The King and his Diamond Table-A Seattle M's Franchise (MLB14-PS3)

[Deuce2223]

M'S SWEEP INDIANS TO CLOSE OUT JULY

With a 3 game sweep of the Tribe the Mariners close out the Month of July having won 11 of 13 games since the All-Star break and went 19-6 for the month, as they are now (63-45 Overall) and have extended their lead to 7 games in the AL West over the Texas Rangers.

However we will get to monthly recap stuff in our next post. For now let's take a look back at what happened in the 3 game series in Cleveland.

Game 1 *Played*

Taijuan Walker made his 3rd start and won yet again improving to 3-0 well lowering his ERA to 3.72 after giving up just 1 run on 4 hits and 4 BB's in 6 IP. He also struck out 4.

J. Beimel pitched 1 2/3 of no hit ball striking out 2 well D. Leone pitched the final 1 1/3 to record his 2nd save.

At the Plate the M's took a early 2-0 lead as D. Ackley lead off the game with a single and scored on a RBI triple by SS B. Miller. Miller then scored on a sac by R. Cano who was making his first start since returning from the D.L. Cano finished 1/4 on the day.

The M's then added 4 more runs in the top of the 9th off Indians RP (Rzepczynski) including a pinch hit 2 run single by T. Plouffe.

G. Laird started behind the plate but went 0-3 in his Mariner debut well S. Van Slyke started in RF and finished 1/4.

Game 2 *Simmed*

The M's dominated putting 11 runs on the scoreboard (11-1) well SP H. Iwakuma pitched a complete game giving up 1 run on 4 hits to improve to 3-3 on the year.

At the Plate

E. Bonifacio went 4/5 with 2 runs scored, drove in a run and had a SB.

G. Laird came up huge going 3/4 with 2 doubles driving in 2 runs well T. Plouffe starting at SS for Miller hit a bases load double clearing the bases for 3 RBI's.

R. Cano went 2/4 in his 2nd game back and also drove in 2.

Game 3 *Simmed*

Again the M's got on the scoreboard early putting up 3 in the 1st and added 1 more in the 2nd to spot King Felix with a 4-0 lead. That's all it would take as Hernandez improves to 13-3 on the year going 8 IP giving up 2 runs on 6 hits well striking out 6. J. Russell pitched the 9th in a non-save situation as the M's win (6-2).

At the Plate, J. Willingham had his best day as a Mariner going 4/4 including 3 doubles with 3 RBI's and K. Seager hit a 2 run HR , well Cano finished 2/5 with a run scored.

G. Laird made his 3rd straight start behind the plate and finished the day 0/3 with 1 BB and 1 SO.

UP NEXT JULY RECAP/AROUND THE LEAGUE REPORT AND DOWN ON THE FARM REPORT.

[Deuce2223]

Quote: Originally Posted by xboxxerx

Nice pick up Deuce. Lets see what he can do under his pops up there in the North.

He is one named mentioned in real life trade discussions I hope they do bring in. I think he has the potential to play RF or 1B if we decide to finally give up on Smoak.

Hopefully making the deal here will help Jack make it in real life.

[jmcole33]

Very impressive how you analyze each team and make the trades yourself that will benefit them the most as the season winds down. I couldn't imagine doing all of that lol Good luck the rest of the way!

[Deuce2223]

Quote: Originally Posted by jmcole33

Very impressive how you analyze each team and make the trades yourself that will benefit them the most as the season winds down. I couldn't imagine doing all of that lol Good luck the rest of the way!

Thanks.

The the trade thread is a great tool to bounce ideas off people and the spread sheet gives you a nice value for each player so it's a big help too. But I feel it's important moving forward to try and keep things even across the board for everyone. Hopefully for teams like the White Sox, Pirates, Cubs, Astros and Twins it will mean one day they won't be in the cellar's of their divisions.

[ESexton18]

Saw you asking about trades for this in the trade thread and decided to take a look. Really like what you're doing here man, you've inspired me to put the time in to make trades for all contending teams in my franchise. I think that's the most realistic thing to do and will make the franchise even more fun.

So far I've been doing the trades that have happened and will wait for the rest of the trade deadline to pass in real life. But if trades don't happen and I feel like I need to make some of my own I'll be doing that for the contending teams by judging buyers and sellers. Cool idea.

Anyway, you've got another follower in me man.

[Deuce2223]

MONTH OF JULY RECAP

The Month of July was a very good month for the Seattle Mariners on and off the field. On the field, the M's went a MLB best 19-6 including including winning 11 of their past 13 games since the All-Star break.

So how did the M's have such success on the field. Well that can be contributed to what happened off the field.

GM "The Deuce" acquired 4 Right handed bats in OF/DH J. Willingham (.266 13 HR 45 RBI), UTIL T. Plouffee (.248 14 HR 57 RBI), 1B/OF S. Van Slyke and C G. Laird. bring more balance to the lineup as well as Switch hitter E. Bonifacio (team leading 17 SB's)

However not all the success can be attributed to in-season trading.

The Mariners rotation led by 13 game winners Felix Hernandez (3-1 with a 2.27 ERA in his past 4 starts) and Chris Young (4-0 with a 1.86 ERA in his past 4 starts, and the addition of H. Iwakuma off the DL (2-0 with a 1.53 ERA in his past 2 starts) and rookie T. Walker (3-0 with a 3.72 ERA in his first 3 starts) can take alot of credit as well, but when you really get down to it even that is not the only other reason why the M's are 18 games above .500 going into August (63-45).

When the Mariners signed RF/1B/DH Corey Hart, it was to a 5 million dollar 1 year deal with a additional 8 million in incentives for a total of 13 million.

Well Mr. Hart enjoy that 13 million because you earned it. So far through July Hart is currently in the running for the AL MVP as he enters August hitting .304 with 31 HR's and 95 RBI's.

Another key addition to the Mariners this past off-season was the signing of Closer F. Rodney who joined Hart and King Felix on the AL All-star team. Going into August, Rodney has saved 36/38 games including a perfect 10/10 in his last 10 attempts, well posting a 1.96 ERA and 0.90 WHIP in 36 IP giving the M's one of the best shutdown CP's in the game.

But Rodney is just 1 man out in the Mariners excellent Bullpen

LHP J. Russell 5-0 1.47 ERA 49 IP
LHP J. Beimel 1-0 .188 ERA 14 IP
LHP L. Luetge 5-4 1 save 2.55 ERA in 24 IP
RHP D. Farquhar 1-2 2 saves 1.93 ERA in 32 IP
RHP S. Pryor 2-1 0.96 ERA in 9.1 IP
RHP D. Leone 1-0 2 saves 3.44 ERA in 18.1 IP


But again 63 wins wasn't just because of 1 man or a small group of men. It's because of 25+ men.

Here is a look at some other key members of the 63 wins so far his season.

3B Kyle Seager-.284 15 HR 50 RBI

SS Brad Mller-.261 12 HR 44 RBI

2B R. Cano-.262 (.285 vs RHP) 18 HR 46 RBI

LF D. Ackley-.261 (.280 vs RHP) 6 HR 24 RBI

1B J. Smoak-.242 (.268 vs LHP) 12 HR 36 RBI


The Deuce

Quote:

"I am excited to see what August brings us. It's going to be a busy month. We have 26 games with only 4 days off. 12 of those games are on the road including a 9 game road trip from the 15th to the 24th. I know some people are wondering. Can we match the 116 win total? The answer is no. Yes we have 53 games left but we would have to win all 53 of them to finish 117-45. Is that going to happen. Not even in the video game world of MLB "The Show" is it possible.. Could we win 100? Well that would be 36-17 over the course of the next 2 months. Is it possible yes and that my friends is our goal"

[Deuce2223]

DOWN ON THE FARM REPORT

Well the M's are having success in Seattle, the Tacoma Rainers 37 minutes south have not found that to be the same for them.

Yes Tacoma enters August above .500 at (59-54) and yes they have won 7 of their past 10 games but that still is only good for 3rd place in the PCL Pac North as they find themselves 9 GB of the Reno Aces (68-45) and 8 GB of the Sacramento River Cats (67-46. Only a (40-73) Fresno Grizzlies team keeps them out of last place.

Here is a look at some of the top performers at AAA

SP E. Ramirez 8-4 with a 2.04 ERA 12/15 QS
SP B. Maurer 9-6 with a 4.70 ERA and 116 K's
SP J. Pries 8-8 with a 2.94 ERA and 123 K's 4 CG/4 Shutouts
SP J. Nieman 6-2 with a 2.36 ERA in 11 starts since signing as a F.A.

LHP RP N. Hill 2-1 with a 3.13 ERA in 23 IP
RHP CP C. Smith 29/31 saves 0.64 ERA in 28 IP.

IF T. Kelly-.307 with 10 SB's in 322 AB's
IF/OF N. Franklin-.302 4 HR 38 RBI in 169 AB's
IF N. Tebrink-.297 12 HR 52 RBI in 310 AB's
OF J. Morban-.286 8 HR 39 RBI 7 SB's in 283 AB's
1B J. Choi-.283 11 HR 58 RBI in 413 AB's
IF/OF S. Romero-.281 2 HR 13 RBI in 128 AB's, hitting .321 vs LHP
SS C. Taylor-.262 4 HR 51 RBI 14 SB's in 455 AB's
1B/DH/C J. Montero-.247 11 HR 33 RBI in 255 AB's

* 1B/3B DJ Peterson is currently hitting .250 with 2 RBI's in 36 AB's since moving up and SP E. Diaz is 1-4 with a 4.39 ERA in 5 starts since coming up as well*

The Jackson Generals won the 1st half of the SL North putting them into the playoffs which is good because so far in the 2nd half they are 21-20 and are currently 4.0 GB of the Tennessee Smokies.

On the Mound

Victor Sanchez is ready for a promotion as he is 13-5 with a 2.39 ERA with 7 complete games and 4 shutouts pitching 15 of 22 Starts logging 158 IP

Tyler Pike is 10-3 with a 3.17 ERA and also has pitched 15 of 21 QS logging 136 IP.

RP E. Pagan is 0-2 with a 3.60 ERA but has saved 12/16 games

RP S. Kohlscheen is 2-3 with a 2.78 ERA pitching 74 IP of relief.

At the Plate

OF A. Wilson continues to shine hitting .295 with 15 HR and 59 RBI in 356 AB's.

Fellow OF G. Guerrero has 14 HR and 44 RBI well hitting .247 in 356 AB's.

3B P. Kivlehan is hitting .250 with 10 HR and 52 RBI in 436 AB's

SS K. Marte is hitting .270 with 4 HR and 38 RBI in 371 AB's and leads the team in SB's with 12 of 17.


The Deuce

Quote:

"At this point we have some guy's who have are performing well and are ready to give us some help come September. Obviously have guy's like T. Walker and H. Iwakuma miss time at the beginning of the year will help as their arms don't have a ton of IP on them yet, but it will be nice to get E-Ram back up to maybe take a start or 2 from Felix and I would really like to see what J. Nieman might offer us in a long relief type role and well Rodney is in no danger of losing his job at the 9th IP guy, having a guy like C. Smith pitching the 8th makes are bullpen just that much better. I really hope that DJ Peterson can turn things on this next 2 months in AAA. It would be really nice to see how close he is to a MLB roster for 2015, but unless we start seeing something, it might be better to ship him back to Jackson where he can help us win a AA Championship"

[xboxxerx]

Nice write up Deuce. Looking forward to seeing what the M's bring the 2nd half.