From Stem to Stern: finally a non-sweep

Don’t get me wrong, I am overjoyed that the M’s finally ended their horrific losing streak. I am a bit sad that I don’t get to use the intro to this series recap that I’d pre-written before the final game. It was a call for UN sanctions against the state of New York for the “unnecessary bombing of helpless merchant ships.” I think it was the most sarcastic thing I’d written for this blog, and therefore I loved it. I was a little sad to delete it, but I’ll take a Mariners win over the ability to publish snarky blog posts any day!

Captain: Felix Hernandez (7 IP, 1 run, 5 strike outs)
Walkin the Plank: Jason Vargas (4 IP, 8 runs, just 2 strike outs)
Impressive: Mike Carp (5 of 11, 2 walks, 4 RBI, 1 triple despite being the slowest members of the M’s)
Depressing: Jack Cust (1 for 5 with 3 strike outs, was the only M’s hitter who really struggled against Hughes)

The Streak

I’m tired of the streak. I’m tired of writing about the streak. I’m tired of reading about the streak. I’m glad the streak is over. The M’s finally won a game, and hopefully they’ll play better ball now that a little bit of the pressure is off of them. They can’t play much worse, that’s for sure.

The best part of this win was the way in which it happened. Felix wasn’t dominant, but was still very good. Dustin Ackley and Carp led the offense, along with Ichiro Suzuki. Hopefully, Ichiro will use this to go on another hot streak like he did earlier in the year.

Another Vargas Shelling

I’m starting to thing that this is all my fault. Since I started writing series recaps, Vargas has had 3 starts, and all 3 have been very ugly. I’m not sure how my recapping groups of games on a website could manage to effect on-field performance, but there is clearly correlational data to suggest that it does. Ok, maybe not.

I’m not going to bother posting his pitch map this time, but know that it’s just as bad as the last 2. Vargas lives by his control, and his control has certainly left him.