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The Mariners are playing with thier heads someplace other than at Progressive Field today and it cost them another run in the fourth inning. Cleveland now leads 6-0 after a leadoff double by Mike Aviles and then a chopper in front of the plate by Drew Stubbs. Jesus Montero fielded the ball and made a strong throw to first for the out, with Aviles going to third. But Montero was a good 15-20 feet from home plate after the throw and Felix Hernandez was busy watching the play instead of doing what he should have been, which is covering for Montero. Aviles saw that nobody was close enough to the plate, so he took off and scored the run. Time for the Mariners to hit the "reset" button. For the second day in a row, they really don't look like they're in this game and I doubt we're going to see a flurry of late homers like we did yesterday. 10:48 a.m.: Felix Hernandez caught a bad break in the second inning on a grounder to second that Michael Bourn legged out for an infield single with two out. The inning could have been over right there, but Hernandez didn't do himself any favors after that by yielding a line drive single to center by Jason Kipnis that left runners at the corners and then an absolute bom of a three-run homer to center field by Michael Brantley to make it a 5-0 game. The Mariners needed more in this game than Hernandez has given them so far. The Mariners have gone six up, six down on offense, so it's not looking good. 10:19 a.m.: Sure hope that 12th overall draft pick (and the saved slot money) winds up being worth it for the Mariners in a few weeks. The Mariners used that pick as an excuse not to go after free agent Michael Bourn this winter and the Indians have reaped the benefits -- signing him to a lower-than-expected deal. Bourn entered today batting .311 with a .363 OBP and a .473 slugging percentage -- and that's for a center fielder and leadoff man. The comparisons of him to Chone Figgins this past winter by some were bordering on the ridiculous. The biggest comp between them is speed, which Bourn displayed in the first inning with a leadoff double on what should have been a single to right-center that Michael Morse was slow getting to. Bourn would score on a single to right by Michael Brantley that Morse made an ill-advised throw home on (see "speed" and "Bourn) which allowed the runner to take second on the throw. That proved big when Justin Smoak "Bucknered" a Nick Swisher grounder, enabling Brantley to score easily. So, it's now a 2-0 game, Indians in the lead after one. I've been a fan of what the Mariners did offensively this winter, but felt they really could have bettered themselves even more with a Bourn addition. Now, instead of an outfield with Bourn in center and Michael Saunders in the corners for years to come, we get another sub-$90 million payroll and get to wait for Franklin Gutierrez to come off the DL again so the team can squeeze every last dime out of the remaining money owed to him for a few more months. And we get to watch the Mariners keep juggling fifth outfielder/center fielder types in Class AAA to use as emergency insurance in case of another Gutierrez injury. Oh, and the draft pick. The Mariners still have that. 9:55 a.m.: Felix Hernandez hasn't always had the easiest time of it in Cleveland, where he's 3-4 with a 4.02 ERA in eight career outings. Today, he'll be taking on Indians ace Justin Masterson, so he'll have to limit the damage and give the Mariners a chance to score some runs and snap their two-game losing skid. Hernandez hasn't pitched at home since April 27, making this his fourth consecutive road outing. He's 4-1 with a 1.29 ERA in four road starts thus far this season.

The sixth installment of “Obscure Seahawks Bi-Weekly” looks at LEO prospect Benson Mayowa out of Idaho. Mayowa has only been a Seahawk since Monday but might just have a chance to stay awhile. The Basics Age: 21 Height: 6’ 3” Weight: 236 Position: LEO College: Idaho Number: #47 Method of Acquisition: Signed as an undrafted [...]

A quick reminder that the Seahawks will  begin OTAs (Organized Team Activities) on Monday. Seahawks.com had a good breakdown earlier this week of where the team is in its off-season program. Not all of  the workouts are open to the media, but we will cover those that are. As the linked story notes, the Monday OTA is the first of 10 in which the offense and defense are allowed to practice against each other. The OTAs are spread out through June 6. The team then holds a mandatory minicamp June 11-13 before the veteran break begins on June 14.

Felix Hernandez vs. Justin Masterson, 10:05am Well this has certainly been a frustrating series. The M’s bats have come alive late, only for the bullpen to cough up the lead again. You’ve got to be confident about this game, though, as the M’s start Felix. Masterson’s Carter Cappsian arm angle has always produced huge platoon splits. This year he’s been successful against lefties largely due to BABIP and HR/FB luck, and the M’s can trot out several hitters who will get a long look at the ball. Saunders and Seager can hopefully get on base for the incandescent Raul Ibanez. Honestly, match-ups like this are why Ibanez is here. He’s a streaky hitter on an insane tear and he’s facing a pitcher who plays to Ibanez’s strengths. 1: Saunders, CF 2: Ackley, 2B 3: Seager, 3B 4: Morales, DH 5: Morse, RF 6: Ibanez, LF 7: Smoak, 1B 8: Montero, C 9: Ryan, SS James Paxton starts for Tacoma this afternoon in the finale of the 4 gamer against Memphis against ex-M’s fireballer Maikel Cleto, aka the guy the M’s swapped for Brendan Ryan. Taijuan Walker and Tyler Pike also start in AA and A, respectively, making this a pretty interesting day in the minors. Go M’s. -- This post came from: U.S.S. Mariner, and is copyright by the authors. This RSS feed is intended for the personal use of readers and not, for instance, spam blogs.Game 42, Mariners at Indians

While he didn’t hit his second home run of the season until the ninth inning of Saturday’s 5-4 loss to the Indians, Mariners first baseman Justin Smoak has quietly been putting together a strong three-week stretch that has lifted his batting average to .254. Going into Sunday’s game, Smoak had reached base safely in 12 straight starts and is hitting .328 (20-for-61) over the past 19 games with a .992 OPS. The 26-year-old from South Carolina has been seeing the ball better this season, waiting for his pitches, and is tied for seventh in the American League with 24 walks. The only thing missing for Smoak has been power and he figures that will follow if he continues swinging well and being selective. “I’ve been squaring balls up,” Smoak said. “I’ve hit a couple doubles. The homers will come. In the past I’ve got too pull happy trying to be a homer guy. It’s not good for me, as we’ve seen in the past. I’m just trying to get good at-bats, hit the ball where it’s pitched. It’s a long season. Good things will happen.” Manager Eric Wedge said Smoak is following a natural progression that will pay off for him in the long run this year. “I feel like Smoak and [Dustin] Ackley have been getting their hits, but now with Justin he’s starting to create a little more damage. He had the double the other way and the home run. That’s what he’s capable of doing. But he’s been getting on base, he’s had long at-bats. Those have all been good things to see. “You have to hit first and then if there is power in there, it’ll come in time. But you can’t shortcut the process and try to get there without having the other because you’ll come up empty. He’s done a good job with that.” Smoak and the Mariners are facing tough Indians right-hander Justin Masterson today. Masterson is 6-2 with a 3.14 ERA, but Smoak has had success against him in the past (4-for-7 with a double and two walks). Here’s today’s lineups for the 10:05 a.m. PT game in Cleveland:

Jesus Montero will get a quick shot at redemption today after his tough day yesterday on the bases and behind the plate on that decisive ninth-inning play. Montero usually has big games when catching Felix Hernandez and the Mariners are going to go with that attery today. Mariners manager Eric Wedge had a chance to review yesterday's key play on video and is convinced Brendan Ryan's throw would have made it in time to Montero had the latter kept his foot on home plate. "He just came off the plate,'' Wedge said. "He just released too early. You've got to keep your foot planted. You're not going to turn two on that, so you've just got to keep your foot planted on that.'' I asked Wedge whether that was something that comes with experience, or whether it's a more basic fundamental that the Mariners teach all their catchers and that they are expected to already be adept at. "That's what you see us do in spring training,'' Wedge said. "The home-to-first, or the force out or the tag play at home. Those are things you work on.'' Ultimately, he said, Montero's findamentals of foot and glovework on the play got all messed up. "I've been there,'' Wedge said. "It's the game-on-the-line situation. You've got to be under control and kind of be in your first baseman's mode. But not to where the ball could be anywhere. Understand that , one, you're only going to get one out. So stay put and get one out. And two, just work your feet accordingly. He probably should have gone out with the other foot and caught the ball like this,'' he added, demonstrating by twisting his hand in an upright position rather than to the side. "He just put himself in a tough position to where he kind of pulled himself off.'' So, anyway, like I said, it was a bit of a rough day for Montero. After Wedge was done speaking to reporters, he went out on the field and had an extended conversation with Montero behind the batting cage, going over the technical aspects of the play and how the catcher should have handeld it. You can see it in the photo above.  

Yesterday I took at look at the number of drives that each team’s defense was on the field for. Those results were interesting, but they didn’t tell us much about what those drives resulted in. We were able to infer some of that based on the total points given up by those teams, but honestly, [...]

One of the most interesting and frustrating things about baseball is that success doesn't perfectly correlate with victory. Yesterday a haunted, shivering Joe Saunders allowed nearly half (13 out of 29) of his opponents to reach base, but only gave up four runs and kept the Mariners, nominally, in the ballgame. Meanwhile, a Mariners bullpen that has, on average, been fairly strong throughout the season, has been slapped with two losses on consecutive days. One comes away with the sense that it isn't fair, or that it is by definition fair, or that there is no such thing as fairness, based on one's philosophical predilections. The lineups: 1. Michael Saunders CF 1. Michael Bourn CF 2. Dustin Ackley 2B 2. Jason Kipnis 2B 3. Kyle Seager 3B 3. Michael Brantley LF 4. Kendrys Morales DH 4. Nick Swisher 1B 5. Michael Morse RF 5. Jason Giambi DH 6. Raul Ibanez LF 6. Carlos Santana C 7. Justin Smoak 1B 7. Mark Reynolds 3B 8. Jesus Montero C 8. Mike Aviles SS 9. Brendan Ryan SS 9. Drew Stubbs RF FELIX SP Justin Masterson SP The Hot Hand buys himself at least one more start, which is understandable, while the guy with easily the best OBP on the roster hits in front of Montero and Ryan, which is less so. The lineup is actually the same as yesterday, minus an Endy Chavez and plus a Condor. On the Indians side, the graybeard Jason Giambi returns to the lineup. This could be the very last time you ever see Giambi play, as is true any time he starts, so if you're inclined toward nostalgia, drink that up. It is in fact a Felix Day, for which we should all rejoice. The Mariners in turn face Justin Masterson, who is quite good at pitching, and seems to be even better at it now than he was before. This could very well be a 2-1 game, or a 7-4 game, or a 5-1, because they are all possible scores for baseball.

Get excited.

Washington State University's Katie Dick has been named the Pac-12 Women's Rowing Scholar-Athlete of the Year, the Conference office announced Sunday at the 2013 Pac-12 Rowing Championships in Gold River, Calif.