21 million dollars. Even the Miami Marlins, who sold off their team in a fire sale and pulled guys off the street to play, have a bigger payroll at 35 million.
Their highest paid player is Bud Morris at 3 million, and only four other players make over 1 million. Houston (1-6) also set a record for striking out in their season-opening series against Texas. I kind of feel like this is the state of the Astros right now.
So naturally, the Mariners opened up with these world killers yesterday in the "new" Safeco Field's home opener. Yes the jumbo tron was QUITE BIG. In fact, Seattle fans hadn't seen something this large since Carlos Silva. The M's didn't embarrass themselves by beating Houston 3-0 with "looks like a plumber" Joe Saunders on the mound.
Kendrys Morales drove in two runs, Franklin Gutierrez knocked in another with a sac fly. Hey! And only 3 Mariners struck out last night. Meanwhile Saunders went 6 innings, gave up 6 hits, didn't allow a single run and struck out 5 on 91 pitches. He's be a destroyer of men in Triple-A.
Despite bringing in the fences at Safeco, nobody hit a home run, but that probably was because the Mariners and Astros were playing there. The game also wasn't a true sellout... which is worrisome for a Seattle team that has seen attendance fall off since the early 2000s.
Jamie Moyer also threw out the first pitch, although he kind of looked like a homeless guy (cut your hair!). He didn't rule out a comeback either. Judging from the back end of the Mariners rotation, he'd better keep that arm warmed up.
(And they wrote a book about Moyer, too!
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