By Kshell
The Seattle Mariners completed another losing week as they dropped two of three to the Detroit Tigers then split four games with the Oakland Athletics. The Mariners should be thankful for the A's as they are 8-15 on the year but 4-3 against the A's. The Mariners saw some good pitching this week but other than one 13 run outburst saw little to no hitting. The week saw Felix Hernandez bounce back while Michael Pineda continue his dominating start to his career. The week also saw Ichiro get back on track which was good to see. The Mariners had some bullpen meltdowns this week costing them two games. The Mariners once again continue to draw poorly as they at one point had seven consecutive games dating back to the Toronto series where they drew less than 15 thousand fans. The Mariners will now head on the road to Detroit then Boston this week. This season continues to be a work in progress. As I've done in the past I'll break down the good, the bad and the ugly for the week.
The Good:
Well from the starting pitching staff there was plenty of good this week. In seven starts the Mariners pitchers gave them five quality starts including back to back shutouts by Felix Hernandez and Michael Pineda. The Mariners busted out against the Detroit Tigers in their one win of the series they scored a season high 13 runs. The Mariners saw plenty of great pitching this week it was hard to pick just three good pitchers so I went with five and felt like I snubbed a few. As for the hitting Ichiro had a big week this week along with Adam Kennedy. The Mariners are at least competing now just need to find some offense as the pitching staff has been pretty good so far.
Hitting Leaders:
Ichiro: 13-30(.433), 3 RBI's, 4 runs, 4 SB's
Adam Kennedy: 7-23(.304), 2 HR's, 4 RBI's, 3 runs
Michael Saunders: 6-21(.286), 4 runs, 3 doubles
Pitching Leaders:
Felix Hernandez: 1-0, 7.2 IP 0.00 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 8 K's
Doug Fister: 1-0, 12.1 IP, 2.18 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 12 K's
Michael Pineda: 1-0, 6.0 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 5 K's
Brandon League: 2 saves, 2.1 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1.28 WHIP
David Pauley: 5.1 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.38 WHIP, 2 K's
Michael Pineda on the season is now 3-1, 25.1, 1.78 ERA, 1.07 WHIP with 21 K's.
The Bad:
The bad was the Mariners having another losing week which seems to be the theme for a team destined to lose over 100 games. The Mariners still can't score any runs. After erupting for 13 runs the Mariners the next five games scored just 10 runs. I feel as if I keep putting the same people on the slumping list and that is mostly true. For pitching I had to stretch to put people on the slumping list. For the hitting it was hard picking just three guys. This week saw the slumping Josh Lueke sent down after he blew up this week yet Chris Ray is still on the roster. Jack Cust who provides nothing is still on this roster somehow which I don't understand. Hopefully his time as a Mariner ends very shortly.
Hitting Slump:
Jack Cust: 2-19(.105), 2 RBI's, run, 8 K's
Miguel Olivo: 3-16(.188), RBI, 5 K's
Chone Figgins: 5-25(.200), 3 RBI's, 5 runs, SB, 4 K's
Pitching Slump:
Josh Lueke: 0-1, 1.1 IP, 47.37 ERA, 6.77 WHIP, 2 K's
Jason Vargas: 0-1, 11 IP, 6.54 ERA, 1.54 WHIP, 7 K's
Aaron Laffey: 0-1, 4.2 IP, 5.79 ERA, 1.71 WHIP, 3 K's
Josh Lueke like I mentioned was sent down. On the year Lueke was 1-1 in 6.1 innings pitched. He had a 17.05 ERA, 2.84 WHIP and struck out eight batters.
The Ugly:
The hitting of Miguel Olivo, Jack Cust and Chone Figgins has just been awful all year long. All three guys OPS is around .400 which is awful and all three guys are Jackie Z signings. For all the excuses of what Bill Bavasi did which is very true and valid he isn't helping his cause. The three worst hitters on the team were signed by Zduriencik and have been total busts.
Ugly Hitting:
Jack Cust is hitting .171/.326/.186 on the season. The Man was brought in for power and is slugging below .200 which is awful. He has just one extra base hit on the season.
Chone Figgins is hitting .160/.207/.247 on the season. He was supposed to get on base along with Ichiro and create runs. Instead his on base percentage is barely above .200 again awful. Plus his defense has been horrible as well.
Miguel Olivo is hitting .164/.224/.180 on the season. I know Olivo failed in Seattle six years ago maybe he'll succeed again? Nope! Olivo like Cust is slugging worst than Figgins who is terrible. Olivo's OPS is .404 which is horrible considering John Olerud and Edgar Martinez would have on base percentages higher than that.
Seattle Mariners as a team is hitting .226/.309/.320 which for a single player is a terrible season. For a team this could be historically awful this year. Maybe paying 27 million a year to two leadoff hitters isn't a good recipe to score runs after all. The fans will continue to ignore this team at this rate and I don't blame them.
AL West Standings:
Texas Rangers: 14-7 First Place
LA Angels: 12-10, 2.5 GB
Oakland A's: 11-11, 3.5 GB
Seattle Mariners: 8-15 7.0 GB
We all knew this was going to be a long year. I'm sure Eric Wedge had an idea that this team wasn't going all the way when he was hired. When Justin Smoak was gone this week due to a death in his family this lineup was awful. Pretty sad that the team leader in home runs is Ryan Langerhans with just three or that Ichiro is second on the team in RBI's with nine. The Mariners have some nice young pieces that will be exciting to look forward to. Unfortunately this year just like last year is going to be painful. I wouldn't let the Mariners waste your summer days go out and have fun in the summer. There is no need to waste three hours of your day on this team. Unless Pineda or Hernandez is pitching this isn't a very fun team to watch. So the week has finished and the Mariners find themselves already seven games back after just 23 games. Pretty incredible how a team can burry themselves after just one month. Well when you feature three every day hitters who can't even hit .180 that is going to happen.
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