Running Out of Steam

The Seattle Mariners had a lead going into the eighth inning over the Los Angeles Angels 5-2 behind Nelson Cruz 39^th home run and one shy of having four straight years hitting 40 home runs or more. Also Seager and Mike Zunino had home runs.

Unfortunately the Angels got four runs to take the lead 6-5 and the win in the eighth inning. Mike Trout had a home run in the first inning and then got another in the 8^th inning. I thought it wasn’t a big deal if the Mariners could leave the lead at that however they could not. Nick Vincent gave up the homer to Trout however gave up two more runs and then the Mariners replaced him with lefty specialist Mike Rzep… for another hit. The gap closed to a one run lead at 5-4 when closer Edwin Diaz came in the game to finish off the 8^th inning. He pitched to Valbuena who hit a double down right field on a 0-2 count and that was the game.

Marco Gonzales who started the game was only able to last four innings giving up four hits and two runs on seventy-three pitches. He was replaced by Ryan Garton who was able to go one and two thirds inning then James Pazos came in to get final out of the sixth inning. Emilio Pagan was able to get through the seventh inning striking out two batters so it was the top pitchers in the bullpen that couldn’t hold the lead. I figure the problem is that they have run out of steam.

We can hope that Dave Phelps can return next season in good form after surgery to help out over the season and the starters are able to stay healthy and go at least six if not seven innings so the relievers are not over used. This especially helps if the Mariners can go out and get another top notch starter.

Iwakuma had shoulder surgery this week I don’t see him coming back to the Mariners unless they sign him to a minor league contract with incentives. At his age it will be hard for him to get back to where he once was. I am sure most fans are saying the same for Felix Hernandez. We are hoping that he can pitch well next season even if it is not at the level we are accustomed in seeing. If Felix can be a solid third starter than that will be good for the Mariners though they will be putting out a lot of money; Felix has two years remaining and I don’t think the Mariners will sign him to another contract unless his pitching improves. Other pitchers have rebounded so we can only help that he does as well. He has had a pretty good curve ball along with change up if they work well than Felix should be effective. With the questions on the starting rotation it is important they go and get another starter. Go M’s.

Final Weekend

The Seattle Mariners play their final three games of this season over the weekend in Anaheim against the Angels. How the season ends may reflect by the fans with these final games. If they win all three of these games they will be a game below five hundred and if they lose all three than four games below and so forth if they win one or two. Often we look what they have done in the end.

I believe the season has been a mix. Going into September the Mariners had the chance though remote to make the playoffs as a wild card but the month turned out like we were hoping it would be. They have lost more games than they have won so we are disappointed again that they won’t make the playoffs.

With the injuries to the starting rotation early in the season and then ongoing with James Paxton being injured and Felix Hernandez getting hurt twice along the way made it hard for the team to make the playoffs. The Mariners had to use forty different pitchers along the way. Under the circumstances they did a good job but still doesn’t take away that we are disappoint especially how the lineup played coming down the stretch. The offense started dragging and was unable to do their job in the most part. I believe the stress of the starting pitching final got to them. In the most part the regular lineup were OK through the season though Mitch Haniger and Jean Segura were out for a period of time. Also Robinson Cano was out a short period and we know that Nelson Cruz had minor injuries he dealt with though he didn’t go on the disabled list. I am sure other players struggled with injuries as well. Found out yesterday from Dipoto that Guillermo Heredia had been bothered with a poor shoulder for most of the season however played with it anyway. The reason he wasn’t doing as well at the plate in the last several weeks. He will have surgery on the shoulder.

We know that Dipoto’s job during the off-season will primarily go after some starting pitching to bolster the rotation. I am sure there will be other places in the lineup along with the bullpen that will be tweaked.  The primary spot will be first base and adding possibly another outfielder along with a backup catcher and utility player. These spots could already be on the roster but we may not know for a while. I look forward to posting my final report card for the year. It may not look much different than the report card at the all-star break though we did add a few spots along the way adding Erasmo Ramirez and Mike Leake to the rotation, David Phelps to the bullpen for a little while and Yonder Alonso at first base.

Marco Gonzales and Andrew Moore both will get starts against the Angels on Friday and Saturday. The pitcher we will see for Sunday’s game not known at this time. I am sure we will see different looks to the lineup as well. It will probably look like a spring training lineup in a way. Go M’s.

It’s Official

The Seattle Mariners went into Wednesday afternoon’s game to sweep the A’s in Oakland. They had the opportunity to do so coming from behind to tie the score before a walk off home run by centerfielder Mark Canha in the bottom of the ninth off reliever Shae Simmons who is vying for a shot in the bullpen for next season. Erasmo Ramirez started the game for the Mariners going five innings giving up eight hits and five runs. Only three of the runs were earned. It wasn’t Ramirez most impressive outing like the previous one when he went eight innings against the Cleveland Indians and giving up one run on three hits.

 Erasmo Ramirez looks to compete for one of the two remaining spots in the rotation. Whether it is for the fourth or fifth spot will depend whether the Mariners are able to go out and a get another starter through a trade or free agency; right now the top three spots look to be Paxton, Hernandez and Leake. Not necessarily in that order either.

Mitch Haniger continues to have a hot month of September hitting. He had two hits scoring and driving in a run. Robinson Cano who has been struggling lately did have a couple hits that included a home run. The same thing happened with Cruz who had two hits including a home run. Cruz along with Haniger has been their two top hitters in September.

Catcher Mike Marjama made his first major league start on Wednesday and had two hits including the first in the major leagues. Most of the bottom half of the order didn’t do that well outside of Marjama. He may be competing for the backup role at catcher next spring training.

The Mariners next game is on Friday night in Anaheim against the Angels. Marco Gonzales will make his final start of the season to see if he can impress the coaching staff to be considered as a member of the starting rotation or in the bullpen instead. Andrew Moore will likely pitch Saturday and not sure who will pitch in the final game of the season on Sunday. It would be nice if the Mariners can do well in the final three games.

In football University of Washington Huskies will play Saturday late afternoon against the Oregon State Beavers in Corvallis Oregon and the Washington State will be at home playing the tough USC Trojans. In the NFL the Seahawks are at home against the Indianapolis Colts. They are hoping to even the season record at 2-2. So we root for all the teams to do well this weekend.

Mariners Take Series and More

On Tuesday night the Seattle Mariners beat the Oakland A’s 6-3 to take the series before the final game Wednesday afternoon. The A’s took early lead in the first inning with the leadoff hitter shortstop Semien hitting a home run to make it 1-0. The Mariners took the lead in the 4^th inning with Yonder Alonzo hitting a two-run homer.  It stayed that way until the bottom of the sixth inning when Oakland took the lead again 3-2 on Khris Davis home run. Davis has hit a lot of home runs against the Mariners in their history. Over the TV I asked them to walk Davis though it would add another runner to the base paths but of course they didn’t listen to me and he did it. I screamed at the TV saying I told you so. At least the saving grace was that Danny Valencia hit a three-run homer and the Mariners added another run to make the lead and final score 6-3.

Right now we don’t know if the Mariners plan to have either or both Alonzo and Valencia back next season since they both will be free agents. This game Alonzo started at first base and Valencia in right field. They showed that they can be in the lineup at the same time at least against right handers. If they do both return next season I would look at Valencia being the fourth outfielder as well as playing first base and third base on occasion. It would be nice to see them in the lineup at least once if not twice a week against right handers and still have Valencia starting at first base against lefties. If neither one returns then the Mariners will have to go out and get a first basemen or have someone already on the team playing there. On social media someone suggested that Mitch Haniger play some first base since he is the weakest defender between him, Gamel and Heredia.

Speaking of Heredia it was announced he has a bad shoulder and that he wouldn’t play in the remaining games of the season. He was sent back to Seattle to have the shoulder looked at. It should not affect him to be ready for spring training.

Neither Mike Leake nor Felix Hernandez is going to make a start in the Mariners final four games on the season. Andrew Moore and Marcos Gonzales are expected to pitch in both of their places. Also James Paxton who pitched five innings on Tuesday is not expected to pitch in the final game of the season either. I am sure the Mariners will make the announcement on Friday before the series begins against the Angels.

Gordon Beckham started in place of Kyle Seager at third base on Tuesday night. He made an outstanding play in the field near the stands and then threw the runner out at second base. I am sure that play has been shown over and over again on major league highlights. Beckham is showing that he could be a candidate for the utility role for next season.

Erasmo Ramirez takes the mound for the Mariners in his final game of the season Wednesday afternoon. The Mariners are hoping that he will pitch another gem like he did against the Cleveland Indians last Friday night when he pitched eight innings gave only one run on a homer and three hits. Unfortunately he didn’t get the win that game. The Mariners win the final four games their record will be 81-81. Whether they do or not the final record will show how the team did for the season. Us true fans will root for the Mariners until the final out on Sunday afternoon. Go M’s.     

Mariners Win at Oakland

The Seattle Mariners started the last road trip in Oakland against the A’s. Going into the game their record was 75-81 so they have to win all six remaining games to end the season with an even record. The chances of that happening are not great but it is doable.

What we know about the Mariners regardless what the record ends up being that they have been inconsistent all year long. We know most of the year it has been the lack of good starting pitching because of the injuries. Going into September it looked like they would have a winning record or at least an even record but went for a slide. Most of the regular lineup didn’t show up.

Although we are all disappointed because we were hoping finally that they would make the playoffs after not doing so in the last sixteen years I can say that for the most part they have been an exciting team to watch and the future looks good at this point.

Monday night Felix Hernandez pitched and looked the best he has over the season. Of course we all know that he had been out for a while with injury. He was able to go six innings since he was on a pitch count as well. He threw exactly seventy pitches in the game giving up just two hits and a run. The run you can guess was a solo homer.

The Mariners were able to get three home runs in the game. The first one was a three-run blast by Mike Zunino in the second inning to make the lead 3-0 at the time. Mitch Haniger who has had a hot bat in September had a homer as well along with Yonder Alonso. They accounted for five of the seven runs the Mariners scored in the 7-1 win. I call Zunino the poster child for Mariners inconsistency over the season. I am sure that there are others that fall in that category as well.

James Paxton will be going for the Mariners on Tuesday night. At this point not sure which Paxton will show up. The one that pitched so well going into August or the one who has pitched since coming back from the disabled list; I wonder with his history of being injured how much longer he will pitch for the Mariners? I am not sure where Jerry Dipoto figures in that line. We have seen Paxton at his best which is pretty good but the Mariners need to count on him to pitch for a whole season instead of going on the disabled list every so often. Since the team has had a major overhaul since  Dipoto arrived two years ago wouldn’t surprise me if he is traded.

In the next few days it will be time to get onto the end of the year report card and then move on to football with the Seahawks, Huskies and Cougars. We wish the best for them all.

Seahawks Lose and Mariners Eliminated

The Seattle Seahawks defense played a good game in the first half however for whatever reason they played the worst second half I have seen in a while. Usually they play that kind of defense when Earl Thomas is out with an injury. That wasn’t the case this time. Who knows whether it was hot weather or when Richard Sherman had the penalty. It was right after that when things went wrong. Special teams played a horrible game as well. The score should have been higher because the Titans should not have been charged a penalty.

The Seahawks could still have won the game if they played better in the first half instead of waiting until late in the game. I have to admit that I quit watching at the beginning of the 4^th quarter because it upset me how they were playing.

I know that there are some who are upset because both teams stayed in the locker rooms while the national anthems were being played. I know that everyone has a right to their own beliefs but I think it has been an overreaction in my mind. I enjoy hearing the national anthem whether it is at a football game, baseball game or whatever other sporting event but I don’t think that it is required to be played. If it is so be it but at the same time I believe the players under the circumstances can voice their opinions in whatever manner they feel.

Back to football I hope that the Seahawks play better next week. It will be a long season if things continue this way. It is so hard to understand that the offense starts out so slow when the season begins. Maybe the starting unit needs to play more during the pre-season. Is it Russell Wilson, the running backs or the offensive line? Whatever the case they need to do a better job.

The Seattle Mariners season basically ended on Sunday as they lost to the Cleveland Indians 4-2. It is disappointing though they did get beaten by the best team in the American League however they haven’t played well the last two weeks. Pitchers like Mike Leake and Erasmo Ramirez have kept them in games for them to win.

With the injuries to the starting rotation over the season I wonder if this got to the rest of team. Whatever the case it is too bad the season had to end this way. They now have six games left in the season. They start out the road trip playing the A’s in Oakland. Felix Hernandez will be making the start for the Mariners. He likely will pitch the last game of the season as well next Sunday. It hasn’t helped the team that Felix was out so long and he only has five victories for the season. His record is 5-5. If he pitches well he could end up with a winning record.

Having lost Paxton for a while was disappointing to. It looked like he had a chance to be in the race for the Cy Young Award. I wonder if either Felix or Paxton can stay healthy next season. The Mariners will need to bring in another starting pitcher to cover in case they have trouble again. With all the talent Paxton has I wonder if the Mariners should trade him because of his injury history. I love him as a pitcher when he is healthy but the Mariners need him to pitch thirty games a season.

It seems a lot of the offense disappeared in September outside of Nelson Cruz and Mitch Haniger. Mike Zunino and Kyle Seager played a part for some of the month but disappointed in most of the rest of the guys. If they had played like they did in the previous months the Mariners would still be in the race. Outside of injuries I would say inconsistency be the reason the team didn’t make the playoffs. They would win three or four games and then lose three or four. Dipoto will have to make some decisions on who stays and who goes. At least we can enjoy the last six games of the season.

So one last thing to say I hope the Seahawks and the Mariners don’t both lose next Sunday. Please pretty please.

Huskies and Cougars Win Mariners Lose

The Washington Huskies Saturday night had another slow start where the Colorado Buffaloes scored on their first possession of the game. It seems that the Huskies are starting off slow especially on the road which is understandable in a way. It is easy to be nervous especially if you are young.

The Huskies though came back and scored a touchdown in the second quarter on a Myles Gaskin one yard run. Gaskin had a big game he was able to score another touchdown in the 4^th quarter. The Buffaloes had a hard time stopping the Huskies running attack giving up 254 yards rushing and Gaskin had 207 of those yards.

The Huskies dominated the second half after the score being 10-7 at half time. The final score in the game was 37-10. It is hard to get back into the game when the other team is running the ball very effectively.

The Huskies will be playing at Corvallis to face the Oregon State Beavers next week. The Beavers lost last week to the Cougars in Pullman 52-23. The Huskies should be a big favorite against the Beavers.

Speaking of the Cougars they played at home against Nevada. They beat them 45-7. Luke Falk passed for five touchdowns in the game including the first three touchdowns with two coming in the first quarter. They had two other touchdowns on runs and a field goal as well.  Nevada didn’t score until late in the 4^th quarter so they would not be skunked. Luke Falk completed 36 passes in 47 attempts for a total of 478 yards. His longest completion was 60 yards. If he continues to do well this year he should be a first round pick as long as he doesn’t get hurt.

Next Friday the Cougars may be playing their toughest game of the year outside of the Apple Cup and a bowl game. They take on USC Trojans in Pullman. That should be an exciting game to see. At this point hard to know who will win the game. I am sure that the Trojans will be favored however the Cougars could easily upset them especially if Faulk has a great game and the defense can keep the Trojans from scoring too much.

In baseball the Seattle Mariners were beaten by the Cleveland Indians on Saturday Night. The final score was 11-4 however most of those runs were given up by Ariel Miranda in the 9^th inning. He gave up five of those runs. It shows to me that Miranda is worn out after pitcher so much for the Mariners over the season. Andrew Moore started the game going four innings giving up three runs and then he was followed by Marco Gonzales who pitched two innings with three hits but didn’t give up a run in the game.

Danny Altavilla followed Gonzales. Two runs were scored against him but they were both unearned because of errors. The Mariners fielding has been very poor in the last eight or nine games. Ryan Garton pitched the eighth inning giving up a run before Miranda took the mound. The Mariners have to win almost the remaining seven games to have any chance in getting to the playoffs.

I am sure the last two weeks in the season will help Jerry Dipoto evaluate what the team will do during the off-season. I am sure that some more changes will happen especially with what we have seen the last two off-seasons. I am sure he will look at the heart of the players well as the talent. How hungry they are to make the playoffs. I am sure he and Servais are not happy what has happened in September when they had a chance to make the playoffs. Go M’s, Huskies and Cougars.