Mariners Thoughts, Hawks Prepping for Draft

So far our beloved Mariners are sitting at 6-8, not terrible, but not good.Obviously we would like to see some more wins, but the way that we have been playing, it's hard to expect anything. After starting 2-0 to the defending AL West Champ A's, we drop 2 of 3 to Houston. HOUSTON. Bleh. With the season we are having so far, let's take a look at a few things.

Home vs. Road:
If you were to look at the standings, it should be an easy check up. The M's are 3-4 away from Safeco, and 3-4 at it. To someone who is casually looking, it seems that they are playing the same baseball home and away, yet it is simply not the case.
Historically, as in the last four years, the Mariners are 162-165 (.495) at home and 126-195 (.393) away. While it might be very early in the season, a few trends are starting to emerge that contradict the historic one. In ballparks not called Safeco, the Mariners have been outscored 27-30. Granted, they lost two games to the White Sox by a combined 2 runs. At home, however, the Mariners have been outscored a whopping 25-35. The opposing team has scored ten more runs at Safeco, a place where Seattle should have a slight advantage. Why don't they?

Attendance in Safeco:
Folks, if you love your team, support them. Who cares if they suck, you get to watch a great sport at arguably the best stadium in the majors. At the home opener, 42,589 fans watched the Mariners defeat the Astros. The two games following? Dwindled to 10,745 and 10,493, respectively. Those, by the way, set record lows for Safeco attendance. Think about it, what is the Seahawks biggest asset every Sunday? The fans. CenturyLink is impossible to play in if you're not the Hawks. Mariners? Shoot they might as well play 162 away games. When another team comes in, they experience the quietest and emptiest stadium in the majors, not very tough to play in. If I still lived up there, you better believe I'd be at as many games as I possibly could. When I move to Dallas this summer, you better believe I'll be at as many Rangers-Mariners games as I can afford. Take pride in this team M's fans, we don't want another beloved team of ours to leave before we realize what we're missing (Sonics, anyone?) 


I wanted to do some talking about the new fence at Safeco, as well as power numbers from Michael Morse and the rest of the team, but the season is still too early for me to be able to comment well enough on both subjects, so be looking for that to happen rather soon.

Seahawks Prepping for Draft:
With the draft around the corner, I will check out my previous offseason predictions and update them as they are necessary.
Offense:
In regards to the quarterback, we traded Matt Flynn to Oakland for draft picks and signed former Brown, Bronco, Chief Brady Quinn. If Wilson can stay healthy, this means very little. Sad to see Flynn go, but I've always liked Brady Quinn and can understand what Pete Carroll and John Schneider saw. A good offseason for them so far, no draft need.
No news thus far regarding the Running Backs or Offensive Line. Still wouldn't mind seeing the Hawks draft another O-lineman, because you can never have too much depth there.
The biggest offseason splash for the offseason was the trade for Percy Harvin.I was completely wrong in thinking the Hawks wouldn't pursue Harvin, and according to Madden, this is an amazing trade. Obviously, it will depend on how well he plays and stays healthy, but I can see nothing but good things coming from this signing. Sorry Viking fans, Seattle will be able to get the most out of Harvin.
Defense:
Another huge splash came in the signings of Cliff Avril, Michael Bennett, and Antoine Winfield. I was shocked at how little these players demanded in money, which is a salute to how well the Seahawks are playing and how great this organization is. Few players of these calibers will take less money to play elsewhere, yet they realized the possibilities of becoming a Seahawk. Our pash rush should be vastly improved, and having a nickel in Winfield gives Walter Thurmond the ability to heal from previous injuries. The draft will be strictly for the best available players and depth, which is a GM's dream. Kudos to PCJS, they've definitely turned this organization around.

Last bit of news, my first giveaway is planned for tomorrow night, Tuesday April 16th. To enter, all you have to do is like the facebook page. I look forward to giving away some cool Mariners and Seahawks gear!

One Week into the Regular Season, Giveaway Update

What a better way to begin this week with a video I came up with. It's a compilation of some of the cooler Seahawks and Mariners moments. For some unknown reason I can't get it to play on mobile devices, which is pretty frustrating. If you're reading from a mobile device, I recommend checking it out on your computer. Would love to know what y'all think!
 
I would also like to apologize for my absence on this blog. Senior year is ending and I've been pretty busy with getting my final credits knocked out. Hopefully as everything slows down I can spend more time here!

Week one of the MLB Season (4-4, 3rd Place)

Initial Reactions: 4-4 isn't terrible, especially when we played the defending AL West champs and the only team (Chicago WhiteSox) that the Mariners can never seem to beat. More on that in a bit though. What's been really nice is watching Michael Morse swing that bat, all to the tune of leading the AL in homeruns (5) and being second in the MLB behind only Justin Upton (6). Can anybody eve remember when the Mariners lead homeruns in the last 10 years?

Another interesting thing to look at is the Seattle leaders in specific categories, shown below.

See anything interesting? Howabout that the only hitter that was on Seattle last year, Michael Saunders, is leading the Runs category? Again, it's very very early, but off to hot starts are the players we signed in the offseason. The most disappointing has to be Dustin Ackley, who has been replaced by Robert Andino twice already this season. The guy needs to start hitting the ball, and we can only hope he finds that swing soon.

A few thoughts on Mariners Opening Night:
Other than the huge amount of jealousy I have for those who were able to attend, the M's were able to start the season undefeated at home, a place where the M's aren't very good at. Other than me, who thought it was great to beat the same guy, Phil Humber, who threw the perfect game against us last night? I'll take it!

Mariners are currently in 3rd place. Again, it's early, but somebody might have told you to expect this a bit ago. 

In Seahawks News:
Nothing too notable since the last update, minus the only news that could have bummed me this offseason. Matt Flynn has been traded to the atrocious Oakland Raiders. Now, Seattle was able to get some draft picks and save some cap room, so I understand and even agree with the trade. BUT I'm selfish and was a huge Flynn supporter, and wish him all the personal success in Oakland (But I hope they still suck).

Giveaway Update:
For all of you who doubted my ability to give away some hats or a 12th man jersey, here is your proof! Again, the rules are simple. Get the facebook page x amount of likes, and I will pick one follower of the page to receive one of the items below.

On a more technical, computer note: If anybody knows how to set up links so that you can click them to view a picture, much like uni-watch.com, please let me know. I really don't like cluttering up these posts with pictures of all different shapes and sizes, and would much rather than be sent to another page.

That's it for today, Mariners face Erik Bedard tonight. For those of you who don't remember, we gave up Adam Jones for him. Still trying to recover from it...