So, uh, it’s been a minute.
I assure you I’ve still been watching and listening and following almost as much as normal. And thinking and rising and falling with the team as usual. But it’s been amidst an exhausting spate of work and life that has left little time for public rumination about a beleaguered and beloved little baseball team that is once again making waves in the highest ranks of the sport.
The homestand ending Wednesday was nothing short of a disaster. I had debated with a bunch of Twitter/X folks about whether an expectation of a 5-4 run through that homestand plus this series underway in Sandy San D would be reasonable or disappointing. My conclusion was the latter, but they hit SoCal with 4-5 already as the best-case scenario.
Some interesting themes have emerged in that time about the way Dan Wilson is consistently managing this team, namely around pinch-hitting with Donovan Solano and, to a lesser extent Mitch Garver while pulling or not utilizing one Leo Rivas, who currently leads the team (yes, even over Polanco) with a batting average of .333. I know we prefer OPS now as a general collective, but even there he’s 4th with an .810, behind only Polanco, Raleigh, and Moore. And he’s a switch hitter, meaning he should never be pulled for handedness. And unlike any of the 4 above him, he walks almost as much as he strikes out. So, really, what’s going on?
This mattered a lot more on Wednesday, admittedly, when Rivas had the opportunity to bat with 2 outs in the 9th of a one-run game losing to the Yankees and put his .455 OBP (yes, he gets on base nearly half the time!) to the test and was lifted for Mitch Garver who, uh, was hitting around .200 at the time (he’s now lower) and promptly struck out to end the ballgame. Hopefully we don’t finish one game out of the playoffs again this year, because that was the one. We gave up a pinch-hit homer. We pitched to Aaron Judge with nobody on in a tied game. We blew and 81.2% win probability. Mistakes. Were. Made.
The last two games have been an utter reversal. A pair of ultra-compelling, close-but-clear 5-1 and 4-1 wins in a San Diego ballpark that has been the best home-field advantage for any team this year so far. These are just the 6th and 7th losses the Padres have taken at home and they’ve come at the hands of the Mariners’ pre-season 6th and 7th starters, Evans (last night, #7) and Hancock (tonight, #6), who’ve combined to surrender one (1) run in 10 2/3 innings. This is after Woo (pre-season #4; current #1) and Castillo (pre-season and current #2) combined to give up one (1) run in 12 1/3 against the Yankees. Now look, I don’t even know who our current 5th starter is (come on, get well George Kirby?!) but suffice it to say that Run Prevention is Back.
What’s made the San Diego series so far especially nifty is that run prevention is also back in the bullpen, aside from a little 9th-inning scuffle by Colin Snider last night. Aside from that, the M’s’ bullpen has chucked 6 scoreless innings against a lineup that would made anyone shudder, including an utterly nails performance by Gabe Speier going a full inning after striking out Jackson Merrill (1.025 OPS on the season) with the bases loaded in a tied game. Are you kidding me?
Maybe a healthy Matt Brash was all we needed along the way? The pen threw 5 Ks and NO walks (and only 2 hits!) tonight in working 4 1/3 to hold a tie, then a lead, then a 3-run lead for Munoz’s first 4-out save of the year. Dylan Moore came up 0/3 with 3 Ks on the night and promptly deposited the first pitch he saw for a 2-run single to take 2-1 to 4-1 and make the 4-out save seem so much more feasible for the current best relief pitcher in the world.
Don’t look now, but Rowdy Tellez now has 8 HR on the year (6 on the road), all of them since April 11. Everyone is looking now to see that Cal Raleigh has 15 HR on the year (9 on the road), continuing to keep pace with Ohtani, Judge, and Schwarber in the MLB lead discussion (Geno Suarez, always streaky, fell off a lot after his 4-homer game and now trails a bit with 13). With our absolute (current) ace Bryan Woo on the mound, it feels like it will only take a little pop tomorrow to send us to Chicago with a 3-0 start to the roadtrip.
Which Chicago? Yes, that Chicago!
Mariners Stats:
Comeback Wins: 12
Wire-to-Wire Wins: 13
Comeback Losses: 11
Wire-to-Wire Losses: 8
Multi-Homer Games: 12-6
Single-Homer Games: 11-5
No-Homer Games: 2-8
One-Run Games: 9-5
Extra-Innings Games: 3-3
Shutouts: 1-1
Record When Scoring >5 Runs: 11-3
Record When Scoring 2-5 Runs: 14-9
Record When Scoring <2 Runs: 0-7
Consecutive Games in First Place: 16
Personal Stats:
Watched on TV: 5-10
Listened on Radio: 8-1
Mixed TV/Radio: 10-6
Followed on Gameday: 2-2
