Ryan Schimpf Grand Slam Lifts Jays; Carlos Peguero Adds Pop for Mariners

Players of the Day for Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Grapefruit League

Toronto's been tearing up the Grapefruit League, so on Tuesday, in their final exhibition game, they tore up the team that's been chasing them, Detroit, scoring 12 runs in the first five innings, en route to a 13-8 victory and first place with a shining, 24-7, record. The Tigers finished close behind, at 20-8.

Ryan Schrimpf

The big score - and the big inning - were largely the product of bench players and minor leaguers. Reserve infielder Ryan Schimpf socked a pinch hit grand slam to highlight the outburst in his only at-bat of the game.

Schimpf played college ball at LSU and spent last season with the Dunedin Blue Jays of the Class A Advanced Florida State League, so as the parent club heads North, he will stay in the Sunshine State.

A left-handed hitter, the 5'9" Schimpf has some pop. He's hit 18 homers in two seasons with the Class A club.

Cactus League

Seattle may have the AL rookie of the year in their lineup this season.

Carlos Peguero

Carlos Peguero has had a productive spring, batting .294 with five homers and 13 RBI. He will likely get plenty of playing time in left field for the Mariners this year.

Peguero smacked his fifth homer of the spring as part of a 4-for-5 day at the plate. He drove in three of Seattle's eight runs, though the Mariners finished on the short end of a 9-8 score against Colorado.

With exhibition season over, teams headed to their assigned opening day locales. Oakland led the Cactus League with a 14-7 mark, followed by Seattle, at 15-9. Both teams got the jump on the rest of the AL, splitting a pair of regular season games in Tokyo last week.

The National League gets the regular season started on Wednesday with a 7:05 pm EDT meeting in Miami between the Marlins and the world champion Cardinals. The game will be telecast live on ESPN.

More games - five in the NL and two in the AL - are slated for Thursday, with all teams getting their seasons started through the weekend.

It's time to Play Ball!

Delmon Young Continues Hot Pace; Carlos Peguero's 4 RBI Power Mariners

Players of the Day for Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Grapefruit League

Delmon Young

Justin Verlander, winner of the American League Cy Young and MVP awards last season, struggled though five innings of work, giving up a pair of runs on five hits and two walks, striking out four, but still earned his first win of spring in Detroit's 7-2 victory over 5-13 Atlanta.

The win kept red-hot Detroit in first place on the Grapefruit circuit at 13-2. The Tigers scored in the first, second, third and fifth innings, knocking around Atlanta starter Jair Jurrgens for all seven runs, six of them earned.

Ryan Raburn socked his sixth home run of the exhibition season, a two-run shot, and Delmon Young continued hitting at a blistering pace, going 2-for-3 with a home run (his 4th) and three RBI.

Young is having the Springtime of his dreams, batting .485 (16-for-33), with four doubles, four homers and an astounding 18 RBI.

Cactus League

Carlos Peguero

If Carlos Peguero stays healthy this season, he could help the Seattle Mariners stay competitive in the rugged AL West. For the present, Peguero is having the kind of spring the Mariners expected from him.

In Seattle's 8-1 win over the Reds, Peguero went 2-for-5 with four RBI, smashing his fourth homer which helped Kevin Millwood pick up his second win.

Peguero played in 46 games early last season with Seattle but a strained right calf kept him sidelined the rest of the way.

Seattle is 12-7 in Cactus League play, good for fourth place.

Jesus Montero, Michael Suanders and Carlos Peguero Power M's Past A's in Cactus League Opener

Players of the Day for Friday, March 2, 2012

Michael Saunders

Cactus League

Exhibition baseball officially got underway when the Seattle Mariners visited the Oakland A's at their Spring training facility in Phoenix, AZ, with Seattle taking the 8-5 win with five homers by five different players.

Jesus Montero

Starter Blake Bevin took the win, allowing four hits and one earned run over 2 1/3 innings. Catcher Jesus Montero, Michael Saunders and Carlos Peguero each hit two-run homers and the Mariners were up 5-1 after they batted in the fifth inning.

Carlos Peguero

Montero, a rookie, was acquired from the Yankees in the deal that sent Michael Pineda to New York. He hit .328 in 61 Yankee at-bats last season. Peguero, who is still technically a rookie, has been with the Mariners organization since 2010, but has toiled mostly in the minors. He batted .196 in 46 games with the Mariners in 2011. Center fielder Saunders is starting his fourth year with Seattle.

Luis Rodriguez and Johermyn Chavez added solo shots. All of Seattle's runs came via the long ball.

Manny Ramierez made his debut at DH for the A's, but came up empty in two at-bats, grounding into a double play and grounding out.

Carlos Peguero's Two Homers Sink Rays; Three Huff Homers Lead Giants Back to First Place

Players of the Day for Thursday, June 2, 2011

American League

Carlos Peguero

Tampa Bay's James Shields had no luck keeping Seattle hitters in the park, as the Mariners rocked him for four home runs over four innings en route to an 8-2 pasting of the NL East contenders.

Jack Cust and Justin Smoak each had solo jobs, but down at the very bottom of the order, rookie left fielder Carlos Peguero tagged Shields for a pair of homers, the second of which ended the starter's shortest stint of the season.

After a mammoth three-run homer to center field in the second inning, Peguero again went straight-away in the fourth with a solo shot. In just 20 games, Peguero has four homers and Thursday's four RBI gave him 12 for the year.

Peguero, a rookie who played last season in the Southern League, is batting just .190 and still feeling his way around American League pitchers, though he's getting steady playing time as the Mariners are not rich in outfielders. Seattle remained 1 1/2 games behind the Texas Rangers in the A West, but increased their advantage over the third place Angels to one game. The win was the first of an important four-game series with the Rays in Seattle.

National League

Aubrey Huff

Tha reigning world champion Giants proved that they still have plenty of offense, even without their star catcher, Buster Posey.

In taking the fourth and final game of their series in St. Louis by a 12-7 score, the Giants took three of four from the NL Central-leading Cardinals and took back first place in the NL West with a 1/2 game lead over Arizona.

Much-maligned Aubrey Huff, who got off to a poor start, partially due to having to begin the season unaccustomed in right field, blasted three homers for the Giants, driving in six runs to lead the rout.

The trio of long balls were Huff's 6th, 7th and 8th home runs of the season, but, more importantly, helped produce a win in the first series on the road for the Giants since Posey was lost for the season following a collision at home plate on May 25.