Seattle Mariners weekly recap: April 16th-22nd edition

By Kshell

The Seattle Mariners just completed a dreadful week at home which saw attendance numbers reach all-time lows while the team went 1-5. During that 1-5 stretch the Mariners saw a perfect game thrown against them. That was the first ever perfect game and no hitter thrown in Safeco Field history.  I happened to go to a game this Friday which was Ichiro bobblehead night where the first 20,000 fans received a free bobblehead. Too bad less than 20,000 fans showed up. At least I got to see the Mariners first every all-star throw out the first pitch in former outfielder Rupert Jones. In three seasons with the Mariners Jones hit .257/.333/.418 with 51 home runs and 68 stolen bases. Then the Mariners proceeded to ruin that moment by falling behind 6-0 midway through the second inning before having a perfect game thrown against them the following day. This week I'll go over the good(Felix Hernandez and Jason Vargas), the bad(the hitting) and the ugly( this lack of offense in year four under the Jack Zdurienick regime). Anyways hope you enjoy my weekly recap of the Seattle Mariners.

The Good:

Whenever you go 1-5 there isn't much good. The Mariners after that great 3-1 start are now 7-10 on the season. The positives were the pitching of Jason Vargas and especially Felix Hernandez. For all the talk about King Felix's lack of a fastball those talks died after his last dominant start which he showed that his most powerful pitch is his change up. Up 1-0 facing a bases loaded one out jam in the eighth inning Hernandez got out of the jam with back to back strikeouts on a change up. Sadly which has been a theme in his career in Seattle he didn't earn a win as Brandon League blew the save for him. Another positive this week was the long relief trio of Hisashi Iwakuma, Steve Delabar and Erasmo Ramirez. They not only pitched well but saved the rest of the valuable bullpen arms so the Mariners can survive. The hitting once again didn't get much help although two reserves who rarely played did hit well. Justin Smoak also saw his first career four hit game. Hopefully for Smoak that is the type of game that can launch his season as he has been struggling all year long.

Good Hitting:

Casper Wells: 3-7(.429), run, 2 doubles
Alex Liddi: 2-6(.333), RBI, double
Justin Smoak: 4-16(.250), run, RBI, 5 K's
Ichiro: 6-24(.250), HR, 2 runs, 5 RBI's

Good Pitching:

Jason Vargas: 1-0, 7 IP, 1.28 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 7 K's
Hisashi Iwakuma: 4 IP, 2.25 ERA, 0.50 WHIP, 2 K's
Erasmo Ramirez: 4.1 IP, 2.08 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, K
Steve Delabar: 3.1 IP, 2.70 ERA, 0.60 WHIP, 6 K's
Felix Hernandez: 8 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, 12 K's

So far on the year Hernandez is 1-1 in four starts. He has thrown 29.1 innings with a 2.76 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and has 31 strikeouts. His fastball might not be as fast as it was but that is also by choice. His best pitches now are his cutter and mainly his change up. He is still an elite pitcher and fans need to stop worrying about him. He isn't the problem and is actually one of the few bright spots on this team.

The Bad:

The Mariners went 1-5 this week as attendance sank below 12,000 setting a Safeco Field record for lowest amount in a game. The Mariners got bombed in the game I went to losing 7-3 but fell behind 6-0 after two innings. On Saturday they allowed a perfect game and they simply aren't hitting the ball well at all. They began the week off by blowing a 9-1 lead against the Cleveland Indians at home as Kevin Millwood gave it up. The game I attended Hector Noesi who was in the big Michael Pineda trade got rocked and could only give the Mariners four outs. The team is still showing signs of hacking away at pitches which Eric Wedge keeps preaching to attack but at what point are they just hopelessly swinging at everything? At what point does this mess fall squarely onto Jack Zduriencik's shoulders since this is year four? Practically everyone on this roster was put here at the hands of Zduriencik and this team is terrible. The Mariners are 5-2 against the Oakland A's and 2-8 against everyone else. This year looks no different from 2010 or 2011. The pitching is decent but still not good enough. While the hitting has been downright terrible the last two weeks which ended with the White Sox sweeping them. The White Sox are now 19-3 against the Mariners since 2010.

Bad Hitting:

Kyle Seager: 4-20(.200), run, SB, 4 K's
John Jaso: 1-8(.125), HR, 2 runs, 4 RBI's, 2 K's
Dustin Ackley: 5-24(.208), 2 runs, 2 RBI's, 7 K's
Jesus Montero: 3-19(.158), HR, run, 3 RBI's, 5 K's
Brendan Ryan: 2-14(.143), 5 runs, RBI, 7 BB's, 5 K's
Chone Figgins: 3-21(.143), HR, 2 runs, 2 RBI's, 9 K's

Bad Pitching:

Kevin Millwood: 0-1, 9.1 IP, 10.61 ERA, 2.14 WHIP, 4 K's
Brandon League: 0-1, blown save, 2.2 IP, 6.75 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 2 K's, save
Hector Noesi: 0-1, 1.1 IP, 40.60 ERA, 6.01 WHIP, K

The Mariners are 4-9 since starting the season 3-1. They aren't hitting and their pitching has been rough at times too. The Mariners simply aren't making enough on the field progress in year four under Zduriencik's regime.

The Ugly:

The Mariners allowed a perfect game to Philip Humber who isn't an ace by any means. In fact in his career he has only started 30 games with a record of 12-10, 3.90 ERA and 1.24 WHIP. He is a solid pitcher but not a guy who should be putting up zero after zero on you.  The Mariners had a disasterous week seeing attendance numbers look like crap, blowing a huge lead, getting swept at home and the perfect game to a middle of the rotation guy. With the Mariners ownership trying to the block the Sonics return and the poor product on the field the fans have finally spoken. They want a winner and are tired of the gimmicks! This team needs new leadership at the top as Eric Wedge and Jack Zdurienick need to go. Obviously Chuck Armstrong and Howard Lincoln need to go or the manager/gm doesn't matter as long as those two clowns are operating this dog and pony show.

Ugly Hitting:

Seattle Mariners: Hitting .223/.274/.342 on the season. They ranked out of 14 teams in the AL: 14 in on base percentage, 13th in batting average, slugging average and OPS. 13th in home runs and walks while 4th in striking out the most. They rank 11th in runs scored basically this is the same crap we've been dealing with the last two years.

Justin Smoak: Hitting .203/.242/.322 with 17 K's in 62 plate appearances and only three walks.

Chone Figgins: hitting .215/.278/.323 with 20 K's in 75 plate appearnaces only six walks. A leadoff hitter whose on base percentage is under .300 but is striking out 26.7% of the time per plate appearance is just sickening!

Miguel Olivo: hitting .154/.170/.192 with 11 K's in only 54 plate appearances but has just one walk. Despite this piss poor stat line Wedge continues to play him even at DH in a move that makes zero sense to anyone who still cares about this team.

Ugly Attendance:

Tuesday April 17th vs Cleveland : 12,461
Wednesday April 18th vs Cleveland: 11,343(lowest in Safeco history)
Thursday April 19th vs Cleveland: 12,947( on a day when Felix was pitching)

Friday April 20th vs Chicago White Sox: 19,947(bobble head day and a friday)
Saturday April 21st vs Chicago White Sox: 22,472( beautiful Saturday after noon game)
Sunday April 22nd vs Chicago White Sox: 19,975

The fans have spoken they are tired of Jack Z's crap product he has put on the field year after year. He is a major league scout but he isn't a major league GM.

AL West Standings:

Texas Rangers: 13-3, first place
Oakland A's: 8-9, 5.5 GB
Seattle Mariners: 7-10, 6.5 GB
L.A. Angels: 6-10, 7.0 GB

This franchise needs to start getting serious about baseball or Safeco Field might have some games where the attendance drops below 10,000 fans. The fans are tired of this crap as the hitting hasn't improved at all. The hype about this team being improved was just that hype. Felix Hernandez continues to be wasted on a poorly built team that is "building" one brick at a time. Zduriencik is building this thing up much like Paul Wulff built up Washington State football. He is doing it very slowly and hopefully the next guy can lead us to the promise land. This team is a mess and this week was an absolute embarassment.

*Special thanks to my sisters boyfriend Nick Snow on two of the pictures he took. He is a great photographer and hopefully you guys get to enjoy more of his pictures.