Walker Goes For No Hitter

 

 

 

 

TaiJuan Walker for almost six innings was pitching a perfect game for the Mariners over the Angels on Tuesday night. The perfect game ended when Ketel Marte threw wildly to first base that rookie Vogelbach could not come up with. He still had the no hitter until he gave up a hit in the seventh inning. In total Walker gave up three hits while striking out eleven Angels.

Walker certainly showed us what he is capable of when he is pitching well. Pitching Coach Mel Stottlemyre needs to be given some kind of award if Walker continues to pitch in this fashion after changing his mechanics. I am sure it is an attitude adjustment as well. Also helped that Mariners got up to an 8-0 early and all they had to do is cruise.

The Mariners hitting right now is so impressive that all the Mariners starting pitchers have to get through six innings allowing the team to be in position to win. Now that the team has won seven straight games sure has the confidence of everyone on the roster. I am sure no one wants to be the one to have the team lose going into the seventeen remaining games in the season. The Mariners have now won 77 games and I wonder if winning ten of those seventeen games will be enough or will they have to go as high as twelve to get into the playoffs.

Wednesday night Iwakuma will be pitching for the Mariners in the final game of the series against the Angels. It does look like the Mariners should sweep the Angels on the roll they are on. Friday will start important series over the weekend against the Houston Astros with King Felix taking the mound on Friday. This is not only important series to win to continue toward the playoffs they have a final road game series in Houston as well just before ending the season at home against the Oakland A’s. The Mariners have had trouble against the Astros all season long however they had the same trouble earlier against the Texas Rangers who they took care of in last home series. The team that wins the majority of the six games against each other could put that team into the playoffs. If they split the six games both teams could be out of playoffs as well. It is nice to see that the Mariners are playing their best baseball at the right critical time. They have had trouble getting over the hump when they gotten up to ten wins above .500 we can only hope this will not happen this time. Whether they make the playoffs or not Dipoto’s achievement was to make this team with a winning culture and it certainly looks like he has done that so far this season. We do know that there are some more added parts that need to make the team more successful in the years to come. It is nice to see that all the minor league teams made the playoffs after having such a lousy organization in the years past. We hope that the Mariners have prospects that not only can help them but can be used to trade for needed players as well. The free agent market for 2017 doesn’t look very good so trades look like the only true way for the team to improve next season. Whether they make the playoffs or not let’s enjoy the rest of the ride this season. Go M’s.