• Erik Bedard was on a Philadelphia radio show recently talking about how winning is cooler than losing. Pretty interesting for a guy who doesn’t like talking to the media in a town that could use a starter. Now he’s “shut down” until after the All-Star break, and according to The Rigglemonster, he may not even be starting the first couple of games after we resume play. Either he’s being traded, he’s made of porcelain, or a combination of the two. The Cardinals are also on the list of potential suitors that have been showing up.
• A rumor about the Twins showing interest in Adrian Beltre popped up. According to the USS Mariner, it doesn’t hold a drop of water. Most blogs talking about the concept all refer to it as “internal discussion” by the Twins, which in my head amounts to one guy saying something like “Beltre plays third, and we need one of those, right?”
• Speaking of USS Mariner, they’ve gotten themselves in to a little spat with Geoff Baker of the Seattle TImes over wordage surrounding a Carlos Silva performance. Has the season really come down to this? Can we figure out other ways to spend time like thinking about statistics or playing catch or making little paper throwing stars? These guys obviously have a different style and a different audience, and one of them happens to work for a newspaper! It’s like the USS Mariner is picking on a kid while his mom is standing behind him with a “you know better than this look”.
• Jamie Burke supposedly had to buy a new phone because the one he had was blowing up too many times after his pitching debut. I can see it now… the girl that he had a huge crush on in high school finally gives him a call because she saw him on Sports Center and Jamie would rather have the line open for uninterrupted Brick Breaker matches on the road. These are the actions of a professional. I will wear your t-shirt Jamie Burke.

Morrow moves meticulously closer to sustained starting success shortly this season. Meanwhile, ex-reliever Ryan Rowland-Smith  readies for his return from the Rainiers.

Recent roster repositioning may make way for more moves, giving the general manager goosebumps as he gestates Jarrod’s God given gifts and dutifully decides to take a trade, trailing the standing toppers by games in the twenties.

Batista gets the ball, battling baffling bats, thanks to Twins trying to trample tossers tomorrow.  

He writes books, he appreciates music… the “arts” if you will. He also throws baseballs. A win tonight would mean five on the seaon for him… a full quarter of the way towards the coveted twenty-win mark. It would also mean a two-game winning streak for the Mariners. A win-win situation, if you ask me.

The Mariners won tonight, 11-6, and I’m torn between elation and pouting. I can’t help but feel the same way right now as I did when I was little and complained so much for something to go my way that when it did all of the magic was gone.

Through the first part of the game, I was feeling so crushed by Miguel Batista’s inability to get through more than a few innings and the offense’s total lack of energy. With bases loaded in the sixth and no outs, Jose Vidro stepped in to the box and the pessimist in me correctly predicted a double play. Sure enough, the Twins snuck out of that inning after just giving up one run. That was the lowest I felt through tonight’s game - the moment when I thought all was lost and I seriously contemplated turning the TV off or putting in a movie (the horror!).

When Raul stepped up in the 7th, and had his chance at grand-slam glory, it felt different. You knew that this guy had a legitimate shot at putting it out of the park, and he did. Of course, this led way to the ten-run 7th, and ultimately a victory.

Sure I was excited, but I had just spent so much energy thinking about how much the Mariners were hurting me that I couldn’t fully appreciate the win. Like when you were five and cried longer than you needed to, on purpose, to prove a point. Well I’m still hurting right now, Mariners. And I’m going to keep hurting until you make this better.

Raul has 14 RBI’s in the last three games.  It’s no surprise that they won all three, right? Well, tonight was a real nail biter, and I’m still mad about last night. They’re winning games, and finding suspensful ways to do it. It pains me immensly that R.A. DIckey left with the Mariners up 6-3 tonight, and he doesn’t get to pocket the win. I guess they’re lucky to have pulled this one out anyway.

As of today, Brandon Morrow is down in Tacoma getting his start on. Awesome. We’ve all been waiting as long as he has for this. Okay, maybe he’s been waiting a little longer. My dream rotation may just be coming true. Once Rowland-Smith and Morrow return, and join Dickey and Hernandez, I’ll start sleeping with a smile on my face again. You didn’t think my dream rotation had CC Sabathia and Roy Halladay in it, did you?

It’s also time to say goodbye to Jose Vidro.  He was a… nice baseball player. He was DFA’d today, and I wish him the best of luck. A good guy I’m sure, but he didn’t have the pop that his job description casually suggested.

Here’s some more big news: Richie Sexson hit a grand slam today against the Rangers, but don’t worry, because the Yankees lost, so it wasn’t that helpful and I doubt he can continue that type of play and you know we made the right decision because his grand slam was a fluke.

Seriously though, we’re starting to make a big push towards not being the same lame team that we were earlier this season. It won’t happen over night, but for everyone that has been complaining, somebody might actually be (sort of) listening.