State of the Mariners

 

State of the Mariners.

(Hint, it’s not very good).

Memorial Day is a benchmark for some baseball observers to see how their team is doing. If the team is playing good ball and hovering around the top of the division that’s a harbinger that the club is having a good year.

Of course, there are exceptions. The Detroit Tigers last year, were below .500 well into July, but made a run to the playoffs.

Then there’s the Seattle Mariners.

The Pacific Northwest’s favorite team started May 26 (Memorial Day) with a 29-22 record and despite a 5-3 loss at Houston, the M’s still led the Astros by a game and a half in the American League Western Division.

Yesterday afternoon at Safeco Field, the Mariners dropped a 4-3 decision to the Baltimore Orioles before an enthusiastic crowd of 27,000. The M’s had taken a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth off MVP candidate Cal Raleigh’s 24^th home run of the season.

Raleigh had also driven in the Mariners’ run in the third inning. His two-out single scored J.P. Crawford who had reached on an error.

However, the Orioles responded with back-to-back homers from Adley Rutschman (with one on) and Gunnar Henderson off Bryan Woo to take a 4-3 lead in the top of the sixth.

After Raleigh’s hit the Mariners would garner only one hit the remainder of the game. Baltimore starter Zach Elfin departed after the sixth inning and the bullpen brigade of Keegan Akin, Andrew Kittridge and Bryan Baker shutdown Seattle in the final three innings.

Miles Mastrobuoni singled with two out in the ninth but Baker struckout Dylan Moore to end the game. While they’ve won six in a row-three against the Mariners- the O’s are still 25-36 on the season.

After the game, Mariner manager Dan Wilson tried to be optimistic with the media noting, “That’s baseball. It can be an up-and-down game at times. That’s the way it is sometimes. But I think this team, with the spirit they have, the heart they have, we’ll be back. We still have a long way to go.”

The loss dropped the Mariners to 32-29 and they now trail Houston by 1 ½ games in the standings. Seattle has gone 1-5 and 3-7 in its last two homestands. Seattle was swept 3-0 by Toronto and Baltimore in that period and lost two out of three to the Washington Nationals.

Last year, the Mariners led the division in May but went into a tailspin that culminated in the firing of long-time manager Scott Servais. This time around, fans thought it would be different.

The M’s were a much-better hitting team for much of the first two months of the season, led by Raleigh’s Aaron Judge-like home-run power. The Seattle catcher, who noted on Mina Kimes’ podcast, that he’d like to compete in the Home Run Derby next month, is on a pace for 55 to 57 home runs.

While the Mariners have missed the playoffs the past two seasons, there’s a perception in baseball circles that Seattle would be a tough playoff team with their starting rotation of Woo, Logan Gilbert, Luis Castillo, Bryce Miller and George Kirby.

Perhaps injuries have caught up to the Mariners as Gilbert, Miller and Kirby have spent time on the disabled list. Victor Robles, who Seattle acquired at the trading deadline last season, has been out since his shoulder lost a battle to the right-field wall in San Francisco.

However, Emerson Hancock and Logan Evans, the `sixth’ and `seventh’ starters have done well when called upon. And in the `everybody’s got troubles’ department, the Orioles have 11 players on the disabled list, including three regulars and three starting pitchers.

Reliever Andres Munoz, the other Mariner besides Hancock who looked like he was taking Marvel superhero pills in the first two months of the season, showed signs of coming back down to earth in his recent appearances last weekend. Munoz blew two saves against the Twins, although he picked up the win on Sunday when Seattle scored in the last of the ninth. Munoz still has 17 saves and 1.40 ERA on the season.

The Mariners hope to turn things around with a three-game series starting in Los Angeles, versus the Angels starting tonight (another below .500 team). After a three-game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Seattle returns to Safeco Field on June 13 for six games against the Cleveland Guardians and the Boston Red Sox.