team and Tyler Moore. P.S. Seth Smith, the Ole Miss alum from Jackson, homered for Seattle in a 6-3 win on Saturday, his sixth of the year and first off a left-hander. The lefty-hitting Smith rarely faces lefties (14 ABs in 2015), and Saturday’s bomb was the first allowed this year by Houston’s Dallas Keuchel. … Ex-MSU star Ed Easley, still without an MLB hit (see previous posts), has been sent back to the minors by St. Louis.

05 May

junk and stuff

A player’s first career MLB home run will always be a delectable memory, but Joey Butler got the additional spice of hitting his over the Green Monster at Fenway Park. The former Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College standout from Pascagoula went deep Monday for Tampa Bay, belting a two-run shot off Boston’s Clay Buchholz. Butler was playing just his second game for the Rays, who called him up on Sunday. Butler, 29, a 6-foot-2, 220-pound right-handed hitter, is 6-for-23 in the big leagues, his at-bats spread over three seasons with three teams. He finished 2014 in Japan, signed with Tampa Bay in the off-season and put up good spring numbers to earn a Triple-A roster spot. … Former Ole Miss star Seth Smith hit his second homer of the year for Seattle, but his round-tripper was a bit overshadowed by teammate Nelson Cruz’s MLB-leading 14th, a 429-foot bomb. … Former Mississippi Braves went on a wild hit parade on Monday: Yunel Escobar produced five for Washington, Jeff Francoeur four for Philadelphia, Jordan Schafer three for Minnesota, Andrelton Simmons two for Atlanta, Jason Heyward two for St. Louis and Evan Gattis one (plus his 18th RBI) for Houston. … St. Louis is 19-6, the best record in baseball and the team’s best 25-game start in modern franchise history. Oddly, Ole Miss alum Lance Lynn, who has 48 wins over the previous three seasons, has contributed just one victory to the hot start. He is 1-2 with a 3.07 ERA in five outings and is scheduled to go again on Wednesday against the Chicago Cubs and Jon Lester.