A three-run, third-inning rally turned out to be all the Mariners would need on Sunday, as they beat the LA Dodgers 4-2 and took the best-of-three series.
This was the first test for the Mariners on this vigorous road trip, and they passed with flying colors.
I, along with many other Mariners fans, would probably have been happy with just taking one out of three, but today’s game was icing on the cake and the M’s now sit 39-36, three games over .500.
The Mariners four runs came on a Franklin Gutierrez RBI single, an Adrian Beltre RBI single, and a Jose Lopez two-RBI double. The Dodgers scored theirs on a Matt Kemp solo bomb and an Andre Ethier sac fly.
Garrett Olson pitched five solid innings of two run ball, with most of his trouble occurring in the fifth. Miguel Batista pitched in relief of Olson, and did a nice job. He pitched two scoreless innings before handing the ball off to Mark Lowe, who in turn pitched a scoreless eighth and handed the ball off to David Aardsma, who recorded an easy save.
So, the M’s now head to New York to face another good team in the Yankees. It’s probably going to be a tougher series than this one was, mainly due to the fact that we’ll be without Adrian Beltre. Today was his last game before he goes under the knife on Tuesday.
Other News and Game Notes
Ichiro’s hit streak is now at 10 games.
The Mariners traded minor league infielder Mike Morse for left-handed outfielder in the Nationals system, Ryan Langerhans. This was a great trade, as Mike Morse is of no use to us anymore, and another left-handed outfielder with a solid upside is exactly what we need. Bravo, front office.
The Angels beat Arizona today by a score of 12-8, so we don’t gain any ground on them.
We start a three-game series with the NY Yankees on Tuesday. May God have mercy on our souls.
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