Two years into a five-year, $64 million contract, Adrian Beltre has produced a .262 average, 44 home runs, and 176 RBIs. However, after the All Star break in 2006, Beltre slugged .552 with a whopping 18 home runs. Does this strong second half bode well for a turn-around in 2007, or will Mariners fans have to deal with 'A-Drain' once again? This blog intends to follow the 2007 season for Adrian Beltre, and the Seattle Mariners, and promises to hold no punches.
So the Mariners may have stumbled in the finale against the Orioles in today's game, but you can't fault the over-all effort put forth by the team in their homestand against the Rangers and the Orioles. By winning five of seven, the M's batted .328 and averaged seven runs and nine hits per game, although the .426 slugging average over the homestand belies the fact that the Mariners' offense was overly reliant on singles- and two-out singles at that- which means that the M's have little margin of error to work with. Unless they are able to start driving the ball on the road trip that takes them to National League ballparks (and facing tougher National League pitchers) that margin could flip, and the M's two-out magic could easily dry up. But while the going's good, let's just keep our fingers crossed and hope it continues...
After jumping out to an early lead in today's game, the Orioles started the fifth inning with four consecutive hits- a double sandwiched by three singles- on their way to put up a five-spot against Jarrod Washburn, who evened up his record on the year at 5-5. Given the two-out rallies that marked the M's victories over the Orioles the past two nights, it was impossible to count the M's out. Unfortunately this afternoon, the M's only went 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position and two outs after the Orioles jumped ahead in the fifth inning, thus accounting for the final 9-5 score. And once again Adrian Beltre did not make an appearance, thus limiting his effort to one pinch-running opportunity since he rolled his wrist last weekend.
The Mariners get a rare day off to travel to Petco Park in San Diego to face the Padres' tough pitching staff. And as Greg Maddux is pitching today against the Dodgers, the Mariners will miss an opportunity to duplicate their rout of the future Hall of Famer that they accomplished last month. Regardless, I've been doing research on how Hall of Famers have done against the Mariners throughout the franchise history. I just may have some results to share by the Padres series, as the M's look to duplicate the .750 record they had last year against the senior league during the next two weeks of interleague play.
After jumping out to an early lead in today's game, the Orioles started the fifth inning with four consecutive hits- a double sandwiched by three singles- on their way to put up a five-spot against Jarrod Washburn, who evened up his record on the year at 5-5. Given the two-out rallies that marked the M's victories over the Orioles the past two nights, it was impossible to count the M's out. Unfortunately this afternoon, the M's only went 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position and two outs after the Orioles jumped ahead in the fifth inning, thus accounting for the final 9-5 score. And once again Adrian Beltre did not make an appearance, thus limiting his effort to one pinch-running opportunity since he rolled his wrist last weekend.
The Mariners get a rare day off to travel to Petco Park in San Diego to face the Padres' tough pitching staff. And as Greg Maddux is pitching today against the Dodgers, the Mariners will miss an opportunity to duplicate their rout of the future Hall of Famer that they accomplished last month. Regardless, I've been doing research on how Hall of Famers have done against the Mariners throughout the franchise history. I just may have some results to share by the Padres series, as the M's look to duplicate the .750 record they had last year against the senior league during the next two weeks of interleague play.
0 Responses to “A 5-2 homestand is not too shabby”
Leave a Reply