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Thursday Morning Sports Report

“Gut feeling, I think Felix will be OK. I have nothing to base that on.”

So says Mike Hargrove. Let’s hope his gut turns out to be right. As Dave at U.S.S. Mariner put it:

Now we just hold our breaths and hope like crazy, because without Felix, rooting for this team is about as much fun as having your eyelids ripped out.

UPDATE: U.S.S. Mariner is now reporting some good news:

Preliminary reports are that there is no structural damage.

As for the game itself, watching Beltre hustling for home only to be thrown out by a yard and ending the game was painful in its own right. Thankfully, the Twins leave town after today’s game. 3:35 start. FSN, KOMO.

Also: The Mariners signed Jose Lopez to a four-year extension; White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle came within one walk of a perfect game; the Sonics ended their season on the bad side of a blowout; and Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher was fined $100,000 for wearing the wrong hat on Super Bowl media day.

Finally: Fantasy Football players, be wary of drafting Vince Young next year.

Madden08_cover_240.jpg

Comments (9)

1

Posted by Noel Black | April 19, 2007 10:20 AM
2

I second what Noel said. Ten fingers crossed over here.

Posted by Fnarf | April 19, 2007 10:35 AM
3

i dont know FNARF man, i was at the game, and felix looked in pain a bit and . i think he is done for a while, at least a couple of months, hopefully not longer.. all is lost. the twins exposed how lousy our M's are this year. And Santana is on the mound at 3:30. its a sweep.

hey fnarf not to bring this up again- but zito seems to be doing great for the Giants. i still say we should have gone after him.

Posted by SeMe | April 19, 2007 11:42 AM
4

professional sports is not all that.

Posted by Max Solomon | April 19, 2007 1:17 PM
5

" With those that dont give a damn about baseball. I can only sympathize. I do not resent them. I am even willing to concede that many of them are clean and in favor of world peace. But while the game is on. I cant think of anything to say to them"

Posted by SeMe | April 19, 2007 1:31 PM
6

Lloyd reporting to the Sports Report. SeMe, nice to see you.... I'm kind of a stubborn bastard, but loyal and an optimist, or at the very least an enthusiast. (Fnarf, btw, 10 fingers crossed? Are you in a gang, too?)

So, ok, maybe Felix is hurt. That sucks. That's the only reason the Mariners get air time on ESPN. That's why fans walk up and buy tickets. That's also why the Seattle fans I have a distaste for leave in the second inning. You know, among other things that have to do with Felix. I'm pulling for the kid. Love the kid. But the fact remains that with or without Felix, all of our line-up - as I've said before - has the responsibility to contribute this year. That's the make up of our team this year. With or without Felix. All sports are about the mental mind set. If adversity happens, the adjustment you have to make is from positive to next best stragegy, not from positive to negative. More M's fans should consider that, I believe.

That aside, the series against the Twins wasn't poorly played. If anything, we were out-defensed so far. Their pitchers got balls hit to their guys, where ours didn't as much (8 doubles on Tuesday -- ouch). The M's have been hitting the ball hard, and I like that our line-up is showing fight and determination to compete. There's been some trouble getting that last hit to drive the runners in, so, hey, fuckin' yeah send Beltre and see if he can score. That's a strong sign to me that we have a team that wants to win. That's more important to me than a lot of statistical minutae often bandied about. Stats always come after the effort.

The M's are supposed to have good D, too, right? So you go out and get guys like Ramirez, Bautista, and Weaver. Your defense has to know that they're going to be a big part of winning and losing. I'm not gonna harsh on Weaver (who threw one good pitch that could've been called a strike, followed by one bad, bad pitch). Ramirez and Bautista settled down and had good second starts. These guys, though, all pitch to contact so I think some of the focus being placed on them to be perfect (which is difficult) needs to be understood better as pitchers who will rely on their defense to help them get the job done. These veteran guys know when they're making mistakes, so I count on them to bounce back and come out swinging again.

Holy Christ, I'm ranting.

Brad, as far as Vince Young on the cover of Madden goes, I'll predict that he bucks the trend of cover model injury. I mean, how many guys in a row can end up with a knee torn up like C3PO at Jawas?

Posted by Lloyd Clydesdale | April 19, 2007 1:43 PM
7

What is it about 1-2, 5.29 ERA, 16 hits and 8 walks in 17 innings that says "doing great", SeMe? Obviously that's a ridiculous sample size, but if he's going to get hammered into the ground one out of every three starts, that's not "great". It's not worth $126 mil, either. Zito's a mediocre pitcher -- not a terrible one -- making Cy Young money. No thanks.

"Elbow tightness" has the potential to be a disaster of "Tommy John surgery" proportions. Or it could be nothing. Please let it be nothing!

Posted by Fnarf | April 19, 2007 2:07 PM
8

Zito had all those nice bats back in Oakland. There's just not enough pitching to go around. Good time to be a millionaire.

Nice salary chart in the P-I yesterday. Sexon and Beltre both make more money than Ichiro. Weaver's making just slightly less than Sean White, Brandon Morrow, Mark Lowe, George Sherill, Jose Lopez, Felix Hernandez, Julio Mateo, Horacio Ramirez & JJ Putz combined.

Posted by Lloyd Clydesdale | April 19, 2007 3:07 PM
9

From baseball that is. Ichiro makes crazy dough from his endorsement deals in Japan. He is not hurting.

Zito is going to have a great year. It is a young season. And he has bats. He has Barry.

Im thinking Tommy John. Pitching is a mo fo. Few people in the world can do it. Young pitchers with promise who start hot early are always risky. Remember Doc Gooden? Its always better that they mature late a la Randy.

Posted by SeMe | April 19, 2007 3:19 PM

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