Mariners’ Bullpen Blows Lead

First of all sorry I haven’t written anything for a few days my brother and family are in town. We did some kayaking on Tuesday so that would be part of sports right.

I guess the headline here is one I could have used on a number of occasions this Mariner baseball season so why not now.  Anyways it looked like the Mariners had the chance to sweep the Colorado Rockies and win four straight, however, it was not meant to be. The road trip I would say was a success at least marginally. They should have won three of four against the Minnesota Twins instead of splitting the series along with sweeping the Rockies. Oh well that is how the season has gone for the Mariners.

I wonder how many Mariner fans thought Fernando Rodney had corrected his tipping the pitches problem he had that caused the latest problem in the bullpen. It was three games in a row if I recall that he actually did a good job before Wednesday night where he gave up two runs so the game to lead into extra inning. I am not sure what the Mariners record in extra innings is at this point though I believe they did have a slight record over .500 in those games but I am sure that is not the case anymore.  In fact I have so lack of confidence in the Mariners that when they do go into extra innings they likely will lose. Oh Yes I do recall the first game of this series against the Rockies they did win 4-1.

Right now the bullpen is a bit different with the trading of Mark Lowe last week. I guess Tom Wihelmsen is the one who takes Lowe’s spot as the number one right hander out of the bullpen and Carson Smith. The number one lefty would be Joe Beimel. I would consider them somewhat reliable depending on how much they have to pitch especially Smith. He has had a bit of bad luck recently while before he was doing quite well. I expect not only the amount of pitching he has had to do recently has something to do with it along with be a rookie who likely will have ups and downs no matter what.

Rob Rasmussen who is one of the lefties the Mariners acquired from Toronto for Mark Lowe seems to be someone that can have some success in the bullpen. I understand he was the key lefthander the Mariners acquired in the trade. The other two lefties are in the low minors so no one knows when they will be ready if at all. Of course being lefties they will be given every chance to succeed. It will be nice in the bullpen when lefty Charlie Furbush returns from the disabled list. He was having a very good season when he came up hurt.

Since the starting pitching has pretty much corrected itself along with the hitting we can only hope the bullpen can be corrected as well? They don’t have to be spectacular but just don’t give runs up in crucial times in close games. It is all we ask for that they give the Mariners the chance to win and not blow too many games. Go Mariner!