Another Mariner Road Trip

The Seattle Mariners just finished a home stand where they went 3-3 against division rivals the Oakland A’s and Los Angeles Angels. It would have been nice to have gone 4-2 which they had the chance especially after the last road trip where they went 7-3.

We are hoping on this road trip where they can win at least four games in seven games. They start in Toronto Tuesday playing the Blue Jays before going onto  Detroit Tigers over the weekend and then do a makeup game with the Minnesota Twins on Monday before returning home. The next home series will be two against the Texas Rangers and then four against the Tigers.

The Blue Jays are like the Mariners where they have won nineteen games and are in third place in the American League East behind the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. The Red Sox and Yankees are doing so well that the Blue Jays are six and a half games out. This series will be important to them as much as it is for the Mariners so it should be quite an exciting series. I look at Dee Gordon having a good series because of the field in Toronto. It isn’t as fast a field as it once was but should still benefit Gordon. James Paxton will go on the mound the first game after pitching seven innings with sixteen strike outs unfortunately the Mariners lost the game.

The Blue Jays will have Marcus Stroman going in the first game. He is 0-4 so far in the season in six starts with an era of 7.52. It will be really good if the Mariners can get to him early on in the game. Wade LeBlanc will take the mound on Wednesday for the Mariners. Last game he pitched four solid innings in his first start of the year so hopefully he will be able to go at least five innings. If Paxton can go at least seven innings with a good lead than the Mariners’ bullpen should be in good shape to relieve LeBlanc.  The third final game of the series Mike Leake will go for the Mariners against ex-Mariner Jay Happ who has been pitching well since going to the Blue Jays. It will be nice if the Mariners can win the first two games before facing Happ.

They key in the series is not only to have the starters to be able to go at least six innings except LeBlanc who  probably go only five innings because it is only his second start that the top of the lineup continues what they have  been doing while the bottom of the order do a better job. First baseman Ryon Healy has been doing well as of late but the Mariners need to have Mike Zunino hit more consistently though he did hit a home run in the win on Saturday against the Angels in the only win of that series. Also Ben Gamel needs to get going. He will likely start Tuesday night’s game however the remaining two games the Blue Jays will start two lefties so Guillermo Heredia will likely start them. Though is batting average has gone down recently since being called back up from Tacoma he still is batting .289. The thing about Heredia is he is able to hit the ball and willing to take walks along with not striking out much. He has seven walks in 42 plate appearances and has struck out four times which is pretty good I have to say. He still continues to be in on any rallies that Mariners have especially late in the game. His defense still continues to do well. Since he has been activated Mike Zunino has a batting average of .180 with thirteen strike outs. He is striking out about half of his at bats. He does have four home runs but he has only walked three times. If he continues to struggle it would be nice to put in Freitas at least one more time per week. My suggestion would be rest Zunino two games in a row. This way he can work on his hitting in practice without having to worry about catching.

It is important that the Mariners can win a fair share of games on this road trip to stay with the Angels and Astros. The Angels are playing the Colorado Rockies on two road trip inter-league play before going home to play Minnesota Twins Thursday thru Sunday followed by Houston and Tampa Bay next week. The Astros besides playing the Angels next week they currently play the A’s in Oakland winning 16-2 on Monday while playing again Tuesday and Wednesday. They will go home for a three game series against the Texas Rangers before going to Anaheim. So that is how things going on right now for the Mariners, Angels and Astros.  

Look at Tacoma Rainiers

Since the Seattle Mariners have Monday off before starting a three game series in Toronto I figured I would write primarily about the Tacoma Rainiers the Mariners triple a team.

The Mariners split the six games at home against the Oakland A’s and Los Angeles Angels this last week. Mariners beat the A’s two out of three however lost to the Angels two out of three. The Mariners are showing they need improvement to help beat the Angels just like the Houston Astros. The Mariners now have a record of 19-14 and a game and half behind the Angels. The Astros are in second place a half-game ahead of the Mariners. In my opinion the Angels are not that much better than the Mariners if at all. The Angels won the series because the Mariners had trouble stopping Mike Trout who had three hits in each game. The Mariners won the middle game of the series however on Sunday Felix Hernandez didn’t pitch a good game going only five and two/thirds innings giving up five runs on seven hits and four walks plus gave up two solo home runs. One of Trout’s hits was a two-run homer off of Chasen Bradford when he came in for Felix. The final score was 8-2. I will look at the Mariners and the Blue Jays on Tuesday.

The Tacoma Rainiers currently have a record of 13-17 and they are finishing off a series against Reno playing this afternoon. The Rainiers than continue on the road going to El Paso who is in second place in the southern division with a record of 18-13.

Outfielder Ian Miller who won the Ken Griffey Award last season for being the best hitter in the Mariners minor leagues continues hitting well with Tacoma. He started last year in double A but completed the season with Tacoma. He is the Rainiers top hitter right now with a batting average of .326. He isn’t known for his power as he only has one home run so far this season and a career total of six. He considers that his game is similar to Dee Gordon and Ichiro with speed. Currently have six stolen bases and minor league career totals of one hundred and sixty-two stolen bases.  Whether he has a chance to make it to the major leagues it is anyone’s guess right now but he certainly giving it a shot. Two other outfielders on the Rainiers are hitting well too. John Andreoli is batting .324 while Cameron Perkins is batting .312. Depending on the situation if one of the Mariner outfielders got hurt than Perkins would likely be sent up because of his past major league experience.

Want to know what is going on with utility player Taylor Motter right now he has been struggling at the plate though doing better lately however is batting .192 with no home runs in eighteen games. Gordon Beckham who could be called up as well depending on who would be injured in the infield is batting .308. Daniel Vogelbach who was sent down when Ryon Healy was activated has played in ten games batting .250 with three home runs and six RBI’s.

Looking at the pitchers Ariel Miranda who many thought would be brought up when Erasmo Ramirez was put back on the disabled list is 3-0 in five starts with an era of 4.38. He has walked fourteen batters in twenty-four and two/thirds innings and striking out twenty-two batters. Rob Whalen looked like he may have come out of spring training being the fifth starter until the last start of the spring has started six games but he has had his ups and downs with a current era of 6.00. He has only walked twelve in thirty-three innings along with thirty strike outs. Max Povse who is one of the Mariners top prospects has been struggling having a record of 1-5 with an era of 7.58. He has given up more hits than innings pitched though he has more strike outs as well. Hopefully he will be able to settle down.

Looking at the bullpen veteran reliever Ryan Cook has pitched in ten games with an era of 2.61. He has walked only three batters in ten and one/thirds inning along with fourteen home runs. So he looks as someone the Mariners may bring up if needed staying on the same course. Another reliever the Mariners picked up during the off-season is Shawn Armstrong who has an era of 2.45 in nine games however he has walked eight batters in eleven innings though he has fifteen strike outs. What is impressing though he has only given up four hits for an average of .108 by the hitters. So we could see him up well as Cook at some point in the season.  So that is the look at some of the players on the Rainiers.

 

 

Mariners Ready to Take Another Series

I thought Saturday night the Mariners made it hard on themselves having to coming from behind several times however they were able to pull it off in the bottom of the eleventh. Without getting into details Ryon Healy seems to be someone who enjoys making key hits in games. Once again he was able to get a hit that drove in the final run in the eleventh inning. What is now being called walk-off run. His batting average is creeping up as well. He was under two hundred but now is .241. He does have only fifty-nine plate appearances in fifteen games so the batting average can go up or down in a hurry for a bit longer until it gets steady. The importance thing though is getting hits when it is important. It is frustrating in a way because Healy and Mike Zunino bat one after the other. They both strike out a lot so when getting up with batters on base can have a bad result well as a good one. Zunino had a home run in the eighth inning to put the Mariners on top but struck out with runners on base as well. I thought it would be nice to have a pinch hitter however no one was available and things worked out in the end.

I thought the Mariners gave the Angels chance after chance to win when I don’t think that they are really not as good a team as the Mariners. I look at their roster and think how they are doing it. I thought the Mariners would let them off the hook and win fortunately that didn’t happen. Mike Trout though seems to score every time he gets up to bat. In the ninth inning with a two run lead by the Mariners Trout hits a double and the Justin Upton hits a home run to tie the game. I would have preferred that Trout hit a home run instead of the double because the odds are against Upton hitting a home run after Trout. Actually Edwin Diaz had two strikes on Upton before the home run. This was Diaz first blown save of the season but the good news the Mariners won.

Now the Mariners take on the Angels in the final game of the series Sunday afternoon with Felix on the mound against Japanese sensation Shohei Ohtani. We all know this the guy that Dipoto tried with all his might during the off-season to get. It will be good to see him on the mound for the first time in Safeco Field. It is the first time the Mariner hitters will face him as well. I am sure this game will be exciting to see. Hard to know how this game will go but it would be so satisfying if the Mariners can light him up or at least be a close game and still win in the end. So far it is so nice that the Mariners have been winning so many one run games this season. At this rate whether the Mariners make the playoffs or not will come down to success rate in these games. We hope that the rate will keep going the same way as it has been so far this season. Diaz had an overwhelming success in April however May has started out not as kind however I am sure he will turn things around. Go M’s.

Mariners Take Two

Although the Mariners game against the Oakland A’s on Wednesday was hard to swallow losing despite the great pitching of James Paxton striking out sixteen batters they returned to beat the A’s Thursday night 4-1. In fact the win was against the A’s ace Sean Manaea who had an era of 1.03 going into the game and still leaves with an era of 1.63. Also he was the American League pitcher of the month. It has become common place this season that the Mariners have been beating teams best pitchers other than the Houston Astros who they seem to still have trouble beating.

The series at Safeco Field against the Astros is the only one they have lost so far this year while tying two splitting with the Giants and the Twins on the road. All the others they have won including beating the Indians three out of four games in Clevland. Now we have to see how the Mariners will do against the Angels over the weekend.

 This game it was Cano and Cruz who were the ones that drove in two runs each for the four runs the Mariners scored however Dee Gordon was the catalyst once again having three hits in the game including a double and stealing a base. Both of Cano’s rbi’s were after Gordon was able to get to the third base. In the first inning  after Gordon’s single he stole second and then Jean Segura  laid down a bunt to move him to third. The A’s moved the infield in however Cano hit the ball to left field to drive in Gordon. Standing at first base Cano had a really nice smile on his face saying I got you. The second hit that drove Gordon in from third base as well was a hit to left field as well. Cruz two runs batted in was a homer with Cano on base after his hit to bring Gordon in the third inning.

Wade LeBlanc pitched a solid four innings in his first start of the season. He shutout the A’s on three hits with one walk and three strike outs. I am sure he will be extended to five innings in his next start depending on the pitch count. Casen Bradford came in the fifth inning and gave up a solo home run to right fielder Stephen Piscotty on the very first pitcher however he settled down after that. It was the only hit that Bradford gave up in his two and a thirds inning. Lefty James Pazos came in for Bradford for the remaining of the seventh inning giving up no hits.

The Mariners decided to go back to  Juan Nicasio who gave up the tying two run home run on Wednesday night and Edwin Diaz who gave up the winning home run. This time they did what they have been doing most of the season shutting down the A’s each giving up one hit only. Nicasio struck out three batters while Diaz only did one however it was good to have them back in the next day.

This weekend games the Mariners now face the Angels who are now tied for first place with the Astros and only a half-game ahead of the Mariners. The Angels have one more win than the Mariners with nineteen wins and have the same amount of losses in twelve. So it will be important that the Mariners can take two out of three against the Angels as well.

The Mariners have Mike Leake going for them on Friday night while Garrett Richards goes for the Angels. Richards has a three and one record with an era of 4.88. In his last outing on Saturday August 28 he gave up nine runs with five being earned against the New York Yankees. It would be nice if the Mariners could do something to the Angels like the Yankees did. On Saturday Marcos Gonzales will go for the Mariners while Tyler Skaggs for the Angels and then on Sunday Felix Hernandez will go while the Angles haven’t announced their pitcher as of yet.

Looking at the Angels roster at the end of spring training I am surprised that they are in first place. Mike Trout has started out well once again with eleven home runs and driven in twenty-one runs. Throughout their lineup other players are driving in runs at a good clip as well. Skaggs is the only one besides Richards has won three games. I still believe the Mariners have a better roster than the Angels so I hope they take advantage of that this weekend. Go M’s.

First Blown Save

Wednesday night Edwin Diaz had his first loss of the season. I thought about calling it his first blown save but that actually was on Juan Nicasio who came in the eighth inning giving up a two run homer to Jed Lowrie. This situation was tough because Matt Joyce came in to pinch hit for left fielder Chad Pinder and hit a double. I would have thrown pitches out of the strike zone to see if Lowrie would pop up or strike out. The problem with that is he could walk as well then the Mariners would face Khris Davis who has hit quite a few home runs against the Mariners. So Nicasio could only do his best and it didn’t work out this time. The Mariners had a chance to score runs in both the bottom of the eighth and ninth innings to at least tie or win the game.

I was reading on social media that most fans felt it was the right move to take out James Paxton after seven innings. Personally I believe that manager Scott Servais should have left Paxton to start the eighth inning. If he had walked a batter or given up a hit then take him out of the game. This was a special game because Paxton left giving up five hits through the seven innings while walking only one batter and striking out sixteen batters. It would have been nice to see Paxton leave the game to a standing ovation. Of course that didn’t happen and we will never know what would have happened if he stayed in the game. Also fans were concerned about his health whether he would be affected by pitching the eighth inning. It is a possibility however we won’t know that either. At least on the positive side the rest of the bullpen is rested and can be used in Thursday night’s game against the A’s.  Speaking of this game Wade LeBlanc will be making his first start of the year for the Mariners after pitching in long relief. Right now you would have to favor the A’s in  this game since their starter is Sean Manaea who was named American League pitcher of the month of April. He pitched a no-hitter against the Los Angeles Angels on April 22 and then on April 27 he beat the Houston Astros in seven innings giving up an unearned run. In his six starts he has a record of 4-2 with an era of 1.03 and giving up only twenty hits in forty-three and two-thirds innings. The odds are against the Mariners but a win is not impossible. The Mariners beat the Cleveland Indians last weekend winning three out of four games and faced three of the Indians top pitchers losing only one of them.

In other news the Mariners announced just after eleven am that Ichiro Suzuki was moving into a new role as special assistant to the Mariners Chamber of the Board. His agent says that he isn’t retiring at this point just transitioning into a new position and he will no longer be on the roster. His future after this season hasn’t been determined. We are all glad Ichiro is sticking around the Mariners in a new position. We wish him the best and he will have active presence on the ball club both at home and on the road. The Mariners are recalling reliever Erik Goeddel from Tacoma to take his spot on the 25 man roster. Go M’s.

Mariners’ First Twenty-eight Games

 

The Seattle Mariners having a record of 17-11 going into Wednesday’s game against the Oakland A’s after beating them on Tuesday night 6-3. Looking at the offense in general  has been  good despite the fact that they didn’t have the whole position players until recently because of injuries.

Starting at the top of the lineup Dee Gordon has made the spot his own and makes the Mariners one of the best offenses in the American League. On Tuesday he went five for five scoring one run and raising his batting average to .339 with an on base percentage of .367 having scored eighteen runs and stolen twelve bases in this period of time. The amazing thing he isn’t even leading the team in scoring runs however he allows the team to get going early in the game. His defense has been good to though he has had a few miscues. It is good for someone who has never played center field before this season.

Jean Segura has done an excellent job being the number two hitter in the lineup and is currently batting .291 and his on base percentage of .320 isn’t bad for someone who doesn’t walk often. Even though he has been known as a free swinger he has become more of a discipline hitter at the plate. Tuesday he scored a run and drove in two runs without getting a hit. He has only two home runs on the season but has driven in  twenty-three runs which is pretty good for a number  two hitter and the bottom of the batting order hasn’t contributed a whole lot either.

Robinson Cano is having probably his best start to the season. At one point he was batting over four hundred even though now he is right at three hundred. He has struck out nineteen times however he has walked nineteen times to let Nelson Cruz and Mitch Haniger drive in runs in the cleanup spot. His defense continues to be solid as well.

Nelson Cruz missing some time being on the disabled list has had a solid season. He has had his ups and downs hitting because he missed eight games while being on the disabled list. He has hit six home runs including a three run homer on Tuesday night. Also have a total of fourteen runs batted in. That is pretty good for a guy who not only missed eight games but hasn’t been healthy on his return.

Kyle Seager had a rough start to the season like usual but in the end he has been hitting the ball pretty well. His batting average right now is .239 however he has hit four home runs and driven in fifteen runs. His home runs all seem to be in key situations.

Mitch Haniger has had an outstanding first twenty-eight games. He looks like a superstar in the making. He hit in the cleanup spot while Cruz was out and didn’t meet a step when returned to the six hole when Cruz returned. His batting average is .303 and he leads the Mariners in home runs with ten and twenty-seven runs batted in.  No doubt the Mariners offensive player for April.

The seventh thru ninth in the order has been low point because the three projected starters were out for most of the month. Zunino who now is primarily batting in the seventh spot in the lineup has only played in ten games. In those seven games he has three runs out of his seven hits and driven in eight runs with a batting average of .189. The Mariners are hoping he will settle in and bat between.230 and .250  with power and drive in runs. His defense continues to be good. His backup is David Freitas who started in Tacoma coming out of spring training but called up when Mike went on the disabled list after the first game of the season. His batting average is .235 but has no home runs and driven in only one run. He does look like he could hit for power when given a chance. Mike Marjama who started the season as the backup was sent down to Tacoma on Zunino’s return. He was batting only .111 didn’t drive in a run or hit a home run. Most likely the reason he was sent down to Tacoma.

Right now Ben Gamel is the left fielder playing against righties. Ichiro Suzuki and Guillermo Heredia shared the spot platooning before Gamel returned. Ichiro didn’t fare well batting .220 without driving in a run. Heredia on the other hand has batted .310 with an on base percentage of .417. This is what upset fans when Gamel returned and Heredia was sent down. Mariner’s management reasoning was that the Mariners would be facing primarily right handed hitting on the last road trip. Now Heredia has returned because Erasmo Ramirez and Dan Altavilla both have gone on the disabled list. Gamel on the other hand has started out slow so far after being activated. He did spend some time in the minor leagues on a rehab assignment. In thirteen games Gamel is only batting .139 has no home runs and batted in one run in the eighth spot.

Ryon Healy returned and activated when the Mariners were in Cleveland. He hit his first home run of the season Saturday and then two more on Sunday. This was really needed since Dan Vogelbach had struggles at the plate before being sent down to Tacoma. He did have his moments though hitting a home run up and beyond Hit Here Café. His batting average was .204 in nineteen games driving in five runs besides hitting two home runs. He was designated hitter in a few games while Cruz was out too. He primarily was in the lineup against righties while Taylor Motter was in against lefties until he was sent down to Tacoma. At that point Vogelbach did play in a few games against lefties. Ryon Healy on his return is batting .190 with three home runs and driving in ten runs. Now back in the lineup we should see him hitting better. His power is well for someone who is batting ninth in the order at this time. Depending Zunino and Gamel I would see Healy moving up in the order at some point. Now with the whole order in good health and should be in the lineup every game the Mariners offense should even be better in May and the rest of the season. There is talk that Ichiro may retire at the end of this current home stand on Sunday. At that point the Mariners will bring up another pitcher for the bullpen since right now they are going with seven. Go M’s.

  

Injury Report

It was reported early Tuesday afternoon that the Mariners put starting pitcher Erasmo Ramirez and relief pitcher Dan Altavilla on the disabled list and brought up pitcher Casey Lawrence and outfielder Guillermo Heredia. Ramirez is expected to miss at least a month with a tear major in his upper back while Altavilla with an inflamed right shoulder. Later it was announced that Wade LeBlanc will start in Ramirez spot in the rotation. LeBlanc did well in his last two outing coming out of the bullpen. I thought that either Ariel Miranda or Rob Thalen would come up to pitch as the fifth starter. This could still happen but not at this time. Lawrence on the other hand will likely take LeBlanc’s spot as the long reliever.

Major league baseball announced that the Mariners and the Oakland A’s will start next season playing in Tokyo, Japan playing two games on March 20 and 21 along with a couple exhibition games against Japanese teams. Like the last time the Mariners and A’s started the season in Japan they will likely play a couple spring training games when they return to the USA.

Heredia will not be in the starting lineup because the Mariners will be facing a right hander so Ben Gamel will be in left field however we will probably seem him later in the game as a pinch hitter and or defensive replacement.

Felix Hernandez will start Tuesday’s game against the A’s. Lawrence could see action depending on the score in the game. Wouldn’t be surprised if he isn’t in the game either however there have been times where Servais has put in pitchers who have been activated the same day. The Mariners likely will bring him in sometime during this series against the A’s.