See, because it means turd, but also 2, in that they’ve now lost 2 in Toronto … I’ll see myself out.
Like I was saying yesterday, I’ve just got a bad feeling about this series. This is one of those teams the Mariners probably SHOULD handle with ease. Sure, the Mariners have a lot of pitchers on the DL, but the Blue Jays have a lot of hitters on the DL. Good ones. As I mentioned before, Justin Smoak is their fucking cleanup hitter for Christ’s sake. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy!
Also, not for nothing, but Toronto really doesn’t have much to write home about on the pitching front. Yet, after giving up a 2-run homer to Nelson Cruz in the first inning of Thursday’s game, they’ve managed to hold the Mariners scoreless, including a 4-0 snoozefest on Friday.
The M’s were once again without Robbie Cano, which feels like a bigger deal because of the way he was kicking ass and taking names before he went out. I don’t know if his presence alone would be enough, but it feels like he’d at least make these defeats more respectable. He’d probably be the one taking advantage with runners in scoring position, anyway.
Christian Bergman got the start, giving up 3 runs in 5 innings, which is about all you can ask for. You can try to ask for more, but that’s being selfish. Dude just wants his rug back and all that.
As for today, I’m being told Ryan Weber will get the call-up from Tacoma. I don’t know if that’s to start, or to back up Dillon Overton, but either way it’s going to require a corresponding 40-man roster move. Considering Evan Scribner has already been bumped to the 60-day DL – and I don’t know if we have the luxury of anyone else being ready to go on the shelf for that amount of time – there could be a difficult move coming.
On the injury front, Felix tried throwing and didn’t respond well, which is terrifying news. He’s the one with the shoulder injury, and as a result he’s being backed off of the throwing program. Which certainly takes the month of May off the table, at the very least. We might be into mid-to-late June at this point, because remember: the longer he’s on the DL, the more rehab assignments he’ll have to do to get warmed back up. If you want my opinion, I think this puts his entire season into doubt. I think we’ll be LUCKY to get Felix back sometime after the All Star Break, and it wouldn’t shock me if that’s just him gutting through an injury that will ultimately require surgery.
In happier news, James Paxton has done some throwing, and the team tentatively expects him back around the next road trip. Mitch Haniger is going to swing the bat in some tee-ball practice later today; if all goes well, he could be back in a couple weeks as well. Steve Cishek is about one more rehab outing away from returning to the Mariners, so we could see him in the bullpen anyday now. And … still no word on Iwakuma, which I feel like the longer this goes without word, the worse his injury actually is. God help us all.
UPDATE: Kuma’s out 4-6 weeks. Carry on with the God helping us all thing.
EARLY 10am game today and tomorrow. Get into it, it’s gonna get a little weird around here.