Mariners Come Home After Two Straight Losses

The Seattle Mariners started out the recent road trip on another soar note going 1-3 against the A’s in Oakland. They did rebound winning the final two games in Detroit after losing the opener in that series to the Tigers 1-9. The worst thing is that they lost Felix Hernandez and Mitch Haniger to the disabled list on that day. They did rebound winning two against the Tigers and then the first game against the Cleveland Indians. At that point things looked bright having gone 4-4 on the road however they lost the final two to the Indians making the road trip 4-6 and now back in last place in the American League Western Division with a record of 11-15 for the month of April.

The Mariners now start May playing six games at home with three against both the Oakland A’s and the Texas Rangers. It would be nice if the Mariners can have a good home series winning two out of three against both the A’s and the Rangers. The good thing is that James Paxton starts Tuesday night’s game. Right now he is the ace of the Mariners. He has pitched really well in three of the four outings. In fact he has shout out the opposition in those three games. This would be great if he can get the home stand rolling. He will be followed by Iwakuma and Miranda against the A’s. Both pitchers should do well pitching in Safeco Field. Yovani Gallardo will start against the Rangers on Friday night. He pitched well in his last game on Saturday in Detroit after giving up four runs in the first inning. Unfortunately this happened after the Mariners had scored three runs. Neither team added a run in the game so the Mariners lost 4-3 before losing big on Sunday. Right now it hasn’t been announced whether Chase De Jong will start against the Rangers on Saturday. There is a possibility that manager Servais will give him another shot. The whole thing is that the Mariners don’t really have any one else who has pitched well either.  Chris Heston was lit up in his only start and has not pitched well coming out of the bullpen either.

The Mariners offense does lead the American League in runs scored however the pitching has been 29^th out of 30 in the major leagues. It has been tough with Drew Smyly not being in the rotation and not expected back until sometime in June and Felix Hernandez going on the disabled list as well with problem on his right shoulder. It looks like his shoulder is better than expected so Felix could return sooner. Originally it was forecasted that he would not be back for three-to-four weeks now he could make a start after missing two starts. I am sure we will hear further news soon on Felix.

The Mariners will need the offense to be more consistent. Although they lead the American League in runs scored some of the games have been lopsided. Even when Detroit scored nineteen runs in first game on the last road trip the Mariners did score nine runs. In another game against the Tigers the Mariners shut them out 8-0.

Not sure whether the starting rotation or the bullpen has been the worst part of the pitching. Both of them have had their ups and downs. There has been a few times where the bullpen could have shut the door against the opposition the Mariners could have won. There were times when they did that the offense were not able to score additional runs either.

The Mariners play twenty-eight games in May. It would be nice if they could go at least 15-13 in those games to make their record 26-28 going into June. At that point they should be a healthier team as long as no more injures happen.

The two main positions the Mariners need to improve on when it comes to offense I am sure not to anyone’s surprise is catcher and first base. Mike Zunino hasn’t hit well with no power and Ruiz has don’t well either however he may get more playing time this month. The Mariners brought up Daniel Vogelbach up recently however he hasn’t hit very well as of yet. Danny Valencia continues to struggle for the most hand. The third option is Taylor Motter who hit pretty good when replacing Jean Segura while he was on the disabled list. Motter looks like the best defensive of the three however he recently hasn’t been hitting the ball well either. The Mariners will have to decide whether to go with a platoon at first base or go with one at first base most of the time. Nelson Cruz has had some trouble with his hamstring so either Vogelbach or Valencia will have to spend some time there too however Cruz will play as much as they can allow him too. We hope that he gets healthy soon.

This upcoming home stand we will see if the Mariners can rebound and get back into the race. It is important since they play two teams in their own division. The Mariners starting pitching besides Paxton will have to step up along with their bullpen. Go M’s.