The Mariners Over the A’s

The Seattle Mariners swept the Oakland A’s over the weekend in Seattle. It was good because it is what the Mariners needed to happen. Also, we can ask ourselves as Mariner fans what does it mean?

Too look over the three game series on the TV broadcast we were told the A’s have one of the top offenses in the American League several times.  If the case the Mariners showed us that good pitching always beats good offense.  Actually the A’s had good starting pitching in the series as well.

Besides the good pitching the Mariners beat the A’s three  times was the A’s do not have a good bullpen and their defense was very poor to say the least. It sounds a lot like the Mariners going into the series. The main difference is that the Mariners have a good bullpen when the starters are able to go at least six innings while the A’s can’t say the same thing. The Mariners defense did not make critical mistakes on defense like the A’s. The Mariners have a good defense on the infield. The only questionable spot is at shortstop where mistakes do happen sometimes. The outfield defense is Ok at best.

I would say in this series the Mariners offense did Ok. Of course, the A’s do have good starting pitching. Hopefully the Mariners offense can get on a roll against both the San Diego Padres and the Boston Red Sox.  I am not sure about the Padres pitching because I do not really follow them but the Red Sox pitching has been bad. In fact they ended up firing their pitching coach. They now have hired former Mariner pitching coach Carl Willis.

Looking at the Mariners offense since we need to look at more improvement the top of the batting order did an Ok job against the A’s.  I thought Seth Smith did a good job leading off though he is not the ideal lead of hitter. What makes Smith good is that he willing to take pitches at the same time is aggressive at the plate. Also, he does have some power as well so if he can get at least a double it helps out the team. His downfall leading off is that he does not have speed.

Brad Miller did a good job batting second in the lineup in two of the games. What I like about Miller batting second is that he can pull the ball and he bats left handed which are both good things. Robinson Cano got out of his hitting slump against the A’s which is a good thing. We need to see Cano at his normal best so the Mariners can have him drive in runs or have Nelson Cruz available to drive in runs. Speaking about Cruz is that he had another good series against the A’s though he did not hit home runs. What I like about Cruz he hits the ball hard so even if he hits one through the infield it gives him a good chance to get a hit. He reminds me of Edgar Mariners where he can get a lot of line drive hits as well as those high long home runs.

I thought that both Kyle Seager and Logan Morrison did a good job as well in the fifth and sixth places in the batting order. Of course, Morrison won a game with a walk off in the eleventh inning of Friday night’s game. The Mariners need both of them hit the way we know they are capable of.

The seventh, eighth, and ninth men in the order did Ok which is best we can hope for. Dustin Ackley had some good at bats in the series and drove in some runs especially on Sunday. If he can do that on semi-regular basis it will help the Mariners offense. The way that Ackley has been hitting so far in the season he will not last long in the lineup on a regular basis especially if Brad Miller becomes the super-sub that Lloyd calls him. Also, Rickie Weeks needs to be in the lineup at least three times a week to be effective as well. Can say the same for Ruggiano; we will see what happens in the outfield when Austin Jackson returns. Neither Weeks nor Ruggiano can be effective on the amount of at bats they getting right now.

Mike Zunino also did Ok in the two games he played in the series as he got Sunday off. With today (Monday) off as well will help him out. Zunino needs to get his batting average up over .200 and not strike out so often. Of course, we know it is his defense is the most important; however, the Mariners need some offense out of him. Mainly the Mariners need the power from him getting doubles and home runs.

Chris Taylor is now back in the lineup at shortstop for the Mariners. He missed Sunday’s game because of a minor injury to a finger. According to Lloyd he should be back in soon. His first week was not good offensively but we can help that he can get better. The Mariners need him to get on base to turn over the lineup. This is especially true if he leads off an inning.

Last but not least for sure we must congratulate King Felix in getting his two thousandth strike out on Sunday for his career as well as his sixth victory without a defeat. Go Mariners!