In late May and early June, the Mariners had their big come up. It was a solid foundation that won close games thanks to one of the best closers in the league. Only problem is...if all your games are close, then after a while the luck's gonna run out.
And that's where we are. The Mariners don't put up a ton of runs, so...the other teams go ahead and do that. And this is a rotation that's kind of easy to hit off of, with Felix Hernandez' depleted velocity, Mike Leake's countless earned runs, and even the 14 home runs that Marco Gonzales, who's doing WELL, has given up. The bullpen is only sturdy enough, and this lineup isn't exactly built on power.
Okay, let me rephrase that: this lineup has people who can hit home runs, like Nelson Cruz, Ryon Healy and Mitch Haniger, but this team isn't great at hitting RBIs, and truly taking advantage of leads. Three members of this team, including the red-hot-as-usual Jean Segura, have 100+ hits, but 2 members have 100+ strikeouts.
Also, and this is maybe the zillionth time I am saying this, but...Mike Zunino is not a great catcher. At all.
So how can the Mariners rebound? They're in third, 2 games behind the A's, 7 games behind the Astros. They need to stop this recent skid, get their priorities in the right place, and work on winning some consecutive games. Whatever has worked in the past hasn't been working lately, because they're still only putting up a few runs per game. They're not outlasting, they're getting lucky.
The Mariners have gotten so close to true contention. And they're gonna need to get even closer.
Coming Tonight: Meanwhile, on the most depleted roster in baseball...what else is there worth talking about? Last year's rookie sensation looking just as crappy as the rest of the team.
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