The Seattle Mariners are a team now known for their one-two punch of Felix Hernandez and Cliff Lee. But the batting side is where trouble awaits. Many years ago, Richie Sexson and Adrian Beltre were signed on to help Ichiro Suzuki in the batting department. That didn’t work out too well. Now, Ichiro still has nobody to help him. Ken Griffey Jr. is an all-time great who brings nostalgia to the team, but not much else. Aside from Ichiro, only one other player on the Mariners is even batting .250 this year. Chone Figgins was supposed to be a great acquisition, but his batting average is not even .200 more than mine is.

Cliff Lee has proven to be a great pick-up for Seattle. However, they clearly did not focus enough on batting. Ichiro continues to be his usual great self, but he is climbing up in age. At this rate, by the time he retires, the Mariners won’t have anyone batting over .250. The Mariners need serious batting help. Until then, I hope they will at least find the need to get employees for playoff viewing parties.

by David at the Sports Fan Blog Network

The Seattle Mariners have been shuffling the deck, but it looks like they’ll keep their ace.

On the eve of exchanging salary figures for arbitration, right-hander Felix Hernandez has agreed to a multiyear contract with the team, pending a physical, a source with direct knowledge of the talks told ESPN.com’s Keith Law on Monday.

If the final parts of the negotiations continue as expected, Hernandez will sign a five-year deal in the neighborhood of $80 million, sources told ESPN The Magazine’s Buster Olney.

Hernandez made a case for a big payday with a 19-5 record and a 2.46 ERA in 2009. He had earned $3.8 million in his first year of arbitration eligibility.

Click here to read the full article – By of ESPN.com

At first glance, there doesn’t figure to be a whole lot of reason for fans outside of the Seattle area to care much about the Mariners series with the lowly Kansas City Royals this weekend.


But for those keeping a close eye on the Cy Young Award race, this series will be an interesting one to watch.

Felix Hernandez, the Mariners ace and Cy Young candidate, will take the mound against the Royals on Friday looking for his 13th win of the season. And on Sunday, Kansas City ace Zack Greinke will look to further his argument for the coveted pitcher’s award in the series finale.


Click here to read the full article – By Christian Caple of MLB.com

Seattle Mariners Sports Memorabilia
and other Seattle Mariners Autographs
Below are links to memorabilia available for Felix Hernandez.