Major League Baseball Suspends Tim Beckham

Tuesday morning major league baseball announced they had suspended Mariner infielder/outfielder Tim Beckham 80 games testing positive for the drug Stanozolol under the performance-enhanced substance. It was a violation under the major league baseball Joint Drug and Treatment program.

The Mariners have 48 games remaining this season so this means he would miss the first 32 games of next season as well. Tim Beckham had signed a one-year contract before the season with the Mariners. He will still be under control by the Mariners for next season so he won’t be a free agent eligible until the following season.

The Mariners had signed Tim Beckham as the starting shortstop until JP Crawford was ready to take the position which he did so in May. Since Crawford became the everyday shortstop Beckham has been playing around both the infield and outfield.

Most recently Beckham was playing leftfield because of the injury to Domingo Santana to his shoulder. Mallex Smith has played right field recently when the Mariners acquired Keon Broxton off of waivers from the Baltimore Orioles to play center field.

Currently, Santana has been the designated hitter because of his shoulder. When he is able to return to the field Mallex Smith will probably move to left field where had played for a few days before Mitch Haniger was hurt.

There was a thought the Mariners would activate Dee Gordon off the 10-day injured list but instead, Tim Lopes was added on coming off the 7-day concussion list. 

 The Mariners have several players who could start in left field right now. Austin Nola could play there at some point, however, he will probably start at second base.  Dylan Moore and Ryan Court may start Tuesday in left field. All three are right-handed hitters so the Mariners may go with the hottest hand. Nola and Court are probably the choices to play some first base to when Dan Vogelbach is at DH or inserted late for defensive purposes. Either one can be in the lineup when facing a left-handed starting pitcher too.  Vogelbach has been struggling at the plate since the all-star break.

In July Vogelbach batted .197 with five home runs. In Houston starting off August Vogelbach has only one hit in 11 at-bats. The one hit was a home run. His batting is now at .229.

The Mariners are expected to start an opener Tuesday night followed by Wade LeBlanc. Depending on the opener performance LeBlanc will enter the game in either the 2^nd or 3^rd inning likely. Starting the 3^rd inning will mean LeBlanc will come in to face the bottom of the San Diego Padres lineup.

 The Mariners activated reliever Brandon Brennan off the injured list. He recently went on a rehab assignment.  Most of the season Brennan was pitching well until the week before he went on the injured list.  He had been on the injured list since June 14 with a right shoulder restraint.

In a surprise move in some regard, the Mariners put reliever Dave McKay on waivers; he was picked up by the Detroit. He hasn't had a great year either in Tacoma or the seven games he pitched for the Mariners, however, at the age of 24, you would think the Mariners would give him more time.

The Mariners 40-man roster is at 36 players. So room to add some more players by September. I expect more moves will be made. With Brennan activated the Mariners sent Gerson Bautista back to Tacoma. 

Seattle Seahawks Pre-Season Begins Thursday

The Seattle Seahawks pre-season starts this week after two weeks of practice. The Denver Broncos come to Seattle to take on the Seahawks at CenturyLink. The Broncos already played a game last week at the pro-football hall of fame in Canton, Ohio.

The Seahawks likely will be playing the first team just for the first quarter. The best part of the pre-season is seeing players we may never watch again. Also, we will miss players who not playing because of injuries.

They say Russell Wilson is looking at his best this training camp. The important thing though will he be the same early on in the season and in the games. It may not be Russell Wilson trouble alone but the Seahawks usually get off slow both early in games well as the season. 

I am not sure whether the Seahawks defense will be as good as in the previous seven years without the likes of Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor, and Richard Sherman in the secondary. Also, they don’t have a pass rush like in previous seasons as well. The offense may need to score more points than in previous seasons.

Both the Washington Huskies and Washington State Cougars are going through training camp as well. The Huskies first game will be on August 31 at home against Eastern Washington. The Cougars play New Mexico State the same day. 

Both Huskies and Cougars will be going with new quarterbacks and offense. I will be letting you know how they play in each game well as the Seahawks. Go teams!

The Mariners Swept

Most of us I am sure are not surprised the Seattle Mariners were swept by the Houston Astros this weekend in a three-game series.

Friday night the Astros took down the Mariners 10-2. Yusei Kikuchi was only able to go four innings for the Mariners where he gave up four home runs while the Astros scored six runs.

On Saturday Aaron Sanchez acquired by the Astros at the trading deadline on Wednesday started his first game for the Astros. He and three relievers threw a no-hitter against the Mariners with the final score 9-0.

Marco Gonzales went five innings on Saturday for the Mariners giving up four runs. Three of the four runs happened in the first inning so not a good start.  Recently acquired Matt Wisler gave up two runs relieving Gonzales for an inning; however, both the runs were unearned. Gerson Bautista who was recalled from Tacoma on July 31 when Roenis Elias, Hunter Strickland, and Mike Leake were traded gave up three runs when finishing off the game.

On Sunday the Astros beat the Mariners 3-1. Sam Tuivailala was the opener. He was recorded going one inning; however, he walked two batters in the second so Tommy Milone expected to relieve Tuivailala came in with no outs was able to get the Mariners out of it without giving up a run.

Milone was able to go five innings, giving up four hits, two runs, one walk and struck out seven. Against most teams Milone may have gone away with a victory. The Astros scored a third run in the seventh inning on a single followed by a steal, wild pitch, and a sacrifice fly off of Matt Magill. Anthony Bass who has pitched well as of late for the Mariners pitched the eighth inning giving up no runs, no hits, and struck out a batter.

The Mariners recorded their lone run in the seventh inning when Kyle Seager hit a home run off of Justin Verlander. The Mariners had four hits total in the game. Seager had another hit in the game while JP Crawford had a single, and Dylan Moore hit a triple. Verlander went six innings plus. He left the game with no outs in the seventh inning. He gave up three hits including the Seager home run while walking two, and striking out ten.

The Mariners now come home for two against the San Diego Padres followed by three over the weekend against the Tampa Bay Rays. A series you want to come see since the Mariners will be honoring Hall of Famer Edgar Martinez.

There is no announcement who will start for the Mariners on Tuesday against the Padres though we will probably see Wade LeBlanc enter the game in the second or third inning. Wednesday Kikuchi will start hoping to rebound after his poor start against the Astros on Friday.

The Houston Astros now have a record of 73-40 while the Mariners are at 47-67. Say the Mariners win half of the 48 games remaining on the schedule they will end with less wins than the Astros do now.

Right now it doesn’t look as though the Mariners will even win half of their remaining 48 games on the schedule so they will probably have less than 70 wins on the season. This season isn’t important it is what the Mariner players can build on for next season and the year or two after that when they hope to be making the playoffs. Go M’s.

Astros No-Hit Mariners

The one game I thought the Mariners had the best chance of winning in this weekend series in Houston on Saturday night they were not only shutout the Astros threw a no-hitter.  The final score was Houston 9 Mariners 0.

The Houston Astros used four pitchers to no-hit the Mariners. Aaron Sanchez making his first start for the Astros after being acquired at the trading deadline on July 31 went for six innings throwing 106 pitches while walking two and striking out six Mariners.

The Astros picked up Sanchez from the Toronto Blue Jays where he had a record of 3-14. The Astros sent outfielder Derek Fisher to the Blue Jays while acquiring three players including Sanchez. It will be interesting to see how Sanchez will do in his next start. He certainly had a good first impression, to say the least with the Astros.

Marco Gonzales got off to a terrible start for the Mariners giving up three runs in the first inning. Not a good way to get off on a game where your team lost by a large margin in game one losing 10-2.

Gonzales went five innings in total giving up four runs. The final run was in the 5^th inning when he gave up a home run to Jose Altuve his 18^th of the season.

Matt Wisler gave up two runs in his one inning of work in the sixth inning; however, neither was earned because of a fielding error by second baseman Austin Nola. Gerson Bautista making his return to the Mariners gave up three runs in the two innings he pitched. He surrendered first hits while striking out two. Bautista didn’t give up a walk.

Sunday the Mariners are expected to start an opener before Tommy Milone is expected to come in to pitch several innings. I wonder how the Astros did against Kikuchi, and Gonzales both lefties it would be a good idea for Milone to pitch another lefty. Justin Verlander goes for the Astros so a sweep by the Astros would not be a surprise at all now.

In news on the Mariners Felix Hernandez made a rehab assignment pitching two innings for the Everett Aqua Sox. Felix threw twenty pitches including thirteen strikes before exiting the game. Not sure whether he will make his next start with Everett or Tacoma but both teams will be on the road.

Mariners’ first-round pick George Kirby this year relieved for Felix. He went one inning striking out all three batters he faced. Kirby has pitched in five games over eleven innings giving up only one run for an ERA of 0.82. The Mariners are looking to keep his innings low during this season since he had a large pitch count while going for Elon College.

The Mariners will return home to take on the San Diego Padres in two games on Tuesday and Wednesday then the Tampa Bay Rays over the weekend to celebrate Edgar Martinez induction to the Hall of –Fame. Go M’s.

Mariners Lose Big In Opening Game in Houston

The first game in Houston wasn’t a big surprise. I am sure we were hoping for a better result.

Yusei Kikuchi continues to struggle on the mound giving up four home runs in four innings with the Astros scoring six runs. He gave up nine hits in those four innings without walking a batter but striking out only one.  Kikuchi continues to be on a learning curve. We hope he can rebound the rest of the season.

Reggie McClain recalled from triple-A Tacoma made his major league debut coming in the 5^th inning for Kikuchi. McClain started the season at high-level A Modesto then moved to double-A Arkansas before landing in Tacoma. McClain had previously been in Modesto the previous two years. In those two seasons, he was a starter, however, the Mariners decided to move McClain to the bullpen has his velocity had increased.

The Astros were not kind to McClain either in his debut. He gave up two home runs allowing three runs total on two hits and a walk. He did record his first two strikeouts after giving up the home runs. We hope he does better in his next outing.

Cory Gearrin currently the only reliever with the Mariners all-season long pitched the sixth inning giving up no runs, no hits, a walk, and struck out one.

Zach Grotz making his major league debut as well-pitched the final two innings for the Mariners. He did better than McClain but did give up a run in the eighth inning. He walked two batters, along with a hit and run in the two innings.

Final Houston 10 Seattle 2

The Mariners will see what they can do against the Astros on Saturday. Of the three games in the series, Saturday’s is the one the Mariners have the best chance of winning.

Marco Gonzales will be looking to tie his season’s win total of last year going for number thirteen. He went 3-1 in July, so now starting the first time in August. He will be going against Aaron Sanchez for the Astros. He has a record of 3-14 with an ERA of 6.07.

Aaron Sanchez the Astros acquired at the trading deadline on July 31 from the Toronto Blue, and making his debut for the Astros. The Mariners hadn’t seen Sanchez this year as the Mariners didn’t face the Blue Jays as of yet.

I am sure the Astros are hoping to turn Sanchez around. His best season for the Blue Jays was in 2016 when he went 15-2 with an ERA of 3.00. He could help out the Astros as the 5^th starter if he can rebound from having a bad season. He is only 27 years old so he could still have some good years ahead of him.

The Mariners will face Justin Verlander on Sunday. He always is a tough pitcher to face though the Mariners have had some limited success against him. The Mariners will probably start an opener followed by Tommy Milone. 

The Mariners will probably see Gerson Batista in his return to Seattle when he was called up on July 31. The Mariners are hoping his control is back in order as he can throw the ball up to 100 mph. The best to the Mariners in these final two games in Houston before returning home next week. Go M’s.

See Where The Mariners Go?

Now the trading deadline is over let’s see how the Mariners go the rest of the season.

They now take on the Houston Astros over this weekend so not an easy task. The Mariners have swept the Astros in Houston before but the aftermath wasn’t good either. The Mariners came home and did awful.

The key for the Mariners is to find some consistency when it comes to playing well as winning.  Not an easy task with one of their three top starting pitchers no longer on the team and two relievers have gone as well.

At least with the relieving Hunter Strickland was out with injury most of the season so trading him now should not look like a big deal other than he could have helped the Mariners out. Roenis Elias who took over Strickland’s role as the closer was traded as well.

So what do the Mariners do the rest of the season? I am sure we won’t see many more victories than we had already seen the Mariners will see what they have in additional starting pitching the rest of the season well as the relief.

Mike Leake’s spot in the rotation won’t be filled as of yet. The Mariners have three days off in the next two weeks so they only have to use four starters right now.  When they travel to Toronto to take on the Blue Jays is when a fifth starter might be required.

The Mariners could bring up one of their top pitching prospects in either Justin Dunn or Justus Sheffield. The choice would likely be Sheffield because he is on the Mariner’s 40-man roster while Dunn is not. The Mariners would have to add him on the 40-man roster.  The Mariners likely wait until September to bring up Dunn when the 25-man roster can expand.

Right now the Mariners have thirty players activated on the 40-man roster.  The Mariners are expected to add onto the 25-man roster before Friday night’s game which could mean adding another pitcher to the 40-man roster as well.   

The Mariners have 12 players on the injured list; although they have 30 players shown on the 40-man roster at some point a player will have to be removed if all or most of the players are reactivated.

Next time I will look at the Mariner’s current bullpen, any other moves and how the Mariners do Friday night. Go M’s.

Mariner’s Streak Over, Deals Made, and Call Ups Happen

The Seattle Mariners had another interesting end to the trading deadline. With less than two hours left the Mariners were able to strike three deals while the players still around had to play a game four hours later.

Roenis Elias and Hunter Strickland were the first two to go in deals separate to the Washington Nationals. The Mariners picked up two minor league pitchers for Elias while one for Strickland. I expect the deal for Strickland was a surprise to many Mariner fans. Actually, Jerry Dipoto might have been surprised the Nationals asked for him since came off the injured list last week. Since the Mariners are not going anywhere the rest of the season having no closer is fine. I am sure the other relievers will pick up the slack.

Mike Leake no one was sure would be traded, however, when the time was running out the Arizona Diamondbacks wanted to have him so they struck a deal where the Mariners received a minor league infielder for him. The Mariners sent cash to the Diamondbacks as well.

The heat and the wind helped the game in Arlington, Texas to be high scoring. Unfortunately, the Mariners came out on the short end of the stick at the end losing 9-7.

Wade LeBlanc started for the Mariners. With the three trades happening the Mariners pitching staff was low on pitchers. I am sure the Mariners would have like to have an opener in this game.

LeBlanc was only able to go four and third innings. Going into the fifth inning the Mariners were leading 5-3, however, LeBlanc gave up three runs before exiting with one out. The big blow was a three-run homer by Willie Calhoun.

The Rangers scored another three runs in the seventh inning to extend the lead to 9-5 off of reliever Matt Magill. Newcomer  Keon Broxton made it interesting hitting a two-run in the eighth inning. The Mariners though unable to get any more runs to tie up the game or go ahead.

Austin Nola continued his hot hitting having three hits in the game including a home run in the second inning. Also, Kyle Seager extended his hitting streak having a single before Broxton’s home run in the 8^th.

The Mariners called up reliever Gerson Batista from Tacoma and promoted reliever Zac Grotz from double-A Arkansas. The Mariners have 24 players at this time on the 25 man roster. The Mariners likely add another reliever in place of Leake at this time.

The Mariners have today (Thursday) off plus next Monday and Thursday off as well. Leake’s spot won’t need to be taken in the rotation until the second-half of August possibly against the Toronto Blue Jays. The Mariners could us Erik Swanson as a starter or bring someone like Justus Sheffield from double-A Arkansas. It is too early to tell at this time. Go M’s.