I wouldn’t say this is a disturbing trend more than an unsettling occasional occurrence.  Nevertheless, they all add up.  They all count the same.  And, in a year where lots of teams in the A.L. are going to compete for the two Wild Card spots, we can look back at a game like last night as a major missed opportunity.

The bottom line with this team is that this offense is too good to have so many games like this.  One run last night; 0 runs two days prior; 2 runs each for three consecutive days in the last homestand.  Even if Cruz can’t go, or other guys need a day off here and there, it shouldn’t be this difficult for this collection of players to score runs!

Ian Kennedy, the starter for the Royals last night, is absolutely nothing special.  It’s not like we’re running into an endless string of Cy Young candidates and getting shut down; that I could understand!  More often than not, it’s the Ian Kennedy’s of the world mystifying these bats with their garbage pitches.

Danny Valencia was 3 for 4 with 3 singles.  All the other Mariners combined for 1 hit and 2 walks.  Seriously, what the fuck???

You know my feelings on saying I Told You So, so I’ll just link HERE and quote here:

Somebody bookmark this page and save it for later.  Save it for when Mitch Haniger comes back from the DL.  Gaze upon it when we’re all excited to have our rookie phenom back in the fold.  Pull it back up … oh maybe a month or so after he’s returned.  I want you to take a look at his numbers pre-DL:

• .338/.442/.600, 7 doubles, 1 triple, 4 homers, 16 RBI, 20 runs scored in 21 games played

I want you to really take a good, long look at those numbers, because when he returns, you can kiss those sterling numbers goodbye.  I guarantee you when he comes back, he absolutely won’t be the same player we had pre-injury.  He will be significantly worse, and we’ll all wonder just what in the fuck happened to him.

You know what happened?  He joined the Seattle Fucking Mariners.  Where everything good and happy in this world goes to get collectively buttfucked.

Well, it hasn’t been quite a month yet since his return from the DL, but here’s where his numbers add up to now:

• .277/.391/.465, 9 doubles, 1 triple, 6 homers, 22 RBI, 33 runs scored in 41 games played

So, essentially, Haniger has doubled his number of games played, and all of his rates have declined, except his strikeout rate, which has gone up just a hair.  They’re all small samples, but fuck this season, seriously.

It’s not just Haniger’s fault.  Kyle Seager has taken a pretty sizable step back this year.  As has Cano.  Cruz isn’t hitting dingers at nearly the rate he has the last few seasons.  Ben Gamel is fighting the good fight, but everyone else is too streaky to function.

Which is a shame, because they wasted a great Andrew Moore start.  He was called up in place of Dan Altavilla and went 8 innings, giving up 3 runs on 5 hits, 0 walks, and 4 strikeouts.  He got bit by the solo homer bug a little bit, but going 8 and giving up 3 should be a win every time.  ESPECIALLY when you go up against Ian Kennedy.

I guess it’s time for the annual Tanking Before The All Star Break for the Mariners, so this week should be fun.