Archive: April, 2020

Virtual Season: Astros' Tucker homers in 10th as Houston beats M's
The Houston Astros used a trio of homers to score all four of their runs and defeat the Mariners 4-3 in ten innings tonight in Seattle. Domestic abuser Roberto Osuna (1-1) got the win for Houston with two scoreless innings of relief.
See full post: "Virtual Season: Astros' Tucker homers in 10th as Houston beats M's"...

Virtual Season: Mariners survive 9th-inning errors, edge Angels 4-3
31,000+ fans at the ballpark by Elliott Bay saw high drama in the 9th inning tonight, as the Mariners threatened to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory yet ultimately prevail by a score of 4-3 against the Los Angeles Angels.
See full post: "Virtual Season: Mariners survive 9th-inning errors, edge Angels 4-3"...

Virtual Season: M's fail Marco again, lose to Angels in 10 innings
Marco Gonzales pitched another fine game for the Mariners tonight at the ballpark by Elliott Bay, and once again he has nothing to show for it, as the Angels came back to defeat the M's 5-3 in ten innings.
See full post: "Virtual Season: M's fail Marco again, lose to Angels in 10 innings"...

Virtual Season: Mariners implode, lose 10-6 in Texas
Taijuan Walker was solid through five innings today, allowing only a solo home run to Joey Gallo, and was enjoying a 5-1 lead when the wheels fell off his wagon. In just a matter of minutes, the Texas Rangers erased that cushion in the bottom half of the 6th inning on a pair of homers.
See full post: "Virtual Season: Mariners implode, lose 10-6 in Texas"...

What do you know? It's the Trivia Challenge Mark II
While we continue waiting out the COVID-19 hiatus, why not indulge in a little baseball quiz-taking? In the spirit of last year's Mariner-centric Trivia Challenge, we present this year's more generalized (with plenty of M's stuff too) baseball trivia quiz. Click below to begin, then when you're done you'll be brought back here so you can tell us what you think.
See full post: "What do you know? It's the Trivia Challenge Mark II"...

Virtual Season: 2-run 12th gives M's win over Rangers
It took 12 innings, but the Mariners came through to beat the Texas Rangers tonight, 5-3 in Arlington. Tim Lopes drove in Mallex Smith with the go-ahead run to break a 3-3 tie and Evan White added an insurance tally with sacrifice fly.
See full post: "Virtual Season: 2-run 12th gives M's win over Rangers"...

Virtual Season: M's squander opportunity, lose to Rangers in 10
Notes from around the leagueJeff McNeil went 4-for-4 with two home runs for the Mets today in New York's 9-3 win over Atlanta. The Astros have now won eight straight, having beaten the Oakland A's 5-1 tonight. They are 13-1 in Houston. On the Farm/Prospect WatchThe Tacoma Rainiers also lost in extra innings tonight, dropping their game with Albuquerque 7-6 in 11 innings. Jered Kelenic had two hits and three RBI in Double-A Arkansas' 8-3 loss to Tulsa. Julio Rodríguez went 2-for-3 as the Class-A Modesto Nuts lost to Stockton 6-1.
See full post: "Virtual Season: M's squander opportunity, lose to Rangers in 10"...

Virtual Season: Mariners win 6-3, take series with Twins
Yusei Kikuchi pitched seven innings for the win and Daniel Vogelbach clubbed his sixth home run of the season as the Mariners defeated the Minnesota Twins 6-3 today at Minneapolis' Target Field. The victory gives the Mariners their second straight series win after splitting the two-game set with Washington last week.
See full post: "Virtual Season: Mariners win 6-3, take series with Twins"...

Gordon wins 2020 Hutch Award
Dee Gordon, the Mariners' second baseman and sometime-outfielder, was honored today with the 2020 Fred Hutch Award, bestowed upon a Major League player who exemplifies courage and fortitude in off-the-field community activity in the manner of the late Fred Hutchinson.

Virtual Season: M's, Twins trade homers in Minnesota walk-off win
Byron Buxton connected for a game-winning, walk-off home run off reliever Nestor Cortes in the 9th inning tonight at Minneapolis' Target Field to end the Mariners-Twins contest with a final score of 4-3.
See full post: "Virtual Season: M's, Twins trade homers in Minnesota walk-off win"...

Virtual Season: Walker sharp; CarGo, JP, Seager homer in win vs. Twins
Taijuan Walker took a no-hitter into the 7th inning and Kyle Seager, Carlos González, and J.P. Crawford each hit home runs as the Mariners defeated the Minnesota Twins by a score of 8-3 in Minneapolis.
See full post: "Virtual Season: Walker sharp; CarGo, JP, Seager homer in win vs. Twins"...

Virtual Season: Mariner homers enough to beat Buxton and Odorizzi in Minneapolis
The Mariners overcame a tremendous outing by Minnesota pitcher Jake Odorizzi to squeak by the Twins tonight 3-2 at Target Field in Minneapolis.
See full post: "Virtual Season: Mariner homers enough to beat Buxton and Odorizzi in Minneapolis"...

Virtual Season: Mariners take 3 of 4 in Oakland
Kyle Seager drove in two runs and J.P. Crawford hit a two-run homer to provide all the runs the Mariners needed today to defeat the A's and cap off a three-win effort in the four-game series in Oakland.
See full post: "Virtual Season: Mariners take 3 of 4 in Oakland"...

Virtual Season: Vogey awakes, drives in 5 in M's win vs. Oakland
Daniel Vogelbach drove in all five Mariner runs today as Seattle defeated the Oakland Athletics 5-1. Vogelbach had been struggling mightily, riding an 0-for-33 streak coming into today's game that saw his batting average dip to .162 and his playing time curtailed. But against Oakland starter Sean Manaea today, Vogey came up big.
See full post: "Virtual Season: Vogey awakes, drives in 5 in M's win vs. Oakland"...

Virtual Season: M's drop nailbiter to A's 3-2
The Mariners and Oakland Athletics dueled in the East Bay tonight with runs at a premium. Both Seattle starter Marco Gonzales and Oakland hurler Jesús don't-call-him-Emilio Luzardo brought their A games and made few mistakes.
See full post: "Virtual Season: M's drop nailbiter to A's 3-2"...

Virtual Season: Walker wins pitchers' duel with A's
Taijuan Walker pitched eight innings of near-perfect ball and Evan White drove in Dee Gordon with what would be the winning run for the second game in a row as the Mariners defeated the Oakland Athletics 1-0.
See full post: "Virtual Season: Walker wins pitchers' duel with A's"...

About the Virtual Season on grandsalami.net
Good afternoon everybody, wherever you may be. I hope you all are doing as well as can be expected during our time of coronavirus-enforced isolation A few notes to update you all on what we're doing here on the site with our virtual 2020 season, especially given that there are no encouraging developments in the real world that suggest we'll see a real 2020 season anytime soon, if at all.
See full post: "About the Virtual Season on grandsalami.net"...

Virtual Season: Mariners beat Nats in extras
This post chronicles a virtual 2020 season played on the computer game Out of the Park Baseball 21. See the virtual opening day post for details on the setup. We’ll be updating this “season” as our coronavirus-enforced life without real baseball continues.
See full post: "Virtual Season: Mariners beat Nats in extras"...

Strasburg dominates as M's lose 4th straight
Stephen Strasburg schooled the Mariners in the art of pitching Monday night at TMP in Seattle. The Washington Nationals right-hander pitched 81⁄3 innings of shutout baseball as Washington won 6-0.
See full post: "Strasburg dominates as M's lose 4th straight"...

Virtual Season: Errors, wildness sink Mariners against Boston
Dee Gordon had a banner afternoon, but it wasn't enough to overcome several defensive lapses by the Mariners as the visiting Boston Red Sox defeated Seattle 6-4.
See full post: "Virtual Season: Errors, wildness sink Mariners against Boston"...

Virtual Season: McHugh, Gonzales duel in 2-1 Boston win
This post chronicles a virtual 2020 season played on the computer game Out of the Park Baseball 21. See the virtual opening day post for details on the setup. We’ll be updating this “season” as our coronavirus-enforced life without real baseball continues.
See full post: "Virtual Season: McHugh, Gonzales duel in 2-1 Boston win"...

Virtual Season: Red Sox get revenge, beat M's 7-1
Smarting from the drubbing they took yesterday, the Boston Red Sox took their revenge on the Mariners Friday night at TMP, clubbing three home runs en route to a 7-1 win.
See full post: "Virtual Season: Red Sox get revenge, beat M's 7-1"...

Another 2020 plan that won't happen
A few days ago, Major League Baseball was discussing a 2020 season played entirely in Arizona. Today the talk is around playing a season with all teams using their spring training facilities as their home fields.

Virtual Season: Mariners clobber Red Sox 8-0 behind Sheffield
This post chronicles a virtual 2020 season played on the computer game Out of the Park Baseball 21. See the virtual opening day post for details on the setup. We’ll be updating this “season” as our coronavirus-enforced life without real baseball continues.
See full post: "Virtual Season: Mariners clobber Red Sox 8-0 behind Sheffield"...

Home runs are boring
Those that know me well know that my favorite ballclub of all time has nothing to do with the Mariners. Long before I became a Northwesterner, way back in the pre-Internet days, I followed the Majors the best I could from a minor-league town. We had the newspaper box scores. The NBC Game of the Week on Saturday afternoons and Monday Night Baseball on ABC. Cable TV was a novelty, but my mom splurged for it so I had access to a few "superstations" that carried National League games from Chicago, Atlanta, and New York and our local radio carried...

Virtual Season: Murphy, CarGo power M's over ChiSox
The Mariners were decided underdogs on paper for this afternoon's rubber match concluding the three-game series in Chicago against the White Sox. The palehose were starting former Cy Young Award winner and two-time All-Star Dallas Keuchel, who came into the game with an 0.79 ERA, while the M's went with reclamation project Kendall Graveman in his third start after recovering from Tommy John surgery. But it would be Keuchel that got sent to the showers early, driven from the game after just 22⁄3 innings in the eventual 11-5 Mariner win.
See full post: "Virtual Season: Murphy, CarGo power M's over ChiSox"...

Virtual Season: Kikuchi victorious in Windy City pitchers' duel
Yusei Kikuchi and Lucas Giolito locked horns in a classic pitchers' duel Tuesday night at New Comiskey Park. The Seattle lefty and Chicago right-hander traded scoreless innings through five full frames, though Kikuchi did it with more efficiency—through five, Kikuchi had thrown 59 pitches while Giolito needed 80.
See full post: "Virtual Season: Kikuchi victorious in Windy City pitchers' duel"...

2020 season to start up? Don't hold your breath
The last few days have seen some reporting that suggests Major League Baseball is preparing to start the season sometime late next month or early in June. Don't read too much into it, though.
See full post: "2020 season to start up? Don't hold your breath"...

Virtual Season: Mariners shut out against White Sox
This post chronicles a virtual 2020 season played on the computer game Out of the Park Baseball 21. See the virtual opening day post for details on the setup. We’ll be updating this “season” as our coronavirus-enforced life without real baseball continues.
See full post: "Virtual Season: Mariners shut out against White Sox"...

Virtual Season: Mariners take series in KC
This post chronicles a virtual 2020 season played on the computer game Out of the Park Baseball 21. See the virtual opening day post for details on the setup. We’ll be updating this “season” as our coronavirus-enforced life without real baseball continues.
See full post: "Virtual Season: Mariners take series in KC"...

Virtual Season: Crawford powers M's to extra-inning victory
J.P. Crawford homered and tripled to lead the Mariners to a 4-1 victory in ten innings over the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium Saturday. Crawford's 3-for-5 performance accounted for two runs scored and three batted in.
See full post: "Virtual Season: Crawford powers M's to extra-inning victory"...

Virtual Season: Off day stats
This post chronicles a virtual 2020 season played on the computer game Out of the Park Baseball 21. See the virtual opening day post for details on the setup. We’ll be updating this “season” as our coronavirus-enforced life without real baseball continues.

History: This Week in Mariners Transactions
The COVID-19 crisis has all rosters frozen (again) for the time being. But with no real baseball happening (though we are doing our virtual season), we thought we'd look into the wayback machine and see what interesting moves happened in the first week of April in seasons past (plenty of boring ones will be ignored). We'll continue this sort of thing in the weeks to come.
See full post: "History: This Week in Mariners Transactions"...

Virtual Season: Royals win home opener vs. Mariners 4-2
This post chronicles a virtual 2020 season played on the computer game Out of the Park Baseball 21. See the virtual opening day post for details on the setup. We’ll be updating this “season” as our coronavirus-enforced life without real baseball continues.
See full post: "Virtual Season: Royals win home opener vs. Mariners 4-2"...

Virtual Season: Twins, Berrios blank Mariners 7-0
See full post: "Virtual Season: Twins, Berrios blank Mariners 7-0"...