Darren Ford To Pittsburgh

We lost or first member of the 2012 Tacoma Rainiers to another team, as outfielder Darren Ford has signed a minor league contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Ford was a minor league free agent and he is one of the first to be signed in all of baseball.

Ford played one year for Tacoma, hitting .273 with a .326 on-base percentage. He had four homers and 33 RBI in 70 games, playing only a half-season because a broken finger suffered in a hotel room door mishap left him in the disabled list until June 15.

Darren Ford doing what he does best.

Ford’s game is speed. He stole 26 bases (in 40 attempts), and his speed in center field allowed him to be a superior defensive player, covering more territory than just about anybody I’ve ever seen out there.

Defense in center field is a priority in Tacoma, because the deep outfield fence means there is extra acreage to cover. I will be curious to see if the Mariners sign a speedy minor league free agent to play center for Tacoma – none of the likely returning outfielders are true center fielders (remember, Trayvon Robinson is out of options and unlikely to come to Tacoma).

The Double-A center fielder was Denny Almonte, who hit .249/.331/.401 this year (and I haven’t heard any reports – good or bad – on his defense). Almonte did steal 24 bases in AA, which means he is either a fast or a smart baserunner – you can swipe 20+ bags in the lower minors with smarts alone, because pitchers aren’t nearly as good at holding runners close.

We’ll see what happens, it is very early in the off-season.

One other word on Ford: you might feel as if you didn’t get to know anything about him at all. Darren very politely turned down each and every interview request he received, all season long – and there was a time when he had a lot of them, when he was tearing up the PCL in late June and early July. He told me he didn’t want to go on my show, because he “just isn’t into that.” Ford was very friendly and polite, and totally not into any media stuff whatsoever. He would happily answer my questions off-the-record, about stealing bases or other aspects of the game. I wonder how he would handle the media in the majors.

Not much happening today, but we have a few inks:

• The Mariners announced they are building their own academy in the Dominican Republic.
• A former scout and current writer has a glowing report on Nick Franklin.
• Rumors! Speculation! Gossip! Larry Stone on the Mariners and Josh Hamilton.
• Former Tacoma Tigers shortstop Walt Weiss was named manager of the Colorado Rockies.
• John McGrath has a pretty neat story on a Curtis High School graduate who is the San Francisco Giants travelling secretary.
• Even though the stadium would have been built anyway, they put the hotel tax ballpark funding plan on the ballot in El Paso as a “proxy vote” – and it passed in a landslide. El Paso, here we come. All I ask of you is to please put the visiting team up in a quality hotel with restaurants in walking distance. See you next year!
• Oh, my. An imaginative fellow named Jim Baker photoshopped a bunch of 1930s-40s baseball comics and turned them into, for lack of a better term, baseball pulp fiction. That description doesn’t do it justice – just check it out yourself.

I’ll be back tomorrow if any news warrants it, and if not then we’ll have a full weekend recap on Monday.

Opposite Day For Ford

On Sunday, speedy Tacoma leadoff man Darren Ford saw his 17-game hitting streak come to an end.

On Monday, he reminded us not to stereotype him.

Ford hit two home runs and was caught stealing in his only base-stealing attempt, basically doing everything that is not expected of him.

The fastest man on the Rainiers, Ford is a daring and highly successful thief on the bases. He rarely gets thrown out, so it was shocking to see him gunned down in the eighth inning of Tacoma’s 5-2 loss to Sacramento.

But how did the Rainiers score those two runs? A pair of solo homers by Ford, of course.

The 5-foot-9 Ford does have a bit of power. His career-high for homers in a season is nine, and he has hit 40 of them in 724 career games. But you certainly don’t expect him to go deep twice in one game – and he did just that, against all-star pitcher Graham Godfrey of Sacramento.

It was the second career two-homer game for Ford. He did it for Class-A San Jose in 2009, in a road game at Bakersfield on August 9 of that year.

Unfortunately, Ford’s teammates could muster only two singles for the remainder of the game, and Tacoma lost the opening game of the series.

Today is game two of the four-gamer, and it starts at 7:05 at Cheney Stadium. The broadcast will be on South Sound Sports 850 AM and streaming online right here. Tacoma starts RHP Brian Sweeney (4-2, 4.62) against Sacramento RHP Tyson Ross (3-2, 2.53).

Links:

• As always, we start with the Rainiers game story from The News Tribune.
• Headline we didn’t expect to see: Mariners “barrage” “hammers” Royals. Whooo!
• Blake Beavan flew to Kansas City and is starting for the Mariners today. A roster move is forthcoming – they will probably send down a reliever.
• Everett catcher Mike Zunino hit his first professional home run in a 11-2 shelling of the Salem-Keizer Volcanos.
• In the PCL, Colorado Springs scored ten runs in the bottom of the first inning and rolled on to a 15-6 win over Salt Lake. Tough day for Bees starter Eric Hurley.
• Las Vegas knocked the ball around Cashman Field and beat Fresno, 9-6. The paper focused on reliever Clint Everts, who was the 5th player chosen in the 2002 draft but has not yet reached the majors. Also, former Rainiers pitcher Nate Robertson signed with Vegas.
• It’s still monsoon season down in Tucson – the Aces and Padres reached the third inning last night before rain wiped out their game. The Tucson paper has a nice feature on hard-working Reno catcher Sal Fasano Konrad Schmidt.
• New Orleans infielder Donnie Murphy homered twice and the Zephyrs beat Iowa, 6-1. Murphy has 11 homers in 90 at-bats in the PCL this year.
• Mark Rogers tossed a gem and Nashville edged Round Rock, 3-1.
• Albuquerque’s defense was so bad last night that manager Lorenzo Bundy apologized to the fans. The Isotopes won anyway.

Tacoma has played Sacramento tough all year – the team was 6-6 against the River Cats entering this series. Let’s see if they can get ’em tonight.

Rainiers Halt Skid With Tenth-Inning Win

Tacoma ended its six-game losing streak with a ten inning, 6-5 win over Sacramento in front of a large crowd on Saturday night.

The Rainiers loaded the bases in the bottom of the tenth inning, and Carlos Rivero drove in Stefen Romero with a sacrifice fly to center field to score the winning run.

It was a much-needed victory for the Rainiers, who started the losing streak immediately after finally getting over .500 for the first time since the team was three games into the season. The Rainiers are now four games under .500.

On Sunday the Rainiers will try to salvage a split of the Sacramento series.

RAINIERS ROUND-UP

Yesterday: Home runs by Jabari Blash and Stefen Romero helped Tacoma build a 5-2 lead, but the team needed extra innings before finally knocking off the River Cats in the tenth inning, 6-5.

Today: Sacramento (41-53) at Tacoma (45-49), 1:35.

Opponent Affiliation: San Francisco Giants.

Season Series: Sacramento leads, 6-5.

Starting Pitchers: RHP Clayton Blackburn (3-3, 4.07) at LHP James Gillheeney (1-0, 3.38)

Hot Rainiers: Jabari Blash has hit a three-run homer in back-to-back games; he is 3-for-11 with six RBI since returning to the Rainiers.

Look Out For: Tacoma held Ryan Lollis to two hits last night and he is now 9-for-16 in this series. PCL All-Star Adam Duvall has hit safely in six straight games, going 11-for-25 with five home runs (he leads the league with 21 dingers).

I Know You: Sacramento has former Rainiers Carlos Triunfel, Xavier Avery, Darren Ford and Clay Rapada on the roster. Longtime Tacoma pitching coach Dwight Bernard is now with Sacramento.

Broadcast: The pregame show starts at 1:20 (Pacific) on South Sound Sports 850 AM. The broadcast also streams online via the TuneIn app – just click here. It’s a Sunday home game, so Bob Robertson joins me in the booth and calls the middle innings.

PCL Scoreboard: Follow all Pacific Coast League games in real-time with links to Gameday screens right here.

Links:

• The Rainiers game story is a blow-by-blow of how Tacoma knocked off Sacramento last night. The Sacramento paper has a feature on River Cats reliever Brett Bochy.
• My weekly Minor League Notebook for The News Tribune looks at Double-A prospects D.J. Peterson and Ian Miller.
• Patrick Kivlehan homered for Team USA in a 6-5 semifinal win over Cubs in the Pan Am Games yesterday. Team USA plays for the gold medal today at 4:00. Kivlehan should rejoin the Rainiers early this week.
• The Mariners beat the Yankees 4-3 on Saturday as Robinson Cano homered twice in his old ballpark. Carson Smith nailed down a treacherous save.
• Bob Dutton’s Mariners Notebook has many Mariners-related facts presented in notebook form.
• Larry Stone weighed in on the subject John McGrath raised earlier in the week: will the Mariners have change at the top?
• McGrath amusingly opined on the practice of the conference on the mound. I agree with one thing: any time a coach visits the mound mid-batter in a minor league game, the next pitch will be a fastball. Guaranteed. Also, Mac has his weekly MLB Power Rankings with comments on each team.
• The New York media caught up with Jesus Montero.
• For some big-picture business-of-MLB stuff, Ryan Divish recaps all-star break press conferences with the Commissioner and the head of the players association.
• Torii Hunter turned 40 yesterday and a writer asked him about Satchel Paige‘s Six Rules For Staying Young.
• In the PCL, Albuquerque ended Las Vegas’s eight-game win streak with a walk-off win. Jeremy Barfield had a wild ride to reach Albuquerque <- read this one.
• Salt Lake edged Reno 6-4 in front of a big crowd. Rainiers fans: we need the Angels to call up Efren Navarro before Salt Lake gets here tomorrow.
• I don’t believe a word of it, but reports from qualified news organizations say that Fresno’s *home* game against El Paso was rained out. If all this checks out – and it sounds preposterous to me – they’ll play two today.
• Iowa hammered Memphis, 10-4, as Matt Szczur homered twice and a kid who was just signed unexpectedly made his pro debut in Triple-A. Iowa shortstop prospect Javier Baez is going to be out of the lineup for a while longer.
• Nashville’s Niuman Romero had his second straight weird walk-off: this time a bases loaded hit-by-pitch to force in the winning run in a 4-3 victory over Omaha. The good ol’ walk-off hit-by-pitch.
• Oklahoma City Dodgers pitching prospect Zach Lee can’t shake the football bug and this makes LSU football fans giddy with excitement. Or at least LSU football writers are giddy for content. I’ll never understand SEC football. Lee’s Dodgers scored nine runs in one inning and beat Round Rock, 11-5.
• Colorado Springs starter Hiram Burgos combined with three relievers to shut out New Orleans, 2-0.
• If you are a wine connoisseur you may be amused by this tasting of seven Major League Baseball stadium wines. Warning: Mariners Wine is included.

Mariners Camp Thins Out

The Mariners trimmed made three more cuts at the start of the weekend, trimming the number of players in major league camp down to 40.

Manager Lloyd McClendon told the media that anyone still in camp at this point has a legitimate shot at making the team

These moves were made on Friday afternoon:

Optioned to AAA TACOMA (3):

Infielder (1):                      Jesus Montero

Outfielder (2):                   Xavier Avery, James Jones

Re-Assigned to Minor League Camp (1):

Infielder (1):                      Chris Taylor

The team has a rare spring training off-day today (at least in terms of exhibition games – many players will work out anyway).

The lingering drama involves the starting shortstop battle, which McClendon said has been pretty much an even fight between Nick Franklin and Brad Miller.

Spots in the starting rotation are still up for grabs, although good things are happening on that front as both Taijuan Walker and Hisashi Iwakuma are getting healthier. There is a realistic chance that we see both pitchers on a rehabilitation assignment in Tacoma in early April.

Links:

• Trying to get back on track, Tom Wilhelmson has learned a new pitch. Good story from Bob Condotta.
• Lefty Roenis Elias had an excellent season in Double-A last year, and I have him penciled in to the Tacoma starting rotation. Not so fast, writes Greg Johns – he might skip Tacoma and make the big club.
• McClendon says that Elias is very interesting.
• Scott Baker continues to make strides in his recovery from Tommy John surgery, Todd Milles writes.
• Stefen Romero is making a move to try to break camp with the Mariners.
• Bob Dutton has a detailed story about the contract issues that come into play at this point in spring training.
• Weekend exhibition games: on Sunday, Roenis Elias tossed a gem in a 5-3 win over the Angels… new Mariners closer Fernando Rodney managed to get ejected from a spring training game in Saturday’s 13-6 loss to the Giants. That’s not easy to do… and on Friday, Stefen Romero homered and potential Rainiers flame-throwing reliever Dominic Leone escaped a nasty jam in 2-2 tie with the Rockies.
• Two former Rainiers landed jobs this week, according to Baseball America’s minor league transactions: pitcher Nate Robertson signed with Detroit, and speedster Darren Ford is back with the Giants.
• The story of the weekend came from ESPN’s Jim Caple, on Latroy Hawkins and his tight relationship with his fan club.

Minor League Free Agency Begins

Baseball America released the entire list of minor league free agents today. These are players who have over six years of minor league experience, and are not protected on a team’s major league 40-man roster. They have earned free agency and are allowed to sign with any interested team.

Six-year free agents generally consider three things when deciding which team to play for: opportunity to crack the big league roster, financial compensation, and location of Triple-A affiliate. Players also try to negotiate contract stipulations such as the ability to become a free agent mid-season if not in the major leagues, or the freedom to jump to Japan or Korea if the opportunity arises.

Excerpted from Baseball America, here is the Mariners list of minor league free agents:

Seattle Mariners
RHP: Moises Hernandez (AA), David Pauley (AAA), Brian Sweeney (AAA)
LHP: Steve Garrison (AA), Jose Jimenez (AA)
C: Jesus Sucre (AA)
1B: Luis Jimenez (AAA)
2B: Carlos Ramirez (HiA), Luis Rodriguez (AAA)
3B: Leury Bonilla (AA)
OF: Johermyn Chavez (AA), Chih-Hsien Chiang (AA), Darren Ford (AAA), Kuo Hui Lo (AA)

There are two additional free agents who are longtime Rainiers: outfielder Mike Wilson and reliever Cesar Jimenez. These players qualified for free agency under a different classification (“Article XXD Free Agent” which allowed them to elect free agency early; the other players above were declared free agents by MLB – it’s really no difference as far as we are concerned).

I think the most interesting player on the Mariners list in terms of future potential is outfielder Johermyn Chavez. He was considered a talented prospect when acquired from Toronto in the Brandon Morrow/Brandon League deal, and he hit well in the low minors but couldn’t get it going in Double-A. This year, in an injury plagued season, he hit .232 with eight home runs and 35 walks in a half-season, leading to a .725 OPS because of decent walks and power. Chavez will turn 24 in January. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Mariners try to keep him.

Another player who might be brought back is catcher Jesus Sucre. I’ve received good reports on his defense and as of this moment we need catching depth here in Triple-A.

As for the Rainiers on the list, we’ve talked about Luis Jimenez (scroll down), and it’s hard to picture Luis Rodriguez coming back after he had a fine season last year but did not get called up. I’m unclear on the organization’s opinion of Darren Ford right now. For about a six-week stretch in June and July Ford was the Rainiers best player, but he really tapered off in August.

I’m sure Brian Sweeney will be around if the Mariners need him; he told me at the end of the season he wasn’t planning on retirement yet. What of David Pauley? He pitched very well for Tacoma, but that unexpected “drugs of abuse” suspension throws everything into doubt.

Minor league free agent signings have begun, we’ll start hearing news of possible 2013 Rainiers soon.

Links:

• Peter Callaghan of The News Tribune has a column on the state of the Tacoma Rainiers as a business and how things are looking right now.
• Here is the full list of minor league free agents from Baseball America. Interesting names to me, as potential Rainiers, include Justin Christian, Brian Bogusevic, and Aaron Cunningham. You may have noticed that I’d like to see the M’s bring in an MLB-experienced outfielder with a track record showing he can hit in Triple-A.
• No link, but Matt Eddy of Baseball America reported on twitter that former Rainiers outfielder Jeremy Reed signed a minor league deal with Arizona. His brother Mark played for Reno this past season and beat the Rainiers with a suicide squeeze on June 1.
• Also, Eddy reported that the A’s signed former Rainiers left-hander Garrett Olson to a Triple-A deal.
• Larry Stone has a cool piece on Edgar & Holli Martinez and the New York Marathon.
• Also from Stone, a link to this week’s Mariners Winter League Update. Of note, Nick Franklin seems to be hitting well in the Arizona Fall League. I’ll do a full post on the winter leagues when we get deeper into the season.
• I was out-of-town having fun over the weekend, but in case you missed it the Mariners signed starting pitcher Hisashi Iwkuma to a two-year contract, and picked up reliever Oliver Perez on a one-year deal. Both pitchers would have been free agents.
• The Mariners added some roving minor league instructors and one of them is former Rainiers shortstop Chris Woodward, who retired as a player after finishing 2012 with Las Vegas.
• Many analysts expect the Mariners to be active trying to add a free agent major league outfielder from outside of the organization. For ESPN Insiders, Keith Law ranks the top free agent outfielders.
• The Oklahoma City RedHawks are getting Tony DeFrancesco back as manager in 2013. Tony D did essentially what Daren Brown did for Seattle in 2010: he took over a sinking ship in the majors after a managerial firing, finished the season up there, and then returned to his previous post in Triple-A.
• Seconds before I was set to press “publish,” the Mariners claimed outfielder Scott Cousins from the Blue Jays, who claimed him off waivers from the Marlins two weeks ago. He’s right there in the Casper Wells – Trayvon Robinson extra outfielder mix. This link has his major-and-minor league career stats. I can only assume he is out of options and must make the big club or clear waivers. Just learned he has one option year left, so Cousins is a potential 2013 Rainiers outfielder.

That’s it for election day. You thought I was going to put up one of those polls for election day, didn’t you? No, I resisted the temptation. I figure you are all polled out right now. This is the blog that cares about the readers.

New Pitchers Debut

We saw both pitchers acquired in the Ichiro trade make their Rainiers debuts on Thursday night.

D.J. Mitchell started. He’s a skinny, 6-foot right-hander with really good complimentary pitches. His fastball topped out at 89 miles per hour, and sat at 86-87. That’s not very fast – but, he made up for it by using a very good change-up, which faded away from left-handed hitters and got some swings-and-misses.

Mitchell also showed a strong curve ball, which he was able to throw for strikes. While he struggled with his fastball command, he was able to throw the other two pitches for strikes, and he often “pitched backwards” and threw first-pitch curves or changes to the batter.

Mitchell lasted five innings and allowed one run on four hits. He walked two and struck out four. He also ended up taking the loss, because the Rainiers were shut out on three hits, 1-0.

The other new Tacoma pitcher is reliever Danny Farquhar, who pitched a scoreless eighth inning. Farquhar is a small guy by baseball pitcher standards, standing 5-foot-10. Don’t be fooled by his size – he has some arm strength, topping out at 94 miles per hour on the Rainiers gun.

Farquhar walked the leadoff man and allowed a one-out single, getting himself into a 1st-and-3rd, one-out jam with clean-up hitter Matt Clark at the plate. Farquhar was able to bear down. He got Clark to pop up on the infield and then retired the next hitter to escape the jam.

Justin Smoak had two of Tacoma’s three hits, including a long double to right-center.

And immediately after I lauded him as being major-league ready, Darren Ford went 0-for-4, ending his ten-game hitting streak. It was only Ford’s third hitless game in 34 games in a Rainiers uniform.

—

We had some news before the game: the Mariners released veteran reliever Scott Patterson.

It wasn’t because of performance – Patterson has a 2.94 ERA this year. It was simply because of the addition of the two new pitchers, and the fact that the Mariners did not see the 33-year-old Patterson as a part of their youth movement.

Scott pitched for Tacoma for three seasons, getting into 91 games. His 19 career saves ties him for 17th on the Tacoma All-Time Saves list. He was a part of the 2010 PCL Championship run, and he participated in many Tacoma community events over the years. We’re going to miss him.

Patterson actually made the rounds during the game, saying goodbye to office workers and some fans while the game was being played. He stopped by the radio booth in the top of the ninth inning of a 1-0 game, thoroughly disrupting my flow.

Hopefully he’ll latch on with another team for the stretch run.

—

More late-breaking roster news: the Rainiers have sent reliever Jandy Sena back to Double-A Jackson, and hard-throwing right-hander Carter Capps is coming up.

Capps has been known to reach 100 miles per hour on the radar gun. At Jackson, he had 19 saves, a 1.26 ERA, and 72 strikeouts with only 12 walks in 50 innings pitched. Reportedly, he has recently improved his off-speed pitch to warrant the promotion.

—

Tonight’s homestand finale is at 7:05, and it’s Friday Night Fireworks after the game. Tacoma starts LHP Steve Garrison (0-3, 5.76) against Tucson RHP Bear Bay (2-5, 4.81). Catch the broadcast on South Sound Sports 850 AM and streaming online right here.

 

Links:

• We lead off with the Rainiers game story from The News Tribune, inked by Doug Pacey.
• In Seattle, Jason Vargas tossed a gem and said that he doesn’t want to be traded.
• The Mariners have added Alvin Davis to the minor league coaching staff as a roving instructor.
• Larry Stone has a blog post about how the contract extension signed by Cole Hamels might effect Felix Hernandez.
• The non-baseball event of the year at Cheney Stadium is this Sunday, and entry is free. It’s The Moveable Feast, Tacoma’s first-ever food truck festival, and it will be in (where else) the Cheney Stadium parking lot. Here’s a preview from The News Tribune.
• Oh, yeah! Taijuan Walker had a dominant start last night and the Mariners pitching prospect took home the No. 1 spot on Baseball America’s weekly Prospect Hot Sheet.
• In the PCL, there was umpire controversy and a late rally as Sacramento beat Salt Lake, 11-7. Also, actor Bill Murray was there.
• Fresno edged Las Vegas, 2-1, and now the 51s trail Sacramento by 2.5 games in the South.
• Details are limited, but Reno beat Colorado Springs in 11 innings last night, 11-10. The Sky Sox went into Aces Ballpark with all of the momentum and only 5.5 games back – and now they trail by 8.5 and are in danger of being swept.
• Oklahoma City allowed two runs in the top of the tenth inning, and then scored three in the bottom of the tenth to beat Iowa and move back into first place in the American-South. New catcher Chris Wallace had the game-winning pinch-hit two-run single. In the notes: the Astros moved top pitching prospect Jarred Cosart up to Triple-A and he starts for Oklahoma City tonight.
• Nashville pitching prospect Wily Peralta was dealing and the Sounds beat Memphis. Peralta struck out 11.
• Outfielder Chris Aguila set the New Orleans franchise home run record in a 5-1 win over Omaha last night. It was his 57th, passing slugger J.R. Phillips. Tacoma’s record is 72, set by Rick Renick in the 1970s.
• Round Rock avoided extra innings and beat Albuquerque, 3-2. They’ve played extra innings in three of the last five games – which is nothing. Make it four-of-six with an 18-inning juego mixed in and then call me.
• New Rainiers head groundskeeper David Schutt needs to read this story so that he can decide where to put a pit on the field at Cheney Stadium. On the field, David – not on the press level, thanks!

Friday Night Fireworks – see ya at the yard, Meat.*

* sorry for the mid-1990s baseball slang, it slips out sometimes. Don’t worry, “Meat” was a respectful pronoun back in the day. You’re good.

Optioned To Triple-A

Hey guys, after two games with the Mariners I am back in my beloved T-town, and we have lots to cover, so let’s get to it.

First of all, the Rainiers ended their seven-game losing streak with a 4-3 win over Tucson on Wednesday afternoon. I wasn’t there to see it, so we will leave the details to the Rainiers game story, which is always the first link down below.

One thing we were talking about in Seattle was the promising rehabilitation start by Erasmo Ramirez. He was limited to 50 pitches, and he needed just 46 to get through three scoreless innings. Great news, and I’m sure he’ll have a longer leash in his next rehab start on Monday in Tucson.

I’m not ready to comment on Justin Smoak yet, having not seen him – but, I can tell you that Mariners manager Eric Wedge still has a lot of faith in Smoak, and still believes he can be a middle-of-the-lineup hitter in the major leagues. In his meeting with the media at Safeco on Wednesday morning, Wedge said that Smoak’s swing in batting practice looks far better than his in-game swing. We’ve seen this before in Tacoma with other players this year (e.g. Chih-Hsien Chiang).

Anyway, Smoak is the new No. 1 project for hitting coach Jeff Pentland. Pentland believes that he can shorten Smoak’s swing, but he requires a receptive and open-minded student. Nothing will happen overnight, this will be a process that takes some time.

—

We had roster moves the last two days, with more imminent.

On Tuesday, the Rainiers added Smoak and pitcher D.J. Mitchell (acquired in the Ichro trade). Outfielder Trayvon Robinson was called up to Seattle, and pitcher Jeff Marquez was released.

The Mariners needed another outfielder after trading Ichiro, and Robinson got the call. This is because he was on the 40-man roster, and the other candidate Darren Ford was not. Ford – who has quite obviously been Tacoma’s best player for the last month – was passed over because of the roster issue.

Timing hurt Ford this week. It’s trade deadline season, and the Mariners don’t want to be messing around with the 40-man roster and trying to pass players through waivers right now.

If Ford keeps playing like he has in Tacoma, he won’t have to worry about these things – he’ll get his call-up, or a trade to another team that can use him – soon. He’s playing like a bona-fide major leaguer right now, and he has been doing it for a  month.

The release of Marquez signifies another confirmation of the disappointing season the Rainiers have had. Marquez and opening day starter Matt Fox were both Triple-A free agents the Mariners signed to stabilize the Tacoma starting rotation and be ready for a big league call-up.

Instead, Fox got injured after three starts and has been rehabbing in Arizona all season, and Marquez just plain struggled to get outs.

I had high expectations for both – go back and check my pre-season blogs, I thought these two guys were going to be rotation anchors and that Fox might even end up in the big leagues. Instead, here we are. It’s been that kind of season.

The new pitchers from the Ichiro trade are arriving: D.J. Mitchell starts tonight, and Danny Farquhar is expected to report today. If he does, another roster move will be required to activate him.

And that’s just the surface of it. Trade deadline time is wild in Triple-A, especially when your parent club is not a contender. That means they are usually trading a veteran or two for prospects, and often those prospects are Triple-A level players. Roster moves get interesting this time of year.

—

So, I kinda spent the last two days in the big leagues. (On twitter, we call that a #HumbleBrag).

I cannot express in writing how fun it is to call Major League games. It’s the biggest jump in baseball, from Triple-A to the majors. That doesn’t just apply to players, it applies to lots of other jobs in the game – including broadcasters.

The Mariners ridiculously awesome broadcast crew of Rick Rizzs, Mike Blowers, and Kevin Cremin treated me so well that I was embarrassed by it. They made me feel like a regular member of the team, and that was awesome.

Matt Pitman and Shannon Drayer also earn my respect for being quality humans who happen to be great at their jobs.

I thought I did OK on the air. My chemistry with Rick was much better than last year, when we did three games together. Broadcaster partnerships simmer over time, and Rick and I have now done a whopping total of five games together. Our fourth and our fifth games were our best. If we get to do a sixth, I know it will be our new best game.

It’s a weird adjustment, going from working entire games by myself to working as a #2 to one of the best in the business. I found myself at times just sitting back and listening to Rick, in awe of how good he is at calling the action. Rizzs has an amazing ability to work in tiny little colorful details – I need to work on this.

It was bizzaro-land being at Safeco Field and calling Mariners games with Ichiro on the Yankees. Really, this was surreal and ridiculous – and that was just for me, as a once-in-a-blue-moon substitute announcer. I can’t imagine what Rick Rizzs, Dave Sims, and Mike Blowers had going through their minds during the series. It was just plain weird.

The strangest part for me was watching Ichiro catch fly balls. A Mariner would loft a routine fly to right, and I would watch the Yankees right fielder move over to catch it – and it was Ichiro. If you’ve watched Mariners games for the last ten years, you know this: Ichiro does not look like other outfielders when catching a fly ball. He eases over, gets under it, and then stands kind of sideways while grabbing the ball with his glove. M’s fans, you know what I’m talking about: he has his own style. It was weird watching him retire Mariners with his different – yet common to us –  outfield style.

I had an on-air screw-up – well, I’m sure I had many screw-ups, but this one made me laugh at myself and the situation – with the attendance on Tuesday night. The crowd for the Yankees-Mariners game was 31 908. When I was tasked to read the Happy Totals (I also read the unhappy Totals on Wednesday, which I learned are just called Totals), I got to the attendance… and my brain went Triple-A: I saw that first digit and said “three thousand and one… errr… thirty-one thousand…”

I read the totals every night in the PCL. No team draws more than 15,000 for a game. So I saw that “3” in the first digit, and just assumed three thousand…. whoops! At least I was only off by 28 grand.

—

Finally, two quick stories that made me laugh at the Mariners games the last two days:

Rizzs and Blowers were talking about what they were going to do on their upcoming off-night in New York. Rick said he was going to go to a favorite Italian restaurant and have “a great big plate of pasta.” I was rolling, reminded of this, of course (click lower right).

Also, I learned that I was brought in to call the games because Jay Buhner, who was scheduled to do the games, had to bail out (no, this had nothing to do with his Ichiro-related comments – I was locked in well before that happened).

So, I apologize to Mariners fans who had to listen to me, but, what can I say? The Bone sent me.

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Tonight’s Rainiers game is at 7:05, and you can hear it on South Sound sports 850 AM and streaming online right here. Tacoma starts RHP D. J. Mitchell (0-0, 0.00) against Tucson LHP Colt Hynes (4-8, 6.52).

Links:

• We start with the Rainiers game story from The News Tribune.
• The Mariners lost to the Yankees yesterday, and dropped the series, 2-1.
• With Ichiro leaving Seattle, John McGrath writes that the Mariners future begins now.
• Jerry Brewer has a similar column at the Seattle Times.
• In the PCL, Reno blasted Colorado Springs yesterday, 17-9. The Sky Sox had trimmed Reno’s division lead down to 5.5 games, but now it is back up to 7.5. Reno pitcher Trevor Bauer has been shut down.
• A BYU graduate went into Salt Lake City and homered against the Bees. Meanwhile, they celebrated the 25th anniversary of the old Salt Lake Trappers famous 29-game in streak.
• Fresno’s Todd Linden keeps setting franchise records.
• Omaha’s Johnny Giavotella is tearing up the New Orleans Zephyrs this week.
• Former major leaguer Claudio Vargas tossed a gem and Nashville beat Memphis, 7-1.

Big thanks to Bob Robertson for holding down the fort while I was away. Nothing quite like a Hall Of Fame broadcaster filling in for you while you are gone. Also, many thanks to KJR Sports Radio talkmasters Ian Furness and Mike Gastineau for helping out.

Beavan Delivers Again

Blake Beavan was a ground ball inducing machine on Thursday night, pitching seven shutout innings in Tacoma’s 5-1 win over Colorado Springs at Cheney Stadium. It was Tacoma’s third straight win.

Beavan allowed just two hits, and he walked two batters. He generated four double play grounders – one in each of the first four innings, before closing out his game by retiring ten straight batters.

Of the 21 outs he recorded, 15 came via ground balls in the infield. Now, I’m counting the double plays as two outs, so I suppose in actuality his pitches caused 11 ground balls. He also had three strikeouts and three outs on balls hit in the air.

Beavan is now 4-0 with a 2.61 ERA for Tacoma, and the Rainiers have won all six games he has started. It will be interesting to see if he makes another start for the Rainiers – personally, I find it unlikely, since the Mariners need a fifth starting pitcher on Tuesday.

On the offensive side yesterday, Darren Ford was 2-for-5 to extend his hitting streak to 15 games. He also homered for the first time this year, and now every position player on the Rainiers roster has hit a home run this season.

Carlos Triunfel also went deep – his second straight game with a dinger – and he has tied his career high with eight home runs this season.

As a team, Tacoma has now hit 100 home runs this year – good for 3rd in the PCL.

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There were several roster moves yesterday before the game:

Pitcher Jeff Marquez was activated from the disabled list. Marquez had been out since June 16 with a staph infection. While he was a starter previously this season, he will work out of the bullpen for now.

The Mariners signed pitcher David Pauley to a minor league contract, and he reports to Tacoma today. Pauley is a former Rainiers and Mariners pitcher who has travelled the baseball world this year: released by Detroit in spring training, signed by Salt Lake, called up by Angels, designated for assignment, went back to Salt Lake, called up again by Angels, designated again, claimed off waivers by Toronto, waived by Toronto, cleared waivers and elected free agency, signed by Mariners, all in 3.5 months. Whew!

It is not known yet if Pauley will start or relieve for Tacoma.

To make room on the roster, veteran right-hander Jarrett Grube was released by the organization. Grube was having a rough season, going 0-5 with a 9.26 ERA in 46.2 innings pitched. He’s a quality guy and we wish him the best.

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Tonight’s game is at 7:05 at Cheney Stadium, and there will be Friday Night Fireworks after the game. Tacoma starts LHP Danny Hultzen (1-1, 5.25) against Colorado Springs RHP Alex White (1-4, 4.01) in a battle between two former first-round draft picks. If you can’t make it to the park, listen on South Sound Sports 850 AM or streaming online right here.

Links:

• The Rainiers game story from The News Tribune was inked by Doug Pacey, with quotes from Blake Beavan.
• John McGrath has a column on ten things he wants to see from the Mariners in the second half.
• Expert national analysts have a lot more faith in the Mariners than locals do, Ryan Divish writes.
• The Mariners ignored Geoff Baker’s many attempts to get one-third of the lineup demoted to Tacoma, and Geoff had to write about it.
• Personally, I’m aligned with Larry Stone in the opinion that they need to stick with the original plan in the second half. I disagree with Larry about moving the fences in.
• The Mariners have one key unsigned draft pick remaining, and time is running out.
• High Desert shortstop Brad Miller made an appearance on this week’s edition of Baseball America’s Prospect Hot Sheet.
• Here’s some old Pacific Coast League history for you: a promotional video from 1946 in which the league announces its intention to become a “third Major League.” There is footage of Lefty O’Doul, Casey Stengel, and many shots of spring training as the players came back from World War II.
• In the PCL last night, Sean O’Sullivan beat the Sacramento River Cats, which is the normal procedure for Sean.
• Tucson is gearing up for a big second half, and the Padres won in the bottom of the ninth against Fresno.
• Reno scored seven runs in the fourth inning and held on to beat Salt Lake, 8-7. Sorry, no link.
• Round Rock has a bunch of rehabilitating Rangers pitchers, but the Express were still shut out by Memphis last night, 3-0.
• Omaha and Iowa started the “second half” with a wild 12-11 Cubs win last night. Adam Moore went 1-for-3 in his Omaha debut, and the story says he will be their starting catcher.
• Nashville was rained out last night, but they still had a bundle of roster moves and call-ups.
• El Paso claims they are one step closer to joining the PCL.
• Sad news for Tacoma: the owner of Frisko Freeze has passed away. However, the wise man made plans for the restaurant’s continuance beyond his passing, and a civic crisis of epic proportions has been averted.

Let’s see if the Rainiers can make it four in a row – and if Hultzen can improve a little bit more this time out.

Cat’s Bat Leads Rainiers

Tacoma ripped a dozen hits and beat up Salt Lake on Saturday night, 13-5.

Vinnie Catricala had his second straight three-hit game, going 3-for-4 with a double, a three-run homer, and five RBI. I wrote about Catricala in the Rainiers game story, which is the first link down below – check it out.

Other Rainiers had big games, too: Trayvon Robinson went 3-for-5 with a long home run, it’s nice to have him back on the field. Darren Ford had two his including a triple, extending his hitting streak to 13 straight games – he’s been a big lift for the offense since coming off the disabled list.

Blake Beavan did a nice job of composing himself after allowing four runs in the first two innings. He settled down and made it through six frames without allowing another run; the Rainiers really needed that with the team having a “bullpen day” today.

—

The Major League Baseball All-Star Futures Game is today, and Rainiers left-hander Danny Hultzen is expected to pitch in the third inning. Also, look for Mariners prospect Taijuan Walker to pitch in the seventh.

The game will be televised at 2:00 (Pacific) on ESPN2.

—

Tacoma and Salt Lake have split the first four games of this five-game series. The final game of the series will be today at 12:05 (Pacific). Tacoma starts RHP Jarrett Grube (0-5, 9.70) against Salt Lake LHP Greg Smith (4-5, 3.50). The broadcast is on South Sound Sports 850 AM and streaming right here.

Links:

• We start with my Rainiers game story for The News Tribune, in which we wonder if Vinnie Catricala is gearing up for a big second half.
• My weekly Minor League Notebook is up on the TNT website: an item on surging Mariners Double-A starter Anthony Fernandez, and notes on the improvement of Mauricio Robles.
• The Mariners had a veritable offensive uprising in a 7-1 win over Oakland.
• Grab that cup of coffee, sit back and enjoy Larry Stone’s Sunday baseball package in the Seattle Times. We have a column on all-star Felix Hernandez, the heart and soul of the Mariners. We also have power rankings and thumbs.
• San Francisco’s Larry Stone is named John Shea, and he has some excellent MLB items in this notebook.
• With the MLB All-Star Game in Kansas City, the Negro Leagues Museum is getting a lot of media attention. It needs more funding to survive, as Shea writes.
• In the PCL, Colorado Springs held on and beat Reno on Used Car Night, 9-8. Sky Sox starting pitcher Edwar Cabrera didn’t pitch well but he hit a grand slam and earned the win. Whatever works!
• Shawn Hill was dealing in Vegas yesterday – just like hundreds of other professionals as the World Series Of Poker’s Main Event kicked off – and the 51s beat Tucson, 7-1.
• No link – the game went 16 innings, lasted 4 hours and 59 minutes, and ended hours after any newspaper deadline – but Sacramento beat Fresno 6-3. It was tied 2-2 and Anthony Recker launched a grand slam with two outs in the top of the 16th after a blown umpire’s call extended the inning. The umpire in question was not a PCL umpire – he was Fresno’s local fill-in umpire, working third base. Many people were ejected. Yikes!
• Zephyr Field in New Orleans might be the best pitcher’s park in the PCL – but the Zephyrs broke the stadium record by hitting seven home runs in a 9-5 win over Oklahoma City last night.
• I think this is cool: Matt Kemp is rehabilitating in Albuquerque, but five hours before the Isotopes loss to Round Rock he was on the field practicing for the Home Run Derby. He wants to win on Monday. Derby contestants get to bring their own pitcher – that’s a huge part of success, and they talk about it in the story.
• A newcomer helped Iowa knock off Omaha, 5-4. The notorious Denny McLain signed autographs before the game – photos included in the first link.
• Nashville rallied early and beat Memphis as top prospect Shelby Miller continued to struggle. Miller had tremendous accolades entering the season – I’d like to see him with my own eyes, to try to get a grasp of what’s happening. Tacoma doesn’t play them until August.

After today’s game it’s the all-star break, and this blog will quiet down for a few days – I’m taking a mini-vacation. I’ll try to post something before the Triple-A All-Star Game on Wednesday (4:00, MLB Network and 850 AM), but if not I’ll definitely be back on Thursday when the Rainiers host Colorado Springs to start an eight-game homestand.

Rubber Match!

“Rubber match” – that’s a phrase we don’t get to use around here very often.  I have no idea what it means, but when I was a kid listening to games on the radio, that’s how the announcer described the final game of a three-game series in which the teams had split the first two.

Through the magic of the interweb, I have learned that “rubber match” started in lawn bowling in the 16th century, moved to bridge in the 18th century, and is now used in baseball.

The PCL plays almost exclusively four-game series, so we get a lot of 2-2 splits and a handful of 3-1s and some rare 4-0 sweeps. There are no rubber matches in a four-game series. This series in Tucson, however, is a three-gamer, and someone is going to win it. Last night Tucson had a comeback win to even it up, 1-1. The rubber match is tonight.

This has been a very even series. Both games were decided in the ninth inning, by one run. Both featured comebacks – last night Tacoma took an 8-6 lead into the bottom of the eighth, but Tucson rallied for two runs to ties it, and then won in the bottom of the ninth on Anthony Contreras‘s one-out RBI double.

Tonight’s rubber match is at 7:05 and you can hear it on South Sound Sports 850 AM and streaming online right here. Little-known fact: you must wear rubber gloves while listening to a rubber match. Tacoma starts RHP Jeff Marquez (1-2, 7.13) against Tucson RHP Jorge Reyes (1-4, 5.81).

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Here is some good news: Carlos Peguero, currently on the disabled list with a torn meniscus in his knee, is playing in an intersquad game in extended spring training today.

Of the disabled list Rainiers, Peguero is closest to returning. Adam Moore, Darren Ford, and Mike Wilson along with pitcher Matt Fox are also on the DL.

Links:

• Here is the Rainiers game story for The News Tribune, which I speed-typed a good 30 minutes after the paper’s deadline due to the long game that was undecided until the final pitch. As Larry LaRue would say, Yikes!
• Kyle Seager had a great game, but the Mariners lost in Tampa on Wednesday night.
• Some really good Mariners stuff on Baseball Prospectus today. For free, a pitch-by-pitch look at the showdown between rookies Jesus Montero and Matt Moore. For subscribers, a scouting notebook that includes Double-A pitchers Danny Hultzen and Carter Capps.
• The national media is all over the story on former Rainiers slugger Bryan LaHair. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
• Baseball America has a preview of the Triple-A affiliation shuffle that may – or may not – go down after the season. No concerns in Tacoma; the Mariners and Rainiers are signed through 2014. Las Vegas – Toronto is the root of any changes we may see in the PCL.
• In the PCL, Salt Lake lost its seventh game in a row. Fresno got ’em, 5-4. Fresno is 21-6!
• Colorado Springs is adding starting pitcher Jhoulys Chacin, who was struggling with the Rockies.
• Sacramento outfielder Brandon Moss says there is no shame in minor league milestones. The River Kitties beat Colorado Springs, 8-3.
• The Tucson groundskeeper had a groundskeeper’s nightmare: a concert on his recently improved field.
• Nashville edged Omaha in the 11th inning, 5-4, on Corey Patterson‘s game-winning double.
• Round Rock starter Martin Perez struggled, but the Express still pounded New Orleans, 10-5.
• Brandon Dickson tossed a gem, allowing only a home run to former Rainiers infielder Luis Valbuena as Memphis topped Iowa, 2-1.

That’s it for today. Not sure if I’ll have much of a post for you tomorrow – we have our first really tough PCL travel day of the season. There are no direct flights from Tucson to Reno.