Mariners Pitching Continues to Struggle

Tai Walker had a bad outing Thursday afternoon giving up six runs on nine hits in 3 1/3 innings. The positive sign is he only walked one batter.

Last spring Walker had a fantastic spring however came out struggling in April. Maybe the tables will be turned this year. We can hope that Walker will improve over last season for the Mariners. Everyone sees his potential and hopes that he will be the number one starter in a few years and take over for Felix in that spot.  What I like about Walker is that he doesn’t walk a lot of batters and general that is the undoing of pitchers especially the young ones. We can tell in the history of spring training what happens in Arizona usually does not transfer over to regular season either good or bad. The important thing is that he keeps up his confidence and he does not add pressure to himself. It does really help that he is still the number four starter at this point in his career.

Felix goes to the mound this after for his next to last outing during the spring. Next Wednesday should be the last outing before opening the season on Monday April 4 against the Texas Rangers. I am sure we will see improved Felix over his last performance which was OK. It would be nice if he could pitch five or six innings depending on the pitch count.

Starting catcher Chris Iannetta will be in the lineup today and is expected to catch a full game. So far he is having a good camp and he will be ready for opening season. Steve Clevenger and Rob Bentley are still in competition two be the backup catcher to him. I expect Clevenger has the edge however we will see if that changes at all.

Franklin Gutierrez is listed in the starting lineup playing right field however he still might be down with the flu so he could be replaced in the lineup. We will see in a few minutes. It is nice that he is having a really good spring training and we will see him in the lineup  against lefties during the season either in right field or designated hitter depending where Nelson Cruz plays.  

Kyle Seager will be batting second today for the Mariners. We have to see however it looks like he will be spending time batting second or sixth in the lineup. I would not be surprised if he bats sixth against lefties.

Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz and Adam Lind are all in the lineup today as well. I am sure we will be seeing a lot of them the rest of spring training. Most likely Lind will be taken out somewhere in the middle of the game to give one of the candidates who will hit against lefties. I can’t wait until spring training is over so we know for sure who will be playing first base along with Lind and who the utility player is which I am sure will be Luis Sardinas. I would really be surprised if he is not on the roster.

Anyway time go see the game on TV. . Enjoy the rest of the day and Go Mariners!