Recent Stories with tag mike sweeney

When I tell you that the highlight of the Seattle sports weekend was giving a standing ovation to a third-place team, you may think it wasn't much of a weekend. But it was epic, notably for our sports teams getting the worst Indiana lambasting since the Kerry campaign.

Notre Dame 37, Washington 30 (OT)

As I headed to Teddy's to watch Washington vs. Notre Dame (live from South Bend, Indiana), I wondered exactly how empty the bandwagon would be. Coming off the USC win, the bar was packed for Stanford. But after losing that game, how would it look? Let's let pictures tell the story:

Crowd at Teddy's for UW/Stanford

Crowd at Teddy's for UW/Notre Dame

So--yeah, Seattle sports fans, you are some fairweather sons of bitches. And you missed an amazing game, one that will always be remembered for the stunning inability of the Huskies to score one touchdown from twelve tries inside the one-yard-line. If you have a Husky fan at your office, I recommend putting his morning coffee three feet behind a white line and see...

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The Mariners have secured the 12th winning season in franchise history thanks to three-run homers on consecutive nights by Ken Griffey Jr. Both homers were no-doubters that had Griffey adopting his familiar slow walk toward first base. Here's video of Tuesday's and video of Wednesday's.

Griffey now has 18 homers for the year--and if he's wanting to leave a positive impression in his bosses' minds when they draw up 2010 contracts, he's picked the right time to get hot.

Statswise, Griffey hasn't made the case. His .408 slugging percentage places him 11th among AL DHs (didja ever think you'd see the day that Carlos Guillen outslugged Griffey?).

Personality-wise, he has. Last year's Mariners' clubhouse was full of backbiting whiners, this year Griffey has helped turn the "office" into a joyous ticklefest.

And 100-loss Mariners of last season now have an outside chance of capturing second place in the AL West. They are three games behind Texas with four to play--three of them against the Rangers.

Our brain says...

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Ichiro had a third-inning single to get within four hits of 200, but his groundout to third with the tying run on deck ended the game. Ian Snell just barely made it into the sixth inning after a four-run Angels first inning. Jack Wilson didn't play; he had the flu. In other news, Brandon Morrow will start for the M's--not Tacoma--on Friday.

In conclusion, here are funny pictures of Mike Sweeney posing as Ichiro.

Felix Hernandez should have 15 wins--hell, he should have 20 wins--but he pitched well enough to get #15 last night. His teammates didn't hold up their end of the bargain. The bats managed just two solo home runs (though Mike Sweeney's in the ninth did push the game to extras), and Jack Wilson made a critical error at shortstop that cost an unearned run.

Mike Sweeney, who announced yesterday that he wants to play in 2010, had a cute quote after the game: “We’re in September, and we can’t be losing many more games if we want to be playing ball in October.” Play in October...oh, Mike, you are adorable.

M's ... um ... continue their pennant chase tonight against the Angels t at 7:05 pm, it's Ian Snell against Jered Weaver. Ken Griffey Jr., who pinch hit in last night's game, is supposed to start. Wooo Griffey!

Luke French didn't help his chances for making the 2010 rotation by lasting just 3.2 innings against the putrid A's offense. An Adam Kennedy single plated the A's fifth run, chasing French in the fourth. Jason Vargas--another '10 rotation candidate--threw 2.1 IP of hitless relief, but then Miguel Batista came in and you can fill in the rest.

(Note: Less than a month of Miguel Batista left! It's like finally getting to the end of a really icky box of cereal.)

Ichiro had three hits to get within one of 2,000 for his career, and Mike Sweeney had four hits, which puts him just nine shy of 1,500 on his career. Why aren't the Japanese media covering that? Racists.

In other hit counting news, Rob Johnson had one, which gives him three on his career. Just kidding, Rob! Keep at it; Dan Wilson couldn't hit for shit as a rookie either.

M's play Oakland at 1 p.m. tomorrow, Doug Fister against Gio Gonzalez.