Marinerds, etc.

Much like in the movie The Dark Crystal, somehow the three suns have united in the skies, and my three "home" teams of the Mariners, Pirates, and Phillies, all won today. It's pretty amazing, isn't it?

Despite the Meche Assault by the Indians' lineup (4 innings, 5 runs, 4 walks, 1 strikeout? Hello?), Paul Byrd was even worse -- as it were, a Byrd on the mound was worth two bases on the field. Or three, sometimes, even. Danny Graves, who has an awful lot of hair, got through one or two innings okay, and then in the 6th, the Mariners decided to give him a haircut. Betancourt singled, Ichiro singled, Ibanez was intentionally walked to get to Big Swingin' Richie. Richie's getting a little frustrating these days with his tendency to strike out with lots of guys on base, but you gotta admit, when he hits that ball, he really hits it, and a grand slam is always exciting, isn't it? Fortunately, Sexson's slam balanced out the four runs the bullpen gave up later, as the Mariners won the game 11-9. I'd like you to take a very close look at that box score by the way, and tell me if you notice anything weird about the numbers under the H on the Mariners' side. Oh, very good! You noticed that there's only one zero, and it's next to Carl Everett!

Weight Watchers:
Sexson: Batting .235, weight listed at 235
Beltre: Batting .156, weight listed at 220
Everett: Batting .100, weight listed at 220

Fortunately, Ichiro went 3-for-4 with a walk and 4 runs scored, which put his average at .237 -- he really doesn't need to go on a diet, y'know?

Over in Atlanta, the Phillies finally managed to win their second game, 7-5 over the Braves. Lidle wasn't too bad, going 6 innings with 3 runs, walking none and striking out 7, giving up a homer to Brian McCann (who I recently added to my fantasy team, so I don't feel too bad about it). The guys finally found their bats, with Pat the Bat and Aaron Rowand both homering, and even Lieby smashed a double in the second inning which scored half the team and got them the lead, which they kept. Ryan Franklin pitched an inning and didn't suck, too.

(As I'm writing this I'm watching the Eagles-Fighters game over the 'net and Ogasawara just hit a foul ball that was not only nearly a home run, it nearly sailed straight out of Miyagi Fullcast Stadium, hitting a billboard up above the rightfield stands. To be fair though, Yasuhiro Ichiba really is one hell of a pitcher, and watching him and Yu Darvish pitch is pretty cool.)

For the second day straight, both guys named Wilson on the Pirates managed to hit home runs as the Pirates beat the Dodgers 9-5. Craig Wilson is really being a pain in the butt to the Pirates, isn't he? They want to bench him so badly, but a guy hitting .350/.409/1.000 with 4 home runs in 22 plate appearances isn't really the sort you want to bench, right? Man. It's not like we know any other teams who keep decent hitters sitting on the bench all day, though.

Anyway, now Florida sits alone in the "Has yet to win a second game in 2006" boat. Yay.