Tag: Astros

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We got a front runner!

Yes, we got us a front runner.  …but he stands on the brink as we write this.

It’s a week into the postseason, but it only took us a day to wonder just what the hell is going on. The box score of the Yankees-Red Sox wild card game contained exactly zero ex-Mariners on either squad. For a couple of teams that regularly feature former M’s like Varitek while we slobber over bums like Slocumb… wait, we digress.

The next night, the Dodgers-Cards matchup, was a different story, wasn’t it? Continue reading “We got a front runner!”

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Mariner playoff rosters!

Here we go!

Twenty-five guys, a perfect postseason roster, fill the ranks of this year’s playoff teams’ 40-man rosters. Plus a former Mariner ace on IR, another who chose not to play under Rona Risk, and a couple honorable mentionables. Some of these guys are “who?” …and as of this writing, just 24 hours into the postseason, a few have already gone south on Elimination Street. But laugh as we may at them now, they each took their season farther than Jerry’s Boys from Dave Niehaus Avenue. Read ’em and wonder. Click the names for stats and such. Continue reading “Mariner playoff rosters!”

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Happ nominated Ex-Mariner of the Year

Should have seen this one coming. As soon as Carlos Correa’s bomb cleared the fence last night, before the dance and swagger around the bases, before our man walked dazed from the field… we here at Playin’ in the Dirt should have expected this to pop up.

Baffled. Dude looks like Billy in Beverly Hills Cop after Axel Foley takes him to the strip club: “What the hell did I just see?” (mlb.com)

Continue reading “Happ nominated Ex-Mariner of the Year”

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Who will be 2018 Ex-Mariner of the Year?

The petunia withereth, the Mariners choketh. And it’s only the bottom of the 5th®

Take heart, Mariner fans!

The excitement of the 2018 season is just getting started. Now that the Mariners are officially, gracefully, thankfully, mercifully, and without fanfare, eliminated from the postseason, who will be named Playin’ In The Dirt’s 2018 Ex-Mariner of the Year? Continue reading “Who will be 2018 Ex-Mariner of the Year?”

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Christmas Solstice!

It’s Christmas Eve, and all through the land, who’s more excited than a baseball fan?

We’ve heard that before. But hey, it’s the season of hope.

See, it’s been 53 days since the final play of that amazing, heroic World Series that made a legend of Jose Altuve and a romantic icon of Carlos Correa. And it’s just 53 more days until pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training.

We’re halfway there. We’ve passed the lowest, darkest days, and the promise of warmth and light and summer breeze beckons. The game will always be there, waiting to come back and soothe us with the pop of leather and the crack of Louisville Ash and the first shouts of “Play Ball!”

Merry Chistmas to all. And to all, Happy Solstice!

Won’t be long now…

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Mariners in the Playoffs!

Nope. Just nope.

Not those guys. But there are Ms in the postseason this year. Seriously. Once a Mariner, always a Mariner.

Sixteen — enough for a questionable starting rotation, a damn fine bullpen, and a full contingent in the field — went into the playoffs last week on seven different teams. Plus a couple honorable mentions:

Yep. That’s Ron.

Gotta start with Ron Fairly, whose 14-year color commentary career with the M’s broadcast team got him the nickname Ron Fairly Obvious as he bleated wisdom like “When ya strike out — nothing happens!”

Continue reading “Mariners in the Playoffs!”

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Ex-Mariner of the Week: Luis Valbuena

Who the hell is this guy?

“I’ll take Twisted Webs for $1,000, Alex.”

“OK then… nobody ever gets this shit… well I’ll be damned, it’s a video daily double!”

“I’m all in. I’ll risk my whole fifteen grand. I love this stuff.”

“If you say so… Dumbass… He’s an ex-Mariner whose name is forever linked with J.J. ‘Thunderstruck’ Putz… Mike ‘All-fish-name team’ Carp… Jason ‘Basset Hound’ Vargas… and Franklin ‘Death to Flying Things’ Gutierrez…” Continue reading “Ex-Mariner of the Week: Luis Valbuena”

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Change is done, change is comin’…

Oh baby, Jerry DiPoto. Look what you done.

“Jerry DiPoto is a nut job…” …but he means that in the most nicest way…

Dude in the video likes Vogelbach. Playin’ in the Dirt is not sold. But there’s some solid analysis here.

Fifty-four men took the field in a Mariner uniform in 2016. Just twenty of them, exactly half of the current forty-man roster, are in camp in Spring 2017 as part of the big-league squad. Continue reading “Change is done, change is comin’…”