«§ea‡‡£e®Mariner§» 07/13 - 07/18

CORRESPONDENT REPORT

Game Date  Team Decision Record Win     Loss    Save 


91   07/13   @TAM    L 3-4   57-34   Yan      Halama 

92   07/14   @TAM    W 7-6   58-34   Watson   Phelps    Sasaki

93   07/15   @BAL    L 5-6   58-35   Ponson   Franklin  Julio

94   07/16   @BAL    L 1-6   58-36   Erickson Pineiro      

95   07/17   @TEX    W 6-3   59-36   Moyer    Valdez      

96   07/18   @TEX    W 5-3   60-36   Hasegawa Alvarez   Sasaki

LATEST TEAM INFO

• Keep Track of Sporting News Updates for any Breaking News on Possible Spot Starts for Franklin. Piniella May Throw Franklin the Starting Bone to Reward him for Quality Work in The BullPen.

• For the Latest Team Statistics, Go to the Seattle Mariner Team Roster Page and Click Through for your Favorite Player Updates. Game Log is the Link to Click for all the Seasonal Statistical Information, and News & Notes is the Place to Find Recent Injury, Trade, and LineUp Shuffling Inforation. All Starts, Games Played, and Relief Appearances are Found in the Game Log Section.

• The Mariners Are Still Interested in a Starting Pitcher and Another Quality Hitter -- Randy Winn Was On the Mariner Wish List, However, Owner Demands to Maximize Return Nixed any Possible Deal -- And With PayRoll Near Maximum Allowable Expenditure, The Team May Have to Fall Into a Deal That Allows for Acquisition Without Adding Payroll. The A’s Were Able to Acquite Ray Durham from Chicago for Minimal Expense in Prospects, With The White Sox Paying Salary for the Remainder of the Season. If the Mariners Were able to Find a Team Looking to Deal a Player In the Final Year of a Contract – Paul Byrd – Then It’s Possible a Small Market Team Would Be willing to Add a Few Quality Prospects with the Hope of ReSigning That Player Following the 2002 Season. One Major Caveat -- Byrd Makes $850,000 -- So It’s Unlikely That He Would Clear Waivers. If a Team Like Seattle Were To Acquire a Player In The 1 Million Dollar Range, A Third Team Would Have To be included in the Deal, With Prospects Going to The Team Claiming The Player Off Waivers, And Additional Players going to the Original BallClub. This Scenario Is Not Incredibly Likely, However, In Byrd's Case, The Royals Believe Byrd Wants to Sign with the Royals Following the 2002 Season, Possibly Making His Overall Price More Affordable.

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• Freddy Garcia Has Accumulated a 3.69 ERA at SafeCo Field In His Major League Career – 3.67 ERA On The Road -- in 111 Career Major League Starts. July Has Historically Been Garcia’s Worst Month, and 2002 Was No Exception, As the Chief Went Winless In July -- 34 Days In Total -- Before Recording a 121 Pitch Victory Against Cleveland August 3rd at the Safe. Freddy Finished the Month of July With a 5.87 ERA Covering 5 Starts and 30.2 Innings Pitched. Garcia Has Given Up 4 Or More Runs 7 Times in 2002, With a Difficult 10 Run Outing June 24 Against Oakland Setting a Career High for Runs Allowed, As Garcia Was Sacrificed to Save an OverUsed BullPen. Do Not Lose Hope, However, As August and September are Historically Garcia’s Best Months with a 3.28 & 2.90 ERA Respectively to go with a Career Total of 19 Wins Equaling His April/May Best. Garcia Has Been Monitored Well to Date, With a 124 Pitch Effort May 19 at Boston as His Season High. Garcia Touched 121 Pitches In His Last Start August 3rd Against Cleveland at the Safe. That 121 Pitch Effort Ranks 2nd On Garcia’s Season Pitch Count, with Garcia Hitting 107 In 4 of his last 9 Starts { Looks Like Garcia’s Ideal Limit }.

• The Rankings Have Been Broken into three groups: hitters parks, pitchers parks and neutral parks Also, if you'd like to see how three superstars might fare in all 30 major league parks, check out "What they might have hit in . . ." by Fantasy Source Expert David Srinivasan. Also Check The Dave Darling Archive For Other Fantasy Information and an Insider Edge. David Srinivasan The Sporting News Archive Listing

PITCHERS PARKS

1. San Francisco, Pacific Bell Park
2. San Diego, Qualcomm Stadium
3. Los Angeles, Dodger Stadium
4. Seattle, Safeco Field
5. Oakland, Network Associates Coliseum
6. Detroit, Comerica Park
7. Florida, Pro Player Stadium
8. New York, Shea Stadium
9. Baltimore, Camden Yards

NEUTRAL PARKS

• Toronto, SkyDome (For Artificial Turf Divers AKA Sinker-Ballers)
• Atlanta, Turner Field (Start Your 1-3 Starters)
• Chicago Wrigley Field (When The Wind Is Blowing In)

FIREMEN

• Kazuhiro Sasaki Pitched the first 2 Months of the Season Without Surrendering an Earned Run, Allowing Only 2 Unearned Runs Through May 30th. In June, Sasaki Gave Up 5 Total Runs, 2 Earned, with Back to Back Games Allowing 2 Earned June 30th and July 2nd Against Colorado and Kansas City Respectively. Sasaki Was Almost UnhHittable For the First 2 Months of the Season, So Some Deterioration in Performance is to be Expected. Again, Keep in Mind Kazuhiro’s Best Months Will Be Behind Him As July Commences, With August Being His Worst Career Month with 11 Saves and a 5.59 ERA Compared to 21 Saves and a 2.22 ERA for the Month of July.

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• Bret Boone Batted .287 In the Month of May Helped by 15 walks. Boone Followed that with a .191 Average in the Month of June with Only 6 Walks In 99 Official At Bats { With 16 Walks a Month the Target for a 100 Walk Season }, and a .294 Average and 17 RBI In the Month of July. Bret Boone’s Best Month Has Been July, with 38 Home Runs, 130 RBI, a .483 Slugging Percentage, and a .284 Average. Boone’s August and September Numbers are Considerably Below That Level of Production, and Even Given Boone’s Huge Second Half Last Season, I would Expect his Career Splits to Come Closer to His 2002 Finish. But If His Post All-Star Numbers are any Indication, Boone May Make up for His Disappointing Start With a Strong Finish In August and September. Boone Finished the First Half of the Season Batting .229, However, Since the Break Boone Has Hit .333 with 6 Home Runs and 21 RBI Increasing His Average to .251. It Would Not Be Surprising If Boone Finished the Season In the .290 Range as Boone Has Been Hitting the Ball to Right Field with Authority, a Good Indication that His 2001 Swing Has Resurfaced.

• Mike Cameron Hit His 100th Career Major League Home Run June 23rd Against the Astros and Pitcher Pedro Borbon. Rookie Kirk Sarloos started the Game but was Long Gone By the Time Cammy and Cirillo Reached the Fences with their Historic Pokes. Cameron Batted .217 in May, a .191 Average In June, and Finished July with a .255 Average In 86 Official At Bats. Cameron Increased His Stolen Base Production With 10 Swipes in July. Deal Him Now and Avoid any Possible Loss to Playing Time That May Occur Due to Injury Or September Rest. Jeromy Burnitz Is Not a Good BaseBall Player, However, His August and September Splits Are Among the Best In all Of BaseBall. In Deep Leagues That Do Not Consider Fielding Percentage, I would Recommend Freeing Up a Roster Spot with a 2 for 1 Trade and Then Adding Burnitz As an Extra OutFielder. Track his Production – He May Platoon With Tony Tarasco for a Brief Time – and Then Use him Against Certain Teams He’s Historically Done Well Against. Just Make Sure He’s Not Going to Sit Against Left Handers, As His Value Would Decrease In Relation to the Number of Lefties New York Has to Face In their Remaining 52 Games. August Looks Good as The Mets Play L.A., Colorado, Florida, St. Louis, San Francisco, & Phillidelphia After a 4 Game Series With Arizona. All the Aforementioned Should Be Limited to 1 Left Handed Starter, With the Dodgers Possibly Throwing Perez and Daal If Kevin Brown is Still On Rehabilitation. In September the Mets Face Florida, Atlanta, Chicago, Montreal, Pittsburgh, & Phillidelphia All Right Handed Dominant Teams. Consider Benching Burnitz Against Randy Wolf {Phillies}, Oliver Perez {Padres}, Tom Glavine {Braves}, & Jimmy Anderson or Joe Beimel of Pittsburgh. OtherWise, The Mets Finish Could Not be More Fortuitous for Burnitz Who Should Finish Strong – If Given a chance – and Redeem HimSelf, If Only on the Offensive Side of the Game. Burnitz is One of the Worst Defensive Players in the History of Baseball, and a Great Argument for the Designated Hitter. The Mets Start 4 of the Worst Defensive Players At their Positions And Will UnDoubtely Purge One of More of Their Liabilities Before the Start of the 2003 Season.

• Jeff Cirillo Has Very Good Career August Numbers. The First 2 Months of the 2002 Campaign Were Not Quite What J.C. Or the Mariner Front Office Had in Mind When they Made him their Number One OffSeason Priority. Jeff Cirillo Had his Best Month of the Season Toward the End of the 1st Half Batting .297 in June Following a .260 Average In May. Cirillo Managed Only a .175 Average in 74 July At Bats With an Atrocious 3 Walks { A Projected 6 Month Total of 18}.

• Carlos Guillén Batted .276 in the Month of May, Followed with a .265 Average in an Injury Shortened June, and an UnInspiring .241 Average In 62 July At Bats. I would Expect Guillén to Continue to Struggle Until His Ailing Finger Heals Completely and He's Finally Allowed to Revert to His Free-Swinging Ways. Guillén Hits Much Better From the Left Hand Side, So Think About Sitting Him Against Tough South Paws. Switch Hitting May Not Be In Guillén's Future, and A Platoon Role Could Emerge If Offensive Production does Not Increase At Some Point In 2003.

• Édgar Martínez has One of the More Consistent Swings in the Game. Martínez Hits Left Handers, Right Handers, At Home, On the Road, OutSide, In Domes, On Turf. On Grass, During Day Games, and During Night Games. Martínez Only Accumulated 22 At Bats in June After Missing All Of May with an Injured Tendon Behind the Knee. Martínez Batted .272 for the Month of June, Followed By a .318 Average In July. Martínez Should Increase His Overall Production as He Regains Health & Conditioning and Refines a Swing that that Has Led the Full Time Designated Hitter to a Possible Hall Of Fame Career.

• Rubén Sierra Recorded 27 Hits in 106 At Bats During the Month of May for a .254 Average. Sierra Walked Only 8 times During the Month of May and Saw his Average Drop to a Season Low .308. In the Month of May, Sierra Recorded 106 Official At Bats, Walking Only 8 Times, Pushing his Monthly Average Under .300 -- .254 – Maring What was an OtherWise Productive Month with 22 RBI. Sierra Rebounded to Hit .311 In June, But Again Drew Only 4 Walks, However He Managed to Remain Productive With 17 RBI. Sierra Batted .183 In the Month of July with 4 RBI and Is In Danger of Losing Playing Time To Desi Relaford, Mark Mclemore, and Any Other Possible Offensive Additions.

• Dan Wilson Batted .229 in May, .350 In June, and Finished the Month of July With a .230 Average With Only 2 walks and 15 Hits In 65 July At Bats. Wilson did Manage to Drive In 11 Runs While Sharing Time With Ben Davis. Wilson Has Not Played More than 123 Games Since 1997, And Now at age 33 Should See at Least 2 Days Off Every Week Through October. So Look For Ben Davis to receive Additional Playing Time In August and September.

QUICK VIEW

• For a Quick Look at the Seattle Roster and All Related Statistics, Yahoo Sports and Big Leaguers Are Definitely the Place to Get an Edge on the Competition.

• Keep Your Eye on August Trades, as Any Deal Can Affect Player Value. Kelvim Escobar is Rumored to Be On the Block, And Kenny Rogers Could Land In Pennant Fever. Relievers Usually Find a Diminished Role When Changing Uniforms, So Keep Abreast of All Possible Movement. Starters Can Falter with a Change of Scenery – Jeff Weaver – So Add With Caution and Hope for Woody Williams and the Magic Cardinal Slipper.

• Édgar Martínez Should Increase His Production as He Regains Health, Conditioning, and is Able to Refine the Swing that Has Allowed him to Hit for Power to All Parts of the Ball Park. SafeCo Field is the Ideal Playing Field for Mr. Mariner, and One of the Most Beautiful Parks in the World. Definitely Thing About Adding Édgar Martínez for a Reasonable Ransom, and Remember That in most Leagues He Will Only Qualify at Utility; Unless of course your League Has a Roster Spot for the Designated Hitter. In Head to Head Leagues, This can be a Huge Disadvantage, So Keep Overall Versatility In Mind When Dealing for One Position Wonders Like David Ortiz, Brad Fullmer, Frank Thomas, and Édgar Martínez.

• Piniella Would Love To Rest All Starters If the Division Were Locked Up by Septemper. This Season, However, Piniella May Not have that Luxery as Anaheim and Oakland Look to Be Rejuvinated. Anaheim Has Been a Major Surprise, Accumulating a 19-11 Record in their Last 30 Games, and Managing a 9–5 Record in the Absence Of Closer Troy Percival. If Anaheim is able to Add Another Arm, and Troy Glaus, Brad Fullmer, David Eckstein, and Adam Kennedy Manage to Improve their Offensive Production, The Angels Could Contend In September. Manager Mike Scioscia Has Infused His Group of Former FlatLiners With a New Warrior’s Heart, With Legendary Walking Dead, Garret Anderson, Leading the Charge. The Angels Managed to Add OutFielder Alex Ochoa From MilWaukee To Strengthen OutField Depth and Allow For An Additional RightHanded Bat Against the Many Tough Left-Handed Starters In the American League West.

• An Important Strategy Is to Track a Pitchers Pitch Count -- Especially a Young Pitcher -- as a 115+ Pitch Game Can Lead to Rebound Affect { When a Band, Or Arm Is Stretched Beyond Reason, The Arm May Take Awhile to Respond In the manner Expected Under Ideal Circumstances } Which Can Sometimes Lead to a Decline In Velocity, Command, and Production During Starts Immediatley Following the Abuse. Anyone Who Watched R.J.'s Last Start Knows that 149 Pitches Can Have a Profound Affect on Succesive Starts. Johnson Used Mainly OffSpeed Pitches, and When He Threw His FastBall He Was Routinely Around 89-90 MPH. Bud Smith -- Bud Smith went 17-2, with a 2.26 ERA, in 2000 as he split the season between Arkansas (AA) and Memphis (AAA). Bud Smith is a Perfect Example of a Young Arm that Still Has Not Responded Since a 134 Pitch September 3, 2001 No Hit Performance In San Diego. "Going into the ninth inning, I knew I just had to get three outs...My hands were sweaty. My heart was going a million miles an hour. I was going on adrenaline..." Smith became the 16th rookie in modern history to throw a no-hitter, Joining Jose Jiminez as Cardinal Rookies Who Have Thrown a No Hitter In Their Rookie Campaign. ''He came up here last year because we Needed him,'' La Russa said. ''He's a young guy who can use as much seasoning as possible. If we did what's best for Bud, it's probably 2003 before he even got to the big leagues.'' Another One Bites the Dust Under the La Russa/Dave Duncan Regime. La Russa Has Tried to Deflect Responsibility for the Rapid Descent Saying, ''In spring training his arm wasn't in great shape,'' La Russa Lamented. ''I don't think he did enough in the winter. He never pitched too much. We took good care of him.'' With the Passing of Darryl Kile, Smith Could Have Really Been a Nice Fit in the 2002 Cardinal Rotation. May We All Wish Good Fortune to Bud Smith, Phillidelphia Phillie Bush Leaguer.

HOLD

• Freddy Garcia Has Has Some Trouble with Texas, Boston, and Kansas city Throughout his Career, But the Remaining Teams on the Mariner Schedule Should Provide The Seattle Ace with an Opportunity to Close the Season With 20+ Victories. Many Major League Aces Have Displayed an Inconsistent Streak of Late -- Ishii, Garcia, Oswalt, Morris, Milton, Burnett, Buehrle, Mussina, Clemens, Johnson, Vázquez, Lawrence -- Have All Struggled to Dominate on a Consistent Basis. Any Of the Aforementioned Are Worth The Wait, as a Nice 5 Game Winning Streak With a Sub 2.00 ERA Always Help Those September Blues. Garcia Is Still Young, and With the Help of Mariner Coaches, Should Correct Any Errors in Approach. In Keeper Leagues, Garcia Is a Top Twenty Pitcher, and Should Be In the LineUp Almost Every Week. Mark Prior, Brett Myers, Kirk Saarloos, & Tony Armas Jr. Have all Struggled with Youth and Inexperiance To Date In 2002. Often Times It's Difficult to Reamain Confident When a Pitcher Loses an Edge, Especially When Performance Expectations Do Not Live Up to Real Life Numbers. Keep the Faith, Occasionally Sit A Young Ace Against Teams They Have Historically Had Difficulty Against, and Remember That Fantasy is not an Exact Science. At Some Point During a 162 Game Season, Any given Move(s) Will Not Only Not Work, The Moves Will Cost Points and H2H Series. Stay Calm, Confident, and Continue to Trust the Law of Averages, and Faith will Be Restored.

• If Your Team Is Floundering In 5th Place These Players Could Give Your LineUp a Needed Infusion of Offensive Production: Trot Nixon, Josh Phelps { DH for Toronto Listed as C }, Mark Kotsay, Paul Lo Duca, Chris Richard, Richie Sexson, & Alex Sánchez { Sanchez May Receive Additional Playing Time with the Trade of Ochoa } and Carlton Crawford for Those Teams in Desperate Need of Speed. If Your Completely Desperate for Stolen Bases, and the Aforementioned Players are off the Board, A Deal For Roger Cedeno Could Prove Valuable. Cedeno Has Made his Money With Slow Starts and Big Finishes, and With his Change of Leagues and Minor Injury Troubles Hampering his On Base Percentage and Stolen Base Production, He Should Come Cheap.

TRADE

• Kazuhiro Sasaki Appears to Be in The Best Shape of His Mariner Career, However, The Team Does have Some Additional Weakness with the Struggle of Boone, Cirillo, and Cameron So a Trade May Be the Best Course of Action. The Mariner Organization May Not Be Able to Overcome Their Struggle to Fill the Void In the Rotation and In the EveryDay LineUp As A Number of Minor League Prospects are Ailing and PayRoll Is Near Maximum of Allowable Expenditure. Most Medium Size Market Teams Seem to Be Unwilling to Add PayRoll In an Uncertain Season When a Labor Strike May Not Only Waste Moneys, But also Burn Prospects that Could Help those Organizations that Need them the Most.

• Mike Cameron’s Best Months are June and July, With the Majority of Cammy’s Long Ball Damage and RBI Production Coming in the 1st Half of the Season. However, Given His Current Average, Lack of Stolen Base OutPut, and Overall Diminished Value, Wait until Cammy Runs Up a Solid End To July and Then Package Him With an OverAchieving Starter – Paul Byrd, Kenny Rogers, Rodrigo Lopez – and See if you can Cut your Losses. Bobby Abreu Owners Are Probably Quite Disappointed at this Time, as He’s Still Not hitting for the Kind of Power Top 20 Picks are Supposed to Supply. Try to Put together a Package that Gets the Explosive Abreu In Your LineUp, as His Health { He had surgery to remove his Appendix } Should Be Nearing 100% For the Second Half Stretch When Power and Speed Will Be In Demand, and Players Like Abreu and Sexson Will Help Secure League Titles In Tight PlayOff Battles. August Is Abreu’s Best Month and He Appears to Have Comparable 1st and 2nd Halves, So Add Him ASAP. Sexson also has His Best Power Numbers In August with 25 Career Home Runs and 96 RBI, with September Also a Very Productive Month. The Brewers are Obviously Not Incredibly Strong Offensively with the Loss of Geoff Jenkins, But Given the Meaningless Lopsided games the Brewers Should Be Playing the Next 2 Months, I would Expect a Healthy Sexson to Receive Plenty of FastBalls to Pad those Lofty Second Half Numbers.

• «™§EATT£E®Mariner§™»

• «™§EATT£E®Time§.Com™»

• «™§EATT£E®PI.Com™»

• «™§Porting®New§.Com™»

• By David Srinivasan Sporting News Archive Listing 

STRESSIN' OUT 


NAME 	          Team 	Pitches 	Stress 	Injury % 

Randy Johnson 	ARI 	2704 	98.7 	27.6% 

A.J. Burnett 	FLA 	2682 	72.6 	25.7% 

Livan Hernandez 	SF 	2357 	62.0 	24.8% 

Jeff Weaver 	DET 	1905 	55.8 	24.1% 

Bartolo Colon 	MON 	2465 	52.0 	23.7% 

Scott Erickson 	BAL 	2226 	41.1 	22.3% 

Tanyon Sturtze 	TB 	2393 	38.3 	21.9% 

Roger Clemens 	NYA 	1933 	36.5 	21.6% 

Chan Ho Park 	TEX 	1549 	32.5 	20.9% 

Michael Tejera 	FLA 	988 	31.1 	20.6% 

Matt Morris 	STL 	2276 	30.1 	20.4% 

Steve W. Sparks 	DET 	2098 	29.2 	20.2% 

Javier Vazquez 	MON 	2453 	28.9 	20.2% 

Paul Wilson 	TB 	2123 	27.8 	19.9%