3/13/10: Kickin' Their A's - The Seattle Mariners went 14-5 against the division rival Oakland Athletics last season. That means they actually played sub-.500 ball against the other Major League Baseball teams. --KG

7/8/09: McOwen Keeps on Goin' - Seattle Mariners prospect James McOwen ran his California League record hit streak to 44 consecutive games on Tuesday night, tying The Hit King, Pete Rose, for the longest streak in professional baseball history since Roman Mejias hit safely in 55 straight for Waco in 1954. A broken-bat single in the 8th inning of the Mavericks' 12-2 loss to the San Jose Giants also gave McOwen sole possession of the 8th longest hit streak in Minor League Baseball history. ~ RVZ

7/4/09: Nothing Minor About This Streak - On Friday night, James McOwen of the High Desert Mavericks lined a ninth-inning single up the middle during a 6-4 loss to the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, extending his California League record hit streak to 40 straight games. The Mariners’ farm hand, a sixth round draft pick in 2007, became just the second minor leaguer to hit safely in 40 or more consecutive games since 1961, when Orlando Moreno hit safely in 43 straight for Louisville. Brandon Watson, who hit safely in 43 straight in 2007, was the other. McOwen is just the 15th player in minor league history to record a hit in 40 straight games. ~ RVZ

5/26/09: Congratulations to Ichiro - Congratulations to Ichiro Suzuki, who singled to left in his final at bat Tuesday night, extending his hitting streak to 20 games. For Ichiro, it is the sixth streak of 20 games or longer in his major league career, moving him past Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, and Dale Mitchell into second place on the all-time list. Only Pete Rose, with seven career streaks of twenty games or longer, has more.

In fact, Ichiro, who holds six of the top 10 hit streaks in Seattle Mariners franchise history - including a club-best 25 straight games in 2007, now has nine career hitting streaks of 18 games or more. About the only thing left for him to do, aside of course from going after Rose’s and Joe DiMaggio’s records, is to hit safely in 30-straight.

Here’s hoping he does just that in his next ten games and becomes only the 46th player in big league history to reach that plateau.   -- RVZ

4/29/09: Double Plays Are for Winners - Arizona and Oakland are tied for the fewest doubles plays grounded into, which makes sense because neither team can make contact or get men on base. The Dodgers, Red Sox, and Tigers are three of the four teams with 20 or more GIDP so far, which makes sense because each of these teams gets tons of guys on base and makes tons of contact.

Enter the Seattle Mariners. The M’s are currently the fourth team with 20 or more GDIP. The Mariners, however, are the eighth worst scoring team in baseball. Failing to score runs and hitting into lots of double plays is a lethal combination, and this is reason number 507 that the Mariners hot start will not last.   -- ABC

4/29/09: Walking Is For Losers - Through 21 games, the Seattle Mariners are leading the AL West division with a 13-8 record despite having four players fail to draw a single walk: Kenji Johjima (25 PA), Mike Sweeney (40 PA), Ichiro Suzuki (58 PA), and Yuniesly Betancourt (74 PA). The M's have drawn 50 walks as a team - one lower than have the San Francisco Giants - for the lowest total in baseball.   --KG

2/18/09: Prodigal Junior - After having been away for nine years, Ken Griffey Junior returns to the team with which he built his Hall of Fame career. His one-year contract with Seattle calls for a $2 million base salary and can reach $6 million based on at-bats and attendance. Having an incentive based on at-bats is ridiculous, as it will only discourage Griffey from drawing walks. The attendance incentive makes more sense. Between Junior and Ichiro, the Mariners should be one of the top draws in baseball even if they wind up posting the worst record in the AL two years in a row.   --KG

12/16/08: Top Ten Questions After the J.J. Putz Trade - 10. Seriously?  9. Aaron Heilman and Brandon Morrow - who will start and who will close?  8. Does Franklin Gutierrez walk too much to be a Marin- oh, good. 7.  Will the Jeremy Reed from the 2003 Barons ever resurface?  6. Who the hell is Luis Valbuena and why did the Indians want him?  5.  Is Joe Smith due to explode? 4. How did Sean Green get to the majors? 3. Putz and K-Rod: best tandem ever? 2. Come on, seriously? 1. Is Jack Zduriencik the new Bill Bavasi?  --KG

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