Seattle Mariners weekly review: August 15th-21st edition

By Kshell

The Seattle Mariners just completed their week losing five games in a row. The Mariners began the week with a thrilling come back victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. Then after that win the Mariners lost the next two to the Blue Jays where Safeco Field was cheering louder for the Blue Jays than hometown Mariners. The Mariners took the road to Tampa Bay to take on the Rays where the Mariners were swept. The Mariners this week saw Mike Carp extend his hitting streak up to 20 games with Casper Wells hitting a home run in four straight games dating back to last week. The Mariners also saw their pitching particularly the bullpen just get lit up this week. The Mariners had just two out of a possible six starts that were quality starts. The Mariners finished the week 1-5 so we'll talk about the good(Carp and Wells), the bad(pitching) and the ugly(young guys getting lit up). Like I usually do I'll start off with the positives first.

The Good:

When a team goes 1-5 it's hard to find some positives. The Mariners did see Mike Carp extend his hitting streak to 20 games showing the Mariners that he deserved playing time this entire time. Another positive was the play of Casper Wells who had homered in fourt straight games while hitting three home runs for the week. Another player the Mariners acquired in the trade then called up was Trayvon Robinson who hit pretty well this week which was nice to see. The Mariners wasted another masterful game by Felix Hernandez who threw his second complete game in his last three starts but was left the loss. The Mariners did see rookie Tom Wilhelmsen record his first ever major league win in relief.

Good Hitting:

Casper Wells: 6-18(.333), 3 HR's, 5 RBI's, 5 runs
Mike Carp: 8-23(.347), 2 HR, 3 RBI's, 4 runs
Willy Mo Pena: 3-8(.375), HR, 2 RBI's, 2 runs
Jack Wilson: 3-9(.333), RBI
Kyle Seager: 7-21(.333), HR, 3 RBI's, 3 runs
Trayvon Robinson: 7-19(.368), 3 RBI's, 3 runs

Good Pitching:

Felix Hernandez: 0-1, 8 IP, 3.38 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 9 K's
Dan Cortes: 0-1, 5.2 IP, 1.59 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, 2 K's
Tom Wilhemsen: 1-0, 4.2 IP, 3.86 ERA, 0.64 WHIP, 3 K's

This week saw Tom Wilhemson win his first ever game as well as Kyle Seager hit his first career home run. This week also saw Willy Mo Pena hit his first home run as a Mariner. For a week that went as bad as it did the Mariners did see some firsts.

The Bad:

This week saw plenty of bad for the Mariners as they lost five in a row. The starting pitching was a total disaster as was the bullpen. The Mariners saw three different relievers post extremely high ERA's and WHIP. The Mariners released the recently ineffective Aaron Laffey. This week also saw some key hitters slump in Dustin Ackley(first of his career) and Ichiro. They also saw Franklin Gutierrez go back to not hitting and Miguel Olivo despite praise from his manager continues to be terrible. The Mariners young pitching duo of Blake Beavan and Charlie Furbush were once again rocked. The Mariners also saw Michael Pineda pitch well against the Rays which was nice after he was shelled against the Blue Jays. Jason Vargas was also shelled against the Blue Jays allowing six runs in the first inning.

Bad Hitting:

Dustin Ackley: 4-20(.200), 2 runs, 7 K's
Ichiro: 5-25(.200), RBI, run, K
Adam Kennedy: 1-12(.083), 3 K's
Miguel Olivo: 3-14(.214), HR, RBI, 2 runs, CS, 5 K's
Franklin Gutierrez: 4-26(.153), 2 RBI's, run, 5 K's

Bad Pitching:

Jason Vargas: 0-1, 4 IP, 18.00 ERA, 2.75 WHIP, 2 K's
Michael Pineda: 11 IP, 5.72 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, 11 K's
Blake Beavan: 0-1, 5 IP, 9.00 ERA, 1.60 WHIP, 3 K's
Aaron Laffey: 1.1 IP, 20.30 ERA, 3.76 WHIP, ZERO K's
Jamey Wright: 1.1 IP, 27.00 ERA, 3.76 WHIP, ZERO K's
Josh Lueke: 3.2 IP, 7.36 ERA, 2.18 WHIP, ZERO K's
Charlie Furbush: 0-1, 3 IP, 15.00 ERA, 3.00 WHIP, 2 K's

This week the Mariners got rid of Aaron Laffey who was 1-1 with a 4.01 ERA, 1.64 WHIP in 42.2 innings pitched in 36 games. He struck out only 24 batters while walking 16 while allowing a .305 opponents batting average. In the second half he was even worse as he had a 12.00 ERA and a 2.77 WHIP in only nine innings pitched. He only struck out six batters while walking four batters. Laffey doesn't have great stuff and has been rocked lately as his WHIP was always pretty high for a reliever.

The Ugly:

Seeing crowds cheer louder for an opposing team was pretty annoying this past week. In fact this was a subject that I tackled last wednesday and again later that night on my radio interview. You can view that post by clicking here. It has been sad to see Safeco Field be so incredibly empty this year. Now I'll talk about some reasons why as of late.

Ugly Hitting:

Franklin Gutierrez: Hitting on the year .216/.251/.264 with only one home run and 14 RBI's in 269 AB's.
Miguel Olivo: Hitting on the year .215/.247/.367 with 111 strikeouts to just 18 walks in 368 AB's. He takes the term impatient hitter to a whole new meaning.

Ugly Pitching:

Blake Beavan last two starts: 0-2, 11.1 IP, 8.73 ERA, 1.77 WHIP, 6 HR's, 4 K's. Never a good thing when your HR to strikeout ratio is 1.5/1.0
Charlie Furbush: 2-2, 20 IP, 6.30 ERA, 1.55 WHIP, 11 K's, .299 BAA which is pretty awful numbers.
Josh Lueke: 1-1, 16.2 IP, 9.72 ERA, 2.04 WHIP, 15 K's, .338 BAA.

I brought up these three young guys as they are acquisitions by Jack Zduriencik who the local media loves to brag up. Whenever a young guy does anything you hear non stop "In Jack Z we trust" slogans from all the care bear fans. Whenever his players struggles(which often is the case) you hear non stop excuse making on why he can't build a major league team.

AL West Standings:

Texas Rangers: 73-55, first place
L.A. Angels: 69-59, 4.0 GB
Oakland A's: 57-70, 15.5 GB
Seattle Mariners: 53-72, 18.5 GB

In conclusion, the Mariners are a struggling team who is simply playing out their season. It is frustrating to see them lose but at this point there is no reason to be worked up over losses. This is a learning stage for a lot of these players. For so many guys on this roster this is extended spring training for next year. What you do going forward could determine your status on this roster. I would like to see manager Eric Wedge pull Hernandez after seven innings under all circumstances excluding a no-hitter. There is absolutely no reason for Hernandez to be throwing this many innings/pitches in a wasted season. The Mariners offense is slowly coming around but with Zduriencik trading away some key pitching pieces the pitching has struggled lately. Hopefully the Mariners this offseason can acquire some much needed batters and some pitching as well. For now I say go the fact that football season is here.

My interview on "steady as she goes" with Jeffs Mariners and Insider Steve

By Kshell

This past Wednesday I was on "steady as she goes" with Jeffs Mariners discussing Mariners baseball. What made this show particularly special was Insider Steve called in. This was a fun half hour segment where we discussed the Mariners young kids, how Safeco Field has had more fans of the other team than the Mariners, and other things that were on our mind. The first 15 minutes Jeff and myself discussed the prospects. We talked about the hot hitting of Casper Wells, Trayvon Robinson and of course Mike Carp who is currently having an 18 game hitting streak.

The other topics we discussesd was how embarassing it was this past weekend that the Red Sox outnumbered us or the Blue Jays did as well. All three of us agreed that it was a joke. We proceeded to bash ownership as they have spit on the diehard fans. Jeff goes to 10-15 games a year, Insider Steve goes to over 40 games a year and they are tired of the gimmicks. We discussed at length how pathetic ownership is with all these stupid ass bobbleheads. Like I said in the interview I won't go to a game with stupid giveaways. I'll keep my dignity and not do it. We also discussed "Brown Paper Sack" day which is where we go to the game and wear a brown paper sack over our heads to show the team we aren't taking this losing crap anymore!

In conclusion, the interview I felt went pretty well. It was really fun talking baseball with two educated bloggers. I hope I held my own with those two and it was fun. Here is a direct link to the podcast which is on seamheads then on blogtalkradio.com/seaheads. It was a blast and I'll be on every Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.. Hope you click on the link and if you want to call in call (347)-945-7172 if you want join us on the show. It was a fun show and don't forget to listen every Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Seattle Mariners weekly review: July 14th-24th edition

By Kshell

The Seattle Mariners are currently going through their worst stretch in franchise history. The Mariners went into the all-star break on a five game losing streak which appeared to eliminate them from the race. Now the Mariners in the second half have lost all 10 games to the Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox. The Mariners have lost a franchise record 15 straight games which is shocking considering as of July 6th this team was just 2.5 games back of first place. Now the Mariners trail the Oakland A's as they sit in last place in their division. The losing streak started off with the Mariners not hitting which has been a problem all year long and has been a problem in the entire Jack Zduriencik regime. What has surprised most fans is that this week especially on the road trip to Toronto and Boston the Mariners offense woke up while the pitching staff has been lit up. For the first time all year I'll have several pitchers make the "bad" list. Like I do whenever the team has a losing week I'll be going over the good(not much), the bad(over half the roster) and the ugly(the mastermind behind this team).

The Good:

When a team is going through a 15 game losing streak I'm sure you are thinking good?!1 Well a few hitters have stepped up this past week and so have some pitchers. This week saw the return of Mike Carp from Tacoma and now that he is getting regular at bats he took advantage this week. If Carp can show life that would be nice since the offense is still broken. The Mariners also saw short stop Brendan Ryan hit his first home run of the season and then he followed that up with a grand slam. This week also saw rookie pitcher Blake Beavan who was acquired in the Cliff Lee deal pitch pretty well in his two starts despite picking up the loss. Beavan this year has pitched a quality start in all four of his starts which is a good way to start your career. The Mariners finally had some hitting this road trip but the pitching has been terrible. The Mariners offense this road trip has averaged 4.8 runs per game which is pretty good for this offense.

Good Hitting:

Dustin Ackley: 12-42(.286), HR, 6 RBI's, run
Brendan Ryan: 14-40(.350), 2 HR's, 6 RBI's, 7 runs, 2 SB's
Mike Carp: 8-22(.363), 2 HR's, 4 RBI's, 3 runs

Good Pitching:

Blake Beavan: 0-2, 13.1 IP, 4.05 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 7 K's
Jeff Gray: 6.1 IP, 1.42 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 5 K's, Blown Save
David Pauley: 0-1, 5.1 IP, 3.38 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 4 K's
Chris Ray: 3.1 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.60 WHIP, 3 K's
Brandon League: 2.0 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 2 K's

The team hasn't performed very well as you can see by the limited work that closer Brandon League has received. It was nice seeing the youngsters like Dustin Ackley, Mike Carp and Blake Beavan perform well during this losing streak that was the lone bright spot.

The Bad:

The Mariners have set a franchise record with their 15th straight loss when they were swept by the Boston Red Sox sunday losing 12-8. The Mariners go on the road to the New York Yankees then return home to face the Tampa Bay Rays so this losing streak could very well stretch to 20 games. The Mariners pitching in particular their bullpen overachieved in the first half and law of averages have caught up to them. The Mariners still have several hitters who are slumping as the offense scored just two runs in their four game sweep at home to the Texas Rangers to begin the second half. Watching this losing streak I think we all feel crazy that just two weeks ago there was actual playoff talk surrounding this team. Now the Mariners are headed towards another top five pick in the major league baseball draft. First year manager Eric Wedge you can tell is fed up with this team as he blasted his veterans in a loss against the Toronto Blue Jays. He even shaved his famous mustache in an attempt to avoid the losing streak. The team is hitting slightly better now but that was all negated due to the pitching being so terrible.

Bad Hitting:

Justin Smoak: 6-34(.176), run, 7 K's
Adam Kennedy: 6-32(.187), HR, RBI, 3 runs, 6 K's
Miguel Olivo: 8-36(.222), 2 HR's, 6 RBI's, 3 runs, 2 SB's, 10 K's
Carlos Peguero: 0-2(.000), 2 K's
Franklin Gutierrez: 7-32(.218), 3 RBI's, 4 runs, 4 SB's, 7 K's
Chone Figgins: 2-13(.153), 2 runs, SB, 5 K's
Greg Halman: 2-19(.105), HR, 3 RBI's, run, 8 K's

Bad Pitching:

Felix Hernandez: 0-2, 14 IP, 6.43 ERA, 1.79 WHIP, 8 K's
Jason Vargas: 0-2, 9 IP, 10.00 ERA, 2.67 WHIP, 3 K's
Michael Pineda: 0-1, 10.2 IP, 10.13 ERA, 1.69 WHIP, 10 K's
Doug Fister: 0-1, 13.2 IP, 5.27 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 5 K's
Aaron Laffey: 5.1 IP, 10.13 ERA, 2.25 WHIP, 3 K's, hold
Jamey Wright: 0-1, 4.2 IP, 11.57 ERA, 2.36 WHIP, 3 K's

The numbers don't lie right there. The starting pitching which has carried this team all season long has fallen apart in the second half. The Mariners saw two key bullpen guys just fall apart which isn't helping things at all. The hitting has been terrible since 2008 which makes you question how things are being run upstairs. The main player that is a red flag is Justin Smoak who has been slumping pretty bad ever since his hot April. He was a key acquisition in the Cliff Lee trade and if he doesn't pan out that will set the franchise back some years.

The Ugly:

The Mariners right now are looking like a flawed roster that is heading for another disasterous season. The Mariners are on pace to lose 93 games this season which would be their third season in the last four years of losing over 90 games. The Mariners are going for history this season as the worst American League offense in the DH era which is a record you don't want. The Mariners despite a decent sized payroll have put out a minor league batting lineup the past two seasons. Now I've already debated with Insider Steve on whether or not Jack Zduriencik should be retained. I'm not going to open that up instead I'll post some ugly stats.

Jack Zduriencik era

- Has a 189-236(.444%) record in Seattle. That is an average of 71-91 record.
- Has an offense that is scoring 3.28 runs per game in 2011 which ranks last in baseball, scored 3.16 runs per game in 2010 that ranked last in baseball and 3.9 runs per game in 2009 that ranked 28th in baseball.
- In his years his offenses have averaged 3.49 runs per game.
- His teams have hit only 325 HR's in 425 games so they aren't producing the power.
- In 2011 the Mariners are hitting .226/.290/.334 which ranks last place, last place and 29th. In 2010 the Mariners hitting was .236/.298/.339 which ranks last place in all three categories. In 2009 the Mariners hitting was .258/.314/.402 which ranked 21st, 29th and 23rd. The offense has regressed each season under Zduriencik.

Now the pitching has been pretty good but Jason Vargas and recently Blake Beavan only starting pitchers that Zdurienik has his hand on. While the crappy hitting only Ichiro this year and last year Jose Lopez plus our crappy catchers were the only non Zduriencik hitters. The hitting has been historically awful and this losing streak might have sealed Zdurienik's fate. I think firing Zduriencik doesn't solve the Mariners problems but hard to imagine a GM keeping his job with such ugly numbers.

AL West Standings:

Texas Rangers: 58-44, first place
L.A. Angels: 55-47, 3.0 GB
Oakland A's: 44-57, 13.5 GB
Seattle Mariners: 43-58, 14.5 GB

The Seattle Mariners as a franchise has been in a decade long drought. The Mariners feel like that snail who takes one slow step forward then falls back quickly two steps. The Mariners since 2003 have had five full-time managers and seven managers overall. The Mariners have had three different GM's in that time and it appears we'll have our fourth next spring. The new "savior" that the fans will drool over every move he makes. This feels like a process that never ends. The names come and go while the same crappy results continue on. This franchise despite having an ace pitcher in his prime and a first ballot hall of fame hitter will lose over 90 games for the third time in four seasons. They will have lost over 90 games five times since 2004. This year we all figured it was going to be a rebuilding year and possibly the team overachieving in the first half may have cost Zduriencik. The fans had accepted 90 plus losses heading into the season but expectations changed during the season. One thing that hasn't changed is the historically awful offense that Zduriencik has assembled. For as much crap as people give Wedge for his lineups you can only do so much with seven turds. The Mariners offense is just one giant turd at the end of the day and this losing streak just magnifies it.

Mariners weekly recap: April 11th-17th

By Kshell

The Seattle Mariners just completed another losing week going 3-4 dropping their overall record to 5-11. The week started off strong for the Mariners as they snapped a seven game losing streak by defeating the Toronto Blue Jays in the first two games. After that the Mariners lost four games in a row, three to the Kansas City Royals. The Mariners had plenty of lows this week but did have some nice wins as well. The Mariners saw a record comeback for them, great pitching by youngster Michael Pineda and Justin Smoak showing why he was such a highly regarded prospect. The Mariners unfortunately still aren't scoring enough runs. This week even saw Eric Wedge have his first of many blowups on the team after a 7-0 loss on Saturday to the Royals. Like I'll be doing all season long I'll recap the week with the good, the bad and the ugly.

The Good:

The good was the two games I went to this week which the Mariners won. I'll start with Monday's game against the Toronto Blue Jays where the Mariners trailed 7-0 and 7-1 going into the eighth inning. My friend who was my ride wanted to leave early so we left early. As we were eating in McDonalds my phone kept blowing up and the Mariners pulled within 7-6. On the way back to my hotel Luis Rodriguez drilled a two run double for the Mariners to complete the comeback 8-7. I punched my friend in the arm and told him I'll be on my death bed and never forgive him.

Well the next day I saw the home debut of Michael Pineda. I didn't leave early on that game. Pineda showed the Mariners there is plenty of hope as did Justin Smoak when he made a great defensive play in the eighth. With the game 3-2, runner on third base and one out someone hit a pop up between first base and right field in foul territory. Smoak makes the catch turns and fires a strike to nail the runner at third base to basically win the game for the Mariners.

Hitting Leaders:

Justin Smoak: 8-19(.421), Home run, 4 RBI's, 2 runs
Brendan Ryan: 7-21(.333), 3 RBI's, 2 runs. Hit safely in six of seven games
Ichiro: 8-31(.258), 2 RBI's, 5 runs, stolen base

Pitching Leaders:

Michael Pineda: 2-0, 13.1 IP, 1.35 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 12 K's
Jamey Wright: 2 holds, 2.1 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, 2 K's
Josh Lueke: 1-0, 2.1 IP, 3.86 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 2 K's

The Bad:

The team still isn't scoring runs at all having scored just 23 runs(3.2 Runs per game) in seven games. The Mariners won two out of three from the Toronto Blue Jays but lost three of four against the Kansas Royals despite throwing Erik Bedard, Felix Hernandez and Michael Pineda at them. The Mariners aren't getting much production from the middle of the lineup and the starting pitching finally pitched poorly this week outside of Pineda. The Mariners lost four in a row which gives them already two separate losing streaks of over four games which is a bad trend. Wedge has to be crying everytime he fills out a lineup card.

Hitting Slump:

Miguel Olivo: 1-21(.047), run, 7 K's
Jack Cust: 4-19(.210), 2 RBI's, run, 6 K's. ZERO XBH
Chone Figgins: 3-19(.157), run. ZERO stolen bases

Pitching Slump:

Felix Hernandez: 0-1, 11 IP, 7.36 ERA, 2.00 WHIP, 12 K's
Chris Ray: 0-1, Blown Save, Hold, 1.1 IP, 33.83 ERA, 3.76 WHIP. ZERO K's
Erik Bedard: 0-1, 4.2 IP, 7.72 ERA, 2.14 WHIP, 6 K's

The Ugly:

Now before you think I'm picking on Ichiro I chose this picture to show how low the crowds were during that Toronto series. I was at two of the games and I felt outnumbered by all the Canada fans who drove down to root on the Blue Jays. The Mariners set a Safeco Field record for worst attendance on Monday which was later broken on Wednesday. I can't blame the fans either when you put out a crappy product who can't score runs I wouldn't go either. In fact I'm wondering why I went to two games myself.

Ugly Hitting:

Mariners scored just 23 runs(3.2 Runs per game) during this seven game series. The Mariners attendance is paying the price for it. After six games attendance is already down over 44,000 from last season. This will most likely be the worst year in Safeco history far as fan support goes. I can't really blame the fans it's one thing to be losers but another thing to not be exciting. This team lacks power or anything. They can't play big ball or small ball.

AL West Standings:

LA Angels: 10-5 tied for first
Texas Rangers: 10-5 tied for first
Oakland A's: 8-8 2.5 GB
Seattle Mariners: 5-11 5.5 GB

This year is going to be a long rebuilding season. Wedge I should hope knew this when he took the job. This team won't be competive until 2012 and won't be a playoff contender until 2013. If you guys want hope just look at the "good" list which features Michael Pineda and Justin Smoak. Felix Hernandez is still only 25 years old plus the Mariners have the number two pick in this years draft. The Mariners also have top prospect Dustin Ackley sitting in the minors. The Mariners are starting to build some nice young pieces. That won't take the pain of this season away but unlike 2008 there is at least hope at the end of the tunnel. Whether Jackie Z or Eric Wedge is here to see that well that is a different story that I'll talk about later in the year.