Tag Archives: Logan Gilbert

The Mariners Had The Worst Weekend Possible

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That’s a harsh way to look at a 4-game series where the Mariners won 3 games, especially against a team that had so thoroughly owned us this season (we finished 4-9 against the Rangers; essentially the story of our year), but that’s what you get when you dick around all month, ruining all the momentum you had in a torrid August.

The Mariners finished 11-17 in September. Can’t do that. Not if you want to make noise in the playoffs.

Anyway, nothing mattered this weekend, because the Astros swept the Diamondbacks. We could’ve swept Texas and we’d still be in the same place we are right now: out of the playoffs. What makes matters worse is that we HAD a chance to prevent the Astros from winning the division. All we needed to do was lose in the finale on Sunday. Instead, we somehow clung to a 1-0 victory, thereby ensuring that the reigning champs have this week to reset their rotation, rest their bullpen, and get nice and ready for another dominant playoff run.

Yay.

Our season technically ended Saturday night. That just so happened to be the game me and my friends were going to. It’s the annual Oktoberfest game, where they have a give-away of a special Oktoberfest beer stein or boot or whatever they decide to come up with. By my count, I’ve gone six times so far; it’s the best give-away the Mariners do all year. For the price of your ticket, you get the stein or boot or whatever, AND you get a voucher for one free drink. Can’t beat it!

Unfortunately, I should’ve known I was going to be in for an annoying day when I got an email that morning from the Mariners saying our steins were delayed. I don’t know how that happens when you know about it all fucking year, but there you go. I ended up having a pretty nice day anyway, but that had everything to do with me being with my lovely fiance and my terrific friends (and nothing to do with the product on the field – another inept 6-1 loss – nor the product they were selling in the stadium).

Luis Castillo couldn’t get out of the third inning, at least not without giving up 5 walks, 5 hits, and 4 runs. That’s back-to-back pisspoor outings from our “ace” against our two direct rivals for the division. One could argue, if he was his usual dominant self in these final two games against the Astros and Rangers, we’d be division champs right now. Or, at the very least, in the playoffs. Of course, it also didn’t help that the offense could only muster a single run in each of those contests, but that’s neither here nor there.

The Mariners were trying something a little different with their 200-level concessions (I didn’t scout the other levels, but I’m sure this wasn’t the only spot), where they sell the hot dogs and sodas and whatnot. They had all the hot food sitting out, presumably under a heat lamp. So, you grab what you want (in my case, two of those junior dogs and a pretzel), take them to the check-out, order your drink and pay. Made things a lot faster! But, the hot dogs were cold and the bun tasted a bit stale. Also, I’m staying away from those pretzels from now on; they aren’t great.

Probably the most annoying thing was the fact that they weren’t taking our free drink vouchers that came with the give-away. You’d think we just drew a Mariners logo on a piece of paper and were trying to pass it off as a coupon! We went to the bar area in the 200-level and they turned us away, saying you had to get the drinks from a concessions stand. So, we went to a place that had the hard ciders we wanted – in this case, the pasta station – and they started to turn us away too. Luckily, we were standing right behind someone higher up who works for the Mariners, and they were able to text someone in charge. But, if they weren’t standing right there at that exact moment, we’d probably still be looking for a place to take these damn things!

I’ve never had this much trouble with an Oktoberfest. It was honestly really disappointing. I invited a bunch of people who’d never been to an Oktoberfest Mariners game, and it’s just a shame that there had to be so many snags.

After Saturday’s game, Cal Raleigh came out and admonished the Mariners for not spending enough, and not bringing in enough quality players to fill out this roster. HE SPEAKS FOR ALL OF US, MARINERS!!! The team made him apologize on Sunday morning, but he still got his point across, and J.P. Crawford (as well as others) backed him up after the game Sunday afternoon.

You can’t field a playoff team with the likes of Haggerty, Ford, Caballero, Canzone, Rojas, and Dylan Moore taking up everyday at-bats. Not when Ty France, Jarred Kelenic, Eugenio Suarez, and Teoscar Hernandez are so fucking streaky (to be kind; some of them were outright disasterous). Second base, DH, and left field were fucking black holes YET AGAIN. As was backup catcher after Tom Murphy went down, but what else is new? When you’re already going super-cheap on your bullpen arms – and you’ve got a ton of cost-controlled starters – it’s fucking ridiculous that this team pinches pennies the way it does. Trying to get by with the likes of A.J. Pollock, Kolten Wong, and Tommy La Stella; you should be FUCKING ASHAMED of yourselves, Mariners front office!

I don’t know how to feel looking ahead to next year. On the one hand, I guess we have to like where the rotation sits. Castillo, Gilbert, and Kirby should all be full go’s. Miller and Woo should have increased workloads. Ray will be back. You have to think we’re taking whatever we can get in trade for Marco. But, then there’s the bullpen we have to find a way to reload (presumably with more retreads that we hope we can fix).

It’ll ultimately come down to what we can do to improve the offense. I guess we like J.P., Julio, and Cal. Suarez probably isn’t going anywhere. J.P. said he’s taking Ty France with him to Driveline to fix his swing, but will he even be around after what’s become of his Major League career? Teoscar is a free agent; maybe we put a qualifying offer on him and keep him for one more go-around. Kelenic … we’ll see. We still need a boost at second base, and DH is still a nothing-burger. And the bench … ye gods.

Nobody wants to come here and hit in our stadium. That means trades. No one in the minors is ready for a call-up just yet. Our best prospects will be heading to AA – at best – in 2024. They won’t be ready until 2025 at the earliest. Is it another year just like this one? Or do we flush our farm to try to win now? Will that even bring in enough to put us over the top?

It’s a bitter pill to swallow, compared to how we felt at this time last year. This might be the most important offseason we’ve ever seen around these parts. And, for the first time since the Jackie Z era, I’m having my doubts that we have the management in place to get it done.

As usual, the common denominator is ownership. It’s all on them. So, I guess we’re fucked.

The Mariners Swept The A’s, Got Swept By The Rangers

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You can’t really say this past road trip was a “worst-case scenario” because that would’ve been going 0-6. We beat the team we were supposed to beat: we took care of business down in Oakland. But, we failed to beat the team we really NEEDED to beat, and now, man, I don’t know.

We came into that Texas series tied with the Rangers. Now, we’re three games back of them for the division lead. We’re lucky that the Astros somehow found a way to lose all three to the Royals (and five of their last six, and seven of their last nine, and nine of their last twelve, against the Orioles, the Royals again, and the A’s), so we’re only a half-game behind them (with three to go against them starting tomorrow in Seattle). But, now we’re 2.5 games behind Toronto, and at the moment on the outside looking in at a playoff spot.

This isn’t what I wanted. I don’t want the wild card, I want the division! I also don’t want to fall ass-backwards into a wild card spot because some other team collapsed. I want to go out there and earn a playoff spot!

It’s starting to feel hopeless, though. We’re fucking 1-8 against the Rangers, and 28-8 against everyone else in the A.L. West; how the fuck is that even possible? Texas was the coldest team on the planet like two weeks ago; all of a sudden, they’re world-beaters again? How does one team have our number like that (and that team isn’t the Houston Astros)?

I don’t even think it’s that, though. I just think the Mariners are cooked. Woo and Miller are showing us they’re tired. Their arms are wearing down, and they’re just not as sharp or explosive as they were earlier. The same could be argued for Kirby and Gilbert. Luis Castillo is really the only starter who looks like he’s getting stronger here in this stretch run.

As for the bullpen, as we’ve been talking about for the last couple months, it’s just not nearly as deep as it’s been the previous two seasons. Once again, I have to point to the Paul Sewald trade. I still think it was a good idea at the time, but clearly our return in that trade hasn’t been what we needed. Canzone has had a few big hits here and there, but he’s sub-replacement level at this point in his Major League career, and his September has been trash (granted, the September for most of the Mariners has been trash, but that’s neither here nor there). Josh Rojas had a pretty hot August, but he’s reverted to being useless again this month. As has every other fringe big leaguer on this roster; I’m looking at Caballero, Haggerty, Ford, Moore, and I’m even lumping in Ty France here, because his career has fallen off the face of the fucking Earth not just this month, but all season.

I couldn’t even tell you who’s been doing good in this stretch run, because I refuse to sift through all these game logs. Figure it’s J.P., Julio, Teoscar, a little bit of Cal, and maybe some Suarez. But, it’s not consistent. It’s not like it was in August, when we were torching teams and Julio was a god among boys. We’re 8-14 in September, with 7 games to go. We have to figure out a way to at least tie Houston in record by season’s end (which will give us the tiebreaker thanks to our season record against them), or else we’re done.

Which more or less means we have to sweep the Astros this week, because we’re sure as shit not beating the Rangers ever again! If we can sweep Houston – and they manage to lose one of their final three games against the Diamondbacks – I think we can back in as the third wild card.

But, I’ve sure as shit lost any hope of winning the division. Not with Texas playing three games against the Angels this week.

What a stone cold bummer this month has been. After that August, I didn’t think there was any way we could blow it. But, in true Mariners fashion, as soon as a little excitement gets generated, they do everything they can to make us resent them.

The Mariners Were Swept By A Hungover Dodgers Squad

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Another missed opportunity, in a season chock full of them.

I don’t know if there was a lot of hope for the Mariners to hang with the mighty Dodgers, but it’s disturbing that we weren’t even competitive, and looked progressively worse as the weekend went along. As the title indicates, the Dodgers won their division on Saturday night. Presumably, they spent that evening partying, and yet they came out on Sunday and totally dominated.

George Kirby’s start on Friday ended as poorly as his previous start, giving up his 3rd & 4th runs in the sixth inning. We were able to pull the game to 4-3 in the bottom of the sixth, but the bullpen’s struggles continued and we lost 6-3.

We managed to keep the game scoreless through regulation on Saturday, but that also meant our offense failed repeatedly in their chances to score a single run when it mattered most. We squandered a solid start by Brad Miller (5.1 innings, 4 hits, 1 walk, 4 K’s), and quality bullpen work from our studs. We were lucky to tie the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the tenth, but they proceeded to score 5 runs in the next half to put us away.

And then came Sunday, when we got a dud out of Logan Gilbert (5 runs in 5 innings), and couldn’t do anything against their D-list pitching unit. Did WE end up spending all night Saturday drinking and carousing about town? Because that’s what it looked like.

What makes matters worse is there was a great opportunity to turn things around. Texas somehow got swept by the Guardians, and Houston somehow lost 2 of 3 to the Royals. Making matters worse, the Blue Jays swept the Red Sox. So, as it stands, we’re 2.5 games behind the Astros (one game behind the Rangers), and we’re 1.5 games behind Toronto.

We are 5-11 in the month of September. We are officially in the home stretch: our final road trip starts today in Oakland for 3, before going to Texas to play the Rangers for 3. Our final off-day is this Thursday. After the Rangers series, we return home and immediately play the Astros three more times, before closing out with four more against Texas.

This is it. WE MUST DEFEAT THESE ATHLETICS! There can’t be any more slip-ups. Then, we have to figure out a way to take care of business against our divisional opponents ahead of us.

But, I fear we’re wiped out. The bullpen looks like a dam that’s burst. The starters are starting to wear down after a season of relying upon them to be our rock. The hitters have severely cooled off after their August hot stretch, and no unexpected production has cropped up from players who have otherwise disappointed. We’re limping to the finish, and I don’t see any way we turn it around over these next two weeks. It’s sad. But, this just wasn’t a team built to overcome all it’s had to overcome. Injuries, sure, they play a part. But, every team has injuries. Most of our wounds are self-inflicted. Baserunning blunders, lack of clutch hitting, lack of consistent hitting from our best players, and yes, the Paul Sewald Trade. It all plays a part in this team falling apart.

We’ll see, though. There’s two weeks to right the ship.

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.

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!

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.

The Mariners Won Their Sixth Straight Series With A Sweep Of The Padres

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In case you weren’t counting along at home, that’s 7 consecutive victories, 12 of 14, and 24 of 34 dating back to the season’s nadir: when we were 4 games under .500 after a 15-4 loss where we were booed off the field at home against the Rays back on June 30th.

The funny thing is, this is exactly the kind of winning I said we can’t depend on. There’s no way the Mariners can keep doing this year after year! At some point, we need a little more everyday consistency! Yet, here we are, with the same exact record – 62-52 – that we had last year. The standings around us are different, but otherwise we’re right there in the thick of it thanks to this stretch. Baseball is fucking weird.

This was just a 2-game series against the Padres, with off-days on either side. So, otherwise a restful week, all things considered.

On Tuesday, we saw perhaps Logan Gilbert’s best-ever performance. He went 7 innings, gave up 1 questionable hit (that very well could’ve been an error), and struck out 12 en route to a 2-0 victory. That was the nastiest, filthiest stuff I’ve ever seen from him; he was in complete command from the jump. Sure, he had some help – a few nifty catches by Julio in the outfield, including a home run robbery – but this was Logan at his finest. He’s put up great box scores before; a lot of zeroes in his relatively short history with the M’s. But, I’ve never quite seen the type of movement and mix of off-speed he was able to throw at them. It’s cool to see Logan blossom, from a long-armed fireballer with lots of run on his fastball, to a crafty pitcher who can keep other teams off-balance and guessing throughout.

The offense consisted of a bases-loaded walk by Cal on a pitch clock violation in the fifth, and a Moore triple in the sixth that scored Tom Murphy. I had kind of hoped for more when it came to the Padres going with a Bullpen Day thanks to injuries. But, it turns out, that’s all we needed, as Brash and Munoz nailed down the final two innings no problem.

I had cause for concern yesterday, as Yu Darvish was on the mound. I don’t know if this is actually true, but it feels like Darvish always dominates us, getting tons of flailing swings and misses. But, this is an older Darvish. Even though he spun some nice gold – 6 innings, 1 run, 0 earned runs – we managed to keep the pressure up, putting a man on almost every inning he was out there. In the end, though, it was 1-1 going to the bottom of the eighth, before we finally busted this one wide open.

We don’t often get to talk about the Mariners batting around, but we saw it last night. Julio led off the eighth with a walk and after a Suarez strikeout, Cal hit a massive 2-run bomb to make it 3-1. That felt like it was going to be it for us, and it also felt like all we needed. But, after Teo was hit by a pitch (on the bill of his helmet, definitely not intentional, based on the pitcher’s immediate reaction, and he fact that he had two strikes on Teo), and the next batter grounded out, the bats really came to life. Ty France doubled in Teo, Marlowe singled in Ty, Rojas reached on an error (originally ruled as his first hit in a Mariners uniform), and Moore singled in Marlowe, to give the game its final score, 6-1.

This game was notable for being Emerson Hancock’s first Major League start. I guess he most certainly IS ready for this promotion!

It started off a little rocky in the first. He walked the leadoff hitter, then pretty much ignored the guy as he stole second and third base. Hancock even ignored him as he was scoring on a fielder’s choice right back to the pitcher; granted, the likelihood of gunning down the runner at home was slim, but it was weird to see a pitcher so casual about his base runner. I’m wondering if he was told by the team to not worry about the men on base, just focus on the hitter at the plate.

In spite of that run coming around to score in the first, Hancock never looked overwhelmed. He had lots of good movement on his pitches, and was pretty willing to mix it up and not just stick to fastballs. In total, he went five innings (throwing 87 pitches), limiting the Padres to just that one run, on 2 hits and 3 walks, with 3 strikeouts. The biggest concern in that whole line is the three walks, but we can chalk that up to first-start nerves. Otherwise, I was very impressed, as that Padres lineup has the potential to be quite potent and damaging.

We brought out all the stops with the bullpen, considering we had two off-days to count on this week. We used five different guys to get through the last four innings, and as the game remained tied later and later, it felt like this one was going to go extras. We even used Brash on back-to-back days in the eighth. The only thing saving us from using Munoz again – he was warming up to come in – was the fact that we put up a 5-spot in the bottom of the eighth. That’s the second time recently that Isaiah Campbell took Munoz’s spot thanks to a late Mariners scoring spree.

You know, I hate to be this guy, but I’ve found myself to be very much more engaged with the Mariners of late, now that they’ve been winning. Oh sure, it’s bandwagony as hell, but this team was legitimately hard to watch in the first half of the season.

With everyone starting to come together and get hot at the same time, it really feels like the Mariners can do anything. That they’re capable of playing with anyone and taking this thing all the way to the World Series. I know that’s just the hot streak talking. We’ll come back to Earth and play some .500 ball again for a while. But, I’m inclined to ride this wave as long as it’ll take me. It’s fun winning so often!

One cause for concern: Suarez and Crawford collided in the field yesterday, both trying to make a play on the same ball. This resulted in J.P. getting hit in the head and later being taken out of the game. He’s being tested for a concussion right now; I hope to Christ it isn’t serious. He’s the last guy I want to lose, after all he’s done to keep this team together.

Also, quick sidebar: Paul Sewald has only appeared in two games so far with the Diamondbacks. They’ve been on a massive losing streak (0 for the month of August) and so he hasn’t had many opportunities to save games. Finally, they threw him into a 12-1 blowout just to get him some work, and he pitched a clean inning. But then, the very next day, with a 3-2 lead in the ninth, Sewald gave up two homers to lose it 5-3 in walk-off fashion. Yikes!

The Mariners Maintained Their Rotation Strength

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I like to call it The Law Of Steve. It goes like this: is there something I really want? Is that something related to one of my favorite sports teams? Well, then one of two things is going to happen: either I’m not going to get that thing (for reasons), or I am going to get that thing, but it’s going to blow up in my face like you wouldn’t believe.

I tend to come on here a lot and bitch about the nice things we don’t get to have, as Mariners fans, as Seahawks fans, as Husky fans. It’s my lot in life. It’s my boulder I’m pushing up a mountain. It’s not as common for me to actually get something that I want, but I know when that happens, there’s some sort of sports god out there with a monkey’s paw ready for me to wish I had never even had an opinion on anything.

Oh, the Seahawks won a Super Bowl? Well guess what: next year they’re going to lose it in the most agonizing way possible, thoroughly upending their would-be dynasty!

Oh, the mid-90’s Supersonics finally got over the hump and are a legitimate championship team? Well guess what: they have to face the best team ever to that point and lose in six games!

Oh, the 2001 Mariners set the all-time wins record? Well guess what: they’re still going to blow it to the Yankees and fail to reach the World Series!

What I wanted from the Mariners at the trade deadline was to be sellers. Ship off Teoscar Hernandez, Ty France, maybe even Eugenio Suarez. Right or wrong, I just don’t believe those guys are going to be around the next time the Mariners qualify for the playoffs. I didn’t get what I wanted; what else is new?

The second-most thing I wanted was for the Mariners to not trade away their Major League starting pitchers for a hitter. And somehow, some way, my wish was granted.

Everyone always says you should trade from a position of strength to fill your weak spots. It’s just a no-brainer; you have too many great pitchers, or great whatevers, so you pluck someone and send him off for whatever it is you’re lacking. As a lifelong sports fan, I’m here to tell you: strengths don’t stay strong for long.

The sports gods find a way to wither away any team’s strengths, with injuries, with negative regression, with good ol’ fashioned bad luck.

So, I’m of the other mindset: hold onto your strengths as long as you can. Get as strong as possible at one specific thing, and ride that elitism as far as it will take you, filling in the cracks wherever you can by way of free agency, or trading away prospects (in the case of baseball) or draft picks (in the case of other sports).

The Mariners’ unquestioned strength is their starting rotation. Castillo is an Ace. Kirby and Gilbert are mostly excellent. Miller and Woo are up-and-comers, but still haven’t proven anything yet. There are a couple other guys in the high minors who are next on the list. And, of course, we still have Marco Gonzales for one more year (assuming we don’t find a trade partner for him this offseason), and Robbie Ray for 1-3 more years (depending on his player opt-out option after 2024).

Obviously, 2023 is a special situation. We have two injured starters, and we were forced to DFA Chris Flexen because he stunk. If we traded Kirby or Gilbert, sure we’d probably get back a massive haul, but we’d also have to fill in that spot in our rotation with some rando (a definite downgrade). On top of that, there’s a ticking clock on Miller and Woo considering they’re rookies and we’re trying to spare their usage. If we traded Miller or Woo, the haul in return would be less, and we’d still need a replacement rando to fill in. All for, presumably, an everyday position player or two who may or may not actually be good, because people come to Seattle all the time – highly-rated, sure-thing people like Jesse Winker – and are defeated by the park size and marine layer.

In short, if we traded one of those starters, we’d be worse off now, AND we’d be worse off in the future.

BUT. We forgot about The Law Of Steve.

I got what I wanted. That monkey’s paw just curled a finger. So, what’s going to happen now is that one of those guys (maybe Logan Gilbert, the more likely of the trade candidates) is going to get hurt. Or just start an unbelievable run of sucking. Bryce Miller has had back-to-back shaky outings with reduced velocity on his fastball; is this the first sign that he was actually meant to be a reliever all along? Did our window close on his trade value? Bryan Woo was very up-and-down in the month of July; is he destined to be in this rotation long term?

It makes me harken back to the Big Three (or Big Four, depending on your opinion of Brandon Maurer). You know what I wanted more than anything? To see a Mariners rotation with Taijuan Walker, James Paxton, and Danny Hultzen (and, sure Maurer, why not?). What happened? Well, we hung onto those guys for a while (well beyond their peak trade value), Maurer was converted to a reliever before being traded. Hultzen never cracked the Bigs until he was out of the organiztion. And Walker and Paxton had varying levels of health and effectiveness.

In short, I got what I wanted, but not REALLY. They were here, but they didn’t pan out the way I wanted them to. And then they were gone.

So, how will I be let down here? There are limitless possibilities! I can’t wait to be proven wrong once again.