2018 Seattle Mariners regular season thread

[Hawk-Lock]

As much as I'd like to believe different, this team is just a notch below Houston, NY and Boston. Not a huge gap, but it's pretty clear. .

Look at the run differentials. It is a massive gap between those teams and the Mariners. That isn't to say that the Mariners couldn't win a short series, as there is so much variance in baseball, but this team isn't as good as their record might suggest. The Mariners have a fluky one-run-game record and have played way more games against the Central than any of those teams.

This.

Pythagorean W-L says we should be 39-35, team is definitely overachieving. We are due for regression after winning all those one run games.

 

[Chapow]

Swept by the Yankees. Same old Mariners.

:roll:

Right. So the entire rest of the season before today doesn't count and all of a sudden it's "same old Mariners" because they just lost a series on the east coast to the best team in baseball?

Here's a look at what the Mariners have done in June so far (which looks a lot like May and April BTW)

Swept a 3 game series against the Rays at home

Split 2 games against the Astros in Houston

Won 3 out of 4 against the Rays in Tampa

Swept a 3 game series against the Angels at home

Split a 4 game series against the Red Sox at home

Got swept in a 3 game series by the Yankees in NY

This is the first series they've lost in well over a month. This isn't remotely the "same old Mariners" unless you're going back over a decade and a half, but we both know that's not what people mean when they say same old Mariners.

 

[Chapow]

You guys are so pessimistic, so defeatist.

It was one series. The first series they've lost in well over a month.

This team is sitting 17 games over .500. On June 21st.

This team is good. This team is likely the best Mariners team we've seen since the early 2000's.

For the love of gawd, try to enjoy the ride instead of throwing in the towel every time there's a small bump in the road.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

Not the same old M's at all. Shoot, first time swept all year, that's impressive.
They lost 2 of those games that they easily could have won. I expect them to make the playoffs. But to say the M's are as good at the Red Sox, Yankees or Astros right now is just not true. YET.
The gap is WAY smaller than some think imo. But I'm coming from a extreme hate for the Yanks, their fans, their announcers, their media. All of it. I have never thrown in the towel, and I certainly won't after this series. But to ignore the fact that they got swept and act like it's no big deal, not quite at that point. It does matter, but it's June 21st. There is a ton of baseball to be played. I'm enjoying this ride, been a LONGGGGG time :2thumbs:
There is nothing wrong with being pissed off when they lose, it's part of sports. Just means we care, and I have higher expectations of them than I have in almost 2 decades. Nice thing about baseball, there's almost always another game tomorrow.

 

[Hawk-Lock]

Yeah no reason to get down on them. They lost a road series to a team that will likely compete for the World Series. The M's are a good team, but not a great team. They have likely overachieved, but are still a good team. Even though there are still close to 100 games left in the season, it almost seems like a foregone conclusion we will be playing the one game wildcard in either Boston or New York.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

God I can't wait, one game playoff, anything can happen. Nothing matters that happened during the 162 game season. As always, it's easy to be angry right after losses. But stepping back and really looking at what we've seen, and what they've accomplished, they are still 17 over .500 and are in just about every game they play.

 

[avengerboater]

I'm not a 100% sold on Servais either, from his poor management of the bull pen at times to his mind-boggling lineups (his persistence in putting Seager 5th). But he's done a remarkable job most other times to get this team to where they are, 17 games above .500. Call it what you will, but it's quite an accomplishment, considering our starting rotation, Cano suspension, and our lineup.

I agree with others that this is not the "same 'ol Mariners." If it were, we'd have lost more than half of those 1-run games, get blown out by good teams (NYY, BoSox, Hou), and folded a long time ago. Yet, we're on pace to break records regarding 1-run wins, we stay competitive vs those big 3 teams, and always fight to come back in every single game where we're down early.

Like some have said, it's June 21st, we're 17 games over .500, and we're in nearly every single game that we've played. There's still a LOT of baseball left and this is literally the toughest stretch of our schedule the entire season. It's nothing to be ashamed of losing to the two best teams in the MLB, yet we could've won a two or 3 of those losses vs Bos and NYY.

We'll turn it around, this team is just too gritty and scrappy to do otherwise.

Also, I don't think we're nearly as good as those 3 other teams. If we are to compete with them, like it or not, we do need another starting arm...and another bat in our lineup. Without Cano to lengthen our lineup, the difference is very noticeable. With him, we are about 7 man deep, without...I wouldn't worry about anyone past Cruz. I mean, what's the point of Andrew Romine??? We might as well play in the NL and forfeit an AB whenever Romine comes up to bat.

 

[Crizilla]

I can't stress enough how stupid of a pitch that was by Cook. He had already gotten away with the same pitch on the first pitch and then he gets it to 0-2 and comes back with it. It should have been nowhere near the plate on 0-2 and instead he throws the same exact pitch that Stanton was probably regretting not swinging at on the first one. Zunino is an idiot for calling it. He is lost at the plate as well. He takes pitches right down the middle and swings at pitches a foot off the plate.

Zunino was set up low and on the outside corner. Trying to blame that on Zunino is absurd. It couldn't be more obvious that where that pitch ended up was a mistake by Cook. He missed his spot. If he executes that pitch properly, it's likely a swing and a miss or ball 1.

hanging slider right in Stanton's wheel house. I swear he hits that pitch for a homer every time. Very dumb pitch especially on 0-2 count.

You guys are pretty much blowing my mind. You actually think he meant to throw that pitch where he did? You actually think he meant to throw a meatball in the middle of the plate to Giancarlo Stanton in a tie game in the bottom of the 9th?

Good lord guys... :34853_doh:

I'm not saying he meant to throw it. I'm saying don't try a slider on the outside corner at all. Give him a total ball and see if he bites or not.

 

[Hawk-Lock]

I can't stress enough how stupid of a pitch that was by Cook. He had already gotten away with the same pitch on the first pitch and then he gets it to 0-2 and comes back with it. It should have been nowhere near the plate on 0-2 and instead he throws the same exact pitch that Stanton was probably regretting not swinging at on the first one. Zunino is an idiot for calling it. He is lost at the plate as well. He takes pitches right down the middle and swings at pitches a foot off the plate.

Zunino was set up low and on the outside corner. Trying to blame that on Zunino is absurd. It couldn't be more obvious that where that pitch ended up was a mistake by Cook. He missed his spot. If he executes that pitch properly, it's likely a swing and a miss or ball 1.

hanging slider right in Stanton's wheel house. I swear he hits that pitch for a homer every time. Very dumb pitch especially on 0-2 count.

You guys are pretty much blowing my mind. You actually think he meant to throw that pitch where he did? You actually think he meant to throw a meatball in the middle of the plate to Giancarlo Stanton in a tie game in the bottom of the 9th?

Good lord guys... :34853_doh:

I'm not saying he meant to throw it. I'm saying don't try a slider on the outside corner at all. Give him a total ball and see if he bites or not.

The point of the pitch was to be a slider in the dirt or nowhere near Stanton. He didn't command it correctly. It's that simple. The slider wasn't the issue, it was the placement.

 

[fenderbender123]

I'm just mad at losing to the Yankees.

 

[sutz]

I'm just mad at losing to the Yankees.

I may not often agree with you, but yeah, it sucks.

 

[Hawk-Lock]

I honestly can't even hate the Yanks or Sox right now. For the most part, both those teams are built through their farm system. I just couldn't stand them back in the day when they literally used to buy all their players. Other than Stanton, pretty much all of the Yanks stars came up through their farm system.

 

[Shanegotyou11]

I honestly can't even hate the Yanks or Sox right now. For the most part, both those teams are built through their farm system. I just couldn't stand them back in the day when they literally used to buy all their players. Other than Stanton, pretty much all of the Yanks stars came up through their farm system.

Agree. Funny thing is stanton went to yankees after jeter took over marlins. Sketchy imo.

 

[Crizilla]

I'm afraid the Marlins will just be a 2nd yankee farm system now

 

[Uncle Si]

I honestly can't even hate the Yanks or Sox right now. For the most part, both those teams are built through their farm system. I just couldn't stand them back in the day when they literally used to buy all their players. Other than Stanton, pretty much all of the Yanks stars came up through their farm system.

Hating them both right about now

 

[Maulbert]

Is it too early to post this?

 

[hawkfan68]

Juan Nicasio is back to his old tricks again. Dude just needs to be let go. Gives up 5 runs in 1/3 of an inning. Ridiculous. So much for the bullpen being a strength of the team. It's not.

 

[Crizilla]

Every move Servais made today completely blew up in his face. That's now two 5 run leads and a 4 run lead blown in the last few days.

Seager and Zunino combined 0-9 today. They do nothing besides the occasional home run. I doubt Dipoto hangs onto these guys.

 

[Thepeelsessions]

This road trip is showing what this team is made of, which is mush. Who are these Mariners? Contenders or pretenders?

 

[Sports Hernia]

Time to end the Nicasio experiment YET???? Have you seen enough yet???
6.60 ERA and it’s almost July. Why was he allowed to stay in as long as he was.

When you don’t make the playoffs or miss getting a higher seed by a few games, you can point to stubbornness of not admitting that Nicasio is horrible and it was a bad trade. Cut him, and eat the cash before he costs you another ball game.

Nicasio is the reincarnation of Bobby Ayala.

10 flippin’ runs should be enough to win the game!