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.