Happy Felix Day!
Tomorrow, I board a plane to sunny Phoenix, Arizona to catch a few Cactus League games and drink a few adult beverages, but today I provide you some interesting stories to start your day!
In Mariners news...
- The M’s put an end to their short two game skid. James Paxton was his typical ace-like self, tossing four innings of three-hit, one-run baseball. Mitch Haniger and Tyler Smith each collected six total bases including this here triple by Haniger:
And this homer by very hopeful backup utilityman Tyler Smith, his second in three days:
- Nick Vincent gave up another home run. If you’re following along at home, he’s now given one up in each of his four appearances this spring. It’s not all bad though. It led Nathan Bishop reposting this work of art:
— Nathan Bishop (@NathanHBishop) March 10, 2017
- In a matchup that, for better or worse, will have the attention of Mariners’ fans far and wide, King Felix and Venezuela square off against the Drew Smyly and the United States at 6:00pm PT.
Updated: Felix to face Mariners teammate Smyly in WBC game between Venezuela-USA tomorrow night. https://t.co/PdwtZ6mKJd pic.twitter.com/Y3c7Fsu0BJ
— Greg Johns (@GregJohnsMLB) March 15, 2017
- Up two runs with four outs to go, Puerto Rico brought in M’s closer Edwin Diaz, who threw all of one pitch to former Mariner Adrian Beltre before current Mariner Nelson Cruz committed a TOOTBLAN, topped off by a pretty awesome tag.
Javy was literally celebrating before the tag happened. Never even looked at the runner pic.twitter.com/Y2MhzOHoRa
— Frederic (@StoolFrederic) March 15, 2017
Diaz went on to strike out Jean Segura looking to end the game.
Around the league...
- The Tampa Bay Rays are closing in on locking up their gold glove center fielder Kevin Kiermaier to a six year, $50 million deal.
- Cleveland Indians starter Carlos Carrasco is experiencing swelling in his right elbow that will cause him to miss a start.
- The injuries keep coming for the Rockies, as it was announced that expected starting catcher Tom Murphy will miss 4-6 weeks with a forearm fracture.
- One of the Red Sox lefty aces is expected to start the year on the disabled list. Boston will now tragically be forced to start the season with only three 2016 All-Stars and the AL Cy Young winner in their rotation.
.@RedSox LHP David Price likely to start season on disabled list due to left elbow strain: https://t.co/tsJ7UjoNN0 pic.twitter.com/lNRAq73EWE
— MLB (@MLB) March 14, 2017
Ben’s Picks...
- At the risk of turning any readers away from ever reading another thing I write, an actress from several shows I like—Rachel Bilson—was cast as a series regular in Nashville, which is a show that I currently like.
- This winter’s primetime darling This Is Us delivered their season finale, which elicited tears from many viewers.
- The Walking Dead Volume 27 (I have all 27 volumes) was delivered to me over the weekend, and I’ve been saving it to read on my flight down to spring training tomorrow. Any other TWD readers out there?