After many requests to hear my life story, I have still decided (in the words of Brew) that “I do not have time for all of that”. However I figured I could at least appease the many fans of the Zorstique’s Update of the Day, and provide (in chronological order) the updates thus far. I figure I have spent countless hours working on them when I should be doing something more constructive, why not waste some more time by going through my history to grab them all in one convenient place?
I will share a little bit about myself. I have been a die hard Mariner (and baseball for that matter) fan since April of 2015. It has been a long journey, and I have learned some things which I have been trying to share with you, the loyal reader. What started this love for baseball you might ask. At the beginning of April 2015, my grandson asked me if I could take him to some Mariners games this year. He is an upcoming shortstop star, and is really getting into baseball. I said yes, but then the next day I realized that I knew nothing about baseball, including how I should approach picking out which games to take the boy to. So I reached out to SKA as a whole and started asking questions. I received a lot of good advice , but the best advice came from our own Retodd. I do not remember the exact quote, but it was something along the lines of “Shut the hell up, and talk to someone that cares.”
I instantly knew exactly what he was trying to say. “We do not know and want you to go find out as much as you can, and tell us, so we can know as well.”
(Todd has a way with words.) This worked for me, as I did not want to show up with the boy and look like a baseball retard, so I started researching as much as I can. Below you can watch as my baseball knowledge goes to absolutely nothing, to something barely more than nothing. Enjoy!
Zorstique’s Mariners update of the day: – 4/14/2015
After winning back-to-back extra inning game on the road for the first time since 1984, they lost yesterday in extra inning and they drop to 2nd in the AL Western Division at 3-4. Sorry that was all I was able to gather after a quick Google search.
Zorstique’s Mariners update of the day: – 4/15/2015
Despite the fact that Dustin Ackley has hit 13 home runs in his last 51 games (dating back to 7/31/14), tied for 8th most in the Majors during that span, the Mariners lose again yesterday. This drops the Mariner’s to 3rd place in the AL West division, or what I like to call it the 49er’th place.
Zorstique’s Mariners update of the day: – 4/16/2015
I learned today that there are 5 teams in the AL West Division. Why? Because the Mariners are in 5th place at 3 6. With a 3 game losing streak to go with this lovely record. It makes me wonder why I am stuck with this year of all years to become a baseball “fan.” Other then the fact that they are in last place in the division and cannot seem to win games that they should win it has been a good season so far.
Zorstique’s Mariners update of the day: – 4/17/2015
The Mariners had a much needed day of rest. Because they did not play, they broke their 3 day losing streak, which is nice. They play the Rangers (they are from Texas) at home tonight, which if they win it will propel them all the way to 4th place (I believe) in the AL Western Division at 4-6.
Extra update for Brew:
Rickie Darnell Weeks is an American professional baseball second baseman for the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball. He previously played in MLB for the Milwaukee Brewers. He was named an MLB All-Star in 2011.
2015 Season Stats
G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS
8 23 4 0 0 1 4 1 0 10 0 0 .174 .208 .304 .513
Zorstique’s Mariners update of the day: 4/20/2015
After losing the first game against the Rangers on Friday, the Mariners went on and won the next two games. The Mariners are now on a 2 win stretch, putting them at 5-7 and 4th in the AL West division. Next up is a 3 home game stretch against the Astros, followed by a 3 home game stretch against the Twins. Game 3 of the Twins your very own Mariners update of the day guy will attend in person for the first of at least 10 games this season.
Munkey’s extra update (sorry for the hardship of the weekend):
Just 2 days after some high ranking person on the Mariner’s staff read the previous update of the day, the Mariners made some important changes to the end game strategy. Even after giving up 7 runs in the 3rd inning, and even though they were down by 5 a couple of times throughout the game, the Mariners would not except defeat. In a game that almost had the same feel as the last NFCC game (you know the one where the righteous Seahawks took down the evil GB Packers in the final part of the game even though they looked like they did not want to win it most of the game) the Mariners pulled off a win in the bottom of the 9th. I believe I speak for the entire Mariners organization when I say that this game defined the beginning of a winning streak that will propel them all the way to the World Series.
Zorstique’s Mariners update of the day: 4/21/2015
After the kind words I gave them yesterday, the Mariners are back to being the Mariners. They lost to the Houston Astros (which are currently in 1st place in the AL West) 7 to 5. In a game that some are saying last years Mariners would not have lost, the hype behind this years Mariners seems ill-advised. Word on the street is that the problem is with the bullpen, which from what I have been able to dig up is a nice way to say the relief pitching sucks. The good news? For some reason losing yesterday moved the Mariners up from 4th place to 3rd place.
Zorstique’s Mariners Update of the Day: 4/22/2015
The Mariners lose yet again to the Astros last night, 6 to 3. This two game losing streak drops them down from 3rd to 5th in the AL West.
Just a few short weeks ago, I knew nothing about baseball. I have spent countless hours the last couple of weeks not only watching games, but reading as much as I can to quickly increase my baseball IQ. As such, I feel like now I am one of the smartest baseball guys here. Yet I still do not understand the Mariners. As I reported yesterday the relief pitching is awful. However the starters are not that bad. It would seem that it would be a good idea to allow the starters to pitch more than 5 innings, instead of bring the weakest part of the team in for almost half of the game, but what do I know..
It is going to be a long season.
Zorstique’s Mariners Update of the Day: 4/23/2015
Some high ranking Mariners person of interest must have read yesterday’s update of the day. Just yesterday I was questioning the fact that starter pitchers were only staying in the game for a little more than half. Well yesterday they heeded my words of wisdom, and allowed Happ to pitch into the 8th inning, thus giving the bullpen little opportunities to embarrass Mariners fans around the world. That did not stop this game from being a nail biter though. Yoervis Medina stepped up the pressure, and walked his first batter. It took a leaping catch by Cruz to stop a run, then continued to walk the bases loaded. However a strike out allowed us to escape. This allowed the Mariners to win 2 -3 and move up to 3rd in the AL West knocking down the 1st place Atros.
Zorstique’s Mariners update of the Day: – 4/24/2015
Another day down, and another day in which the Mariners did not lose a game. Similar to last week Thursday, the Mariners had a much needed day of rest. Since their last day of rest, they went 3 and 3, winning 2 of 3 against the Rangers and 1 of 3 against the Astros. This day of rest dropped the Mariners out of 3rd place, and into 4th place in the AL West at 6-9. Next up? A 3 home game stretch against the Minnesota Twins. Tonight Hernandez (2-0) is up against Hughes (0-3), which will bring the Mariners up to the infamous record of “7-9”. Saturday we will see Paxton (0-1) against May (1-1). Although I see no reason why the Mariners will not sweep the Twins, the game to watch is on Sunday when we will see Iwakuma (0-1) stand off against Gibson (1-2). This is game one of ten in which the grandson and I will watch the Mariners win up close and personal, and from what I hear is also free t-shirt for kids day. The last time I checked there is still about 1000 seat available, so grab you sons, daughters, and/or grand kids and head on out there!
Zorstique’s Mariners Update of the Day: 4/27/2015
The Mariners did not sweep the Twins like I hinted at on Friday. The were only able to pull off one win out of 3. Friday Felix pitched a complete game shutout. Which is a fancy way to say that Mr Hernandez did not want the bullpen to ruin his lead. He struck out 9 (he is up to 32 strikeouts on the season) and only allowed 5 hits in the win resulting in 2-0. I do not really have anything nice to say about Saturday, so I will just say they lost 8-5.
Sunday was the big day. The plan was to show up early with the boy, but we ended up only getting to our seats about 5 minutes before the first pitch. Our seats were up high, just foul of first base. The boy not only received a baseball card upon entry, but also a Kyle Seager t-shirt (3rd baseman.) This added an extra layer of excitement when ever he was up to bat. He pulled off 2 hits out of 5 at bat, one of which was a double. Iwakuma was supposed to pitch, but apparently he is out for 2-4 weeks with a right lat strain. Instead Elias stepped up to the plate for his season debut. Elias did not do that bad (gave up 2 runs), and for most of the game, it was tied 2-2. About the 9th inning my grandson was torn on what he wanted to happen. He was excited about the possibility to go into extra innings, however they were also going to play Lego Movie after the game on the big screen. All we needed was for Brew’s favorite Mariner (Rickie Weeks) to get a base hit, and the Mariners would have walked away with a win, but he did what Rickie Weeks does, and struck out. If I remember correctly it was a forward K, not the backward type. In the 11th the evil Twins got 2 runs, thus ending the Mariner’s chance at a win. We stayed for the movie, and by the time I got him home, he was passed out. The ferry ride back he was super excited saying that it was almost as much fun as the last NFCC game (sorry another Brew reference.)
Zorstique’s Mariners Update of the Day: 4/28/2015
In what almost appears to be a pattern, when the Mariners big brass heed my advice of letting starter pitchers stay in the game for the majority of the game, they win. Enter Taijuan Walker, who prior to this game has lost both of his previous starts while only pitching into the 4th and 5th inning, gave up only one run in 7 last night. The bullpen actually helped Mr, Walker last night by not allowing any more runs (although it was another nail bitter.)
Word on the street was that most wanted the game to canceled instead of delayed due to rain because the lineup was so poor. That did not stop the Mariners from getting 3 runs to get a win over the Texas Rangers, 3-1, moving the Mariners to 3rd place in the AL West.
What I learned from yesterday: If you want to prevent a double play, run into the ball. This will result in an automatic out, but the play ends thus eliminating the possibility of two outs in one play.
Zorstique’s Mariners Update of the Day: 4/29/2015
Mariners won again last night, winning 3 games in a row for the first time this season. It was also their first (of hopefully a lot) of series sweeps. Felix is now 4-0 and following yesterday and has pitched 2,095 1/3 career innings as a Mariner, which makes the most for any pitcher in Mariner’s history. Topping Jamie Moyer’s at 2,093.
Up next? A four game series at the Astros, who sit at #1 in the AL West. Seattle is currently in 3rd with a 10 11 record. A sweep at Houston would bring the Mariners tied with the Astros at 14 11.
Zorstique’s Mariners Update of the Day: – 5/4/2015
I admit I did not really watch any of the games against the Astros. Between paying attention to the draft, and watching my grandson actually win baseball games, it did not allow much time to pay attention to the Mariners. However after sweeping the Rangers last week, the Mariners were swept by the kryptonite known as the Astros (a four game stretch no less) dropping the Mariners to 4th place in the AL West at 10-15. This puts the Mariners down 8 games from the 1st place Astros. Next up? 3 more away games at the LA Angels who are currently in 2nd place in the AL West at 11-14. This will complete a 10 road game stretch, give the Mariners a much needed day of rest, and start a 9 game home stretch.
Side note, Felix will pitch tonight, who is currently 4-0. May the 4th be with him.
Zorstique’s Mariners Update of the Day: – 5/5/2015
Felix Hernandez pulls off another victory last night against the defending AL West champs, bringing him to 5-0. Apparently this is the first time Felix has started 5-0, and I suspect that we will likely see him in the double digit wins until he drops one. Hernandez is one heck of a pitcher, but it also seems like the entire team plays better when he in on the mound. Making plays that they do not seen to make when he is resting. Felix allowed only one run (unfortunately the home version) and six hits, and struck out 8, bringing him to 1,989th career strikeout. This lowered his ERA to 1.73 (I still do not really know what this means, I will try to include what it means in a future update.)
Nelson Cruz hit his 14th home run this year in the top of the 7th, and was also named AL Player of the Month for April. Logan Morrison and Seth Smith also knocked one out of the park against Shoemaker, who until this home run feast in the 7-8 innings was crippling the Mariners hitters. These 3 solo home runs brings the Mariner’s to 27 on the year, most solo home runs in the majors. (Not sure if this is really a good stat.)
This win brings the Mariners up to 11-15 and tied for second place in the AL West. With a lose for the Astros last night, the Mariners are now only 7 games behind first place.
Zorstique’s Mariners Update of the Day: – 5/6/2015
ERA. It stands for Earned Run Average. It is a means of calculating earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. ERA = 9 X earned runs allowed/innings pitched. Prior to 1900 pitchers were expected to pitch a complete game, so their win-loss record was a good means to determine their effectiveness. However once relief pitching became popular something else was needed, and ERA was born.
I mentioned yesterday that I would find out more about this, and today I think it is actually relative. Although it might not be fair, I will start off with Felix Hernandez (my grandson’s favorite pitcher, I know no surprise there.) His ERA thus far this year is 1.73, meaning he averages less than two runs per 9 innings. Not so surprisingly he is 5-0 on the season. Although the Mariners started yesterday down by 2 in the 1st, and gave up a lot of opportunities to get back into the game. They still were able to get up 4-2 in the top of the 8th. Enter Danny Farquhar who gave up a walk, 3 hits and 2 runs in the bottom of the 8th, giving him an ERA of 18. 18! And we wonder why our Seattle Mariner’s bullpen is letting us down.
Special Extra coverage: “The team performed Epically – just ignore the score and understand that EVERYTHING the Mariners do is for a reason, even losing to the Angles by 1 point” – Nintendo of America, represented by CEO Howard Lincoln (Owner of the Mariners)
