The Seattle Mariners were in Oakland this past weekend for a three-game series with the A's. I listened to the last half inning of Friday's game on the radio and saw the last few innings of Sunday's game on television. In addition, I skimmed a few articles on the internet and listened to a couple of minutes of sports talk radio at various points over the weekend. I don't normally follow either club all that closely (although I do live in the same city that the Mariners play in and do have a certain fondness for the A's) and probably could name less than a dozen players who play for the two teams combined. What follows is my report about what happened over the course of this weekend's series. Note-- the spelling of all names is merely an approximation.
- The A's won on Friday night in extra innings. Chris Carter, who I believe is a first baseman, hit a three-run walk-off home run to win the game 4-1. There is no reason to believe that Chris Carter is related to the former Minnesota Vikings wide receiver who has basically the same name. (See photo below)
- The Mariners won 7-1 on Saturday. Vargas pitched well for Seattle. I am pretty sure that his first name is Jason.
- The A's won on Sunday 2-1 in 13 innings (maybe it was 12) on a walk-off double or single (hit by some guy who might have had blond or light-brown hair) that scored Jemil Weeks all the way from first base. I am not actually sure about the spelling of Weeks's first name, but I do wonder if he is related to Ricky Weeks, who might still be playing for the Milwaukee Brewers.
- On Sunday, the starting pitchers were Bartolo Colon and Felix Hernandez. Bartolo Colon is pretty old and doesn't appear to be in the best physical shape, but he apparently still pitches well. Felix Hernandez does pitch well but will someday almost surely leave the Mariners for a far better, far wealthier club. (See photos below)
Above: Bartolo Colon
Below: Felix Hernandez looking at his glove
- Sunday's game featured an appearance by Mariners reliever Oliver Perez. Some of you may remember Perez from his days as a New York Met, for whom he pitched in the 2006 playoffs.
- Sunday's game was also marked at the end by several visual distractions which made it difficult for the players to field fly balls and pop-ups-- a high sun and a swarm of seagulls flying over the diamond (probably more than a hundred).
- On Sunday, both teams wore uniforms different from the ones they normally wear. At first, I took them to be the uniforms of their minor league affiliates, but further research indicates that the teams were wearing throwback uniforms of the Seattle Rainiers and Oakland Oaks of the old Pacific Coast League.
- In each game, the losing team only scored one run.
- The two pitching staffs are ranked first and second in pitching in the American League, but I am not sure which team is first and which is second. I am also not sure what statistics were being used in these rankings. This information comes from the Mariners television announcers during Sunday's game. These announcers also claimed that today's baseball players rarely listen to "oldies music".
- The A's and the Mariners are in 3rd and 4th place respectively in the American League West; the A's are exactly at the .500 mark, and the Mariner's record is around 36-51.
For actual, more reliable information about these games, you could start by clicking here, here, or here.
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