The Long Ball Kills the Mariners in 6-4 Loss

Brandon Morrow looked more like a minor league pitcher than a major league pitcher today, and struggled mightily in tonight’s loss to the Rangers. He got in big trouble in the third, when he walked Omar Vizquel and Ian Kinsler with one out with the score 2-1 Mariners.

Michael Young then took the first pitch he saw – a belt high fastball – over the right field wall for a three run shot. The other run he gave up came on a solo HR off the bat of Hank Blalock. He had no command of his fastball or changeup, and he didn’t throw any curve balls. His slider looked good, but the Rangers offense managed to hit that too. On the night, he walked four and didn’t strike out anyone, in five innings of four run ball.

The Mariners offense managed to push across two runs in the first, on Russell Branyan and Franklin Gutierrez doubles, but squandered most of their opportunities over the rest of the game.

They were finally able to put a couple more runs on the board in the eighth, but at that point the defecit had been doubled on a two-run Nelson Cruz upper deck shot. Unfortunately, tonight it was too little, too late.

I didn’t post anything about the trade that went down earlier today, but that’s because by the time I woke up it was old news. In case anyone missed it, though, Yuniesky Betancourt was traded to the Kansas City Royals today for two minor league pitchers.

They were Dan Cortes, a right handed starter with decent potential, and Derrick Saito, a left handed reliever. Along with any other Mariners fan I’m ecstatic about this trade, and I’m very happy we were able to get anything for Yuni.

Yuniesky Betancourt hasn’t played well for us in a long time, but I’m sure he is a good guy, and I sincerely wish him the best in Kansas City. I really hope this trade will serve him as a wake up call, and he’ll be able to get his act together.

Other news and game notes:

-Ichiro’s hit streak is now at: nine games.

-Sean Kelley still isn’t back to normal, but he’s getting closer. His velocity isn’t quite there yet, and apparently neither is his command.

-Chris Jakubauskas and Garrett Olson both did nice jobs in relief again today, I especially like what I’m seeing out of Olson.

-We’re back to being 4 1/2 games out of the AL West division lead, and tonight’s loss just makes the next two games even more important. We’ll be sending Washburn to the hill tomorrow, and Bedard on Sunday. A split wouldn’t be the end of the world, but I for one will not be satisfied unless we can take both of these games heading into the break.

-Congratulations to Jonathan Sanchez (in case you didn’t hear, he threw a no-hitter against the Padres tonight).

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