I thought the Seattle
Mariners had a good shot at sweeping the Angels on the road especially since
the Mariners have played the Angels so well, and the series meant so much to
the Angels the Mariners had something to play for. I guess I was wrong though the
Mariners were in each of the games.
The Mariners found out
again over the weekend that their hitting again has some work to do though in
recent times they had been doing much better. The pitching was outstanding in
the series though it did have some problems late in each game; however, the
hitting even it was average they would have at least won two out of three games.
On Saturday night you have to give Mike Trout credit for making an outstanding
catch to rob Jesus Montero of a game winning three run homerun. We do know
those things happen sometimes during the season. Of course, they still had a
chance but Freeze hit a walk off home run to win the game on Saturday.
The Mariners seem to
lose a lot of games in the walk off fashion. You can say that happens when your
team is in so many close games throughout the season. I actually commented on
twitter to one of the Mariner beat writers that the team always seems to lose
so many games in the walk off way, and if any other teams were even close to
the Mariners for losing walk offs. He said that the Mariners were tied with the
Tampa Bay Rays. It sort of surprised me though maybe it should not since the
Rays have a losing record like the Mariners. Both teams show with a little bit
more offense or relief pitching whatever the case maybe they could have winning
seasons. The Mariners it has sort of both the offense and relief pitching
generally not at the same time. I have to say this has to be one of the most
frustrating parts of this season for the Mariners that all the parts of the
team have not worked together very often. Most likely if we go over the history
of baseball we would find the case where most losing teams have a lot of games
where they lose by two runs or less.
I am not sure what is worse to lose many games
by two runs or less or be blown out in a lot of games. In either case it is not
fun to watch; however, changes can happen to a team that loses by a two runs or
less easier than a team that gets blown out. All the same changes will need to
happen in both circumstances. In the case of the Mariners they need to add
another bat or two along with a pitcher in both starting and relieving.
Actually in the bullpen they may look to make several changes while a team that
is blown out a lot needs to blow up their team; however, I don’t see that
happens very often. A team that loses over a hundred games in a season needs to
be blown up regardless why they lost that many games. At least we are lucky the
Mariners are not in that category. The management of the Mariners are tired of
being a mediocre team at least that is what they say anyway and I believe it
otherwise why would they have fired Jack Z.
Soon the Mariners will
be hiring a new general manager. It is possible the new general manger could be
in place as early as this week. It will be interesting to hear and write about
the new general manager. I will be coming out soon about my season ending
report card. I believe it wouldn’t be much different than what I said at the
all-star break though the Mariners did have some improvements in the second
half. My grade for the team won’t change but maybe some things to say may have
changed. I guess we will have to see. All we know for sure the off-season will
be interesting to say the least. We can only hope so anyway. Go Mariners!
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