John Hickey | Sportspress Northwest

John is a longtime West Coast-based baseball writer who covered the Oakland As for two decades with The (Hayward) Daily Review and the Oakland Tribune.

He headed north in 2000 to cover the Mariners for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, starting on the day Ken Griffey Jr. was traded to Cincinnati. After the print P-I closed in 2009, he joined the national sports staff of AOL FanHouse and contributes to Seattlepostglobe.org. He is a longtime baseball correspondent for the Tokyo Chunichi Press.

A member of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) for two-plus decades, Hickey is a Hall of Fame voter. When hes not covering baseball, he has written about pro football, college sports, tennis, golf and winter sports.

A University of California grad, Hickey is a fan of rock and jazz music, traveling, reading and cooking. He proved in high school that hes no athlete, but he does like to ski.

Hickey and his wife live in Seattle in a house ruled by two magnanimous cats.

Hickey: Seager arrives in time for crucial 20-game stretch

BY John Hickey 12:11PM 07/07/2011

With the potentially most important stretch of the season before them, the Mariners are remaking the roster one more time.

Kyle Seager, who has been a hitting machine since the Mariners took him out of North Carolina in the 2009, joins the team in Anaheim Thursday night where he will take over as the starting third baseman.

The timing is not happenstance. Thursdays game against the Angels is the beginning of a 20-game stretch in which the Mariners fate as a contender or pretender in the American League West will be determined.

The opponents in Seattles next six series include four teams within one game of first place in their respective division as of Thursday morning, and perhaps the best third-place team in the Major Leagues.READ MORE»

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Hickey: Mariners may come up short in All-Star Game

BY John Hickey 05:54PM 07/03/2011

When it comes time to play the All-Star Game a week from Tuesday in Phoenix, will anyone in a Mariner uniform take part?

Well, despite the fact that Seattle had two men named to the American League team Sunday pitchers Felix Hernandez and Brandon League were selected with 10-time All-Star Ichiro Suzuki bypassed it's likely the Mariners representation could be in name only.

COMMENTS

Hickey: Halfway, Mariners should ride it out, as is

BY John Hickey 02:16PM 06/30/2011

Halfway through the 2011 season, where do the Mariners stand?

For one thing, some of the Mariners cant stand at all, at least not well enough to play baseball.

David Aardsma and setup reliever Shawn Kelley havent pitched all year. Catcher Adam Moore hasnt played since April and likely wont play again in 2011. Starting pitcher Erik Bedard and backup catcher Chris Gimenez went on the disabled list Wednesday. Catcher Miguel Olivo didnt do the DL dance, but its clear that hes hurting; it may be a while yet before hes back behind the plate.

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Hickey: Mariners in desperate need of catchers

BY John Hickey 12:04AM 06/29/2011

The Mariners may have lost both of their catchers, at least in the short term, to injury.

Starter Miguel Olivo came out of the game in the fourth inning with cramps Tuesday night and spent the rest of a 5-4 loss to the Atlanta Braves getting rehydrated.

Backup Chris Gimenez came into the game one out into the fourth believing that the pain in his left side he felt in batting practice was nothing serious. Instead it turned out to be a strained oblique muscle, which hell have a MRI on Wednesday morning.

COMMENTS

Hickey: Mariners' winning ways unsupported by stats

BY John Hickey 11:30AM 06/27/2011

Now 78 games into the 2011 season, there is some reason for fans of the Mariners to be optimistic about the direction the club is heading, right?

After all, a 16-23 start through May 15 has been followed by a massive about-face: 23-16 in their last 39 games.

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Hickey: King's Court adds life to Olivo, Mariners

BY John Hickey 12:55AM 06/25/2011

This was Safeco Field like its never been before.

Sure, part of Friday nights 5-1 win was that the Mariners were the road team for just the second time in stadium history, and playing in Safeco under National League rules for the first time.

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Hickey: Mariners starters match up with the best

BY John Hickey 06:40PM 06/19/2011

Coming into Sundays series finale pitting Philadelphias Cole Hamels and Seattles Jason Vargas, anyone would have been hard-pressed to go with Vargas as the left-handed starting pitcher to watch.

Hamels is that good, and brought a 9-2 record and 2.49 ERA into the game.

But there is something happening with the Mariners. It's subtle, but noteworthy. Seattle players have had their troubles this year, to be sure, but more often than not they have risen to the occasion.

COMMENTS

Hickey: Ackley turns it on for Mariners

BY John Hickey 11:40PM 06/17/2011

It took one tough play for the Seattle Mariners to get a hint that Dustin Ackley just might have the right stuff at second base.

The Mariners had a pretty good idea that Ackley could hit, given his reign of terror in the Pacific Coast League, where hed averaged .350 from May 1 through Wednesdays promotion to the big leagues.

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Hickey: M's have to make it work for Ackley

BY John Hickey 12:27AM 06/16/2011

Asked about second baseman Dustin Ackley, the Mariners top prospect from the 2009 draft, more than one scout told me this winter that Ackley had a chance to be a star, but he needed maybe another 300 at-bats in the minor leagues before he was ready.

They werent far off. The Mariners announced after Wednesdays game that Ackley, who had 258 at-bats for Triple-A Tacoma and another 53 plate trips that resulted in walks, was being promoted to the big leagues.

COMMENTS

Hickey: Mariners not able to absorb even one mistake

BY John Hickey 11:53PM 06/13/2011

Too often this season watchers of the Seattle Mariners have focused on the lack of power by Mariners hitters, and the lack of hits by right fielder Ichiro Suzuki.

But there is more to the game than that, a fact that was brought into focus Monday in a 6-3 loss to the Angels, a loss that dropped Seattle two games behind idle Texas in the American League West.

COMMENTS

Hickey: Time to take advantage of home field

BY John Hickey 07:00AM 06/13/2011

For two of the past three games, at least, it seems that the Mariners are capable of putting together some offense.

Friday, it was seven extra-base hits in a 3-2 win over the Tigers in Detroit. Sunday, it was a home run barrage two by Miguel Olivo and one by Justin Smoak that helped Felix Hernandez to a 7-3 win and a split of the four-game series with the improving Tigers.

Time to make a run at home.

COMMENTS

Hickey: Wedge shows some attitude; Carp joins M's

BY John Hickey 09:54PM 06/07/2011

For viewers in Seattle who stuck around for the post-game show on TV after the Mariners 5-1 loss to the White Sox Tuesday, Eric Wedge showed some attitude.

Instead of doing his post-game interview from the visiting managers office, as Seattle managers have done in U.S. Cellular Field since the place was opened under the name of Comiskey Park, Wedge talked in the hallway in front of the entry way.

The sign on the door said, "Clubhouse closed."

COMMENTS

Hickey: M's see draft pick Hultzen as top-end starter

BY John Hickey 07:15PM 06/06/2011

Many are the pitchers who have great arms who are not great pitchers.

The Mariners are putting their chips on University of Virginia left-hander Danny Hultzen, betting hes not one of those.

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Hickey: Mariners need a good draft in the worst way

BY John Hickey 06:30AM 06/06/2011

Ask any baseball executive, and hell tell you the amateur draft is as important a few days as a team has.

Those three days start Monday. The Mariners have the second pick. Around the web, there are plenty of mock drafts and strong opinions about who the Mariners should take. Likely it will be Rice University third baseman Anthony Rendon, assuming his injury issues aren't too severe. That will sort itself out soon enough.

COMMENTS

Hickey: Olivo shaping Mariners into a winner

BY John Hickey 06:34PM 06/05/2011

Miguel Olivo waited in the dugout for Ichiro Suzuki, grabbed him and gave him a big hug.

Six innings later, Ichiro waited in the dugout to return the gesture.

COMMENTS

Hickey: Vargas' return to form soothes Mariners

BY John Hickey 11:15PM 06/03/2011

Both Seattle and Tampa Bay finished Fridays game with four hits.

But that was all the equality there was between the two. The Mariners unloaded three home runs, one each by Justin Smoak, Adam Kennedy and Miguel Olivo, and then left it to starter Jason Vargas.

COMMENTS

Hickey: Top of the order is in the dumps

BY John Hickey 07:45PM 05/29/2011

The show the Mariners are putting on right now is a mirage.

The question is what do you consider to be the mirage?

Is it a mirage to see the Mariners contenders in the American League West?

Or is it a mirage to see Ichiro Suzuki and Chone Figgins so out of sorts at the top of the lineup?

COMMENTS

Hickey: Gutierrez's catch wows everybody but himself

BY John Hickey 12:47AM 05/28/2011

The Gold Glove that Ichiro Suzuki won last year has long since left Safeco Field and is safely tucked away with his prize mementos.

The Gold Glove that has Franklin Gutierrezs name on it, on the other hand, is still in Gutierrezs locker. Hell take it home at some point, but theres no rush. It is, after all, not a big deal.

COMMENTS

Hickey: May no merry month for Ichiro

BY John Hickey 12:27PM 05/23/2011

This has been a tough five-game winning streak for Seattle right fielder Ichiro Suzuki.

On May 17, the Mariners were 17-24 after a 2-1 loss to the Twins in Seattle. The Mariners, who open a three-game series in Minneapolis Monday night, havent lost since.

COMMENTS

Hickey: Ichiro likes Saunders' smarts

BY John Hickey 06:00PM 05/19/2011

Michael Saunders proved something to Ichiro Suzuki Thursday afternoon.

And for one day, at least, Saunders was the equal in center field of the Angels Torii Hunter.

On two otherwise routine fly balls hit to center field, Saunders caught the one hit to him and Hunter couldnt catch a virtual duplicate. Those plays were the difference in Thursdays game, a 2-1 Mariner win over the Angels.

With the game tied at 1 in the top of the ninth, the Angels Alberto Callaspo challenged Saunders with a towering fly ball that, from Saunders angle in center field, was in the sun. The second-year outfielder danced left, then right, then left again and finally made the catch.READ MORE»

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