Seahawks Offense and Receivers

I am sorry it has been a while since I wrote about the Seahawks. Now that we are getting closer to training camp and the season I will be writing at least once a week until the season gets away.

We will start with the offense and the receiving group. We did hear on Monday that number one receiver Doug Baldwin was signed to a new four year contract for $46 million with $25 million being guaranteed. He still has one year left on his last contract so it looks like he will be with the Seahawks for the next five years anyway. He is twenty-eight years old so that will make him thirty-three when the contract ends so this could be his last contract.

We still hear that the offense will be primarily the running game with Thomas Rawls and the other running backs however the receivers should be receiving just fewer than fifty percent of the plays depending on how things go. With Baldwin and possibly Jimmy Graham depending on his return from injury they should be the key receivers. Though Graham is a tight end I would not be surprised to see him on the outside receiver position once in a while and Baldwin on the inside. The outside receiver starting the game is likely to be Jermaine Kearse with Tyler Lockett being the other outside receiver when they are going with a three receive chore. Lockett likely will be the kickoff and punt returner once again.

Paul Richardson who has been out for some time with an injury missing all of last season may be the fourth receiver or Kasen Williams. The Seahawks do have other candidates at receiver depending on how Richardson works out. As far as the tight end position besides Jimmy Graham the Seahawks have returning Luke Willson and rookie Nick Vannett out of Ohio State. He could be a real key in the running game well as receiving for the Seahawks.

The whole key to the Seahawks offense will still come down to the new offensive line. How they can block for Russell Wilson and give him the time will tell how the offense and receiving will work. If they are able to block well for the running game this will put the receivers in very good position even if Wilson has to scramble on passing downs.

Next time I will look at the Seahawks new and questionable offensive line with a couple new players and a couple others being put into a new position. We will see how that all works out over the next couple months or so. Go Seahawks!

 

Miley Comes Off Disabled List

The Seattle Mariners lost first game with Wade Miley pitching after he just came off the disabled list. Like most of his outings Miley struggled early and gave up a couple runs in the second and three more in his final inning the fourth.

 He was replaced by Donn Roach who pitched just the fifth inning but gave up three innings. On the positive side if there is one they neither gave up a home run. Nathan Karns who made his first bullpen outing gave up only one hit in two innings and not a single run. For right now it could be the move the Mariners will needed in the bullpen especially with Nick Vincent going on the disabled list. Hard to know right now how long Roach will be on the pitching staff or be returned to Tacoma for another call up. I am sure we will know soon.

Speaking of the disabled list backup catcher Steve Clevenger was injured in the third inning with a possible broken finger. A specialist will see him on Thursday so the Mariners will be bringing up someone to replace him. Manager Servais mentioned Mike Zunino’s name however I hope that it will be left handed hitting catcher Rob Brantly who was in spring training for the Mariners until being sent down. The only thing is he is not on the 40 man roster. Depending on how much use the Mariners plan to use the backup catcher they could go with Steve Baron who is on the 40 man roster and is playing double A. We should know the move in a few hours.

The Mariners now take on the Baltimore Orioles in a four game series before going on a road trip on July 4 starting with the Houston Astros before the All-Star break. The Orioles have been on a pretty good winning streak coming into Seattle so this could be a tough time the rest of this week. Of course, they have former Mariner who played for part of last year for them Mark Trumbo who likely DH along with some play in right field or first base. He is having an outstanding year having hit nineteen home runs so far.

TaiJuan Walker will be taking the mound Thursday followed by Wade LeBlanc. On Saturday and Sunday we will likely see the beginning of the rotation again with Paxton and Iwakuma. Miley will make his next start in Houston. I think we may only see Walker for five innings depending how he does since he has missed a couple of outings. I would not be surprised if we see Mike Montgomery come in first from the bullpen. Roach and Karns are two we probably won’t see pitch Thursday since they did on Wednesday. The rest of the bullpen should be ready to go.

I like the starting lineup since Aoki was sent down to Tacoma though another outfielder would be nice. I expect no change until after the All-Star break. We may see Felix return right after the break depending if he is able to go on a rehab assignment during the break. In the meantime go M’s.

Sweep Not In the Cards

Early in Sunday’s game the Mariners looked like they had the chance of sweeping the Cardinals but it was not in cards so to speak.

The Mariners got up early taking a 3-1 lead after three innings however the Cardinals hit several doubles plus a triple off of Karns to make it 5-3 for the Cardinals. I thought at the time here we go again especially when the Cardinals hit a home run in the sixth inning however Gutierrez hit a three run homer to tie the game to give us some hope tying the score 6-6. The tie did not last long because in the top of the seventh Nick Vincent gave up back to back home runs. It did not end there with three more solo home runs that ended the game 11-6. Rookie Diaz I let him slide because he throws the ball hard and is successful most of the time. When someone does get a hit off of him the chances it will be a home run though he has given up a few singles to; however, Vincent and Nuno seem to like giving up home runs.

The Mariners coaching staff needs to look into who they should be pitching in these close games. Home runs are giving up too many games. I think they may have to move the fences back out again. Not necessarily where they were before. David Rollins seems to be throwing strikes. He only gave up one walk in Tacoma so he may have to replace Nuno as the left specialist.

The Mariners starting rotation will be making changes this week because Miley is supposed to be coming off the disabled list on Wednesday and TaiJuan Walker is expected to pitch on Thursday. The Mariners will need to make a roster change on Wednesday so I am sure Roach will be sent back down.  I would move Karns to the bullpen when Miley is reinstated. So the new rotation would be Paxton, Iwakuma, Miley, Walker and LeBlanc. This would make the rotation going from one lefty when the season started now to three. Karns could be the first man out of the bullpen when Montgomery isn’t. We could find out this is a good role for Karns. Something happens with one of the other guys he can be added back in.

The Mariners take on the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday and Wednesday. They actually struggled to lose twenty out of twenty-six game recently. Iwakuma will start Tuesday’s game after the Mariners have Monday off followed by Miley.

The Mariners will face the Baltimore Orioles in a four game series over the weekend. TaiJuan Walker is expected to start that game. Friday’s game could be either LeBlanc or Karns starting the game. I would put into the hands of LeBlanc myself.  We will be seeing more changes this week especially in the pitching. So enjoy Monday off and get back to it on Tuesday. Go M’s.   

Thanks Adam Lind

Friday night Adam Lind hit a walk- off home run for the Mariners over the St. Louis Cardinals in Seattle to win 4-3. The Mariners we going into the bottom of ninth behind 3-1 after reliever Benoit gave up three runs in the eighth inning. We now see if this will put the Mariners into a little win streak themselves after losing six straight games including being swept in four games by the Detroit Tigers.

Wade LeBlanc who the Mariners got in a trade from the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday started in the place of TaiJuan Walker who was unable to go because of his injury. Walker should be back next week to pitch along with Wade Miley who will come off the disabled list.

On Friday the Mariners made several transactions besides add LeBlanc to the roster. They sent leftfielder Nori Aoki on options to Tacoma to work on his hitting especially against left handed pitchers. Also Tom Wilhelmsen was sent down to Tacoma as well. The Mariners brought up reliever Dave Rollins and Donn Roach who came in to replace Benoit and got the victory for the Mariners.

In other news Adrian Sampson who was supposed to start on Thursday was added to the disabled list as well. More News came out that he will need surgery and likely will be out for the rest of the season.

When Miley makes his next start the Mariners will have to make another move to the roster. I am sure the Mariners will eventually make another move when the bullpen is rested because the Mariners have only two players coming off the bench besides Steve Clevenger the Mariners backup catcher. On Friday the Mariners lineup included Lee playing first base and Adam Lind at designated hitter so Franklin Gutierrez and Sean O’Malley were available on the bench. Without Aoki we will probably see Lee more in the lineup against right handers. Gutierrez does not hit right handers very well so he still will start primarily against left handers. Also Sean O’Malley will be in the lineup against lefties most likely too. In those cases Adam Lind and Seth Smith will be on the bench to pitch hit. O’Malley will start against some right handers to since he is a switch hitter and the Mariners will not have Lee in the starting lineup all the time.  

Saturday night the Mariners will be starting Karns who started well in April and May but just like the Mariners team he was not done so well in June. The Mariners hope that he will be able to go six innings. He will be facing Mike Leake for the Cardinals who has been pitching better in last seven outings.

We hope this series against the Cardinals will put the Mariners back on track into winning ways. Saturday night will show for sure whether it was just a one night deal or not. Go M’s.  

 

 

Mariners Currently a Lousy Team

Right now the Mariners are a lousy team. After a good start they are 6-13 in June and the season record now is 36-34. The Mariners are looking like so many teams we have seen before in Seattle. The first two months they were doing quite well though they were losing some games that made me shake my head anyway. Now my head is shaking even more. They can use the excuse that King Felix and Miley are on the disabled list well as TaiJuan ailing and could be added too. Also Leonys Martin and Ketel Marte were on the list for a couple weeks as well. Both Martin and Marte had an excellent game on Monday getting on base ahead of the mighty three who turned in not so good outing other than Seager getting a home run. The problem though the pitching was not good despite the fact the offense scored seven runs in the game. Previous two games the offense was missing in Boston. Karns and Vincent both let Detroit get back into the game that should have been a sure game that was the problem this time.

Right now the Mariners are losing games that they should be winning. The record this month should be more like 9-10 or 10-9 instead of 6-13. I wonder if they lost the so called chemistry they had the first two months with the losses of players or the weaknesses have been found out by other teams. Before they were winning the close games now they are losing them. Whatever happens in the final three games in Detroit the Mariners need to look into making a trade now not waiting for a few weeks. First of all Dipoto needs to go after  getting another starting pitcher along with an outfielder that I have been calling for in the last several days. Unless he can bounce back Aoki has no value to the Mariners. He has been moved down in the bottom of the batting order and his defense is suspect at best. Both would be OK if Seth Smith and Nelson Cruz defense were not suspect as well. It was shown again late in the game when Sean O’Malley was in left and Franklin Gutierrez was in right. I would be looking at a team who is out of the race right now to see what they have to offer and swing a deal. Though the Mariners don’t have a great farm system they do have a few possible prospects to trade away. Tyler O’Neil and D.J. Peterson are two that the Mariners could put into a trade out of double A. They could throw in a single A player or two as well. Though the Mariners the Mariners still have hope in Mike Zunino he could be possible trade bait too. I would look at trading everyone in the Mariners farm system even Alex Jackson for the right player.

So Dipoto do not wait for a few weeks pull off a trade soon as possible. In the meantime Go M’s.

Losses Continue For Mariners On the Road

On Sunday the Mariners had another loss that could have been a victory. It has been tough recently for this Mariner team.

They actually scored first with a home run by Franklin Gutierrez early in the game and it held up for five innings. In the end because lack of offense the Mariners lost again this time 2-1; right now it seems that other teams have figured the Mariners out. On the current road trip they are 2-4 going into Detroit. For the Mariners to break even on this road trip they will have to go 3-1.

The way that the Texas Rangers have been playing so far this month of June they are leaving the Mariners and the rest of the division in the dust. The Mariners need to figure things out and readjust to get back into the race. Without some changes they could be on the losing end of the record when coming home from Detroit.

TaiJuan Walker had to leave the game again because of his recent injury after the fifth inning. Up to that point he had pitched very well and did not give up any runs. Newcomer Diaz gave up the going run on a homer so had to take the loss. Most of the bullpen should be OK now since most of them had a rest against the Red Sox. We will know soon whether Walker will have to go on the disabled list before his next scheduled start on Friday.

Late Sunday the Mariners made a trade with the Dodgers where they traded shortstop Chris Taylor for starting pitcher Zach Lee who is currently in triple A and will report to the Tacoma Rainiers for now. I do not know much about Lee other than he was a first round draft pick and he is only twenty-four years old. It is nice that the Mariners made a trade for a young pitcher that adds depth to their roster. Chris Taylor was third on the depth chart at shortstop and he was playing well for Tacoma though he had a poor outing when he came up for the Mariners earlier when Marte went on the disable list.

The next step the Mariners need to do is make a trade for an outfielder who has some speed and play defense. The other choice would be to bring Boog Powell up however I am not sure if he is truly ready yet. Aoki has been a disappointment in left field and Seth Smith along with Nelson Cruz has their liability in right field. Besides Leonys Martin they have Franklin Gutierrez however he can’t play every day in the outfield. Utility player Sean O’Malley can play some defense however he doesn’t have the bat to play every day. He can come late in games for pinch runner along with defense. He sometimes gives someone a day off as well. The best lineup right now against lefties is O’Malley in left, Martin in center and Gutierrez in right but lacks the defense against right handed pitching.

Aoki started the season as the leadoff batter however his batting average along with his defense have been a disappointment so he has been moved to the bottom of the batting order. Right now Leonys Martin seems to be the leadoff batter against righties and Marte against lefties. Personally I wish Marte would be the everyday leadoff hitter though his best spot would be batting second. So the Mariners are losing now because of the weaknesses on the team. For them to make the playoffs they need to shore up those weaknesses or we will see them continue losing. The Houston Astros could overtake them so they could end up third in the division. There looks like not much hope for the Angels and the A’s.

The Mariners need to pull off shortly and not wait until late July. I wonder if they could get Michael Saunders back from Toronto or at least someone like him. Now we will see what happens in Detroit. Go M’s.

 

 

 

Mariners take on Red Sox After Avoiding Sweep Against Rays

The Seattle Mariners beat the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday 6-4 to avoid being swept. The Mariners have the best road record but they had some trouble with the Rays though all three games they scored first early. This game was not much different except this time the Mariners were able to hold them off.  

Korean first baseman Dae-Ho Lee who started again on Thursday because the Mariners were facing lefthander Blake Snell who was brought up again by the Rays from Triple-A. He was nervous because he is native of the Seattle area and has been a life-long Mariner fan. The Mariners were able to get to him in the first for three runs that included a single from Lee that brought in two of those runs. In the fourth inning Lee hit his first double of the season that brought in another run. This was after the Rays scored two runs in the third inning to make it 3-2.

The score was 5-4 to going into the ninth when Kyle Seager hit a solo home run to give the Mariners a little cushion. Benoit struggled in the eighth inning loading the bases however only gave up one run. This was the second game that Benoit had pitched in a row. He threw thirty-six games in this game after throwing thirty-five on Wednesday. Do not expect him to pitch on Friday night against the Boston Red Sox.

Steve Cishek pitched the ninth inning because the Mariners were in a save situation. I am sure he felt good because of the two run lead so he could go right after the Ray hitters. Much different pitching with a two run lead over a one run lead; he pitched to three batters not giving up a hit or walk on sixteen pitches. He likely will not pitch against the Red Sox Friday either unless the Mariners are in a saved situation once again. Though he has had four blown saves I still like the way Cishek is pitching for the Mariners and general manager Jerry Dipoto sees no reason to remove him out of the closer role at this time.

The main concern Dipoto still has is the amount of innings the starters are going in each outing. James Paxton gave up three runs with two walks and five strike outs on one hundred and five pitches in six innings. Though the amount of innings was OK I am sure Servais and Dipoto would have liked Paxton to go at least seven innings. This was Paxton’s first of the season after two losses. The second loss pitched well in it after having a bad outing in his first one after replacing Felix Hernandez because of inning. Speaking of the King the Mariners still do not expect Felix to return to the starting rotation until August. The Mariners are in good hands if Paxton can continue to pitch the way he has had in his last three outing. There is concern in the rotation though if Walker continues having a problem after leaving his last outing because of injury. Walker is expected to pitch against the Red Sox on Sunday. Depending on the rotation the Mariners could go out and trade for another starter before the trading deadline on where they are in the standings. If they are still in second place or moved up to first another starter would be a need for them.

Catcher Chris Iannetta helped again on Thursday in the offense as he had three hits in the game. He drove in a run as well for the Mariners. Though he could use a rest most likely he will be in the lineup again Friday night as the Mariners face lefty and former Mariner Elias who is coming up from Triple-A. The Mariners should start Lee again at first base with Franklin Gutierrez in right field or designated hitter. I expect that Leonys Martin should be back in center field after taking Thursday off.

The Red Sox are one game behind the Baltimore Orioles in the American League East. Both teams just finished facing each other. The Mariners had a good time when facing the Orioles in Baltimore so we can hope the same happens in Boston against the Red Sox. While the Mariners are facing the Sox this weekend the Texas Rangers will be facing the Cardinals in St. Louis. So we should be rooting on the Cardinals this weekend. The Mariners will face the Cardinals themselves on their next home stand. Go M’s.

 

 

 

Will Mariners Find Success On the Road Again?

 The Seattle Mariners now go on the road again for ten games after losing two games at Safeco Field against the Texas Rangers in the three game series. The Mariners should have won two out of the three games and they could have swept the Rangers.

Saturday night after beating the Rangers on Friday the Mariners had the lead 1-0 going into the bottom of the ninth when Prince Fielder hit a pitch that was low but in the middle of the plate hit the ball for a homer into the right field seats on a 3-2 pitch with two outs. The homer tied the game and then Mariners went on to lose in the 11^th on another homer. The Mariners were not able to score to tie or win the game in the bottom of the inning.

On Sunday the Mariners being behind 6-1 scored two runs on a hit batsman and a walk with the bases loaded. The Mariners were not able to score anymore runs in the eighth however in the ninth with two outs Robinson Cano hit a ball that looked like it could be a double. Marte scored to make it 6-4 however Cano was thrown out at second base that ended the game. There was the possibility if he had stayed on first base that Nelson Cruz coming up to bat could have hit a home run to tie the game or at the very least kept the rally going. He got a lot of criticism from the media and the fans alike for not staying at first base. It looked like Cano’s leg guard came off while heading for second which caused him to slow down so he was out easily. Manager Servais felt the throw was made perfect by Nomar Mazara from right field. We can all second guess the play but the smart thing would have been to stay at first base because at that point going to second base would have only brought in one run if Cruz hit anything different than a home run. Now we will never now.

Starting pitcher Wade Miley took the loss after giving up three runs in the fourth inning. Up to that point the game was in a 0-0 tie. In the fourth he gave up a double to Elvis Andrus that scored a run and he was followed by Mitch Moreland that hit a two-run homer. Steve Johnson who replaced Miley could not hold the game when he came in the sixth inning. He gave one hit along with two walks that scored three additional runs. He was replaced by Vidal Nuno who pitched three scoreless innings giving up two hits along with a walk. Nick Vincent pitched the ninth inning for the Mariners. He gave up one hit without allowing a run or a walk. If Johnson had not given up those three runs the Mariners had a great chance in winning the game. This still shows how important the bullpen is to the success of the Mariners or not.

The Mariners have Monday off and starts a three game series in Tampa Bay against the Rays. TaiJuan Walker takes the mound for the Mariners on Tuesday. He will be followed by Karns and Paxton who switches places with Iwakuma with the day off on Monday. The Mariners are doing this so they won’t have two lefties pitching back to back games. Iwakuma will have an extra day of rest. He will start the first game of the series against the Red Sox in Boston. The Mariners will finish the road trip with four games Monday through Thursday in Detroit against the Tigers. This road trip will give everyone a better idea on how the Mariners should go the rest of the way in the season. They could make a trade during or after this road trip depending how things really go. I am sure they will make a trade before the end of July regardless where they are in the standings. Either to pick someone up to bolster the roster or someone is given away because they are out of the race. Since Felix maybe out until August the Mariners may go out and get another starting pitcher. They may want to go out and get another outfielder to help as well. If they are out of the race most likely Adam Lind will be traded away since he will become a free agent at the end of the season. Hard to know who else could be traded at that point as well; they could decide to trade one of the starters or someone out of the bullpen too.

Indeed the next two weeks or so will see how the Mariners will do for the rest of the season. If they can win six games at least they will be in good shape. Manager Scott Servais feels that they have a long winning streak ahead for them. If it goes the other way and a long losing streak happens than things will change. All I know the rest of June will be interesting in watching the Mariners. So we can end here by saying as usual Go M’s.

  

Mariners Split Series with Cleveland

The Seattle Mariners Thursday night had the chance to take the series against the Cleveland Indians however they ended up losing and split the series. Not all bad since the Indians are in first place of the American League Central and playing pretty good baseball.

The Mariners were tied going into the eighth inning when reliever Benoit was unable to hold the tie and gave up a two-run homer to center fielder Tyler Naquin then had two base throwing error that allowed the Indians to score another run.

Robinson Cano continued his hot hitting with two homers and a double. The first homer put the Mariners ahead in the first inning however Nelson Cruz was thrown out at home after singling and trying to score on a double by Kyle Seager. Cano hit his double in the third inning with two outs but was unable to score when Cruz flied out to right field. The third run the Mariners scored was a home run by Adam Lind his seventh of the season.

Starting pitcher Nathan Karns only lasted four and a third inning. He started having problems with his control in the second inning after yielding a single followed by two walks to load the bases. Designated hitter Carlos Santana hit a ball into left-center where Aoki who was playing centerfield was able to make running catch to save at least two runs. Karns lost his control in the fifth inning walking two batters in a row then he was lifted for Mike Montgomery who finished off the inning and pitched the sixth inning as well. Rookie reliever Diaz pitched the seventh inning giving up a run on two hits and struck out two batters on twenty-four pitches.

Benoit pitched the eighth inning giving up the three runs and was replaced Vidal Nuno with two outs who finished the inning on three pitches. Steve Anderson pitched the ninth inning giving up no hits and did not strike out a batter on fourteen pitches. It looks like Anderson along with Vincent are becoming key members of the Mariners’ bullpen.

Thursday was the first day of the Amateur Baseball draft. The Mariners took outfielder Kyle Lewis out of Mercer. He is an all-American who the Mariners expected to go higher however grabbed him with the 11^th overall pick. The Mariners took high school third baseman Jim Rizzo in the second round out of Virginia. The third through the ten rounds will take place Friday and the remaining rounds will be on Saturday.  

Now the Mariners take on the Texas Rangers in Seattle with Iwakuma starting on Friday against Holland who seems to have his mark on the Mariners. The Mariners have an off day on Monday so Iwakuma is expected to switch spots with Paxton who pitches Saturday for the Mariners so they Mariners won’t have two lefties pitcher two days in a row. We hope that Mariners can pay back the Rangers for what they did to them last weekend. Go M’s.  

Way to go Miley

The Seattle Mariners had another great pitching match on Tuesday and the offense came alive to. Nice to see the Mariners break the four game losing streak. The offense had a couple days off it been nice to see them back to normal with the Mariners winning 7-1.

Often players have superstitions sort of wonder Miley’s shaving his beard took care of it. He certainly looked different without a beard. He looked fine with the beard however a lot better without one. I expect that he will stay this way as long as he continues to win. He probably goes back if he starts losing again.

Besides Miley’s pitching we saw Nelson Cruz hit a couple home runs to help out the offense.  His first home was in the first inning with Nelson Cruz on first base to put the Mariners up 2-0. The next key scoring was in the fourth inning the Mariners with runners on first and second base with Adam Lind up to bat. Lind hit the ball to shortstop Lindor who field the ball cleanly however he hesitated because the Indians had overshifted against Lind. So the bases ended up being loaded. Backup catcher Steve Clevenger followed with a double to score two runs. Shawn O’Malley then hit a triple that brought in two more runs to make it 6-0. Cruz hit his second homer with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning to finish off the Mariner’s scoring.

The Cleveland Indian scored their only one run in the top of the eighth inning off of Mariner reliever Benoit who came in to take over for Miley who now has a record of 6-2 though he has an era of 5.84. Miley gave up four hits while walking two batters and striking out three in his seven innings.

With his two home runs now Cruz is one behind Cano with thirteen and behind Cano in run batted in with 40. Now that he is on a streak in hitting home runs this week Cruz could ride the Mariners offense for a while. At least we really hope so especially if Cano can stay on hitting as well along with Seager. The offense will do real well if Adam Lind continues his hitting along with Dae-Ho Lee when he is in the game. 

Wednesday night TaiJuan Walker takes the mound for the Mariners against Carrasco pitching for the Indians. We hope that Walker can rebound like the other pitchers have. If not he could see himself go down to Tacoma. The Mariners being in the race can’t afford him to pitch the way Walker has the last seven games and losing six of them. They may wait until Felix returns if no one looks capable enough in Tacoma. Go M’s.

There Was Good News Along with the Bad News For Mariners

The good news on Sunday for the Mariners was the pitching of Iwakuma. He was able to pitch seven plus innings so he saved the bullpen for the team. The bad news was the Mariners were swept by the Rangers in Texas. The Mariners should have won the game but lost because of errors. The final score was 3-2. Also the offense struggled in the game. Most of the season the Mariners would have won that game; now they three games behind the Rangers. We hope the game won’t hurt them at the end of season. The Rangers and Mariners should be the two finishers for the American League West.

Other good news Ketel Marte was activated from the disable list and will be starting Monday night against the Cleveland Indians. He will be batting eighth and playing shortstop. Sean O’Malley will be batting ninth and starting at second base. Yes Cano will be in the lineup however being the designated hitter. Give him a needed day of rest in the field. I expect that Kyle Seager will be given a day off in the field as well this week before Leonys Martin comes off the disabled list. Martin is expected to return on Friday. He did some running on Monday to see how his legs are working. The Mariners will be playing almost the whole month so the Mariners will have to see what they will to give rest to their players. Cano and Seager are the two that play almost every day in the field. Martin likely will play at least a couple game for the Tacoma Rainiers. I believe Sardinas will return to the Rainiers when Martin comes off the disabled list. O’Malley seems to be doing a better job for them than Sardinas.

James Paxton gets another shot at pitching for the Mariners Monday night. We hope that he will do a better job on his second outing for the Mariners. They need him to rebound otherwise the Mariners will lose five games in a row. It would be good if he could go six innings and give up a couple runs. If he pitches more like his first outing we will have to wonder how many more changes he will be given. He will be facing right handed pitcher Trevor Bauer for the Indians who has started seven games and has a record of 3-2 with era of 4.27. The Indians have been playing really good ball so the Mariners need to slow them down. Besides O’Malley playing second base the Mariners will have their regular lineup against right handers. Go M’s.   

Mariners Need Starter to Go Farther Saturday Night

Saturday night Nathan Karns goes to the mound for the Mariners in Texas against the Rangers. The last couple weeks it has been tough for the starters. Outside of Karns and Iwakuma the rest of the starters have had very poor starts.

Friday night TaiJuan Walker lost his sixth straight game in seven outings after starting out going 2-0 in his first four outings. According to manager Scott Servais Walker is in his developmental stage which is hard to do on the major league level. We all know that Walker has the talent however how far will the Mariners go before sending him down to Tacoma. I would give him one more start to see where things go. If he pitches again in the same manner I would then send him down. Regardless of how he does in Tacoma I would leave him there until at least after the all-star break.

It is hard to deal with a young hurler who has so much potential. Just like James Paxton was told he needs now to decide what kind of pitcher he wants to be. He is four years younger than Paxton so he does have some time to mature as a pitcher but the Mariners can’t afford to do on the major league level. If the Mariners were at the bottom of the standings like the Oakland A’s this could be a different story.

News on Saturday morning the Mariners decided to promote number one pitching prospect Edwin Diaz up to the big club. He had been a starter at the beginning of the season for the Mariners Double A team in Jackson however the Mariners felt that the way for him get to the major leagues faster was to move him to the bullpen. In ten outings out of the bullpen he pitched eleven and two-third innings in the past three weeks. He walked only two batters along with striking out sixteen. He replaces Cody Martin in the bullpen who pitched in the last two games including the game the Mariners came from behind to win on Thursday 16-13. Friday Martin pitched three innings so the Mariners felt he had to be one to be sent down with bringing up Diaz. Martin was brought up when Joel Peralta was designated for assignment. According to Servais that Diaz will likely be put into action the same way Mike Montgomery was when he was moved to the bullpen during spring training. How long Diaz will be around will depend on him of course. In the long term he will someday be the Mariner closer but right now I expect that he will be brought in different situations. It will be nice to see what Diaz will do tonight. Unlike Walker or any young starter he is asked just to throw hard using two pitches only. He throws a fastball that gets up to 98 miles per hour and a slider as well. He does have a changeup but still has work to do on it.

It will be nice if Karns can do what he has been doing so far this season. The Mariners could use him to go at least six if not seven innings. It would be nice for the Mariners to win Saturday night so tomorrow’s game would be less pressure to win and we hope they can win another series on the road. Nice thing though is the Mariners do have depth still down on the farm for pitching. Go M’s.

Incredible Win For the Mariners

 The home and away series against the San Diego Padres was something else. It ended with an amazing turnaround on Thursday night when the Mariners beat the Padres 16-13.

The Mariners were behind 12-2 going into the sixth inning after the Padres had scored seven runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. The highlight of the sixth inning for the Mariners was a three-run homer off the bat of Dae-Ho Lee who was pinch hitting for Adam Lind. The homer made the score 12-7. The bottom of the sixth the Padres did not score a run.

We than go to the seventh inning that so amazing. Nelson Cruz came to bat with the bases loaded and struck out after hitting off about ten pitches. At that point I was thinking it would be nice if Kyle Seager could get a single to drive in a couple runs to give the Mariners some hope. He actually did that to make the score 12-9. He was followed by Dae-Ho- Lee who hit the ball the other way to right field to score two more runs to make it 12-11. More hits followed that put the Mariners ahead 16-12. The Mariners had seven hits in a row scoring all nine runs with the two outs. Everyone got into the act that allowed a few guys to get up two times in the seventh inning. Stefan Romero pinched hit and lined the ball into center field to tie the game and then Sean O’Malley who had already pinch hit earlier in the inning hit a single to put the Mariners into the lead. I am sure no one has ever seen anything like it. Former Mariner catcher Dave Valle on the post-game on Roots Sports said that he never seen anything like it in all thirty-eight years he has been in baseball. In the seventh inning the Mariners only hit singles no extra base hits. Many of the at-bats they made the Padre pitchers through seven or eight pitches before getting a hit. In total the Padres threw seventy pitches in the seventh inning. When you figure that a typical baseball game a team throws between one hundred and twenty or thirty it is even more mind boggling.

Now the Mariners go to take on the Texas Rangers in Arlington Texas. With the Rangers and the Mariners both at the top of the American League West what will we see this weekend? Will we go back to normal baseball or see more of what happened against the Padres. With the Mariners I have to say we should expect the unexpected. They could sweep the Rangers, be swept by the Rangers, win one or two games. Right now we have to say the Mariners are an entertaining team to watch. We hope this goes through the whole summer.  Go M’s!