OK, Maybe *This* Kid Will End It

Well, Michael Pineda was unable to end the Rainiers losing streak last night. Pineda lasted just three innings – needing 65 pitches to overcome a lack of fastball command – and the left the game.

He was tired – heck, everybody was. It was ridiculously humid in Omaha last night, with the temperature at 95 and the heat index at 111 when the game started.

Not helping matters was the fact that the air conditioning is broken in the visitor’s clubhouse at Rosenblatt Stadium, so the team was given a conference room to change in – but once the game started, there was nowhere to go for a blast of cool air between innings.

The Rainiers lost in the 12th, 4-3. Mike Moustakas had the game winning hit off Mumba Rivera, who had pitched scoreless relief in the 10th and 11th before taking the loss. Tacoma had a few opportunities to take the lead but couldn’t get the clutch hit it needed to pull ahead.

So, if you’re counting, that’s five straight losses, and 10 losses in the last 12 games for Tacoma.

Yikes.

But hey – we’re still in first place! The Rainiers maintained a 2.5-game lead over Salt Lake, who lost at home to New Orleans, 12-8.

Today’s game is at 5:05 pm, and the Rainiers will send 21-year-old RHP Blake Beavan (1-0, 3.00) to the mound against Omaha RHP Anthony Lerew (5-3, 3.48). Beavan is the last Rainiers pitcher to win a game – we won his Triple-A debut at Cheney Stadium on Tuesday. The game will be broadcast on 850 AM, and streaming via www.tacomarainiers.com.

I’m not superstitious, but I have done the following things to try to end the losing ways:

• I retired my lucky scorekeeping pen, and broke in a new one. We lost.
• I un-retired the previous lucky scorekeeping pen, in a Favre-esque move. We lost.
• I didn’t shave. We lost.
• I shaved. We lost.
• I interviewed the opposing manager – this usually works. We lost.
• I tried to jinx a highly superstitious opposing player who is a former Rainier. He responded by homering in two straight games – both of which we lost.
• I skipped the pre-game interview, and just talked instead. We lost.
• I ate the nasty pre-game press box spread in Omaha. We lost.

Today I’m skipping the nasty spread. We may still lose, but at least I’ll feel better.

On to the links!

• Here is the Rainiers game story from The News Tribune.
• The top of the lineup reached base, and Jason Vargas tossed a gem as the Mariners won for the second time in three games. Chone Figgins is heating up, but he’s not on fire.
• Mariners injuries are mounting. Chris Woodward got called to Seattle to replace the injured Jack Wilson.
• It appears that the A’s are calling up Sacramento slugger and Rainiers-killer Chris Carter. It will be interesting to see how he does – Carter has massive power, but he also has massive holes in his swing – he’s the only player in the league to strike out more than Greg Halman, although is strikeout rate is much better than Halman’s.
• Baseball America’s Connor Glassey liked what he saw from the Mariners short-season club in Pulaski, …Virginia? West Virginia? Kentucky? Well, wherever Pulaski is*, they have a bunch of prospects. This link may require subscription, but it has videos and write-ups, etc.
• Former Rainiers and Mariners pitcher Brandon Morrow pitched a 17-strikeout one-hitter. Here is the story from Toronto. Here’s a story on the Mariners scout who signed Morrow.
• In the PCL, Salt Lake got hammered by New Orleans. The Bees have dropped two of three after winning 15 of 21.
• Las Vegas is approaching .500, and playing well. Check out the photo of Dan Rohn in this story – he looks so tan, he should be on Jersey Shore.
• Reno has won 17 of 24 games and is a tough out right now.
• Micah Hoffpauir went 4-for-4 with his 20th home run, and Iowa beat Portland yesterday.
• Great, just what we needed right now: the Rainiers next opponent, Round Rock, is heating up. Ugh.
• Oklahoma City’s hitters are drooling in anticipation of a road trip to Salt Lake and Colorado Springs. Oklahoma City pitchers? Not so much. Michael Kirkman picked up his 12th win for the RedHawks last night.
• Fresno lost, but they still lead the South by one game over Sacramento – both teams are struggling right now.

Apparently, the Mariners are doing a massive shake-up of the major league coaching staff as I post this. I’m conflicted on it – changing the manager every two years is no way to achieve stability, but if this leads to a major league opportunity for Daren Brown, I’m very, very happy for him.

* Pulaski was the joke of the Rainiers coaching staff last season. If we got shut down a couple of times, our hitting coach would say “We better score some runs tomorrow, or else I’ll be shipped out to Pulaski.” Pulaski jokes ran for a few months, and then a rover came into town – he had just been working with the team in Pulaski, and he said “they have a nice set-up there.” So of course, when we lost or played poorly, our coaches would look forward to “the nice set-up in Pulaski.”