Big Mike's First Blast!!

Congratulations to Mike Morse on hitting his first MLB homer!!

He hit it off Ryan Madson in the bottom of the eighth against the Phillies.
It was a two-run, line drive shot to the left field stand,
which M's really needed as an insurance.

Also Happy 24th Birthday to Jeremy Reed on this date June 15th.
He had a sac fly that scored a go-ahead run, in the first inning.
M's never relinquished the lead...Amazingly.
Yesterday he had a three-hit game.

The Freddy trade is paying off.

Sele pitched a brilliant game again, got the team leading 6th win.
He escaped a couple of tight situations nicely.
Meche did the same yesterday.

Also belatedly,
congratulations to Ichiro on his hit #1000
(in the 1st inning off Jon Lieber on June 14th).
Today he had a lead-off HR off Vicente Padilla.
However, he's been pulling the ball this month, hitting below .200.
That's an indication he's not hitting the way he likes to.

Mid Season Speculation on Beltre

According to my dubious calculation,
on this date June 9th after playing 57 games,
Adrian Beltre, at the current pace (.242 Avg.)
projected over 162 games, will finish with:

At-Bat: 644
Hit: 156
Double: 31
Triple: ? (he has yet to hit one this season)
HR: 14
RBI: 85
Runs: 94
Bases on Balls: 26
Strikeout: 111
Total Base: 230

He's not too far off
his season averages prior to 2004.
Slight improvement in RBI due to hitting in the third slot?
Walk total is alarming, though(so far only 9.)

'98-'03: in 810 Games, 99 HRs, 389 RBIs,
749 Hits in 2864 At-Bats.
These numbers translate into:
on avg. .261 16.5 HR 64.8 RBI per season.

'99-'03 .264 18.4 HR 73.4 RBI
'01-'03 .253 19 HR 71.6 RBI
'02-'03 .248 22 HR 77.5 RBI

comapare these numbers to his 2004 numbers:
.334 48 HR 121 RBI

*The data on the statistics are from Baseballe-Reference.com

He will still win the Gold Glove Award!
I still hope he will somehow figure out AL pitchers by the second half.