Game 1: A’s at Mariners
King Felix vs Dan Haren, 3:35 pm
A bunch of interesting subplots in tonight’s game – Travis Buck makes his major league debut, Shannon Stewart tries to prove he’s alive, Jose Guillen may or may not play due to an ankle injury (which will probably lead to an Ignitor sighting), and of course, Felix becomes the 8th youngest pitcher in major league history to take the hill on opening day.
We’re generally ones who wave away gut feelings and fate, but to me, today’s game just feels like one of those that we’re going to remember where we we when it happened. Felix’s last start as a 20-year-old, on opening day, against the team that handed us our lunch last year. This is one of those games that the organization could really use, because no one wants to start talking about 2-17 against Oakland against.
So, my guess? Felix throws a complete game, allows one run on four hits, walks one, and strikes out 11. He walks off the field to a standing ovation, and we all remember April 2nd, 2007 as the day that King Felix told the world that he was here to stay.
Go Mariners.
i hope you’re right…haven’t been so excited in years!
GO Ms!!!!!!!!!!!
Representing ,as always,the Mariners fans in Italy,I’m back..
The Beer is in the fridge,the computer is on,One hour from the opening pitch..
There’s nothing like the first (glug glug) of the season..
Let’s go!
I can’t wait for the bottom of the 5th for “Hi again everybody, welcome to the most beautiful ballpark in all of baseball Safeco Field!”
I’ve missed every opening day since 2001, this year will be different!
Whoever came up with the 3.30 start time: Up yours!
I can’t wait!
I’m stoked. I’m in class for the next 20 minutes then booking it to the ball park, probably getting there late, and hopefully getting a cheap ticket on the street.
Go M’s!
Getting excited for the season. Long live the King!!
I’m already taking a productivity hit at work today….I should just go home at 3:30, and stop trying to fool anybody.
#7, I’m with you. Today = Not Productive. I feel somewhat bad about it.
Anyone else noticing severe latency with MLB Gameday and ESPN GameCast? Gameday just stops, with no updates after launch, and ESPN Gamecast seems to be about 1/2 inning behind the generic scoreboard.
#9, I was having the Gameday problem when I was using Opera. I opened it in IE7 and it’s working fine now.
The Irony if it all is not lost..
..but are you watching Gil Meche being flawless against the Red Sox right now..?
Great thing about working 4 Days a week is that I have Seen Piniero, Meche, Soriano and Snelling and the mariners have not even started yet.
I’m using IE6 – and there aren’t any firewall bandwidth issues here at work….they both get stuck, a lot, and seem to update only when I’m not looking…..
I am watching Gil Meche against the Red Sox, and his command has been more reliable than the technology to which I lean.
#11: not flawless (4 hits, 1 run, 1 walk)
Then again, with that line, I don’t think it can really be Meche.
I’ve got about 30 minutes of work during the game, then beers. Go M’s.
Let this season not suck as greatly as we fear it will, yet it suck just enough to get Bavasi and Hargrove fired.
The 1 run complete game by the king will be sweet, but I hate losing games 1-0.
anyone else just get goosebumps watching this?
It’s just after 6 AM here in Taiwan, my Slingbox is working and the pregame show is on. I can watch a couple of innings before leaving for work, DVR the rest to watch in the store. Life is good.
David
Did Krueger just say that Batista and Weaver will help the M’s this year because they will pitch deep into games and throw a lot of innings?
First time I’ve seen the “Double play Twins” commercial. It’s just flat-out strange….
11PM here in England, this is my first Opening Day with mlb.tv and I can’t wait for the action to start! I just hope my wireless network doesn’t start acting up…
The double play commercial is only funny if you are old enough to remember the doublemint gum commercials.
#21
Hello there..
Nice to see more European M’s fans around here..
12:15 am here in Firenze,gotta dash to the fridge for a new beer..
Whew! With this MLB.tx thing, I’ll be watching my first Mariners game since Doyle went deep twice and Soriano went down against the Angels!
Meche: 7 IP 5 H 1 ER 6 K.
Awesome.
…Shannon Stewart tries to prove he’s alive…
I can be counted in the camp that considers Stewart an awfully fringy player. Even when he was able to take the field the past two years, he had practically no power. I see his walks (and subsequently) decreasing as pitchers challenge him more. I’ve always liked his approach at the plate, so he probably won’t be a total waste of a lineup spot, but I’ll be really surprised if he’s any kind of a difference maker.
25 – Do you want him back?
Hey Pumpkim,
Some of us Euro’s really make the effort and move to Seattle. You must be sooo jealous, stuck there in Italy in spring… you poor bastard.
Hmm, Dave Valle recommends hair transplant surgery on KOMO1000. Perhaps I should consider it after all.
When was the last time Gil Meche left the field to a standing ovation?
Meche: 7 IP 5 H 1 ER 6 K.
Awesome.
He did essentially the same thing last August 26th. A good game here or there doesn’t make you a great pitcher.
When was the first time?
28- Right on the money..
Who needs the sunshine and the luscious girls when you have the mariners and Safeco?
Heh..
Anyway,5 minutes from the opening pitch and MLB Tv is still not showing any pictures-or is it just me?
Fingers crossed..
Is it immoral of me to hope that Nook Logan’s foot injury is serious enough to keep him out of the lineup, and Snelling in it, for a week or two, and that Snelling hits eight homers in that time? 0-3 today.
Wow! Things are appearing on my MLB.tv screen!
Barking Pumpkin, Let’s hope the Ms keep your attention longer this season. You faded quickly last season. Not the same when one can’t Glug Glug with fans all over the World here at USSM.
Not considering salaries, I’d rather have Meche than Weaver and possibly some of our other starters. At least there’s the chance Gil is going to have the occasional good game. Now, when you look at that 5 year, $55mil contract … no thanks.
Meche will be the same pitcher there that he was here. He’ll pitch a good game every few months and that’ll be it.
Anyone in the Seattle area getting the HD feed on Comcast?
Some pumped up right now!!!!!!!
Bring back Gil Meche!!!!!!
The moral conundrum in which I find myself lodged is really starting to make me angry.
Do I root for my beloved M’s to win the division in 2007 (which I actually believe is possible), or do I hope for quick and severe failure, which is likely better for the future of the franchise for three reasons:
1. Hargrove is gone,
2. Morrow may get sent down to actually prepare to be a starter, and 3. We can trade Ichiro and get two or three excellent prospects.
My head (and heart) hurts…
Lucky for you, the M’s have very little shot of competing. So you can root for them to win with the understanding that they pretty much have no chance in hell.
35-
You’re so right about me disappearing last season..
I’l try to stick with the good and bad times this season..
(glug glug)
I wonder how often a guy makes an all-star team and then starts the following season hitting 9th on opening day.
didn’t he start off hitting 2nd last year?
Actually, Dave, it happens all the time in the NL.
But yeah, does that mean ’06 was a fluke? It surely doesn’t mean that 1-8 are mashers.
Strike!!
God, I love opening day.
here we go!
Huh. Is Gameday Audio behind? MLB Gameday had a 1-2 count before the first pitch was announced over Audio.
WOO!
gonna be a great season…long live the king!
Nasty slider.
heyyyyy..
Man, Felix is gunning it. Thin is in!
I still can’t believe Vidro’s batting third.
Already thrown a couple of sliders and now the curve. Huzzah!
Grover kept the goatee! Awesome!
wow, this slider is NASTY!!!
This feels really, really good…
Great pitch selection by Felix in the first. Totally unpredicatable beyond the obvious first pitch fastball to Kendall.
WOOOOOO
Well, for half an inning at least, this is looking like a pretty darn good season. Go Felix!
OK, that was sweet.
I may be overreacting, but I can’t see how anyone is going to be able to get a hit off of Felix this year.
2 Ks and a groundout. I heart Felix.
In gameday accurate? It is showing Felix as throwing 98-100!
my oh my..
i love opening day..
Cy Young award is wrapped up!
my oh my…
Totally unpredicatable beyond the obvious first pitch fastball to Kendall.
Gotta announce your presence with authority, right?
BAM! 2 K’s! How does one get Mariners baseball on TV or Radio through their computer if they go to school in California?
That was pretty awesome to watch. Sick stuff
If Grover’s goatee was black, we could pretend he was the evil Grover. That might be better than the incompetent one.
He hit 98 a few times. One of his two-seamers was clocked at 96, which is just sick.
My favorite pitch of the inning was the changeup to bradley. 86 mph changeup at the ankles is immpossible for anyone to hit.
BAM! 2 K’s! How does one get Mariners baseball on TV or Radio through their computer if they go to school in California?
http://www.mlb.tv. 5 day free trial from when you sign up.
69–You can get the radio broadcast for $15/year at mlb.com.
After the exhilaration of watching Felix mow them down, reality sets in … this offense is just terrible. Wow, Vidro @ #3.
In gameday accurate? It is showing Felix as throwing 98-100!
Click on each individual pitch in the bottom left box and it’ll give you two speeds in the upper right corner of the middle box: a release speed and a final speed. I think it’s pretty interesting. Most pitches have about a 10 mph speed differential from start to beginning, and I’m really not sure how it is supposed to correspond to the radar gun readings, but I don’t think they’re just making stuff up. The 98-100 readings are the initial release speed of the pitch.
But anyway, Felix probably isn’t throwing 98-100 in the way that we’re used to saying that a pitcher is throwing 98-100.
and a standard less than 10 pitch inning by the mariners offense. GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhh
Jesus, that was fast
“Were the deals good, were the deals bad? We’ll soon find out.”
I have a pretty good feeling what that answer will be. And yet I’m still not fazed as I’m too excited to watch Felix pitch again in a minute.
So much for the offense getting off to the same start…
I like how Ellis planted in the hole and got ready to rush an off balance throw, then noticed Vidro was 20 steps from the bag, slowed down, and tossed it across to still get him by 8 feet.
How many pitches did our guys see in the first?
Hmmm…
back to the King..
(glug glug)
oh God my least favorite thing about Mariners’ baseball is back too. Farmers Helpoint commercials.
As exciting as Felix’s top of th einning was, the bottom of the inning was even more disheartening. Our guys made some weak outs, but we also handed Haren a really efficient inning.
Sick change. This pitch selection is making me giddy.
Gameday has all kinds of new toys this year. What is pFX?
joh can’t even handle the gasser…money…
Crap, Piazza’s on my fantasy team (as catcher!); but I should have thought this through and benched him today.
98miles..
se ya..
83 – 8 pitches.
dave- aside from the fist pitch fastball to chavez, i agree the pitch selection has been great.
Hanging curve fouled off. That was the first bad pitch of the game.
Gameday listed that 3rd strike to Piazza at 100 mph.
3 Ks, 2 groundouts and crazy good pitch selection. This is fun even watching on Gameday.
That 1-1 slider was disgusting. Holy crap.
So’s Swisher. But hey, so’s Felix!
“it’s not close until it makes you cuss…” classic…
uhh, is it really that hard for a major league catcher to hang onto a fastball?
Gameday has all kinds of new toys this year. What is pFX?
As far as I can tell, they haven’t exactly said what that number means yet, though presumably it also has to do with how the pitch breaks.
They added some of the pitch by pitch functionality last postseason, and posted some stuff about it here. The way that they’re presenting the data has changed some since then, though. There’s an interesting article about it here, too.
Johjima is catching so crappy right now, it’s awful, not catching a thing back there!
Not just A’s batters confused by Felix’s pitches, I see.
And we’re at 102 comments in the second inning, with USSM already hanging by a thread (two minute plus page updates).
Kenji’s really bad at stabbing at the ball. He does it all the time. If the pitch isn’t right at his glove, he moves it violently as the pitch arrives. It’s a lousy habit.
I don’t think Sexson would have hit the ball if they had given him a dozen swings. He was overmatched.
Richie’s “Chase For 200″ is on.
the 1st of many,i fear Richie SOs
Nice start Sexson.
If Felix faced the M’s line-up, what’s the over/under on strikeouts? 18? 20?
At least Guillen saw some pitches.
calm down boys…haren is a stud…he makes a lot of fellas look bad…although richie did look terrible…
Sweet day. If I have to be out doing yardwork, at least I can listen to the game. Rizz is making every pitch Felix throws sound super exciting, and every pitch Haren throws sound super dull. But so far, to the same end effect.
I’m starting to think that our troubles against the A’s are far from over – on the offensive side of things, at least.
Sexon wasn’t within two feet of those low-and-away pitches. How’d he ever hit for even .247?
109- We’ll have to wait til 2011 or 12 when he’s pitching for the Yankees
Just. so. good.
Felix is sounding good. Is he mixing in the changeup and sinker up or pumping four seam fastballs?
SO no4..
(glug glug)
4 groundballs, 4 strikeouts.
I’ll take that every start, please.
how good does felix look? my god…
is it just me or does his fastball have quite a bit more movement than last year?
STRIKE THREE!!!!
ridiculous…
97 MPH two-seam fastball. That’s just so unfair.
..and number 5..
Man, this Felix guy, he must be one of the best young pitchers in the game!
My work efficiency has gone down to single digits these last 60 minutes……
Stuff wise, Felix has never looked better. Even back in ’05, he wasn’t THIS good. This is something else.
5 straight fastballs to Kendall.
Felix is good.
At this pace, we are gonna hit extra innings in an hour ten.
Felix, 47 pitches through 3 innings.
Oakland’s best strategy would be to just take everything and hope to get to, say, Mateo in the 7th.
KKKKK!
Ouch, I just looked at the Nats box score and Doyle went 0-3 leaving 4 men on base (3 of them in scoring position). Nasty debut. Hopefully the Nats fan will cut him some slack on it (they don’t know him like we did).
47 pitches through three, though.
So close, dear Yuni. So close.
What Snelling needs is PT. The hits will come. Wait and see if Logan’s out for very long (that’s why Snelling was in there in the first place).
#135 has it. Felix throwing a lot of pitches.
i thought that ball was going out of the park..
(glug glug)
But what pitches they are!
when you are striking everyone out…the number of pitches will be high…he’ll get pulled cause of pitch count with a no-no in the 7th…lol…
Boy, with the 12 seconds between pitches rule the batboys will have to hustle, looked like one just got out from behind the plate before a pitch.
Haren, 33 pitches through 3 innings.
Haren on pace for a 99-pitch CG.
The A’s have had gone up taking pitches. You can’t make them swing. If they’re going to stare at pitches all game, he’ll throw a no-hitter for 7 innings. They’ll start swinging soon.
Felix is good, but so far Haren is perfect through 3 averaging only 11 pitches per inning.
If anyone’s going to throw a complete game shutout today it’s going to be Haren.
Am I dork if I have both Gameday and Gamecast open and flip between them?
i’ll shut up now…
Nice line so far, Bradley!
Groundballs rock.
That’s more like it, Felix. 3 pitches = 2 outs.
First pitch curve. I’m so happy.
harens has given up a bunch of flyballs. felix hasn’t had a ball leave the infield in the air yet.
That’s OK – share a little joy with the defense too. God bless the double play.
5-pitch 4th inning by the King … suh-weet
146: Right there with you
No that was a good inning for Felix, only 5 pitches.
Damn, we’re still so hack-tastic.
Jose Vidro!!!!! JOSE VIDRO!!!!!! VETERAN GRIT!!
there we….go I expect 198 more of those bad boys
A HIT!!!
would anyone here bet that vidro would have the first hit of the year? how did doyle do today? lol…
He’s good for something!
Wow, our team may not be an upgrade this year but our announcers sure are.
Yeeah? Maybe Vidro can hit.
Is anyone else amazed how different today feels with Felix on the mound instead of Moyer?
No offense meant to Moyer, but there just wasn’t the same rush to it.
dang, raul had a great pitch to hit there.
Aaand newly anointed King Jose opens the season in style.
That evened up the pitch counts pretty fast.
The words PITCHER and DUEL do spring into mind..
(glug glug)
YA its too bad our offense looks eerily like last years.
numero sei..
This Felix guy, he’s pitching pretty good, huh?
simms is pretty good…and you gotta love blower-power…
Too bad our offense looks eerily like last years team
This is almost surreal.
KKKKKKK
FELIX IS BACK!!!!
This is a dominating performance like we haven’t seen since RJ was in his prime. This is the definition of unhittable.
That was an awesome at bat called by Dave… Steeeeee-riiiiiike at the letters.
Are our outfielders asleep yet?
Love The King climbing the ladder there.
Huh??? 7 SO, 8 GO, 0 AO?(100% GO/AO) 1H 1BB 5IP
numero sette..
Now,some runs,eh??
Barking Pumpkin @171, are you referring to K’s or Kold ones? Make sure you last to the ninth inning here!
Regence Blueshield: It’s not f*king triath-AH-lon.
Gah!
Go Felix. Could someone score a run for us?
we’ll take it! rally time boys!
the A’s only hit was 1 foot away from being an easy grouder to yuni. its good to have the king.
Bad at-bat by Kenji. Swung through a hanging breaking ball, took some bad swings, tried to pull everything. Not a good game for Johjima so far.
Is Johjima not calling pitches?
We need a run for Chrissake!
Both pitchers now have 65 pitches through 5 innings.
Evened it out, that was pretty good even though a runner was stranded on second.
Best part of the day:
We haven’t heard one Hendu lecture about how Oakland doesn’t know their ass from a hole in the ground.
BIG K
zero chance of anyone catching up to that pitch
a-ma-zing..
You can tell Niehaus is having a great time calling Felix today, it’s awesome.
and a king was born…
HOW GOOD WAS THAT?!?!
Jason KKKendall
FELIX HAS THE RANDY FIRE IN HIM!!!!
Rock on, your majesty!
Oh yeah!!!
A pitcher can’t pitch this well all season … but damn this has been sweet. Absolute domination. It’s been years since I felt good about an M’s pitcher getting out of a runner-on-third-one-out situation.
That was filthy!
If Felix is going to be close to this good all year, the playoffs may not be so far away
I’d rather see two quick K’s in a row to get out of a bit of a jam like that than a no-hitter, to be honest. Our young man is a live one.
“Suzuki reached on an infield single.”
Somehow that phrase seems familiar to me. I think I’ve read it before.
Vidro sucks.
Lady Luck shines on the Ms!
Did Derek pay Crosby as a publicity stunt for his book?
YES!!!!! It’s about time for a break — Ibanez please take advantage.
He couged it!!!!
Woot! Woot!
Finally we get a run!
Does anyone think that Hargrove will use Willie’s BFF to replace Raul for defense?
GOD DAMN IT. Just about had a heart attack on that call.
Big Sekzy!
deeeeeeeeeeeep
GONE! RICHIE!
RICHIE!
WOOT!!!!
This website is goin’ DOWN!
woooooh!!!!!!!!!!! SEXY!
well done richie..
WOOOOOOOOO!
As soon as my little brother came and sat on my lap, he asked “So, when are they gonna hit a homer?” Not three seconds later Sexy belts it.
Sexson!!!!!!!
He’s so big and oh, so sexy.
Four run lead for Felix today? Win Probability = 100%.
183:
it’s Ks not Kold ones,heh..
I’m only to numer oquattro on the brew dept.!
Man this site is slowwwwwwwwwwwwww today
Numer oquattro, eh? Remember to eat something!
somehow you had to expect felix to struggle after the sexson blast…dammit…
Man, he just blew that by Swisher.
numero dieci..
If you guys hit reload less often, the site wouldn’t die as much. Just sayin…
And man, this Felix is epic. Pitch selection is awesome.
I love me some King Felix.
This site is slow? It’s faster than gameday and gamecast. I come here for my late breaking, in game news. It’s not just for analysis and philosophy anymore.
97 pitches after 7… they gonna pull him?
simms is giving GREAT commentary to go along with felix’s performance…i could get used to this…
All hail the King!!!
Felix could have struck out 27 today if he only wanted to. That last pitch was nasty!
Now that’s the way it’s supposed to be — get the lead, shut the opposition down the next inning. Props to King Felix.
Oh, HELL yes. Sit down! There’s your eleven K’s, Dave, and there are six batters left.
King Felix is good. Really good.
I admit, I’m a reload freak. But I try to keep my addiction under control for the good of everyone around me.
Felix is up to 97 pitches now. Hope he gets through the 8th.
By the way what is the record for posts on one thread?
Dave: There’s still time to call my bookie, what’s your pick for tonight?
K’s 10 and 11 to Swisher and Crobsy respectively were some of the nastiest pitch sequences I’ve ever seen.
230:
I will,I will!
(glug glug)
(gnam gnam)
ladies and gents,that was,of course,numero dodici..
Churchill says that Felix is on a 110 pitch count, so he’s got a shot to finish the 8th.
246: Last year there was over 500 in an extra-inning game against the Angels.
apparently its the night of the Living shortstops horrorfest at safeco tonight..
You’re right Dave, King Felix is here to stay.
So, who should pitch the 9th?
Save JJ for tomorrow?
Dave, try to be a little more optimistic with your predictions from now on ok?
It’s Putz time!
Hey ya need 4 runs to win right?
Nah … I’d consider giving JJ some work seeing how he only pitched 2 innings or so all spring.
Hey, check out that stud #1 guy for the Royals… outduels Curt Schilling and all.
238:
agree about Simms..
How is our commentator rotation going to work now??
heh
Vidro should have made about 6 outs today.
I’d use JJ today. Might as well give him a “soft landing” appearance since he’s coming off some injury issues.
This game has been awesome, but I hate that my MLB Game Day Audio is behind the ESPN MLB GameCast page I’m watching at the same time.
This game may not predict the entire season (if we just didn’t have the closed roof we could pray for Felix and four days of rain), but it’s a great start, and I like having the breaks go our way for once.
I’ve been working a lot on global warming of late, which is real and urgent and may be larger than anything we’ve dealt with as humans. [See stepitupSeattle for our great local event April 14]
So it’s particularly nice for Felix to give us some of the sweet things in life to savor
this game feels like a first date for me.
So upset I’ve been at work during this. Felix sounded otherworldly.
Nice way to open the season guys.
Hey Dave, I have some money to bet… what’s your take on tomorrow’s game? heheh
Very very sweet. Feels good to be a Mariner fan today.
Have I mentioned that I love opening day?
gotta add my kudo’s to daves prediction. nice.
good job guys. way to make them pay for that error.
incredible outing, long live the King!
-nate
So JJ has a sore elbow yet gets thrown into this game. This teams management is a freakin joke.
So, what do the league ERA and Strikeout leaderboards look like?
Now if they can hold Oakland scoreless for all the other games this season….
Hey, check out that stud #1 guy for the Royals… outduels Curt Schilling and all.
Schilling was nothing close to the best version of himself. But here’s an amazing fact: Meche’s 7 1/3 innings was the longest outing by a Kansas City starter on opening day since 1988.
(Also, not to be Mr. Downer, or anything, but I assume everybody remembers Opening Day of 2005, when Sexson also went long; the season, on the other hand, I assume everybody is trying to forget).
But Felix was fantastic, and I hope we see a lot more of that this season. If it’s true that they’ve taken the reins off Felix, letting him throw the pitches he (and Joh) thinks he should, we may indeed see more of it. Less Hargrove, more Felix = more wins.
Also, regarding that KC-BOS game: there was a Joel Pineiro sighting there too (he gave up an RBI triple). It was like some kind of crazy vortex of ex-M’s pitchig. Now we just need a Moyer/Garcia-RJ matchup….
I was checking the game via Gameday, Gamecast, etc… but now that I’ve read what all y’all posted, today’s performance sounds even cooler.
Still, I’m going to attempt to not spend money on tickets to a game all season. I suppose I should write a letter accompanying that decision or something.
That was nice. Sadly, he won’t pitch EVERY game though. Is there something I should be looking forward to in the next 4 starts? I just can’t feel excited about those other guys.
I agree what was the point in throwing J.J. out there?
the non-stop mouth behind me today informed Sexson as he came up to bat with a runner on third and Vidro on 1st: “c’mon Sexson, a double gets two runs in!!!!”
um, his elbow feels fine. That would be why he is pitching.
You were off by only one on each guess. 8 innings not 9,0 runs not 1, 3 hits not 4, 2 walks not 1, 12 strikeouts not 11. I’d consider that very accurate and odd that each was exatcly one off.
Dave,
Your line wasn’t too far off from mine:
complete game shut out, 2 hits, one walk, 11 stikeouts, and one pop fly for an out.
But (fortuntely) he did better than that!