A 4-2 week included two wins by James Paxton and a club-record six in the month, but the Mariners made no progress in the wild-card race, nor in securing by trade a top starter.
Author: Steve Rudman
Steve Rudman
Steve began his journalistic career in an era in which social networking mainly occurred in saloons. In the years since, he has been a reporter and columnist (Seattle Post-Intelligencer), a magazine founder and editor (The National Sports Review), the Director of Research at ESPN (once had the chore of looking up the history of rain delays in major league baseball), a radio talk show host (fired by KIRO because stupid people need radio stations, too, according to the program director), and the producer of a syndicated sports statistical feature (titled Wow!Stats), distributed by Universal Press Syndicate (quick, name three countries in which athletes are eaten when they fail to perform). He wrote (with Karen Chave) 100 Years of Husky Football, Who The Hell is Bob? (one of Seattles more remarkable people) and collaborated with Art Thiel (Sports Press Northwest) and Mike Gastineau (KJR-AM) on The Great Book of Seattle Sports Lists, a ribald compendium of Seattle sports exotica that should be made into a movie (Brad Pitt playing Steve). He gained everlasting infamy in 1985 (at least in Corvallis, Ore.), when, in a column in the Post-Intelligencer, he called the Oregon State Beavers The Barney Fife of College Football, then sat stupefied as the 37-point underdog Beavers cast aside a 28-year slump and beat the Huskies. As of this writing, that game (which resulted in an official, Oregon State-issued game ball for Steve) still generates 314,000 Google pages, most of them from unenlightened (and presumably salt pillar-licking) OSU fans. Steve has yet to issue an apology on Facebook or Twitter and has no plans to do so.
The Mariners took two of three at AL-leading Houston, then dropped three of four at home to the Yankees, the 13th series win in the past 15 series for New York at Safeco.
Nelson Cruz hit a go-ahead home run Sunday that lifted the Mariners to their fourth consecutive win and a rate sweep of the White Sox in Chicago.
A 4-10 finish to the season’s first half was a major blow to the Mariners, whose starting rotation (14 pitchers so far) faltered numerous times to kick Seattle to the wild-card outskirts.
The 2017 Triple-A All-Star Game, slated for Cheney Stadium, provides an opportunity to re-examine one of more remarkable figures in Northwest sports history.
The Mariners had a horrible week (1-5) heading into Sunday, when Felix Hernandez and Nelson Cruz led a 4-0 whitewash of Oakland at Safeco Field.
Thanks in part to big months by Mike Zunino and Ben Gamel, the Mariners finished June 15-12 and started July winning two of three in Anaheim.
The Mariners, who have averaged one playoff appearance every decade, reach the halfway point of the 2017 season Friday.
The Mariners had a season-high six=game win streak, welcomed Felix Hernandez and Andrew Moore to the rotation, but had cold water tossed by the Astros upon the hot week.
Only three active MLB pitchers have logged more innings than Felix Hernandez, who returns to action Friday. His WAR says he’s a bit below an average MLB pitcher. Is that a help?