Tag Archives: Andres Munoz

The Mariners Just Blew Their Season Once Again At The Hands Of The Astros

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This Mariners season is swirling down a flushed toilet bowl like so many mushy turds enveloped in wadded up toilet paper and a soupçon of piss. What was once a massive fucking disappointment – and ever-so-briefly a crowning achievement – has returned to being what is this franchise’s destiny: The Same Ol’ Mariners.

With our season in our hands, we lost game one against the Astros 5-1. It wasn’t even as close as the score indicates. Justin Verlander – who we’ve had SOME success against a time or two – went out there and almost threw a complete game shutout. To combat that, we had our own ace, Luis Castillo, who was pretty fucking terrible when we needed him the most (6 innings, 5 runs).

With our backs against the wall, we won game two against the Astros 6-2. It was everything this team has been lacking all fucking month. George Kirby went 6 shutout innings. We jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the third, added on three more in the fifth, and got some timely insurance in the eighth thanks to a Ty France home run. Raise your hand if you can remember the previous time he hit a homer, because I sure as shit forgot!

But, this series was a microcosm of some VERY questionable decision-making by Scott Servais. First, he pulled Kirby at 84 pitches, even though we had a 5-0 lead. That’s back-to-back-to-back starts with his pitch count in the 80’s after the big stink with him complaining about going over 100 (and then immediately walking it back). Is this giving the baby his bottle? Or, was he legitimately tiring after 80? Servais put in Topa, and yanked him after three batters when it was obvious he didn’t have it (smart). But, then he proceeded to throw Brash out there for 2 innings, and roll with Munoz in the ninth even though it wasn’t a save situation. Odd.

What’s even worse has been his lineup construction lately. The Mariners don’t have an ideal roster of hitters, but Servais seems to be committed to this lefty/righty thing, and also going quickly to pinch hitters in the middle innings as soon as a different-handed reliever is brought in. This series showed us a perfect example of how this can go terribly.

Tuesday probably featured our ideal lineup: J.P., Julio, Cal, Teo, Kelenic, Suarez, Ford (DH), France, and Rojas. We scored 6 runs, won a game, let’s go.

Wednesday featured a lefty by Houston, which meant this: J.P., Julio, Suarez, Teo, Moore, France, Cal, Haggerty, Caballero. We scored 3 runs, lost a game, fuck me.

I would’ve told you this team has no business playing Haggerty or Caballero ever again. I would’ve told you batting Ty France higher than 8th is a fool’s errand. I even would’ve told you that Dylan Moore was as cold as he’s ever been this month. I might have been wrong about Moore – since he hit two blistering balls in his first two at-bats – but what does Servais do? He pulls Moore for Kelenic after those two at-bats, even though there were plenty of other alternative people for Kelenic to pinch hit for (and even though Kelenic hasn’t done much more than walk and hit singles since his return from the IL). It’s goofy! I’ve always liked Servais and thought he made smart decisions; or, at least, decisions you could defend. But, I can’t defend this. Before, he always seemed to get the best out of his players. Now, he’s like an uncoordinated child tossed into the deep end of a pool, flailing as he tries to stay afloat.

Of course, what does it matter when Bryce Miller can’t get beyond the fourth inning, having given up a 4-spot on two massive homers. We got it to 4-3 in the bottom half of that inning, but they tacked on four more runs to make it an 8-3 final. Julio struck out four times, was taunted with homophobic slurs by their relief pitcher, causing the benches to empty. That’s about as exciting as this game got. Showing no heart or backbone whatsoever, the Mariners did nothing with that bit of fuel for the fire.

Now, we’re 4 games behind Texas with 4 games to go (against Texas). We can’t win the division, unless we come up with some fakakta 3-way tie with the Astros, which would require us to beat the Rangers 4 straight times. We’ve beaten the Rangers exactly 1 time this year, so that doesn’t seem extremely likely. And, now, our wild card chances are on life support. We’re 1.5 games behind the Astros, making tonight’s game a must-win just to get it to 1 game. But, we don’t have any control over our destiny. We need the Astros to lose at least once to the Diamondbacks (spoiler alert: they won’t), or we need the Blue Jays to lose at least twice to the Yankees/Rays. And, again, that’s the bare minimum, which would also necessitate us beating the Rangers four straight times, which is something we absolutely will not do.

Shit, we probably won’t win more than 1 game this weekend. What a terrible way for a season to go. This whole year – minus a month and change – has been fucking miserable. But also REALLY fucking predictable. Coming out of a magical 2022 season, expectations sky high, OF COURSE the Mariners are going to blow it in the most agonizing way possible. They’re going to get off to a terrible start, they’re going to go on a crazy run where they win the most games in any single month in franchise history, and just when our hopes are at their peak, they’re going to throw this fucking diarrhea festival in the month of September at us to totally crush our spirits. Taking it all the way down to the very last weekend, for maximum agony, while losing to two of the most loathesome teams on the planet.

Four more days. Soak it in. It’s almost over.

The Mariners Stopped The Bleeding With A Series Win Over The Angels

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That 10-game road trip felt like a month, didn’t it? It’s a good thing literally all the good players on the Angels are hurt. But, even then … couldn’t get the sweep.

Monday’s 8-5 loss was as irritating as every other loss we’ve had recently. We took a 3-0 lead in the first, gave it all back by the fourth. The game remained tied at 3-3 until the ninth, when the Mariners had a chance to walk it off. Three straight sharp singles loaded the bases with nobody out and Kelenic coming to the plate. He promptly struck out. Dylan Moore grounded into a fielder’s choice with the infield pulled in. Then, Canzone rolled over to first base to send it to extras.

The Angels hit a 2-run bomb in the top of the 10th to take a lead, but miraculously, Julio tied it with a 2-run bomb of his own in the bottom half. But, then the wheels came off in the 11th, as the Angels added three more to put it out of reach. We ended 3/12 with RISP, and left with more questions than answers from a bullpen that’s been repeatedly failing us in the later innings. I don’t know what the analytics say, but anecdotally, this group has been ass in the highest-leverage situations (unlike in previous years, when maybe we were luckier than we should’ve been). More and more, I think we’re going to point to the loss of Paul Sewald as the reason why this team fails to go all the way. Canzone sure hasn’t done much, and Rojas has once again cooled off considerably after a hot streak.

Turning things around, the Mariners executed a much-needed 8-0 victory on Tuesday. Bryan Woo looked outstanding (5.2 innings of 4-hit ball with 8 strikeouts), and we managed to close it out with Eduard Bazardo eating up 2.1 innings, and Dominic Leone finishing the ninth. THIS is the role those two were meant to fill; unfortunately, games haven’t been this out-of-reach lately to utilize them properly.

We had great games from Julio and J.P., as well as much-needed sparks from Suarez, France, and Moore. There hasn’t been a lot of production of late from the bottom of our order. Guys like Haggerty, Ford, Canzone, Rojas, Caballero, and O’Keefe have all been balls for the better part of a month and a half. It would be nice if we can get a blistering streak out of someone like Moore to fill that void. Also, it was nice to see Luis Torrens return and hit a rather meaningless double late in the game. O’Keefe is NOT a Major Leaguer, and Tom Murphy isn’t coming back anytime soon (if ever). We can’t afford to play Cal literally every single game the rest of the way.

On Wednesday, we got back to basics with some good ol’ fashioned Mariners baseball, in a 3-2 victory where Castillo pitched another Quality Start (6 innings, 2 runs, 3 hits, 3 walks, 8 strikeouts), and the bullpen was nails from there (Topa, Brash, and Munoz locking it down). All of the scoring was completed by the end of the fifth inning, so it really was a lot of pressure pitching down the stretch. Good to see, after so much shakiness lately.

That caps off the Angels for 2023. We went 8-5, which is pretty appropriate. We’re 8-2 against the Astros, and 9-1 against Oakland, so let’s hope we can keep beating those teams. For what it’s worth, we’re 1-5 against Texas, making the seven times we see them in the last 10 games vitally important. Can we go 6-1 against them? Seems unlikely, but will be necessary if we hope to win the A.L. West.

We have this weekend series with the Dodgers coming up, before we close out against the remaining divisional opponents. We are 81-65, a half-game behind the Rangers (in the loss column), with them playing in Toronto today. We’re 1.5 games behind the Astros for the division (one in the loss column, two in the win column), and they’re off today as well.

We are currently one full game ahead of Toronto for the third wild card. The Blue Jays have lost three straight against the Rangers in this series, which is honestly pretty good for us, because they were on a massive hot streak before that (albeit, against a lot of the same bad teams we played in August). Toronto has 6 against the Yankees, 3 against the Red Sox (both have fallen WAY out of playoff contention), and 6 against the mighty Rays. We will be rooting heavily for the Rays over the next couple weeks.

So, that’s it. There are three teams all within a game and a half of one another for two wild card spots, and there are three teams all within a game and a half of the A.L. West. Win the west, earn a first round BYE, and you’re able to set your rotation and rest your overworked bullpen. Win the second wild card, and you “earn” a series against either the Rays or Orioles in their home stadium. Win the third wild card, and you get the privilege of facing the lowly Twins (who are currently 7.5 games up on the Guardians).

This is very stressful! I sure hope the Mariners do well!

I should point out – since it’s been a while where this has been a topic of conversation – that the Mariners have improved their record in 1-run games to 23-25. That is a mighty jump from where it was pre-August! We are, however, 6-13 in extra innings games, which has been an absurd drain on our emotions. Wouldn’t mind seeing that go in the positive direction asap.

Also, Paul Sewald Update: after a bad blown save early, he’s been pretty great. He had 8 consecutive scoreless appearances before his next blown save. He’s since gone 5 for 5 in save appearances in September. Right now, the Diamondbacks are tied for the third wild card spot (with two more teams right on their heels).

The Mariners Won 1 Game Per City On Their Last Road Trip

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I guess it’s lucky the Rangers have been so atrocious lately, but the Mariners are free-falling, and I don’t know if there’s anything that can be done to fix it.

We lost 2 of 3 to the awful Mets. Then, we lost 2 of 3 to the average Reds. After a 1-0 victory to open up the Rays series, we lost the next 3 games to fall to 79-64, and as of Monday morning, up by only half a game over the Rangers for the final wild card spot (lost in all this has been the fact that the Blue Jays have been on a tear, winning 8 of 10 as we lost 7 of 10 on that road trip).

And, really, we were lucky to win two of those games. So, this hasn’t been the funnest September, after a record-breaking August.

The 1-0 win was everything this team needed. Dominant Luis Castillo start (6 innings, 4 hits, 4 walks, 8 strikeouts) and lockdown bullpen work by Campbell, Brash, and Munoz.

My hopes for a bounce-back series against the Rays were dashed the very next night, with another off-kilter performance by Kirby. He gave up 2 runs in a ragged first inning where he couldn’t throw strikes, then settled down through the sixth. We had a 4-2 lead heading into the seventh, but then we tried to squeeze another inning out of Kirby (who, in spite of a tough first inning, had a reasonable pitch count and probably should’ve been able to go one more). Kirby ended up getting one out before giving up a double and a game-tying homer before being pulled, turning a quality start into a no decision. Campbell entered the game and gave up a 2-run home run of his own, before Dominic Leone gave up a solo homer in the eighth to give the game its final score of 7-4.

Kirby didn’t have pleasant words to say about being put out there for the seventh. He questioned the manager’s decision, which I’m sure a lot of fans did as well. Kirby predictably walked those words back the next morning – heat of the moment and whatnot – but I’m sure a lot of fans were mixed. There’s the younger fans – who’ve become accustomed to what baseball is in today’s age – and a segment of Anti-Servais Mariners fans, who probably sided with Kirby.

Then, there’s the old timers, and the Unwritten Rules crowd (usually comprised of ex-players like Roger Clemens, who got his ass roasted on Twitter for wading into the conversation). Someone even had the gall to compare Kirby to Erik Bedard for … reasons. They point to Randy Johnson and Nolan Ryan, who would regularly throw 120-150 pitches per game, trying to go the full nine if at all possible.

I don’t like this argument. Yeah, complete games are cool. But that’s not what baseball is today. Instead, you’ve got starters regularly throwing in the high-90s, and that kind of strain isn’t conducive to throwing 110+ pitches very often, if ever (unless you’re a unicorn). Not if you want them to make it through an entire season, or multiple seasons, without arm surgeries. It’s a Get Off My Lawn stance, and I won’t hear it. Just accept that things change, and it’s never going to be the way it was when you were younger.

That being said, you have to take it in context. It’s early September. We’re in the midst of a 10 games in 10 days East Coast road trip. We don’t have an off-day until this upcoming Thursday, and after that we only have one more off-day until the end of the season. We’re also breaking in not one but TWO rookie starting pitchers, whose outings need to be carefully managed (including the occasional skipped start, as with what happened to Woo on Saturday). That means the bullpen gets taxed. We also – for better or for worse – traded our best and most-consistent reliever at the deadline, which means that taxed bullpen is that much less-effective. We brought in three veterans (Thornton, Weaver, and Leone) who look(ed) objectively terrible, we have another rookie in Campbell who is just trying his best, but is by no means a lockdown guy, and other veterans we brought in – like Saucedo, Speier, and even Topa – have shown serious cracks as this season has gone on.

To be blunt, the bullpen is over-worked, and that falls on the starters. That falls predominantly on guys like Castillo, Gilbert, and Kirby, who have experience, and should be able to go out there in the seventh inning, on 94 pitches, and take care of business for another three outs.

The home run Kirby gave up was to the #9 hitter! It’s not like we were asking him to take on the heart of the order for the fourth time through. This is a backup catcher!

I 100% see why Servais did what he did. If this was April or May, or if our starters had been rolling a little more of late – allowing our bullpen to stay fresh – Kirby would’ve handed over the ball after getting out of the sixth inning, and all would’ve been right with the world. But, it’s early September, in a pennant chase, and we desperately needed our second-best starter to squeeze another inning out of his arm. He failed. He failed with a questionable mix of pitches and locations. And, if he missed his spot, that’s on him. If he hit his spot, that’s still partially on him and partially on whoever was calling this game (either the catcher or the manager in the dugout). Maybe Servais should’ve walked him. I dunno. That’s a conversation. But, I’m not blaming Servais for his handling of the bullpen. And, I’m certainly not blaming him for his handling of Kirby. Kirby, more often than not, has had it easy. The team doesn’t ask him to over-exert himself very often. He could’ve done us this solid. And, quite frankly, he should’ve taken his loss like a professional, rather than whine about it to the press after the game.

Saturday was, *sigh*, a bullpen day. Trent Thornton got the opener role, couldn’t throw strikes in the first, and ended up going 2 innings, giving up just the one run. He gave way to Luke Weaver, who gave us the Luke Weaver Special (4.1 innings, 4 runs), and then was thankfully DFA’d by Sunday. I hope we never see him again, unless it’s on an opposing team’s pitching staff.

We, at one point, led 4-1. Then, the Weaver Experience left us trailing 5-4. We miraculously tied it in the eighth, before Saucedo lost it in the bottom of the ninth with a 2-run homer. We were 1/8 with RISP, and once again starting a backup catcher who failed to finish the game, necessitating us to overwork Cal Raleigh, as per usual this time of year.

I’m happy to say I didn’t see one iota of our 6-3 loss on Sunday, what with NFL football dominating the day. Bryce Miller stunk up the joint (5 innings, 5 runs), and I don’t even feel like talking about the rest.

Next up, we have the Angels in town. Then, it’s the Dodgers, then it’s the home stretch. One way or another, this season is almost over.

This Mariners Road Trip Has Been Pretty Fucking Miserable

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The Mariners have gone 2-4 on this road trip so far, and have seen their lead in the A.L. West become eliminated. Now we’re a game behind the red-hot Astros, and it’s starting to feel like that cartoon dog inside the burning house meme.

We lost to a Bullpen Day on Monday, 6-3. Bryan Woo stunk up the joint at first, eventually going 5 innings and giving up 5 runs. The offense consisted of solo homers by Julio and Mike Ford, and a meaningless RBI single by J.P. Crawford in the ninth. Disaster times.

We followed that up with one of your more brutal losses of the season, 7-6. This was a game we – at one point – led 5-1, and at another later point still led 6-3. Then, Justin Topa gave up a 3-run bomb in the bottom of the 8th to tie it, followed by Andres Munoz VERY predictably blowing it in the bottom of the 9th.

We managed to get a relatively good start out of Bryce Miller (5 innings, 1 run), but then turned the game over to Dominic Leone, who gave up 2 homers in 2/3 of an inning. Between Leone and Weaver, I don’t know what the hell we’re doing. These guys are useless bums and you can’t magically turn around a player’s fortunes in the middle of a fucking pennant chase!

While Leone’s underwhelming performance was expected, Justin Topa has been pretty phenomenal this season. Nevertheless, you could tell right away he didn’t have it, and was a 3-run home run just waiting to happen. Munoz, I still don’t understand how he got August Reliever of the Month. You’re telling me there weren’t ANY relievers who didn’t blow two games and lose a third in the month of August? So far, his September is so bad I’m hoping it convinces the MLB to rescind the award and retroactively give it to literally anyone else.

It’s too bad, because the offense did more than enough to win this one. Teoscar continued his hot run he’s been on, with a first inning 2-run home run. Julio broke things wide open with a 3-run dinger in the fifth, and then he backed it up with another homer in the seventh. It’s a little concerning that we scored so many of our runs this series off of the long ball, but the Reds do play in a bandbox, so what do you expect?

We were at least able to salvage an 8-4 victory yesterday, though even that wasn’t particularly easy. Logan Gilbert was rolling until he wasn’t, finishing with 5.1 innings of 3-run ball. Even though we scored 7 runs in the first four innings, winning this game was all that mattered, so we went right to the top-end of our bullpen. Brash got us out of the sixth, Speier and Topa bridged the gap, and Munoz closed it out for the not-save (giving up a solo homer in the process, of course). You shouldn’t have to use those guys in a game where you lead by 4-5 runs, but that’s what happens when you blow so many fucking winnable games on this road trip. You have to buckle down and still struggle to keep it all together.

Ford had a 2-run homer, J.P. had a 3-run bomb, Cal added a solo homer, and Ty France had his first good hitting day in (seemingly) months. I am, nevertheless, done with France. He should be gone after this season. Fresh start somewhere else or whatever. But, he’s clearly a guy already on the decline, and it’s only going to get worse.

This was also the first great Suarez game we’ve seen in quite some time. Really need one of those two guys to get things going down the stretch if we want to get over the hump.

Now, we’ve got a 4-game set in Tampa, one of the best teams in all of baseball. Just what a slumping ballclub needs: a fucking freight train coming right for ’em.

The Mariners Looked Like Their Old Selves, Losing 2 of 3 To The Mets

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I hated almost every minute of this weekend when it came to the Mariners. I’m not going to say I saw the losing series coming, but I also can’t say that I’m entirely surprised.

The 2-1 loss on Friday was easily the most frustrating game of the series. It’s frustrating that we struck out 13 times, it’s frustrating that we were 0 for 7 with RISP, it’s frustrating that we squandered another awesome start by Logan Gilbert, it’s frustrating that Andres Munoz blew yet another one late (how he ended up winning the Reliever of the Month Award for August is beyond me), it’s frustrating that he just STOPPED throwing off-speed pitches to Daniel Vogelbach (who was timing him up pretty well, and only needed a bleeder of a single to get the go-ahead run home), and it’s even frustating that we got saddled going up against their lone quality starter, in an otherwise miserable season for the Mets.

We won Saturday’s game 8-7, but it shouldn’t have been that difficult. We were up 3-0 early, before Castillo gave it all back. Then, we took a 7-3 lead, before the combination of Castillo and Speier gave most of it back again. 5 innings and 5 runs for our “Ace”. Saucedo ended up blowing the save in the bottom of the 8th, but luckily J.P. Crawford was there to homer in the top of the 9th to give us the margin of victory.

Sunday’s game was a real nothing-burger from the whole team. George Kirby had an even-worse start than Castillo, going only 3 innings, giving up 4 runs (3 earned). From there, the bullpen was just eating innings, with oldcomer-turned-newcomer Dominic Leone, Isaiah Campbell, and Trent Thornton going 5 and giving up 2. We hit back-to-back homers (Canzone and Ford) to score our only three runs in the 4th, but otherwise the offense was garbage against a lot of garbage pitching.

What, did we spend all weekend going to Broadway plays and partying until five in the morning? Cincinnati should offer much less in the way of distractions. Of course, they more than make up for it in having a better baseball team to go up against, including one of the most exciting players in the league in Elly De La Cruz. So, that’s fun.

What’s Up With Ty France?

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I don’t want to nitpick too much, since the Mariners have been playing so well over the last couple months, but I have real concerns about Ty France that just aren’t going away.

We traded for France at the 2020 deadline in the infamous COVID-shortened season. He was a part of that blockbuster Austin Nola deal that also brought back Andres Munoz, Luis Torrens (back with the M’s this week as some insurance, reporting to Tacoma), and Quad-A outfielder Taylor Trammell. He got regular playing time with us in 2020 and showed a high-average, high-OBP toolset with a little bit of pop and versatility. Really, my favorite kind of player.

He assumed our starting first baseman job in 2021 thanks to injury and ineffectiveness from Evan White, and he’s run with it. In 2021 and 2022, his power numbers surged: 32 doubles & 18 homers in 2021, 27 doubles & 20 homers in 2022. With that, though, the average has gone down each year. .291 in 2021, .276 in 2022, and .254 this year. His OBP has gone down too, ever-so-slightly, in the .370’s in 2020, to .368 in 2021, to .340 the last two years. It should also be pointed out that he’s either at or near the top of the league in getting hit by pitches. And, due to that and some other flukey circumstances, he’s had his share of time on the IL, which has also worsened as time has gone on (152 games played in 2021, 140 in 2022, and so far 130 this year; here’s hoping he doesn’t get hit with too many more errant baseballs and can move the needle in the right direction in this final month).

What has me concerned is the power outage from his bat. With one month left in the season, he has 30 doubles, but only 10 homers. His career slugging percentage through 2022 was .438; this year it’s .379. And I don’t know how to explain it! His BABIP is down compared to career averages, but slightly up from last year. His strikeout rate is at his career norm. His hard hit rate is also at his career norm. He’s hitting fewer ground balls than normal, and therefore his fly balls are up a tick. He’s up in pull and center percentages, hitting fewer balls the other way (which, again, would indicate he should have more homers, not drastically less).

Where France is extremely down compared to career norms is in his Win Probability numbers. He’s very much in the negative, when he was firmly a net-add the last two years. That goes to explain his reduction in WAR (4.2 in 2021, 3.0 in 2022, 0.8 so far this year), and a mediocre RBI line (73 in 2021, 84 in 2022, only 51 so far this year), but Win Probability numbers also have a clutch feel to them, and France has been decidedly NOT-clutch in 2023. I mean, look no further than the fact that his ground ball percentage is drastically down (46.7% in 2021, 47.8% in 2022, only 42.5% this year), but he’s somehow grounded into MORE double plays (13 in 2021, 18 in 2022, a whopping 24 this year with a month to go).

I mean, I don’t have the specifics on all MLB first basemen, but I have to think France ranks among the worst. He has a defensive WAR of -1.0 for crying out loud! Between that and his dwindling performance at the plate – on top of his reputation as a player frequently playing in pain, with suffering results – I don’t think it’s any surprise that he’s seen his spot in the lineup fall in recent weeks. You can’t just lock him into the three- or four-hole anymore. And, with two years of arbitration left, you have to wonder how much longer he’s destined to be in this organization.

There was cause for optimism back in July when it was reported he had some chiropractic work done that supposedly fixed his neck, allowing him to see the ball more easily, fixing some funky mechanics that had crept into his at-bats. But, in the second half (starting July 14th), I don’t know if we’ve seen a ton of improvement:

  • First Half: 86 games, .261/.332/.389, 22 doubles, 7 homers, 19 walks, 66 strikeouts
  • Second Half: 44 games, .238/.358/.351, 8 doubles, 3 homers, 17 walks, 30 strikeouts

I mean, it looks like the chiro did improve his vision at the plate; he’s not flailing quite as often at those pitches out of the zone. But, his power and batting average are still slipping.

I don’t know what to tell you. How do you explain it? Is it just baseball? Is he breaking down with age and a skyrocketing HBP count? Is his bat speed dwindling? Probably the bat speed thing, right?

Regardless, it sucks. Ty France is so much fun to root for. And when he’s on a heater, there isn’t a tougher out, or someone I’d rather see at the plate in an important situation. The problem is: he hasn’t been that guy very often this year. And he REALLY wasn’t that guy late last year when we were in our playoff run.

Julio isn’t going to continue being a supernova forever. Teoscar’s hot streak is bound to cool off at some point. The more Cal Raleigh is forced to play – in the absence of a competent backup, until Tom Murphy returns – the less effective he’s bound to be at the plate. With Suarez kind of an enigma this season, we could REALLY use a scorching month of September out of France if we want to achieve our goal of winning the West and securing a wild card bye.

I fear, if he continues on this disappointing trend, we’ll be in for a similarly disappointing exit from this season.

The Mariners Completed A Team-Record 21-Win Month Of August

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It’s kind of incredible that the Mariners went 21-6 in the month of August. Incredible in that this was the franchise record for wins in any single month, especially when you consider the team won 116 games in 2001. But, also, just compared to where we came from to start this season.

We were 12-16 through April. We went 17-11 in May, but 7 of those wins came against Oakland. Then, we went 9-15 in June to further send this season spiraling, culminating in a 15-4 loss to the Rays that had the fans in T-Mobile Park booing like we haven’t seen in quite some time. 38-42 felt like the nadir, and a real tipping point for this team. With two weeks to go before the All Star Break, and a month to go before the trade deadline, you had to wonder if this team had what it takes.

After that, we started to turn it around, going 7-2 to close out the first half. In the entire month of July, we went 17-9, in spite of some hiccups in the immediate aftermath of the All Star Break. That kind of play brought us to 55-51, but not a whole lot in the way of activity at the deadline.

Then came August. Two 8-game winning streaks in that span. An 8-2 road trip – including a sweep of the Astros – and a 5-1 homestand at the end, against the dregs of the sport.

We won 2/3 against the A’s this week, which isn’t as disappointing as it appears when you consider the loss came in a game where everything that could’ve gone wrong DID go wrong.

Let’s kick it off on a happy note: an easy, breezy 7-0 victory on Monday. Bryan Woo – in his second start coming out of an IL stint – was still on a restricted pitch count, but managed to go 6 innings, giving up 3 hits and a walk, while striking out 5, all on 69 pitches. Boy, that’s huge! I know the level of competition is sus, but he still had to go out there and do a lot with a little, if we wanted to preserve our bullpen, and he passed with flying colors. The Mariners jumped all over the Oakland starter – scoring 4 runs in the first three innings, and 6 runs in the first four – affording us the opportunity to utilize the back-end of our bullpen (Saucedo, Campbell, and Thornton all feasted).

The heart of our line up – one through five – did all the damage. J.P. led off the game with a homer, had 2 hits total, with 3 runs scored. Julio went 4/5 with a homer, 3 RBI, and 3 runs. Suarez had 2 hits and a walk, with a run. Teoscar also had 2 hits and 2 RBI. And Ty France went 2/3 with a walk. 12 of our 14 hits came from those five guys; simply remarkable!

It’s hard to say whether or not this would’ve been a sweep had everyone been healthy, but things got off to a VERY rocky start on Tuesday when George Kirby was scratched due to a stomach bug. It looked even more grim when Julio was also scratched with what was later revealed to be a nerve issue with his foot, that has a mysterious origin no one can seem to pinpoint.

Given the last-minute nature of things, Luke Weaver was forced into action, and the results were as predictable as they were aggravating. It really does look like he has quality stuff: the fastball is live, with some movement; the breaking pitches are solid, and he’s got a great mix of different ones to go to. But, his command and/or control is EXTREMELY lacking. He catches WAY too much of the plate, and was pounded accordingly. Since he wasn’t stretched out, he only went 3.2 innings, giving up 7 hits (including 2 homers) and 3 runs, with 0 strikeouts. I don’t know how many hard hits he gave up to batters with two strikes, but it was appalling. And, to make matters worse, he had one of the worst pick-off moves to first I’ve ever seen, spiking it so bad it bounced up and bashed into Ty France’s thumb/wrist, resulting in him being pulled from the game out of an abundance of caution and hand swelling.

Weaver had a tremendous Mariners debut against the White Sox, pitching 2 flawless innings, striking out 5. But, he’s followed that up with two appearances where he’s gone 4.2 innings, giving up 4 runs. Just scrolling through his game log with the Reds this season, I would say the latter two performances are more on brand with what he is. I don’t understand how this is something we’re valuing over a guy like Tommy Milone, who can at least induce weak contact and get the defense involved. You can’t utilize your defense if you’re giving up bombs to the cheap seats!

All that being said, the bullpen did everything it could to keep us in this one; the A’s never scored again after Weaver was pulled with runners on base. Campbell, Thornton, and Saucedo each pitched on no rest, and ate up 4.1 innings of 1-hit ball, with Matt Brash sprinkling in a scoreless inning as well.

Unfortunately, the offense just didn’t have it in this one. The A’s starter was wild – giving up 5 walks – but he held us to 1 hit and 1 run in 4 innings of work. And the bullpen behind him was pure filth, striking out 9 across 5 innings, probably pitching better than they have all season. Just hitting the corners, keeping us off-balance, and making us look ridiculous. Down 3-1, with 2 outs in the bottom of the ninth, we did manage a little rally. Rojas singled and J.P. doubled to give us two in scoring position with Suarez at bat. But, alas, we couldn’t complete the rally and that was that.

On getaway day yesterday, we were still without Julio, though France had healed up enough to go 0 for 3 with a walk. Bryce Miller didn’t have his best stuff, but he gutted through 6 innings, giving up 3 runs. Teoscar tied the game with a 3-run bomb in the third, which was precisely what this team needed to get going. Justin Topa didn’t have good stuff either, giving a run back in the seventh to put us in a 4-3 hole.

Our offense really lit them up in the bottom half of the inning, though. With a lefty on the mound, Canzone doubled, Ford singled, and Moore walked to load the bases. One out later, J.P. doubled home two runs to give the M’s a 5-4 lead. Too bad we couldn’t play add-on, but Brash and Munoz had it going on to preserve the victory.

We head into September tied for the A.L. West lead. We’re also comfortably ahead of the Blue Jays for a wild card spot. Not SUPER comfortable; I’m not dropping the ol’ Mission Accomplished banner just yet. But, they seem to be the only competition outside of our division for the wild card, if worse comes to worst.

29 games to go. 7 against Texas, 3 against Houston, 4 against Tampa, and 3 against the Dodgers. There’s also 6 against the Angels and A’s. In our immediate future, we have our final East Coast swing until maybe the playoffs, at the Mets, Reds, and the aforementioned Rays. The Mets are bad, the Reds are average, and the Rays are still ahead of us by a fair amount. It’s gonna be edge-of-your-seat entertainment from here on out!

The Mariners Are All Alone In First Place In The A.L. West, For Now (Maybe Forever)

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Oh that’s just a jinx! That’s a jinx waiting to happen! That’s so much of a jinx it just burped its way through a murder confession while still on microphone!

The Mariners swept the Royals over the weekend. This series wasn’t quite as rough and tumble as the one in Kansas City last week. Not a lot of crazy back and forth. Just some solid, all-American good play by the home team.

Friday, we had Bryce Miller not giving us his best stuff; he went 4 innings and gave up 3 runs before we opted to pull him and overwhelm the Royals with bullpen arms. Thankfully, the offense came to play, scoring two in the 1st, two in the 4th, and two in the fifth. The bullpen wasn’t perfect – Matt Brash gave up a 2-run bomb (I have some real concern about his arm wearing down, based on recent comments by management in the media) – but thankfully that was the only blemish.

We had 16 hits in this one, including a very respectable 5/15 with runners in scoring position. Crawford, Suarez, and Raleigh all led the way with 3 hits each; Canzone and Julio had 2 hits each. This was a 7-5 victory that, quite frankly, we should have against a team like that, with the terrible pitching they’re saddled with.

Saturday’s 15-2 drubbing was an onslaught for the ages. Between the bottom of the third and the end of the game, we scored in every inning, with a 7-spot leading the way. The following players had two hits: J.P., Cal, Teo, Ford, and Rojas. Teo led all parties with 6 RBI, including 2 homers. Cal, Julio, Ford, Rojas, and Marlowe also homered (giving us 7 on the day). It was just pure annihilation!

To add insult to injury, Logan Gilbert made it look easy. He finished 7 innings, giving up 1 run, 2 hits, 1 walk, while striking out 7. That’s all on only 83 pitches, so he easily could’ve gone longer if need be. Luke Weaver – after a marvelous Mariners debut where he struck out 5 White Sox in 2 innings – came down to Earth with a run given up on a couple hits, but that was it.

Sunday’s 3-2 victory was the game most in jeopardy, but we managed to hold it together at the end. Luis Castillo went 7 strong, giving up zero runs on 1 hit and 1 walk, while striking out 6. We had cobbled together a 3-0 lead through that point, thanks to another Teo homer, and another Julio 2-run bomb. Gabe Speier gave them two runs right back in the 8th inning to make it tight, but Topa got us out of the jam, and Munoz sealed it with an easy 9th.

Most importantly here, as the title indicates, the Mariners have climbed all the way into first place by themselves in the A.L. West. That’s thanks to the Mariners going 9-1 in their last 10 games, while the Rangers have gone 1-9 (I shit you not), with the Astros going a mediocre 4-6. We’re 74-56, one game over Texas and Houston. We have the third-best run differential in the American League. And, even if the shit hit the fan over the next month, we’re still riding a 3.5 game lead over the Blue Jays (the first team on the outside looking in on the wild card).

But, clearly, we’re not thinking about the wild card anymore. I mean, we’d take it if we had to settle for it, but we’re 130 games into this season and we’ve got the division in our grasp!

Remember when we were 50-50? That was a thing! In the last 30 games we’ve gone 24-6, which is IN-sane!

We start a 3-game set against an already-eliminated Athletics team, before an off-day and then a lengthy 10 games in 10 days East Coast road trip. It’s going to be fun, boys and girls!

The Mariners Bookended A Perfect Road Trip With Two Walk-Off Losses

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The Mariners have been on a tear of late. They’ve had two separate 8-game winning streaks in the month of August alone! Including on this most recent 8-2 road trip. Since July 24th – when we were 50-50 through 100 games – we’ve gone 21-6. Just outstanding!

But, you can’t literally win them all, not even against the dregs of the dregs.

I’m trying to not get worked up over Andres Munoz blowing yet another game, this time in the finale yesterday. I’m holding myself back from officially labelling him my least-favorite player on this team. But, I’ll tell you what I also told you on Twitter (I’m not calling it X, fuck you): I was in a meeting and took a peek over at the television in the bottom of the 9th. Munoz was on the mound, there was a runner on second, and we were nursing a surprising 1-run lead (I had missed the previous couple innings, so this development was momentarily delightful to me); my initial thought as I turned my attention quickly back to the meeting was, “Oh, he’s going to blow this.” By the time my meeting was over, the game was over. The only shocking event was that the game went to extras, and wasn’t lost then and there in the 9th.

I’m getting ahead of myself, though. A series win is a series win! Even if it should’ve been a sweep. I’m not excusing the loss by any means; these games all count the same, and as I’ve stated repeatedly: our margin for error is razor thin. But, I’m just not going to let it ruin my day. The Mariners are enjoying what figures to be a rare off-day the rest of the way, before returning home to play – on paper – the two worst teams in baseball. We’ll see how that goes.

Game 1 of this White Sox series was such a massive blowout that they ended up firing their executive vice president and their GM. It’s been a disappointing year for the south siders, but apparently a 14-2 defeat to the Mariners was the final straw.

Just to get it out of the way, Luis Castillo was masterful: 7 innings, 5 hits, 0 walks, 1 run, 9 strikeouts, in a game where – once again – he was in charge of eating a lot of innings to spare a tired bullpen. We mopped this one up with Eduard Bazardo and Darren McCaughan before promptly sending them down to Tacoma. Ahh, the life of a fringe reliever.

On the hitting side, you have to start with Cal. 3 hits (2 homers and a double), 3 runs, 6 RBI. Josh Rojas also had 3 hits, with 2 runs and an RBI. Suarez, France, and Hernandez all had 2 hits each, with Teo and Canzone both hitting homers. It was the most lop-sided victory for the Mariners this season, and they managed it all without Julio, who was getting a scheduled rest day.

In Game 2, we welcomed back Bryan Woo from the IL. He was limited to 65 pitches, but still managed to go 4 innings, giving up just the 1 run. We ended up emptying the bullpen in this one, needing 6 guys to go the final 5 innings, with Munoz getting the cheap 1-out save, thanks to Gabe Speier not being able to quite get the job done.

This 6-3 victory was brought to you by – among others – Josh Rojas with his 2-run homer. Ford and Teo each had 2 hits. J.P., Ty, and Cal each had RBIs. All, again, without Julio, who this time sat due to a stomach bug.

It all seemed perfect heading into Game 3, but to be quite honest, the M’s had no business winning that one. George Kirby didn’t quite have it, and couldn’t quite get through six full innings, going 5.2, giving up 8 hits and 3 runs with 9 strikeouts (a 2-run bomb was his final pitch of the day).

We were down 3-0 heading into the 7th, when we were finally able to make good on a rally by scoring 1 run. The game stayed at 3-1 heading into the 9th, when finally the M’s broke open the floodgates. Julio was back and got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Then, Suarez hit a 2-RBI single to take the lead. That’s some improbable, ’95 Refuse To Lose shit right there!

Except not really. Munoz failed again, then Topa wasn’t even really given a chance to hold things in the 10th, on one of the more bizarre endings to a game you’ll ever see.

The ghost runner broke for third, and for some reason, Cal threw down to 2nd base. I wish I had seen it from another angle, to get a clear picture of what the runner was actually doing. Did he double-back only to continue running to 3rd? If not, I don’t understand why Cal didn’t just throw down to 3rd. Regardless, J.P. caught the ball as the runner was heading into 3rd, and tried to throw to Suarez, only to hit the runner on the helmet, sending the ball scattering into foul territory. That was all the runner needed to make it home for an easy score.

Maybe it’s better I missed that in real time. I don’t know if I would’ve been able to contain my fury in that work meeting.

Hey, remember the Royals? Well, now they’re coming to Seattle! If they play us as tough as they did in Kansas City, I don’t know if we’ll win this series.

This Is Not A Drill: The Mariners Swept The Astros In Houston

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Well, then I guess there’s only one thing left to do …

I can’t even begin to tell you how unlikely all of this is. We’re now 14 games over .500; remember the All Star Break? We were one game over .500, and needed to go 45-28 to get to 90 wins. Remember the next week after the All Star Break? Remember how we lost a series at home against the lowly Tigers, and were in the midst of breaking even against the Twins? Remember how – at that point – we’d dipped down to one game below .500? It’s insane to think of how this season has turned around in such a short period of time.

Now, all we need to do is go 21-17 to get to 90 wins. Not that 90 wins are any sort of guarantee. Might take 93-95 wins this year, with the way things are going in the American League. Regardless, as of this weekend, we are in the third wild card spot by half a game. Time will tell if this is our emotional high-water mark on the season, or if we’ll power through to the finish. But it’s been a lot more fun to watch this team over the last month.

It was especially fun to watch the Mariners this weekend, because fuck the Astros! As you know from my post on Friday, I didn’t have high hopes. It just seemed like our bullpen was taxed, our starters were iffy, and we were in their home (where we’ve rarely done well). I don’t think this weekend could’ve gone more perfectly.

On Friday, we just barely scraped by with a 2-0 victory. Bryce Miller had his good stuff going in this one, completing 6.1 innings, giving up only 2 hits and 1 walk, while striking out 2. Justin Topa – who was pretty fresh – bridged that gap to the ninth inning, where Andres Munoz (also pretty fresh) nailed down the save.

Offensively, this was the Julio Rodriguez Show. It’s been his show for the last week, and really since the All Star Break. He went 4/5 in this one with a solo homer in the third. Mike Ford had the other solo homer in the sixth off of J.P. France, who was otherwise very good.

On Saturday, Julio went 4/6 with 2 runs scored en route to a 10-3 Mariners victory over Framber Valdez (who went 5 innings, giving up 6 runs). It was largely a team effort in this one, as Teoscar Hernandez had a big game (3/5 with 2 RBI and a run), as did Dylan Moore (2 home runs, 3 RBI), Ty France (2 hits, 2 runs), Sam Haggerty (2 hits, including a homer), and Jose Caballero (1 hit, 1 walk, 1 run, and 1 fight instigated by the Astros battery, who just hate him).

Logan Gilbert gave us 6 innings of competent pitching in this one, giving up 2 runs on 8 hits and a walk, with 3 strikeouts. Thankfully, we kept adding on runs throughout, so we got away with our back-of-the-bullpen arms to finish this one. That ended up being pretty fortuitous, considering what happened on Sunday.

It looks like Emerson Hancock’s season might be done. He left the game after 2 innings with a right shoulder strain. He had a lat strain in 2022 that delayed the start of that season, so I would say this is pretty concerning. For him, anyway. The Mariners were all set to bring back Bryan Woo from the IL in this upcoming series in Chicago. Now, the intention was to go to a 6-man rotation for a spell, and that appears to be in jeopardy. But, maybe the time off was all Woo needed to at least get us to the finish line. Either that, or maybe we sprinkle in a spot start or two out of one of our AAA starters. It’s already almost September, so it’s not like the guys have a ton of starts remaining.

Anyway, on Sunday, the M’s had built up a 6-0 lead heading into the bottom of the third, when our bullpen was forced to take over. Unfortunately, that bullpen gave us quite a scare right off the bat. Tayler Saucedo had zilch, getting no outs, giving up 5 runs on 4 hits and a HBP. Of course, two of those runs came around to score by his successor, but that’s still his fault.

The rest of the bullpen was pretty much nails! Thorton ate up 1.2 innings (including getting us out of that Saucedo scrape with a lead intact), Brash went 1.1 innings, Campbell went 1 inning (giving up the Astros’ sixth run, after we’d already gotten our seventh), and Topa, Munoz, and Speier locked it down from there, keeping the score where it was, 7-6. As it happened, I was at Wild Waves, following along on my phone. I saw that Munoz did the 8th inning – taking out the top of the order – and was sure he’d be in there for the 2-inning save. Instead, Speier of all people got the job done, starting with Destroyer Of All Things Mariner Yordan Alvarez and striking him out. I’m glad Y.A. was relatively cool in this series; it’s nice not to see him homer against us literally every single day.

Julio doubled in the first in this one, before coming around to score. Otherwise, he was quiet, but if he’s not the Player of the Week, there’s some shenanigans going on. Canzone was 4/5 with a RBI and a run, Moore was also 4/5 with a RBI. Rojas had 2 hits and 2 runs; Suarez had a 2-run homer; and even Brian O’Keefe had a 2-run double (though he’s still yet to finish a game he’s started, with Cal pinch hitting late both times).

The Mariners got all the way to be within a half game of the Astros (tied in the loss column). On top of that, we have officially taken the season series against them! So, bring on the tiebreaker! Again, we’ll see if this is our high-water mark or not. We have three more against the White Sox starting tonight, before we get to go back home for what – ON PAPER – looks like the cheesiest of all homestands (3 vs. the Royals, 3 vs. the A’s), but we saw what happened the last time we faced the Royals. Off-days are starting to get scarce, but we rustled up a well-deserved one this Thursday.

On the plus side, we finally get J.P. Crawford back from his concussion. On the downside, we’ll see how long it takes him to get back in the groove.