Right on cue, Felix Hernandez upstaged rotation mate Cliff Lee with a complete game, 2 hit shutout in which he struck out 11.  It was his third consecutive 9 inning performance, first shutout of the year, and the fourth time he’s stuck out 11 or more in his career. Felix el Rey was unstoppable tonight.  [...]

It just doesn’t have the same ring to it that it used to.  Not for the bulk of this season.  Happy Felix Day! Cliff Lee has ruined it.  He’s been so perfect that Felix Day has turned into Pretty Good Pitcher But Not Nearly As Awesome As Cliff Lee Day, or Why Doesn’t He Throw [...]

Milton Bradley smoked a line drive single in the 4th inning Tuesday and Dave Sims immediately mentioned that Bradley told him he’d been feeling in between throughout the season.  This was interesting to me, because yesterday I was looking through Bradley numbers while thinking about doing a “What Went Wrong” installment, and came to the [...]

Josh Bard has been reactivated from the 15-day DL.  To make room Eliezer Alfonso has been designated for assignment. Bard hit very well over 8 games for Seattle before pulling up lame on the basepaths with a strained left calf in May.  He’s gotten into 7 games on rehab assignment with the Rainiers this month. [...]

When Doug Fister came up last season he opened some eyes and made some fans, taking an ERA of 2.79 into his eighth start and ending up with a respectable 4.13 ERA over his first 61 big league innings.  This season he has continued to get results, carrying a 2.81 ERA through 11 starts (73.2 [...]

So far we’ve run through what the New York Mets*, St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers might have to offer in terms of near-MLB-ready talent should they engage the Seattle Mariners in trade talks for ace Cliff Lee.  Now let’s move on to the Minnesota Twins. The Twins were one of the very first teams [...]

All of these things happened while I was on a short, laptop-less excursion to the wonderful Oregon coast this weekend. RHRP Shawn Kelley was placed on the 15-day DL with elbow inflammation, retroactive to June 15th. RHSP Doug Fister was activated from the DL and started Saturday. C Adam Moore was reactivated from the 15-day [...]

Last night, the Seattle Mariners acquired the services of first baseman Russell Branyan from the Cleveland Indians, in exchange for minor leaguers Ezequiel Carrera and Juan Diaz. Huh? Don’t get me wrong, I love Russell Branyan. In 2009, he quickly became a fan favorite with his towering, powerful home runs and his goofy southern boy [...]