By Kshell
The Seattle Mariners just completed an interesting week which saw the team go 3-3 including winning the series against the Texas Rangers. The week got even more interesting today as the Mariners cut ties with Milton Bradley and Ryan Langerhans today. The week saw more great pitching but some terrible hitting as usual. The Mariners despite having only two hitters are finding a way to be competive because of their pitching. The Mariners week could have been better had they hung on to the win against the Chicago White Sox yesterday in 10 innings. At least the Mariners revenged their early season sweep of the Rangers beating them two of three. Now I'll talk about the good, the bad and the ugly of the team as I review the week.
The Good:
The Mariners saw plenty of good this week with their pitching anchored by Felix Hernandez pitching a complete game win on Friday night. The return of Erik Bedard has been nice too as he has given the Mariners three straight great starts. The Mariners youngsters like Michael Pineda and Justin Smoak are still producing which is a great thing to watch. The Mariners did take two out of three against the division rival Rangers. Now the Mariners will try to keep their winning ways on the road this week.
Hitting Stars:
Justin Smoak: 8-22(.363), Home run, 4 RBI's, run
Brendan Ryan: 6-20(.300), 2 RBI's, run
Ichiro: 6-23(.261), 2 RBI's, 2 runs, SB
Chone Figgins: 4-13(.308), 2 runs, 3 SB's
Pitching Stars:
Felix Hernandez: 1-0, 9 IP, 2.00 ERA, 0.77 WHIP, 6 K's
Erik Bedard: 12 IP, 2.25 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 12 K's
Jason Vargas: 1-0, 7.2 IP, 1.17 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 3 K's
The Bad:
The Mariners had a chance to make this a great week as they started the week off winning three of their first four games but the recent two game losing streak made this an average week. The Mariners simply aren't hitting the ball at all this week as they scored just four runs one time all week. The Mariners offense has been pathetic all season long and if not for great starting pitching they would have the worst record. The Mariners aren't playing great defense either this week which saw the release of Bradley which I'll touch on later in this post. The lights out bullpen this week even struggled but mainly the hitting has been awful this week.
Hitting Woes:
Michael Saunders: 0-19(.000), 8 K's
Miguel Olivo: 3-17(.176), 2 RBI's, run, 4 K's
Jack Cust: 3-16(.187), RBI, run, 7 K's
Pitching Woes:
Doug Fister: 0-1, 5.2 IP, 7.95 ERA, 2.47 WHIP, K
Brandon League: 0-1, 2 saves, 3.1 IP, 8.11 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 6 K's
Seattle Mariners as a team hitting .230/.305/.326 as they rank 25th in baseball in runs scored and 29th in home runs(only 30 teams).
The Ugly:
Well the Mariners have finally parted ways with two guys who couldn't hit on a roster full of guys who can't hit. One guy who was released in Bradley was long overdue. The guy couldn't hit and his fielding probably cost the Mariners the game on sunday. Add in the fact he's been ejected three times in the past 10 days he needed to be shown the door a long time ago. Before people get on Jack Zdruriencik remember the Bradley mess is on Bill Bavasi as he overpaid for Carlos Silva. Zduriencik took a gamble by trading our overpaid crap for their overpaid crap. Both teams ultimately lost as both guys will be paid 12 million this season to leave. The Bradley era in Seattle was a total disaster but don't think because he's gone that the Mariners are saved.
Ugly Hitting:
Milton Bradley: .218/.313./.356 with just two home runs and 13 RBI's with 31 strikeouts in 101 at bats.
Ryan Langerhans: .173/.317/.346 with three home runs and six RBI's with 22 strikeouts in 52 at bats.
Those two are released and as you can see with good reason as both failed terribly to make contact. I'll also bring up two others who shouldn't be on this roster. One guy should be sent down to Tacoma while the other should be sent packing.
Jack Cust: .198/.362/.248 with ZERO home runs and 11 RBI's. He also has 37 strikeouts in 101 at bats. He can't play the field either and is totally useless.
Michael Saunders: .170/.225/.252 with a home run and six RBI's. He has struck out 27 times in 94 at bats. Saunders may be good in the field but you simply can't have a guy in your lineup with an on base percentage of .225.
AL West Standings:
LA Angels: 20-15 First Place
Texas Rangers: 18-17 2.0 GB
Oakland A's: 18-17 2.0 GB
Seattle Mariners: 16-19 4.0 GB
In conclusion manager Eric Wedge finally got his wish of Bradley to be gone. I can't blame Wedge either on this one as Bradley was a team cancer, couldn't hit and couldn't play defense. The Mariners hitting woes won't go away as both guys they called up aren't long term answers. In fact I doubt either is a starter in the major leagues anytime after this season. The Mariners have to finally attack the offense this offseason as this piss poor lineup just can't get it done. The bright spot is the starting pitching is pretty as every day the Mariners are throwing a good pitcher. The Mariners have one of the better rotations in the American League but it doesn't matter if you average just 2.3 runs per game(this week) or on the year 3.6 runs per game. The Mariners have finally rid themselves of two crappy hitters unfortunately the roster is full of crappy hitters. At least the Milton Bradley era is finally over and done with.
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