Tagged: Justin Smoak

Smoak Bomb

One of the great things we are able to provide during spring training are video highlights that we deliver to Seattle and national TV stations through an FTP process. We are lucky to have six TV games (starting with March 4 game vs. Colorado), but sometimes it is tough to get a visual of what is going on down in Arizona.

A lot of people are talking about Justin Smoak’s hot start this spring (.556/5-for-9, 2 HR, 4 RBI). He hit a mammoth, game-winning 2-run home run yesterday in the 8th inning vs. the Milwaukee Brewers. Here is video (and audio) of the tape-measure home run:

Mariners All-Access – Tricks of the Trade

The newest episode of Mariners All-Access debuts today on ROOT Sports NW at noon, and re-airs tonight at 6 p.m. following the Mariners-Padres Interleague finale.  If you are not able to watch today, you can catch the show at 6 pm on June 29 or June 30.

This week’s episode is dedicated to the Tricks of the Trade feature.

  • Switch hitters are rare and the Mariners have the rarest… one with power.  Justin Smoak puts on a hitting clinic from both sides of the plate, from the most basic things like stance and swing, to contact points with the ball.
  • Left-handed reliever Charlie Furbush earns a cameo, but his impact is big, just like his slider—he’ll teach you how he throws it. (Great at parties to strike out your friends).
  • Catcher Jesus Montero recently switched things up, not his delivery or swing, but his equipment.  Here is a hint, it is unknown how well Montero would fair out on the ice against Pavel Datsyuk, but he looks the part with his new mask.
  • And finally, if the ball gets by an infielder, the guy is going to be standing on first, if it gets by the outfield chances are someone is touching home—that’s why they say, the infield will hurt you, the outfield will kill you.  Outfielder Michael Saunders makes sure this won’t happen.  He takes us out to the grass for a lesson on catching Major League fly balls.

Michael Saunders will be featured on today’s episode of Mariners All-Access showing the Tricks of the Trade behind catching fly balls. (Getty Images)

Check back to the blog for more previews of Mariners All-Access.

– JE

Anatomy of a Walk-Off

The Mariners completed their homestand with an exciting 2-1 walk-off win over the San Francisco Giants yesterday. After a sterling performance by starting pitcher Felix Hernandez (7.0 IP, 1 R), and scoreless efforts by Brandon League and Tom Wilhelmsen, the Mariners set the stage for an exciting Father’s Day victory. After singles by Kyle Seager and Jesus Montero, Justin Smoak stepped to the plate with one out, and delivered the game-winning hit with a single to left field to score pinch-runner Munenori Kawasaki. And this is how it looked…

Photos courtesy of Getty Images & Associated Press

Mariners Spring Training Update – Day 8

Day 8 / Sunday, February 19, 2012 / 37 Days ‘til Opening Night in Tokyo / 53 Days ‘til Opening Night in Seattle

Weather: It was 52-degrees and windy this morning but the temperatures rose to 64-degrees by the end of the workout. There were plenty of media members who were shaking after forgetting their jackets.

Quote of the Day:  “Where’s your camera?” Felix Hernandez said to ROOT SPORTS Jen Mueller. Mueller jokingly asked why he was doing a KING 5 interview (with Chris Egan) before doing the ROOT interview. After Jen pointed across the parking lot to the auxiliary clubhouse Felix exclaimed “TOO FAR!” as he continued to walk with Egan.

Tweet of the Day:

The Day: Day 8 was the first day of live batting practice. The first group of hitters, including Franklin Gutierrez, Ichiro, Mike Carp and Justin Smoak, had to face the ace of the staff Felix Hernandez.

Franklin Gutierrez

None of the four players made contact against any of Felix’s pitches…which was probably because nobody swung at any of the pitches. While players are not under instructions not to swing (on some fields), most hitters use the first day to track pitches as they are coming in and ease back in to live pitching.

Felix got a bit of a scare earlier in the day during infield drills as Miguel Olivo fired a throw down to second base and while he didn’t see it, the ball was traveling fast enough (and close enough) for him to hear it whiz by.

One player who did swing on the first day of live batting practice was Casper Wells. With Charlie Furbush on the mound, Wells hit a screamer back to the box that went beween Charlie’s legs. While no players were harmed on that line drive, Charlie’s heart most certainly skipped a beat.

Early in the workout over on Field 6, all of the position players worked on baserunning, the infielders took grounders and the outfielders worked on tracking line drives before spreading out to various fields.

Carlos Guillen takes throws at first base

On Field 3, the catchers (and infielders) worked on first-and-third defense before the position players grabbed bats.

On Field 3 (where Felix Hernandez was) and 5, hitters were allowed to swing at the pitches. On Field 4 there was also live batting practice, but the hitters were not allowed to swing because there were also baserunning drills going on. Position players also worked on bunting in the cages and in the bullpen while over on Field 6, the coaches threw BP for the players towards the end of the workout.

The marketing group of Michael Ferguson, Nick Pope and Olav Nossum showed up in the wee hours of the day once again to get green screen footage and through three full days have now completed their work with 29 of the 67 players in camp. Tomorrow, Shawn Kelley, Chone Figgins, Felix Hernandez, Franklin Gutierrez and Mike Carp (among others) are schedule for their close-ups.

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– FA

2012 Mariners Promotions Calendar

The Mariners 2012 Special Events calendar is out (for your planning purposes). Fan favorites like bobbleheads and the Mariners Express collector train series are back.

This year, there are four bobbleheads: Ichiro, Dustin Ackley, Felix Hernandez, and a special dual Mariners Hall of Fame bobblehead with Dan Wilson and Randy Johnson.

2012 Ichiro Bobblehead

The 2012 version of the Mariners collector train car is the Justin Smoak “Smoakamotive,” the 13th car in the series.

Here’s a link to the entire promotions schedule. Single game tickets for the 2012 season go on sale to the public on Saturday, March 10 at 10am PST.

The Smoakamotive