Scooter Chapman
Diagnosis? The M's are sick - and getting worse
Published on Wed, Jun 9, 2010 by Scooter ChapmanRead More Chapman
Have you given up on the Seattle Mariners already?
Have you said, "Here we go again. The season's pretty much over by Memorial Day and now is the time to give the kids in the minors some big league experience for the next four months ...."
With shoddy relief pitching and lack of pop in the middle of the lineup, Seattle is pretty much a one-dimensional team. Get a couple of guys on, try to hit and run or sacrifice then along, then hope for an error, a wild pitch or the rare outfield sacrifice fly to get the run home.
The numbers tell the story and these numbers are from the game played last Saturday against the Angels.
Streak (as of June 7): Three losses
Home: 15-16
Road: 7-17
Vs. AL West: 6-17
Vs. Oakland 3-6
Vs. Texas 1-5
Vs. L.A. 2-6
Vs. AL East: 6-8
vs. AL Central: 9-6
vs. NL: 1-2
vs. LHP: 6-12
vs. RHP: 16-21
Day games: 5-15
At night: 17-18
One run: 7-13
Extra innings: 1-6
Home attendance: 776,980
Saturday's crowd: 31,548
Biggest crowd: 45,876 on April 12
Smallest: 14,528 on April 19
Average: (31 dates) 25,063
2009 average: 27,063
The problem
When the Mariners headed out of Arizona for the regular season, things looked good. They had a solid pitching staff with Felix Hernandez, Doug Fister, Ryan Rowland-Smith, Jason Vargas and Ian Snell with newcomer Cliff Lee to be ready by May.
The bullpen looked set, with Mark Lowe the set-up guy for outstanding closer David Aardsma. The back end of the pen was in great shape with Shawn Kelley, Brandon League, Jesus Colome and Kanekoa Texeira in various middle inning roles.
Then Lowe went on the disabled list and Aardsma had no one to set him up. Texeria, Colome and Kelley couldn't cut it in the set-up spot, Snell was sent to the bullpen, Rowland-Smith had control problems, Lee came back later than expected, Hernandez then began to throw way too many pitches.
Snell was brought back for Rowland-Smith, but Lowe is still out and Aardsma throws way too many fast balls that are being hit out of the park. League has been a super disappointment.
Fister has been a surprise, Lee is very steady and can win with some run support, but the bullpen has given up too many hits and walks and the one-run game losses are a key factor in the current standings.
Around the lineup
In the outfield it's been Milton Bradley, Franklin Gutierrez, Ichiro, with stints from Michael Saunders and Ryan Langerhans.
New pick-up Bradley was off two weeks for "personal reasons." Bradley's bat is hot and cold. Gutierrez has been the only power, hitting in the .290 range, while Ichiro has a .340 batting average with 70 hits but only nine doubles.
Jose Lopez has struggled at the plate but is playing lights-out third base. Shortstop Jack Wilson is injured, but Josh Wilson has filled in nicely and is hitting. Chone Figgins has been underachieving. Maybe it's batting second instead of leading off, but Figgins is barely over .200 with the stick and is under 50 hits.
First baseman Casey Kotchman has the great glove but has been benched recently as he is hitting just .192 with only three homers. Mike Sweeney has played some first, as has Matt Tuiasosopo.
Catching has been solid with Rob Johnson, but then Adam Moore got hurt and they had to call up Josh Bard. Just when Bard started to hit, he injured himself.
The designated hitter has been missing. That was to be Ken Griffey Jr., but the 40-year-old's bat speed went south in spring training and he was hitting .189 with no homers, two doubles and seven runs batted in. Maybe he should've retired after last year.
Sweeney put a charge into a few balls two weeks ago but has slowed and without home run production, it's been a struggle. Now he or Milton Bradley will be the DH the rest of the way unless they can find a big bat out there somewhere.
So there you have a short summary of what the Mariners have been doing. It's still not too late to win the American League West but every three-game losing streak really hurts and more than two-game win streaks have been hard to come by.
It's an interesting team to watch. It's a frustrating team to root for. Maybe they should be playing in the AL Central?
Give up on the season? Maybe we'll check back on the Fourth of July.
Columns by KONP 1450 AM sports announcer Scooter Chapman appear weekly in the Sequim Gazette. He can be reached via e-mail at scooter@olypen.com.
Have you said, "Here we go again. The season's pretty much over by Memorial Day and now is the time to give the kids in the minors some big league experience for the next four months ...."
With shoddy relief pitching and lack of pop in the middle of the lineup, Seattle is pretty much a one-dimensional team. Get a couple of guys on, try to hit and run or sacrifice then along, then hope for an error, a wild pitch or the rare outfield sacrifice fly to get the run home.
The numbers tell the story and these numbers are from the game played last Saturday against the Angels.
Streak (as of June 7): Three losses
Home: 15-16
Road: 7-17
Vs. AL West: 6-17
Vs. Oakland 3-6
Vs. Texas 1-5
Vs. L.A. 2-6
Vs. AL East: 6-8
vs. AL Central: 9-6
vs. NL: 1-2
vs. LHP: 6-12
vs. RHP: 16-21
Day games: 5-15
At night: 17-18
One run: 7-13
Extra innings: 1-6
Home attendance: 776,980
Saturday's crowd: 31,548
Biggest crowd: 45,876 on April 12
Smallest: 14,528 on April 19
Average: (31 dates) 25,063
2009 average: 27,063
The problem
When the Mariners headed out of Arizona for the regular season, things looked good. They had a solid pitching staff with Felix Hernandez, Doug Fister, Ryan Rowland-Smith, Jason Vargas and Ian Snell with newcomer Cliff Lee to be ready by May.
The bullpen looked set, with Mark Lowe the set-up guy for outstanding closer David Aardsma. The back end of the pen was in great shape with Shawn Kelley, Brandon League, Jesus Colome and Kanekoa Texeira in various middle inning roles.
Then Lowe went on the disabled list and Aardsma had no one to set him up. Texeria, Colome and Kelley couldn't cut it in the set-up spot, Snell was sent to the bullpen, Rowland-Smith had control problems, Lee came back later than expected, Hernandez then began to throw way too many pitches.
Snell was brought back for Rowland-Smith, but Lowe is still out and Aardsma throws way too many fast balls that are being hit out of the park. League has been a super disappointment.
Fister has been a surprise, Lee is very steady and can win with some run support, but the bullpen has given up too many hits and walks and the one-run game losses are a key factor in the current standings.
Around the lineup
In the outfield it's been Milton Bradley, Franklin Gutierrez, Ichiro, with stints from Michael Saunders and Ryan Langerhans.
New pick-up Bradley was off two weeks for "personal reasons." Bradley's bat is hot and cold. Gutierrez has been the only power, hitting in the .290 range, while Ichiro has a .340 batting average with 70 hits but only nine doubles.
Jose Lopez has struggled at the plate but is playing lights-out third base. Shortstop Jack Wilson is injured, but Josh Wilson has filled in nicely and is hitting. Chone Figgins has been underachieving. Maybe it's batting second instead of leading off, but Figgins is barely over .200 with the stick and is under 50 hits.
First baseman Casey Kotchman has the great glove but has been benched recently as he is hitting just .192 with only three homers. Mike Sweeney has played some first, as has Matt Tuiasosopo.
Catching has been solid with Rob Johnson, but then Adam Moore got hurt and they had to call up Josh Bard. Just when Bard started to hit, he injured himself.
The designated hitter has been missing. That was to be Ken Griffey Jr., but the 40-year-old's bat speed went south in spring training and he was hitting .189 with no homers, two doubles and seven runs batted in. Maybe he should've retired after last year.
Sweeney put a charge into a few balls two weeks ago but has slowed and without home run production, it's been a struggle. Now he or Milton Bradley will be the DH the rest of the way unless they can find a big bat out there somewhere.
So there you have a short summary of what the Mariners have been doing. It's still not too late to win the American League West but every three-game losing streak really hurts and more than two-game win streaks have been hard to come by.
It's an interesting team to watch. It's a frustrating team to root for. Maybe they should be playing in the AL Central?
Give up on the season? Maybe we'll check back on the Fourth of July.
Columns by KONP 1450 AM sports announcer Scooter Chapman appear weekly in the Sequim Gazette. He can be reached via e-mail at scooter@olypen.com.
© 2009 Sequim Gazette. All rights reserved. 147 West Washington, Sequim, WA 98382 • 360.683.3311 • Email the Webmaster