Seattle Mariners weekly review: April 25th-May 1st

By Kshell

This week was a different week for the Seattle Mariners. They actually completed their first winning week which took place on a tough road trip. The Mariners had swept the Detroit Tigers then took two out of three against the Boston Red Sox. The Mariners offense erupted in Detroit while the pitching shut down the Tigers and Red Sox this week. Even if this is the highlight of the season this was sure fun to watch. The Mariners were playing like a team this week with good pitching and timely hitting. It was nice to see as a fan watching the pitchers go six for six with great pitching performances. Unlike my previous posts this post will have a bit of a change to it. This post won't feature the good, the bad and the ugly instead it will have the good(plenty of names), the bad(no pitching) and the awesome! So hope you enjoy this weekly review as it was one to watch just hopefully this wasn't the highlight.

The Good:

This was a great week for the Mariners which saw plenty of guys step up. As you'll see in my hitting stars you'll see three names that often sit on my hitting slump. The pitching was incredible this week as the starters went 5-0 on the week with an era of 2.56 on the week with five quality starts as well. The hitting this week averaged 5.5 runs per game this week. Now I'll give you the hitting stars and pitching stars of the week. I'll also mention some of the pitchers season stats who are having all-star type seasons so far.


Hitting stars:

Ichiro: 9-26(.346),3 RBI's, 6 runs, 2 SB's
Miguel Olivo: 9-26(.346), 2 HR's, 4 RBI's, 8 runs
Chone Figgins: 9-26(.346), 4 RBI's, 4 runs, SB
Jack Cust: 5-15(.333), 3 RBI's, run, 6 BB's
Justin Smoak: 5-22(.227), 2 HR's, 10 RBI's, 3 runs

Pitching stars:

Felix Hernandez: 1-0, 13 IP, 2.77 ERA, 1.00 WHP, 14 K's
Michael Pineda: 1-0, 6 IP, 3.00 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 9 K's
Erik Bedard: 1-0, 7 IP, 1.28 ERA, 0.71 WHIP, 3 K's
Doug Fister: 1-0, 5.2 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1.76 WHIP, 4 K's
Brandon League: 2 saves, 3 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.33 WHIP, 3 K's

Michael Pineda: 4-1, 31.1 IP, 2.01 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 30 K's
Brandon League: 7 saves(7/7 in save chances), 11 IP, 2.45 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 6 K's
Felix Hernandez: 3-2, 47.2 IP, 3.21 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 45 K's

Bad:

Well unlike previous weeks the good will outweigh the bad this week. In fact you won't see a single pitcher make my "bad" list either. I have a few hitters who are slumping pretty badly but the Mariners still went 5-1 on the week. Funny how you can go through slumps when your team is winning people won't be complaining as much. Like I said this will be a short list which will only feature the hitters. Well here are my hitting slumps which features just three hitters.

Hitting Slump:

Milton Bradley: 1-17(.058), RBI, 3 runs, 2 SB's, 8 K's
Brendan Ryan: 1-17(.058), run, 5 K's
Michael Saunders: 4-21(.190), 2 runs, SB, 4 K's

Milton Bradley on the year is hitting .200/.313/.353 and he is the Mariners #3 hitter. He also managed to get ejected by a first base ump despite the play having nothing to do with him and him being on second base.

Awesome:

There is plenty of awesome when you go 5-1 on the road. If not for a few breaks in Boston on Sunday the Mariners could have gone 6-0 on the road trip. Instead the Mariners will gladly take a 5-1 road trip. Eric Wedge changed the batting lineup a bit and I feel as if he is using the bullpen correctly to date. I know a baseball manager isn't the be all end all but I feel as if Wedge is making a difference so I'll give him credit for the week. The Mariners are finally playing well as a team and the pitching staff which has been good all year was lights out this week.

Pitching awesome:

Starting Pitching: 5-0, 38.2 IP, 2.56 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 34 K's, 5 Quality Starts
Bullpen: 0-1, 2 saves, 4 holds, 15 IP, 0.60 ERA, 0.73 WHIP, 9 K's

As you can see the pitching for the week was pretty incredible with the starting pitching and the bullpen. When the pitching is going well Wedge's job becomes easier as the Mariners can play small ball. The Mariners saw three hitters who they were counting on who were slumping all year to finally break out of that slump this week. The Mariners also picked up some ground in the American League West standings.

AL West Standings:

L.A. Angels: 16-12, First Place
Texas Rangers: 16-13, 0.5 GB
Oakland A's: 15-14, 1.5 GB
Seattle Mariners: 13-16: 3.5 GB

The Mariners have a big homestand this series against the Texas Rangers this week. Hopefully the Mariners can take two out of three and get the city of Seattle excited for baseball again. I still think this team lacks plenty of hitting but it is nice to see youngsters like Pineda and Smoak playing well. This was a fun week for the Mariners and hopefully my weekly reviews are more like this one and less like the previous three weeks.