Speaking of rookies, the Mariners are playing Mike Saunders in left field. Defensively, he made an eye-popping catch in the first inning at the wall and looked smooth out there. He is tall (6’4″) and can cover a lot of ground with relative ease. At the plate though, he continued to look overmatched. Time will whether he is able to make the adjustment.

In the ninth inning, the Mariners were rallying. Scott Downs, the Jays closer who has been struggling mightily in recent times opened the door for the Mariners. With the game tied, the bases loaded, and no outs, the Mariners pitch-hit for Saunders with Jose Lopez. Lopezz was sitting out with a stiff back and was not swinging freely. One out. Then came Roger Cedeno. Two out one three straight pitches. We’re approaching Betancourt-levels of frustration. The last hope was Ichiro.  Two straight strikes (and one was a REALLY ugly swing). The third pitch was nearly in the dirt and Ichiro went down and blooped it into shallow center field. Game over. Ichiro’s bat control is simply amazing. ESPN had an interesting insight from closer David Aardsma:

“That second pitch made him look horrible,” Seattle closer David Aardsma said. “I turned to [Jason] Vargas and said, ‘He’s just setting him up right here, getting him to throw another curveball.’ Then he did the patented Ichiro drop the bat swing and it fell in there perfect.”

Jarrod Washburn pitched efficiently. He has added to his pitching repetoire and what a difference it makes! Washburn has never had a strong fastball and last year he was ranging between 83 and 88. That’s just not enough separation and hittters punished him for it. This year, he’s added a slow 69mph change and it keeps batters off balance. Maybe Washburn is headed for a  Moyer-type of approach of throwing slow and slower.  As long as there’s a range of speeds, he will have a chance to get hitters out. Who knows how many more he can pitch now that he’s got a soft-throwing strategy that works.

I Suzuki RF

F Gutierrez CF

K Griffey Jr DH

C Shelton 1B

J Hannahan 3B

R Johnson C

C Woodward 2B

M Saunders LF

R Cedeno SS

Yikes! Branyan and Lopez were sat out, but still,it’s hard to believe that the team has become so desparate. The infield has been devastated and although all the guys can play defense, they’ve been put into a tough situation. It was obvious that there was no comfort level among the infielders, and more importantly, there was no leadership in the infield. The Jays just punished the Mariners with groundballs.  If there was any question about whether they should trade for the future, this was Exhibit A for the yes argument.

As for the Jays, I was very impressed with Marco Scuturo. Last I saw him, he was a backup infielder. Now, he is an incredibly effective leadoff man who works counts and is really difficult to get out. The Jays probably trade or let him go, but he’s really come a long way. The other guy who impressed was Scott Rolen. He seems to have gotten over his injuries and is just a great third baseman. Here in Seattle, we see Adrian Beltre’s spectacular defense on a daily basis. Rolen is right there if not better. He must give his pitchers peace of mind that the hot corner is taken care of. Rolen made a leaping snag of a sharply hit liner tht was so shocking that he simply tossed it to second to double off the Mariner runner who was understandably out of position. The difference in infield defense between the two teams was obvious. Scuturo, Hill and Overbay are good, though not great defenders. What they do have is chemistry, continuity and a rock at third to set the tone. The Mariners fielded an infield without their first or second basemen and their rock (Beltre)  is still on his way back

Vernon Wells and Alex Rios looked average. We’ll see how they do in game two, but they looked exactly like the light hitting 0.250-0.260 hitters that they have proven to be this year. Defensively, they were not tested, but looked smooth on balls that did come their way.

Tomorrow temperatures should be 30C+ (90F+).

If there are questions to be asked, they are in Phoenix. The Coyotes have absolutely NO depth at forward. They might as well throw Mark Reynolds out there, at least he would hit something…

Dawes has had one fight in his career: Mike Comrie vs Nigel Dawes Dec 29, 2008. Dawes is 5’8″ and Comrie is listed as 5’10″, which begs the question, who are the toughest players under 5’10”?

10. Jordin Tootoo

9. Tim Horton

8. Ted Lindsay

7. Darcy Tucker

6. Bill Ezinicki

5. Rocket Richard

4. Dale Hunter

3. Theo Fleury

2. Bobby Clarke

1. Tie Domi

And I’m not sure where to put him, but New York Islander goalie Billy Smith has to be somewhere in the discussion. Video: Battlin’ Billy Smith