Four years ago Saturday, in his only at-bat of the season, Felix Hernandez hit a grand slam. When asked what makes him happier, his grand slamor the Heat winning the NBA Championship, he couldn’t say. Felix Hernandez is a Miami Heat fan. Though he loves hitting, and this past Saturday, on the anniversary of his special bag-clearing home run, Felix tagged a 2 RBI double, and became the only Mariner pitcher with 2 extra base hits.
King Felix, helping out on the mound as well, threw 10 strikeouts as the Mariners won their first game against the Padres this season, 5-1. This was the second time in a row that Felix had gone 7 innings, allowing just 1 run. “It felt good,” he said. “I have to be more consistent and get it going for the rest of the season.”
Earlier in the week, the Mariners faced the Diamondbacks in 115 degree, Phoenix (Luckily, Chase Field is air-conditioned and equipped with an outfield swimming pool.) The D-backs took 2 from the Mariners, but in the land of orange trees, not all the juice was wasted from the Mariners’ roadside fruit. Over the 3 games, the Mariners revved up the offense, scoring 23 runs with 38 hits. Even though they lost 2 of the 3, there was still a lot of excitement, which included an official welcome back pinch-hit home run from center fielder Franklin Gutierrez, 2 long balls for Kyle Seager, and a hit-show by Ichiro, who surpassed the 2,500 career hit milestone in Game 2. Casper Wells was also an RBI powerhouse all 3 games against Arizona.
Going into San Diego, the Mariners badly wanted to prove something. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, and the Mariners offense took a back seat to the Padres pitching. Clayton Richard especially hurt us in Game 1, as he was 2-2 at the plate with a double and 3 RBIs, in addition to pitching nearly 7 innings, allowing just 3 earned runs, and striking out 6. Game 2, the Mariners finally took one away from San Diego, as Felix and Saunders were the heroes—Felix pitching and having 2 RBIs, and Saunders going the distance with his 8th home run of the season, along with a single, and 2 runs scored. In Game 3, the Mariners managed just 5 hits (2 from pitcher Noesi), scoring no runs. Apparently, the military camo uniforms on Sunday at San Diego, and hometown chants from active serviceman in the stands was too much for the Mariners to handle.
At one point in the Diamondback broadcast, Mariners TV announcer Dave Sims, when describing a desolate Arizona desert road in images from the trip, said, “On that road you want to be sure you have a full tank of gas.” This week, the Mariners ran out, as they ended their tour of the Southwest with 14 scoreless innings.
Look for bounce-back heroics this coming week, as the Mariners carry Safeco on their backs and try to clean house with the Athletics and Red Sox, continuing their hottest June on record.
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