Mariners Going the Wrong Way

I am sure that all of us Mariner fans were hoping that our team had turned the corner coming home after sweeping the Rays in Tampa Bay. The problem the Mariners decided to go the wrong way and lose three out of four games to the Cleveland Indians.

The one game the Mariners won on Friday night would have been a game we may have expected to lose since TaiJuan Walker was pitching and we never know how he will go. Fortunately the Mariners got Walker’s best performance of his career. The Mariners may have been swept by the Indians instead.

The positive side is the Mariners now get to go against the New Yankees who they seem to almost always do good against, and they have their ace King Felix Hernandez pitching the first game of the series. He is always good to end a losing streak.

The thing about the series against the Indians is that they did not come in and beat up on the Mariners they just found a way to win. Actually the Mariners in some ways were lucky to be still in Sunday’s game because Cleveland had a whole lot of hits but could not find a way to score. Some of it had to do with some really good plays the Mariners made on defense like the one Logan Morrison made a double play. He caught a difficult hit down the first base line, and he was able to throw home to get the runner after touching the first base bag. Seeing the replay it was something else.

Again the problem the Mariners had was bringing home runners; however, the team had few hits on Sunday as well. Saturday the Mariners lost in the same fashion not driving in runners. In some ways I do not remember the game that well except that the bullpen did a really good job keeping them in the game. OH yeah I know I did not see most of the game I was at barbeque; however, I was able to see last few innings. I know that Roenis Elias went only five and a third innings; the bullpen did not give up any runs. Manager Lloyd McClendon said that though Elias did not pitch one of his best games he at least kept them in the game. Other words he was saying the offense did not come through again.

It looks to me like the Mariners need to make a change or two to the team. They now have played fifty games which we have been told a magic number to evaluate the team. Generally the team is good in the bullpen but the starting pitching needs help. Losing Paxton to an injury did not help out at all but with the way Walker is going up and down we do need more depth in the starting pitching.

Another area we all know because everyone of Mariner fans have been talking about for a few weeks is the offense and the bench plays. Oh yes we can’t forget the bottom of the batting order. First of all Robinson Cano is not playing up to what a superstar is expected to do but even so he is not the major problem since Nelson Cruz and Kyle Seager are picking up the slack. The bottom of the order what is hurting the Mariners most of all. Dustin Ackley is playing very good defense especially lately but the Mariners are not getting any production out of left field. Even using Ruggiano or Weeks has not helped either though I do not think they are playing enough as well. Since Ackley isn’t producing offensively the Mariners need to use more of Ruggiano and Weeks in left field. In the case of Weeks maybe more at designated hitter; they should use Seth Smith some in left while Nelson Cruz in right field. This should be the best way to go when Cruz is not designated hitter. Cruz is sort of limited in range to playing right field so maybe he should play left field instead. So maybe turn it around and have Ruggiano along with Smith playing right field which is what we thought would happen coming out of spring training. Anyway the Mariners need a steady player in left field.

I am not sure what else to say except a few little changes will help the Mariners in the long run. I am not sure whether Castillo is the solution as the backup catcher either. Although it would help if either he or Zunino could hit for an average of .200; not good when seven through nine are all under that magic number. I won’t mention it again for a little while unless a change does happen. We can only hope. Hopefully the Yankees will help us out along with the Tampa Bay Rays. The Mariners can still salvage a winning record on this home stand. Go Mariners!