At closing time, the Mariners fail to score and leave the bar alone
A crucial home stand opens after an awful 1-6 road trip. What the heck happened?
The post All-Star-break Seattle Mariners light-stepped out of town July 20 to see whether their modestly successful 4-3 home record had legs. For one game it did, as the M's started the Toronto-Texas two-step with a 4-2 win against the Blue Jays. Then, starting Saturday, July 21, the knees buckled, the toes curled, and the M's stumbled just about every way they could. They scored early but not late, late but not early and, for consecutive games, didn't score at all. With every sport except, perhaps, nocturnal bar-cruising, it's generally considered impossible to win without scoring.
Then the Mariners lost in the worst way imaginable short of sustaining player injury. Their one guy laying claim to perfection this year, Mr. Joseph Jason Putz, left an eighth-inning fastball over the plate where even the skinny infielder and Seattle reject Ramon Vazquez could get to it. Seconds later, the ball crash-landed beyond the center-field fence, punctuating what soon would be the M's sixth straight loss, 7-6 to Texas, on Wednesday, July 25.
What happened? The vaunted Seattle offense, up against a string of teams playing sub-.500, often looked like that of a sub-.300 club. Starting pitching couldn't finish anything. Opponents seemed to welcome the Seattle term "relief pitcher" as though it actually meant a container of cold beer. Runners got caught where they shouldn't have been: off base. Putz, who had been perfect in going-on 30 save situations, didn't get to throw much until the finale, and his masterful skein ended at 29.
Only those with morbid curiosity would have wanted to be aboard the plane that left Texas as July 25 became Thursday the 26th. The M's floated home to play Oakland and Los Angeles, two more division foes, which rhymes with woes, which is what this team has as it collapses just after pulling within a game or two of the division lead.
Yes, and the man sent ahead to Seattle from Texas as Thursday's would-be loss-stopper and scheduled starter: Jeff Weaver.
Well, and why not the one-time nightmare guy who lately could be called Dream Weaver? Supposed staff ace Felix Hernandez seems to lack the maturity to take seriously anything like a pennant run. He blew up again during the loss streak, letting an umpire fluster him. The apparently mended Horacio Ramirez had a miserable start against Texas (his road-game earned-run average is 13.72). Miguel Batista gave back leads and allowed five earned runs in six innings during the July 25 catastrophe. Lefties Jarrod Washburn and Ryan Feierabend pitched well enough to win each of the July 24 double-header games, both of them one-run losses for the M's.
After the twin killing, some of the players proposed a team-unity gesture involving the cutting of players' hair. Strictly from a GQ sensibility, this seemed well advised, especially for Richie Sexson (not so much the team's Mr. Clutch as its Mr. Brake). In fact, it proved to be an idea at least as dubious as the one Delilah once suggested to Samson, as the already clean-cut M's again got clipped by the Rangers.
Other clubs are posturing for the post-season, still two months away. The Yankees are within 6.5 games of the Red Sox (playing at Safeco to end the M's homestand). The Angels, meanwhile, widened their pad against Seattle to 3.5 games.
The M's, then, certainly are better off now than they have been at this point during recent seasons. But a sudden Seattle turnaround is somewhat less than certain. It's hard for a desperate team to play loose, especially returning from a 1-6 road trip that could help define another failed season. Moreover, the M's, when dancing with division partners during the latter halves of seasons, have a history of letting the other guys lead.
Comments:
Posted Thu, Jul 26, 4:59 p.m. inappropriate
True to Form...: We'll see if the Mariners play true to form this year. After several 5- to 6-game losing streaks, they've caught fire and laid out improbable win streaks of even greater length. It's a curious phenomenon, but you have to look at the team as an animal in and of itself and not as a bunch of individuals. The team as a whole has been tired. When it regains its energy, it should do fine. Also, hitting is timing, and the two shutouts indicate that the hitters lost some of their timing over the All-Star break.
You might expect after the All-Star break that the team would be well rested and "loaded for bear." Unfortunately, the All-Star break isn't that long a break, and for Putz and Ichiro wasn't a break at all -- both have been subpar since then. I also think you see how Ichiro's value as a base-runner is contagious and makes other batters better because fielders leave bigger holes trying to keep Ichiro closer to the bag, pitchers get distracted by his antics, and his speed and base-steeling often mean early runs. When he gets shut down, fielders field a bit better, and pitchers can focus better on pitching and so pitch better against following hitters. None of these are new observations. It's just that when you see Ichiro striking out a lot, like he has been lately, the team itself feels out of sync.
In any event, I've been impressed with the way the M's have clawed their way into contention, and are still there even with the current losing streak.
If one believes that the hitters are tired, then a good case can be made for bringing up Adam Jones and resting Ibanez and Richie on occasion. Down the stretch we're going to need to rest the starters so that we have no more long losing streaks.
When you look at all the scores in their losing streak, you see that the games have been close. Fully five of the six losses were by one run. The other was the 8-0 shutout. On the other hand, we always seemed to be playing from behind.
I expect these guys to band together when they get home and play great. And you can be sure on their next road trip they'll take nothing for granted.
By the way, Beltre is hot. He looks dangerous every time he's at the plate, and his three doubles yesterday are a good sign. And Weaver's last outing was excellent in the 1-0 loss. If he pitches well again, and if Felix' meltdown in his 8-0 loss finally lit a fire under him (so to speak), then I think we'll pull out of this tail spin and continue on with the excellent play we're all more familiar with.
Anyway, I'm hoping we start another win streak tonight, but we've got Haren (13-2) pitching against us. Fortunately we have Weaver. So bring on a new winning streak!