The Angels Sweep the Mariners

I thought the Seattle Mariners had a good shot at sweeping the Angels on the road especially since the Mariners have played the Angels so well, and the series meant so much to the Angels the Mariners had something to play for. I guess I was wrong though the Mariners were in each of the games.

The Mariners found out again over the weekend that their hitting again has some work to do though in recent times they had been doing much better. The pitching was outstanding in the series though it did have some problems late in each game; however, the hitting even it was average they would have at least won two out of three games. On Saturday night you have to give Mike Trout credit for making an outstanding catch to rob Jesus Montero of a game winning three run homerun. We do know those things happen sometimes during the season. Of course, they still had a chance but Freeze hit a walk off home run to win the game on Saturday.

The Mariners seem to lose a lot of games in the walk off fashion. You can say that happens when your team is in so many close games throughout the season. I actually commented on twitter to one of the Mariner beat writers that the team always seems to lose so many games in the walk off way, and if any other teams were even close to the Mariners for losing walk offs. He said that the Mariners were tied with the Tampa Bay Rays. It sort of surprised me though maybe it should not since the Rays have a losing record like the Mariners. Both teams show with a little bit more offense or relief pitching whatever the case maybe they could have winning seasons. The Mariners it has sort of both the offense and relief pitching generally not at the same time. I have to say this has to be one of the most frustrating parts of this season for the Mariners that all the parts of the team have not worked together very often. Most likely if we go over the history of baseball we would find the case where most losing teams have a lot of games where they lose by two runs or less.

 I am not sure what is worse to lose many games by two runs or less or be blown out in a lot of games. In either case it is not fun to watch; however, changes can happen to a team that loses by a two runs or less easier than a team that gets blown out. All the same changes will need to happen in both circumstances. In the case of the Mariners they need to add another bat or two along with a pitcher in both starting and relieving. Actually in the bullpen they may look to make several changes while a team that is blown out a lot needs to blow up their team; however, I don’t see that happens very often. A team that loses over a hundred games in a season needs to be blown up regardless why they lost that many games. At least we are lucky the Mariners are not in that category. The management of the Mariners are tired of being a mediocre team at least that is what they say anyway and I believe it otherwise why would they have fired Jack Z.

Soon the Mariners will be hiring a new general manager. It is possible the new general manger could be in place as early as this week. It will be interesting to hear and write about the new general manager. I will be coming out soon about my season ending report card. I believe it wouldn’t be much different than what I said at the all-star break though the Mariners did have some improvements in the second half. My grade for the team won’t change but maybe some things to say may have changed. I guess we will have to see. All we know for sure the off-season will be interesting to say the least. We can only hope so anyway. Go Mariners!

Last Series on the Road for the Mariners

The Mariners are now coming down to the end with nine games remaining on the schedule for this season. The team’s final three with the Angels on the road; so the Mariners will have six remaining games at home ending next Sunday October 4.

The Mariners, the media, and the fans all know that this season has been a disappointment all the way around. The Mariners would have to win seven out of the nine games to make it 81-81 which we all know will be hard to do. We can only hope they win maybe five out of the nine games making it 79-83. Even if the Mariners won all nine games the only satisfaction we would get out of this season is they went out on a big bang.

We can look again for another October watching other teams in the playing in the playoffs instead of the Mariners. We can hope next season the Mariners will have a better one and can finally make the playoffs. There was news today that the Mariners are down to two candidates for the General Manager position former Angel’s general manager Jerry Dipoto and assistant general manager of the New York Yankees Billy Eppler. In both cases they sound like pretty good choices with Dipoto he knows the American League West Division very well and I am sure knows the Mariners roster pretty good. If they pick Eppler we can say the Mariners stuck to the Yankees again. Whoever they pick seem to me to be a very good choice. I expect the Mariners will announce the choice of the General Manager during the playoffs and before the World Series if he they do not announce before the season ends.

What would be really nice is to stick it to the Angels this weekend in Anaheim. The Mariners have done well against the Angels this season. The players certainly have the incentive to do so since many of them excluding the four chore players are fighting for a position on next season’s roster. I am sure the bullpen is where the biggest change will happen next season since it was the area the Mariners had the most difficulty during the season. I would not be surprised to see the Mariners make several trades during the off-season. Some of those trades could include top prospects to get a few veteran players in. I could see coming the way of the Mariners a new outfielder possibly in center field, a first baseman, catcher, veteran starting pitcher, and finally a veteran reliever who could be a closer.

I look forward to the closing of the season along with the playoffs, the naming of the new general manager, and new players. Of course, we do not know whether manager Lloyd or the coaching staff will be back. I am sure that Edgar Martinez will return as hitting coach regardless of who the manager will be. So we will see an exciting off season and we hope a really great 2016. A season we expected this year. Go Mariners.

The Head Man Arrives For Seahawks

Right out of the blue Chancellor arrives in Seattle to participate in the Seahawks practices for the first home game of the season.

I have a weird sense of humor and a warp mind so I figure Kam showed up in time because of the Chinese President’s visit. I hope you understand my meaning and humor. If you haven’t I will lay it on forward for you. Chancellor and President! OK! Also if you want to add the Pope being in Washington D.C. you can do for your imagination.

Moving on it is obvious Kam needs the Seahawks and a paycheck in the same manner the Seahawks need him.  I am not sure the Seahawks would have won the first two games with him; however, I am sure the chances would have been greater. The first game against the Rams I am sure the Seahawks would not have lost the game at the end of the fourth quarter with the long pass that went for the touchdown against Bailey who tripped over himself. It is hard to know the difference in the second game either though when one of your top players is missing regardless of circumstances in a close game it can be the difference.

What I like about Kam most of all is his attitude. When you know your good, and can make a great play anytime makes you an automatic winner. When I played competitive tennis I knew most of the time I was better than my opponent, and it was the attitude I played with. If I lost the reason was that I was not sure if I was better than my opponent, and I am sure Kam Chancellor feels that way all the time. He is an imitator whom his opponent knows right up front that he is one so they have little chance to succeed. As long as he has that edge and feels that way he will succeed. The Seahawks have that with Sherman and Thomas as well in the defensive backfield. I see that with the defensive line as well to some extent and the linebackers though they have not played up to the level in the first two games.

I am sure the Seahawk players are really glad to see him on the playing field once again being the soul of the team. I can hope the 12^th man will feel the same way to. Other words forgive and forget; we can hope that Kam and the Seahawks can move on together.

I have heard on sports talk radio on several occasions that Kam wants his money now because he wants security and doesn’t really know how long he can be around because of possible injuries. What I like a lot about Kam Chancellor is his versatility where he could play several different positions. In fact I believe he could play every position on the defense. If the Seahawks need him to he could move into one of the linebacker positions as well as the defensive line.

I will say here now welcome back Kam. It is really good to see you, and let’s go to another Super Bowl. I am sure I will be writing more about him in the future; hopefully, it will be all good news. Go Seahawks!

Mariners Going to Kansas City

I got inspired for the title by the song by Fats Domino. In fact, I am listening to it right now. Someday I hope to go there and meet a pretty woman.

Ok let’s get onto the topic of the Mariners. They are on last road trip of the season, and on the second leg playing the Royals, and then finish off with the Angels in Anaheim. The Royals already have made the playoffs; however, the Angels who likely won’t make it the Mariners can put a soar note on their season.  If the Mariners can win two of three against both the Royals and Angels they will then be two games below five hundred.

All of Mariner fans can agree it has been a disappointing season to say the least; however, if they win the remaining series and go 81-81 at the very least we can have a little satisfaction. At the end of the season we could have something to look forward to next season.

The Mariners have had a pretty good season playing on the road being over five hundred; it would be really nice if they could have duplicated the same at home. In fact, they may have made the playoffs if they had. On another positive note since there is not many of them the Washington Nationals who many thought the Mariners might face in the World Series won’t make it either. Right now they are 78-71 so they will have a winning record it looks like; however, the Pittsburgh Pirates have 90 wins right now and the Chicago Cubs at 88 wins so they look to be the two wild cards in the National League.

The positive side of the Mariners is the success of Felix Hernandez, Nelson Cruz, and the resurgence of Franklin Gutierrez. Also, the second half season of Robinson Cano, and Kyle Seager. If the Mariners could have had a first half season for both Cano and Seager close to their second halves the Mariners have been the race. Of course, we can’t go with what it may have been. I am sure both of them will have better first halves next season. The Mariners will need to have some good productions out of both Cano and Seager. We can’t expect Cruz to have another season like 2015; however, if other players can make up for it the better.

Although he had his ups and downs the future of TaiJuan Walker looks very good. He could be the second starter to Felix. I would like the Mariners to go and get another starter whether Iwakuma resigns or not. The team needs depth since they can’t count on James Paxton. If he can come back next season, and have a good productive season the Mariners will be blessed with his presence but they can’t hope on him pitching enough innings.

I have mentioned it a few times and I am sure the Mariners brass including the new general manager look into getting another outfielder. I like the platoon on Seth Smith, and Franklin Gutierrez in either left or right field. The Mariners will need to go after either a centerfielder or a corner outfielder. Actually both would be nice; however, it would be difficult to get both. I like Brad Miller and Shawn O’Malley as utility players both infield and outfield. They would both be adequate in centerfield if they can’t trade or sign a free agent; however, they both would be better sharing the other outfield position opposite of Smith and Gutierrez. I like Marte playing shortstop and leading off with Miller giving him a day off once in a while. Having Marte, Miller or O’Malley in the lineup each game gives the Mariners the needed speed especially in Safeco Field.

I am sure all of us diehard Mariner fans will enjoy the rest of the season , and look forward to the changes during the off-season going to spring training. Go Mariners!

Mariners Core Group

We all pretty know who the four key players are for the Seattle Mariners this season. They are King Felix Hernandez, Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz, and Kyle Seager. Also, they are the four highest paid players as well.

King Felix and Nelson Cruz both have had really great seasons. Felix has a real chance to win twenty games although he may have to win the remaining games he pitches in. Even if he doesn’t it will be still a really good season for him. We have sort of expected it out of Felix every year. Right now he is into his prime; however, the amount of innings he has pitched we could see a season he falls back. It would be nice if it happened in a season where the Mariners could make the playoffs. I know that sounds funny or weird but for Felix a down year could be better than most pitchers good years. The most important thing would be that he was ready to pitch in the playoffs. Nelson Cruz on the other hand had another great season. I don’t think any of us expected him to play as well as he did last year. He has done better than we could have imagined hitting over forty home runs for second straight season. I don’t think we could expect that again next season; however, if other players step up the Mariners could be better than this year. What I like most about Cruz though he looks like such a good teammate and he always smiles.

Robinson Cano we all know that he had a very poor first half of the season; however, he has bounced back the second half. Most likely it was because of injuries that he performed so poorly. We can hope next season he can have a good full season. It doesn’t have to be up to par for what his career has been but if he hit around .280 and drove in about 80 runs I think it would be good enough if other players pick up their performance.

Kyle Seager who I now nicknamed Kyle has style Seager also had a poor first half season as well. Not as bad as Cano’s but we all know he could have done better. The second half of the season he has stepped up to make the season we always expect out of him. Like Felix we starting to expect that he will have a good year every year, and at his age he could get better. He isn’t yet to his prime either.

What I really like is the change of the order in which Lloyd changed the three guys now putting Seager batting second followed by Cruz and Cano. The team has been hitting more productive since the change happened. Now we can only hope other players will step up as well.

Going into next season I hope that Mark Trumbo can become part of the core group as well. The Mariners should look to play him mostly at first base with some time at designated him and only a little time in the outfield. I would only like to see him play the outfield when Cruz is designated hitter.

Of course, the bullpen would be the group of guys that could take could step up and be much better than they have been most of this season. Losing Charlie Furbush made things really tough for the Mariners. When he went out for the season was the time the bullpen started struggling. It will be hard to know when he will return but likely won’t be at the beginning of the season. I would not be surprised if he does not return until after the all-star break.

The starting pitching I expect would be the same or better next year. TaiJuan Walker after a full season in the majors should be even better next season. He was inconsistent especially in the first half however he has done a really good job after the all-star break. I would think the start of April he should be in same form. Iwakuma should be back though he is eligible to be a free agent. We can hope that Elias will have a better season and that James Paxton would rebound that he could be healthy when the season starts. It sounds like a very solid starting five; however, the Mariners should go out and get another veteran pitcher who at the very least spot start. Also, they have Numo who could spot start; however, he would be better to come out of the bullpen as one of the left handed relievers.

With a view changes in the lineup I think the Mariners should have a better season next year. I can’t see some of the players having down seasons again. The catching position could be one that the Mariners could upgrade at. The Mariners should bring in a veteran to compete with Zunino. Currently all three possible back up catchers all hit right handed and none of them seem ready to hit in the major leagues. The Mariners should look at getting a left handed hitting catcher who could relieve Zunino or play ahead of him. Both could spend some time at designated hitter as well. Also, it would be nice to have the left handed catcher who could play occasional first base. It will be interesting off season indeed beginning with the hiring of the new general manager. Go Mariners!

s

Baseball in September

While I was out this morning I was thinking what difference baseball in September makes for the next season. If you are out of the race like the Seattle Mariners will the current players fighting for a spot on next year roster really help make the team better or worse. I am not sure there is any statistics anyone has taken to know if it works that way or not.

I am thinking that maybe the way the Mariners played last September affected them this year. They were in the race up to the last day missing out on the playoffs. I wonder if the players going into spring training thought sub- consciously that they were not as good as they thought since they played poorly in September, or they may have been overconfident with the signing of Nelson Cruz. It is likely hard to say one way or another.  The team did make other changes to the roster or it could be the players played better last year than they are doing this year. Most likely there is a combination of reasons why the Mariners are playing worse than last season.

If you look at the bullpen of the Mariners you know for sure they had a better season last year than this year.  A lot of people thought the bullpen did real well last year because of Fernando Rodney being the catalyst which maybe really true since this season he had a very poor season and the bullpen was completely different. The bullpen primarily was the same group of guys when the season started; however, pitchers like Danny Farquhar were sent to Triple –A. Other pitchers were traded as well after having poor starts. The Mariners had to go with Carson Smith for a while as closer though he was not ready for the position full time. Most likely you will see him more successful next season or the year after that. This was his first full season in the Major Leagues; he did not come up to pitch until last September.

The starting pitching started poorly in April while the hitting was doing well, and then in May the hitting went badly except Nelson Cruz. After the all-star break the hitting recovered; however, the pitching suffered especially the relief pitching. In August manager Lloyd said at some point the bullpen blew eighteen saves in twenty-one games; it is no wonder the Mariners fell out of contention.

Now in September the Mariners are doing much better than they were doing prior to that during the season; I wonder if it is with the dismissal and finally trade of Rodney plus the fact they are using some younger players who are trying to serve a point that they belong in the major leagues. Another thought is that Mariners fired Jack Z as general manager as well, and how has that affected the team to.

 I heard story that Jack Z had told Lloyd who to play and who not to play, and I wonder now with the Z man around Lloyd is able to play who he wants and how to setup the lineup. Last season I thought the lineups in September were not right in my mind for a team that was fighting for the playoffs. I sometimes wondered why they started Justin Smoak at first base after he was recalled spending most of the second half at Tacoma. I am sure there are moves that I can’t remember at this time that I questioned as well. I wondered what Lloyd was thinking about, and I really wonder if he was following Jack Z instructions.

Whatever happened last September it is hard to really know if it put things in the wrong gears? Of course, the first half of the season the Mariners had a very poor bench that was much improved when Franklin Gutierrez was recalled from Tacoma. Rickie Weeks and Willie Bloomquist neither of them worked out at all and both were released eventually. The bottom of the batting order seven through nine had to be the worst in baseball. The platooning and pinch hitting I didn’t think worked to well for the most part either. It did improve quite a bit when Gutierrez was recalled.

During the off-season the Mariners roster will change some because of the hiring of a new general manager. It is hard to know right now whether Lloyd will be back next season or not. It would be nice if Lloyd would be given a chance because how did he go from a good manager one year to a bad manager the next. I guess it is possible though I think it had to do with the style and decision making which may lead right back to Jack Z.

Back to my original thought will this September make a difference in the Mariners next season like last September may have I guess we will never know. Most likely with the turn-over of the roster things will change we can only hope for the good. I like to really see Brad Miller as that super utility player how it works, and I think Sean O’Malley can be good coming off the bench with his speed to go along with Marte. All we can do as Mariner fans do is waiting and see hoping for the best. Go M’s.  

This Weekend September 13 Seattle Sports in Review

Who would have thought the Seahawks and the Mariners would both lose and the Huskies and Cougars both win on the same weekend.

The Huskies were playing a lower level team in Sacramento State however since they lost to Boise State last week not sure how the Huskies would perform. It was nice to see they were able to play well against a lesser team; especially with the passing game. The thing is we still don’t know the Huskies passing game will be good or not the rest of the season. In my opinion Jake Browning passing game should improve over the season. He had over three hundred years in this game but I think part of it had to do with a poor passing defense on the part of Sacramento State. Next week against Utah State should give us more indication one way or another.

The Cougars on the other hand looks like their offense will have another good year and the defense so far is not going good. I am not sure if the coaching staff has figured out it is important to have good defense as well or they just not have the personal to be better. I am not a cougar fan so I am seeing from a different view.

The Seahawk game against the Rams was weird like we all expected. I was sure the Seahawks come back in the fourth quarter to go ahead by seven with the turn overs would seal the victory; however, the long pass with Dion Bailey falling down and leaving the receiver wide open did the Seahawks in.

I thought the Seahawks offense and defense both played a poor game; however, it has been common for them to start off the season not playing well. It would have been nice if the Seahawks could have played a team outside the division in the first game whether at home or on the road. Playing the Packers in the first game instead of waiting until the second game would have been much better. The Seahawks rushing defense for sure needs to improve next week; the passing defense was OK and we know it will improve as the season goes ahead.

On the offensive side of the ball the offensive line will need to improve next week. They did improve over the course of the game; however, they do need better passing protection. Also, they need to improve on rushing downs in key situations like the last play of the game that cost them the victory as well. Some may say it was bad play calling but I call it bad execution. Up until then the Seahawks had done well in short yardage situations where they needed a first down. I put that on the offensive line once again. Of course, this was the first game of the season so I expect a lot better against the Packers next week. Whether the Seahawks will win or not I still expect better play out of them on both sides of the ball.

The Seattle Mariners on the other hand continue what they have all season especially at home not able to get good pitching and hitting at the same time. Their best game was on Saturday when they hit four home runs and won the game 7-2. Like so often over the season to they were not able to execute with runs on base. What I have liken this month is that the bullpen has improved especially with Tom Wihelmsen as closer. The offense has improved especially on the road with the addition of Sean O’Malley. He has improved the speed on the base bath along with Marte. The bottom of the batting order has improved to with the exception of the catching position. It will be interesting to see who will come out as the regular catcher next season or whether they will trade for an experience catcher. We all know they still want Mike Zunino to be the regular catcher, and I am rooting for him but his hitting does need to improve. We can hope the hitting for him will help in instructional league. What I hope the Mariners can do is get another catcher who can play some first base and designated hitter next season. I am sure the designated hitter will likely be done most by Cruz along with Trumbo and Montero although they could use a left handed bat to be in the position sometimes which I prefer is a catcher. I am sure Seth Smith and Brad Miller both could DH when they are not in the field. Most of all I hope the Mariners will stop all this right and left handed platooning next year. I can understand against some pitchers but not all of them. Also, I don’t like the entire pinch hitting either. In many cases it has not worked this year. Like I have said a few times Seth Smith and Franklin Gutierrez would be the only ones I would use as pinch hitters since they have been the most successful doing so.

Let’s see how all these teams do this coming week.