I’m not going to sugarcoat it. That was awful and is an ominous sign for our season.
As an incorrigible optimist about the Mariners and especially the genuine potential of the Fun Differential era of this incarnation of the ballclub in the 2020s, it’s incredibly disheartening to sit through 9 innings of whatever that was from the M’s. They got one hit, deceptively stroked by the first batter in the game, scratched one run in the 7th through the incredibly pedestrian sequence of walk-wild pitch-groundout-sac fly to keep their season RISP average at a crisp .097 (3/31), all while making the Tigers’ #5 starter look like an ace as he scattered 6 Ks and 3 walks over 5 2/3.
On the flip side, Logan Gilbert had a (gasp!) human outing of 3 ER (incredibly on just 5 hits and 1 walk with TEN Ks) and walks away with an 0-1 record over 2 starts, after nearly getting Felixed on Opening Day. For those of us counting on a big boost from his extremely unlucky 9-12 All-Star campaign last season, we’re not seeing much to hope for.
The most obvious glaring flaw in a field of disasters this game was that our lefties are looking atrocious so far. Full disclosure that JP Crawford is by far my personal favorite Mariner, but he was angry at the plate and followed frustration with some genuinely bad calls in prior games with equal frustration at legitimate calls last night, resulting in some horrific ABs outside of one well taken walk. He’s been bad, but Raley and Tellez have been worse. Yes, Raley got a dinger, but he was the easy LVP of the night, even before he closed the game with this staggering at-bat with the tying run behind him in the on-deck circle:
On a night where he was totally lost, he turned an easy 4-pitch walk into a weak rollover, finishing 0/4 with 2 Ks. Meanwhile, Rowdy Tellez looks like a horrible Spring Training mistake. Someone crushing AA pitching in Arizona clearly does not translate to keeping up with MLB pitching in Seattle when actual stakes are on the line. I know there’s no other real way to warm up for the season, but it does feel like swinging a popsicle stick in the on-deck circle and then going into the at-bat with a real bat. It sets us up for failure every April.
The other visible mistake we’re making is pressing. I know that the Tigers’ pitcher wasn’t a star last night, but neither is Casey Mize or flipping Osvaldo Bido! The M’s scored 6 runs yesterday in part because they weren’t obsessed with every at-bat, carrying the weight of a good start and a winnable game on their shoulders into every hunched plate appearance. They were loose, down in a game they were suddenly supposed to lose by the time they first came up – and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that that’s when they scored all the runs. Hopefully they can take the same loose approach against the defending AL Cy Young today, but more likely they will press to the point of Kelenic instead.
There were a couple of bright moments. Julio Rodriguez’s 6th inning walk was a masterclass in patience, something he has been well short of for most of this season so far. Speier and Santos, two pieces we essentially didn’t have last year, were absolutely nails out of the pen. 4 walks to 7 Ks is a tolerable ratio and worlds better than we’ve been. We came into the game leading the league in walks!
But that won’t make a difference if we keep hitting below .100 with runners in scoring position. Unless you’re going to get 4 walks in the same inning (and avoid magic double-plays like Robles hit into in the 6th), you have to actually hit when people reach 2nd or 3rd. If we don’t do that, I’m going to have to eat some crow this season and admit that all the naysayers were right about this team. And I really don’t want to do that.
Mariners Stats:
Comeback Wins: 2
Comeback Losses: 1
Wire-to-Wire Losses: 3
Multi-Homer Games: 1-1
Single-Homer Games: 1-0
No-Homer Games: 0-3
One-Run Games: 1-0
Personal Stats:
Watched on TV: 1-4
Mixed TV/Radio: 1-0
