Tony Gutierrez / AP

Yesterday, my wife and I decided to take an impromptu trip to Ocean Shores.  The weather was nice, the timing was right: so why not?  The drive was good, and the weather at Ocean Shores was, well, Ocean Shores weather.  After a while of enjoying the sun on the beach, we decided to venture into the town for lunch.  We ate at Home Port, and it was surprisingly good.  It was heralded as having the best clam chowder in Washington.  I think the jury is still out on that.

After lunch, we headed back towards the beach.  Overhead, however, a dark gathering of clouds followed us towards our destination.  That was kind of a bummer.  Out of nowhere, clouds.  To rain on our parade.  Ahead, we saw a line of cars leaving the beach.  Everyone had packed up and decided to call it a day.  The clouds are coming! they probably said.  We decided to head towards the beach anyways.

Within minutes, the clouds were gone.  It was as if, by some miracle, the beach Gods had our favor.  The sand was warm again, the weather was pleasant.  The beach, devoid of as many people as there were before.  Out of nowhere, our impromptu trip decided to trick us.  But we looked past it’s deception.  We stood fast, and were rewarded with the warmth of the sun.

The Mariners offense is a cloud.  A cloud that comes and goes as it pleases.

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Dirk Shadd / Times

Tonight, the Mariners showed their unrelentingly brutality, as they pummeled the Red Sox to an embarrassing defeat.  The Red Sox were battered and beat down, and we could see it in their eyes.  The fear began to ferment as Ichiro sent the first pitch from Josh Beckett down the right field line for his second home run of the season.  The Mariners didn’t relinquish their chokehold, scoring five runs in the bottom of the first.  Things were looking too easy.  The Mariners had the Red Sox exactly where they wanted them.

So what did the Mariners do?  Felix let the Red Sox score some runs.  As the reigning Cy Young award winner, he has the ability to do that.  Of course he was toying with Boston all night!  He could’ve easily struck out every batter he faced, but he opted to take it easy on them to make them feel better about themselves.  No one wants to get shut out.  No one wants to get shut out by the Mariners, so he leaves a couple over the plate for Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia.  Ha, Pedroia hitting a bomb against Felix?  Never happened.  Felix just wanted to instill confidence in the little guy.

All in all, the Mariners dominated the Red Sox.  There is no other way to put it.

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Captain: Brendan Ryan (8 of 15 with 2BB, 2 doubles and a HR)
Walkin the Plank: Jason Vargas (just 3 IP with 5 BB, 5 ER and 0 SO)
Impressive: Mike Carp (4 of 10 with 2 doubles)
Depressing: Franklin Gutierrez (just 1 of 12 in the series)

Extra innings

The most notable aspect of the series opener was that it went 14 innings. With starter Michael Pineda only lasting 6.1, this is the type of game that can really hurt. Luckily, Jeff Grey and David Pauley combined to eat up 5.1 scoreless innings, which saved part of the bullpen so it could manage to cover 6 innings the following night after the latest Vargas meltdown.

Another Vargas Whacking 

I’m getting tired of writing this. This is only my second series recap, and its the second time I’ve had to mention Vargas getting shelled. His pitch map actually looks a little better than last time, but he was still located around the center the plate far too often. He was also way outside the zone too often, hence the 5 walks in just 3 innings.

Senior Night

In the final game of the series manager Eric Wedge decided to try and end the losing streak by playing as many veteran players as possible. This included Chone Figgins in left field, and Josh Bard at DH. It didn’t work, though the team did score 5 runs, including 4 on a grand slam by Miguel Olivo. I hope this is the last we see of this particular lineup. I could do without seeing Bard at DH again, especially if that means a good hitter like Dustin Ackley is sitting on the bench.