Super Bowl Update

By Kshell

The Seattle Mariners just ended their week by winning two games in a row against the Minnesota Twins which had snapped their seven game losing streak. Earlier this week the Mariners were swept in four games by the Tampa Bay Rays by a combined five runs. This week saw some young hitters emerge while their ace continued to dominate. This week also saw the overdue benching of Chone Figgins who was terrible in his series against the Rays. Unfortunately for the Mariners Figgins isn't the only bat in the lineup struggling. This week since the Mariners only went 2-5 and are only a half game ahead of being in last place I'll go over the good(Young hitters plus Felix), the bad(Justin Smoak and Brendan Ryan's struggles) and the ugly(the Chone Figgins era). I hope you enjoy this weekly recap even though the results weren't very good.

The Good:

For a team that went 2-5 this past week there was some positives actually. The Tampa Bay Rays have the best record in the American League and the Mariners could have won all four games. Then they returned home to take two out of three against the Minnesota Twins as they easily could have swept that series. The main positive this week was the hitting duo of Jesus Montero and Kyle Seager both youngsters had big weeks for the Mariners. Another good thing was the pitching especially against the Twins. Felix Hernandez continues to dominate this year proving his fastball is nothing to be concerned about while Jason Vargas continues to have a solid season once again in the first half. This week also saw Hector Noesi was part of the Jesus Montero trade have a good start this week. So far Noesi has had a rough year and his only two good starts were at home against light hitting teams like the Oakland A's and Minnesota Twins. Still Noesi needed that start to stay in this rotation.

Good Hitting:

Kyle Seager: 9-26(.346), 3 HR's, 5 runs, 10 RBI's
John Jaso: 4-12(.333) run, 2 doubles
Ichiro: 9-25(.360), 3 runs, 3 RBI's, 5 BB's
Jesus Montero: 9-25(.360), HR, 4 runs, 3 RBI's

Good Pitching:

Felix Hernandez: 1-0, 16 IP, 0.56 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, 18 K's
Jason Vargas: 6.1 IP, 1.42 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 5 K's
Hector Noesi: 1-1, 12.2 IP, 2.84 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 6 K's
Lucas Luetge: 2.2 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 2 K's
Steve Delabar: 4.0 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.00 WHIP, 4 K's

Felix Hernandez this year is having an incredible season. On the year he has made seven starts posting a 3-1 record throwing 52.1 innings. He has an 1.89 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, .189 BAA and 51 strikeouts.

Kyle Seager is having a breakout year as well this year hitting .298/.320/.511 with four home runs and a team leading 17 RBI's.

The Bad:

Whenever you go 2-5 on the week and are forced to bench a guy who you owe 18 million the next two seasons it's never a good week. The Mariners bullpen imploaded some in their series sweep to the Rays as their hitters failed to come up with that one big hit. The big trade piece in the Cliff Lee trade was dropped to seventh in the order as he is getting off to where he left off last season which is horrible. The Mariners top young hitter Dustin Ackley continues his struggles this week although when moved to leadoff this weekend he performed just well so hopefully he can produce there. Brendan Ryan finally snapped an awful 0-27 streak that he was in but still didn't hit very well despite Eric Wedge batting him now second in the order.

This was indeed a rough week for a team who is still trying to find their own identity.  They have three hitters who sit below .200 while three others in Olivo(now DL), Saunders and Ackley sit below .240 which is terrible. The Mariners starting pitching hasn't done much better as veteran Kevin Millwood continues to struggle. This week even saw reliable closer Brandon League blow the save in the 11th inning then record the loss in the 12th inning in a tough loss to the Tampa Bay Rays which saw Felix Hernandez goes eight innings while allowing one run the entire game.

Bad Hitting:

Michael Saunders: 3-26(.115), HR, 2 runs, RBI, 12 K's
Dustin Ackley: 5-25(.200), 5 runs, 5 BB's, SB, 7 K's
Justin Smoak: 4-25(.160), RBI, 5 K's
Brendan Ryan: 3-16(.188), run, 2 RBI's, 10 K's, Caught Stealing
Chone Figgins: 0-15(.000), 6 K's

Bad Pitching:

Blake Beavan: 0-1, 5.1 IP, 8.44 ERA, 1.69 WHIP, K
Kevin Millwood: 0-1, 6.1 IP, 5.69 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, 4 K's
Brandon League: 0-1, blown save, 2.1 IP, 7.72 ERA, 2.57 WHIP, K

Michael Saunders had that big game last week but overall still isn't hitting very well. Saunders on the year is hitting .217/.294/.435 with four home runs but 31 strikeouts in 92 AB's.

Kevin Millwood on the year in five starts is 0-3 having pitched 28.2 innings. He has a 5.34 ERA, 1.57 WHIP and .304 BAA with only 19 strikeouts. He is an old veteran who doesn't belong on this team at all.

The Ugly:

The ugly this week I'll focus on three guys who were all acquired by the scout pretending to be a GM Jack Zduriencik. The Chone Figgins experiment with the Mariners appears to be coming to an end pretty shortly. Figgins was recently told by Eric Wedge that he'll be benched and just an expensive utility guy. Figgins was leading off this year hoping that could save his career and minus that opening week in Oakland it didn't work out at all. The Figgins mess hurts the club financially for this year and next year as he is nine million dollars per year.

A much greater concern is Justin Smoak. Smoak is supposed to be a franchise piece to build on and already ussmariner has had two different posts on him how A) he can't hit breaking stuff anymore then B) can't hit heat anymore either. If Smoak busts out like Figgins has I don't see how the Mariners can justify keeping Zduriencik around since those were his two major moves and it appears he will have whiffed on both.  Another player slumping this year is Brendan Ryan and Wedge for some reason is now batting him second despite the fact that he strikesout a lot while not looking at many pitches. In fact this team as a whole doesn't walk at all but hacks a lot why they have so many strikeouts.

Ugly Hitting:

Justin Smoak: Hitting .180/.241/.280 on the year with only three home runs in 100 AB's while striking out 25 times. Smoak as you can see isn't hitting, not getting on power and not hitting for power. He is basically useless right now and you have to think the Texas Rangers bluffed the Mariners on that trade.

Brendan Ryan: hitting .153/.273/.250 on the year with one home run in 72 AB's with 24 strikeouts. Ryan is good defensively despite his untimely errors although he isn't hitting well at all. He is slumping big time and has zero power as well.

Chone Figgins:

2010: Hit .259/.340/.306 in 602 AB's with 62 runs, one home run, 35 RBI's, 74 BB's, 114 K's, 42 SB's
2011: Hit .188/.241/.243 in 288 AB's with 24 runs, one home run, 15 RBI's, 21 BB's, 42 K's, 11 SB's
2012: Hitting .189/.250/.305 in 95 AB's with 10 runs, two home runs, 8 RBI's, 8 BB's, 28 K's, 2 SB's

As you can see in 2010 he was over paid but at least a productive major league player. The past two seasons he has just flat out been awful and the Mariners are STILL on the hook for another nine million for him next year. Time to cut your losses Mariners and release Figgins already just having him around isn't a good thing.

Al West Standings:

Texas Rangers: 19-10, first place
Oakland A's: 15-14, 4.0 GB
Seattle Mariners: 13-17, 6.5 GB
L.A. Angels: 12-17, 7.0 GB

The Mariners are going through another rebuilding season but must get some of their young guys going like Ackley and Smoak. This week was nice to see Hernandez once again be dominate while Montero and Seager continue to provide with the bat. The Mariners are now taking on the Detroit Tigers who they swept earlier this year and are riding a two game winning streak. Hopefully this week will turn out differently than this past week did.

By Kshell

The Mariners have put together quite the string of success these past two weeks. The Mariners even found themselves over .500 for the first time since the second game of the season. The Mariners on the week took two out of three at the Minnesota Twins then defeated the New York Yankees two out of three at home. This week was a strange week as the Mariners hitting once again didn't hit well especially the top of the order. The starting pitching unlike all season didn't pitch well either having just thrown one quality start in six starts. The Mariners bullpen was terrific once again this week which allowed the Mariners to pull within a game of first place. The American League West race is pretty tight as the difference between first place and last place is just a game and a half. Like I'll do whenever the Mariners have a winning week I'll feature the good, the bad and the awesome. This week the good list will feature plenty of relievers, the bad will feature the top of the order while the awesome will have more attention on the middle relievers.


The Good:

The Mariners went 4-2 on the week which saw plenty of good. This week Erik Bedard like he has all month long is pitching like the pitcher Bill Bavasi gave up so much to acquire. The Mariners relief was excellent this week as they went 3-0 with three saves on the week. Then the Mariners got a little bit of offense from their double play combination especially Brendan Ryan who has been red hot for nine games after being ice cold. The Mariners this week just found ways to win as they won three games in which they trailed including two in extra innings. One of the Mariners wins came off of Mariano Rivera who is the greatest closer of all-time. The Mariners had a winning week when Felix Hernandez and Michael Pineda didn't pitch that great of games. So here were the stars of the week for the Mariners this week.

Hot Hitting:

Brendan Ryan: 12-21(.571), 3 RBI's, 2 runs
Adam Kennedy: 7-19(.368), 3 RBI's, 3 runs. He also had game winning hit off Rivera.
Franklin Gutierrez: 7-21(.333), HR, RBI, 3 runs. He robbed a home run against Nick Swisher.
Miguel Olivo: 7-17(.412), HR, 5 RBI's, 3 runs, SB

Brendan Ryan in the past nine games: 17-31(.548) with 7 RBI"s, 5 runs and a nine game hitting streak.

Hot Pitching:

Erik Bedard: 1-0, 6 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 4 K's
Brandon League: 3 saves, 4 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.50 WHIP, 2 K's
Jamey Wright: 1-0, hold, 3.1 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, K
David Pauley: 2-0, hold, 6 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.67 WHIP, 3 K's

Erik Bedard in his last five starts: 3-0, 33 IP, 1.09 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, 28 K's
Jamey Wright on the season: 1-1,10 holds, 24.1 IP, 1.48 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 16 K's
David Pauley on the season: 4-0, 3 holds, 32.1 IP, 0.84 ERA, 0.71 WHIP, 20 K's


The Bad:

I'm glad that some guys like Ryan, Olivo and Jack Cust aren't living on the bad list but Figgins still remains. The Mariners top of the order has been doing terrible for two weeks now. The 27 million dollar men which is Ichiro and Chone Figgins have done horrible this month. It's pretty incredible how the Mariners are even .500 with the way the team has been hitting. The starting pitching was very average and last weeks hero Jason Vargas got beat up pretty good this week. Then the Mariners have a problem in left field as all the youngsters out there have looked very quadruple A like with the non stop strikeouts. The main problem is Figgins who the Mariners are stuck with for two more seasons after this year at nine million a season. The Mariners need to call up Dustin Ackley now and bench Figgins in favor of Kennedy or at least put Figgins ninth in the order.

Poor hitting:

Chone Figgins: 1-22(.045). For the year hitting .193/.235/.260
Ichiro: 3-26(.115), 2 RBI's, 2 runs, SB
Carlos Peguerro: 2-14(.143), 2 RBI's, 8 K's
Michael Saunders: 0-9, run, SB, 6 K's
Justin Smoak: 4-24(.167), HR, 2 RBI's, 2 runs, 7 K's

Ichiro and Figgins last two weeks combined are 14-104(.135) which has to play a part of Smoak's recent struggles.

For the month Ichiro is hitting .204/.262/.235 with 2 SB's and 3 Caught Stealing. Yet he isn't even the worst hitter or in the worst slump.

For the month Figgins is hitting .169/.204/.202 with 2 RBI's, 5 runs and 4 stolen bases to 2 caught stealing. Time for Figgins to be benched or least moved to ninth in the order. Hard to score runs when your 1-2-3 go a combine 24-156(.154) in the last two weeks.

Poor pitching:

Jason Vargas: 0-1, 7.2 IP, 12.91 ERA, 2.61 WHIP, 3 K's

Vargas doesn't really ever have an average outing. It is either a great outing or a terrible outing much like Ryan doesn't have an average week hitting wise ever.


The Awesome:

The Mariners going 4-2 on the week and 10-3 the last two weeks is pretty awesome. The Mariners were 16-23 have battled back from the week where they blew several leads. Now the Mariners are playing like a team with their bullpen and Ryan carrying the offense. The same Ryan who was hitting .200 just nine games ago. The past two weeks has been fun to watch as the Mariners have given this team very little to cheer about lately. So I'll break down the awesome part of the week.

Awesome hitting:

Brendan Ryan: For the month he is hitting .385/.438/.492 and in the past two weeks he is hitting .515/.555/.687 while driving in 7 runs, scoring 6 runs and has a nine game hitting streak. Ryan has raised his average from .200/.276/.245 to in nine games is now .277/.350/.348 on the season nearly improving by over 100 points in every category.

Awesome pitching:

Erik Bedard: For the month he is 2-0, 26 IP, 1.04 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, 25 K's and .180 BAA. Bedard has been dominant his last five starts and he'll take the hill tomorrow against his former team. The Mariners have a tough choice to make here in a month on Bedard if he keeps pitching this well. I'd love to make the playoffs with Hernandez, Pineda and then Bedard as no team would want to face the Mariners.

Mariners Bullpen: 3-0, 3 saves, 2 holds, 24.2 IP, 1.09 ERA, 0.81 WHIP, 12 K's. The Mariners middle relief has been great and David Pauley deserves to be an all-star.

David Pauley on the season is 4-0, 3 holds, 32.1 IP, 0.84 ERA, 0.71 WHIP, 20 K's and .168 BAA. Every year they pick a middle reliever and I don't see how Pauley isn't the leading middle reliever at this point in the season.

AL West Standings:

Texas Rangers: 28-25, First Place
LAA Angels: 28-27, 1.0 GB
Seattle Mariners: 26-26, 1.5 GB
Oakland A's: 27-27, 1.5 GB

As you can see the Mariners under first year manager Eric Wedge are right in the middle of the race. Wedge does have his team playing hard as there is no quit in this team which is nice to see. The Mariners are 10-3 the last two weeks despite the top of the order hitting horrible. The Mariners just got Gutirrez back which has already been paying off. When Dustin Ackley is finally called up and eats into Figgins playing time that will help the offense again. Also the Mariners are winning despite Ichiro slumping and his track record suggests he'll snap out of this which is another hitter as well. At least the Mariners are giving us some excitement which they didn't do last year. Hopefully the hitting turns around and the pitching staff keeps pitching well. It does feel good to talk positive about the Mariners for once. It has been a great two week stretch that I hope can last a little longer.

By Kshell

This week saw the Seattle Mariners climb out of last place for the first time since April 8th. The Mariners had a great week with their pitching staff going 6-1 on the week with the only loss being 2-1. The Mariners split with the Minnesota Twins at home, then swept a two game series against division rival Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim who were throwing Jered Weaver then Dan Haren. Then the Mariners played some interleague play down in San Diego as they swept the Padres as the Mariners starting pitching allowed one earned run in 23 innings. The Mariners starting pitching has flat out been dominant this week. The Mariners also welcomed back gold glove winning centerfielder Franklin Gutierrez. This week like I did two years ago I'll recap the good(entire five man starting staff), the bad(no pitchers) and the awesome(elaborate more on this pitching staff) which will be a fun write up.


The Good:

There was plenty of good this week for the Mariners who went 6-1. The Mariners starting pitching has been great this entire month of May. This week saw Erik Bedard go eight innings for the first time since 2008, Felix Hernandez tie a career high with 13 strikeouts in a game and Jason Vargas tie a career high with nine strikeouts. The Mariners also received some nice hitting from two veterans who had been slumping and one youngster in Carlos Peguero. The main story was the Mariners starting pitching which saw them throw 53 innings(7 2/3 innings a star) in seven starts allowing just four earned runs for an ERA of 0.68 while striking out 58 hitters. The Mariners starting pitching had one of the best weeks in franchise history.

Good Hitting:

Carlos Peguero: 5-20(.250), HR, 5 RBI's, 2 runs
Miguel Olivo: 6-20(.300), HR, RBI, 5 runs, SB
Brenden Ryan: 5-12(.417), 4 RBI's, 5 runs

Good Pitching:

Michael Pineda: 2-0, 14 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.43 WHIP, 16 K's
Jason Vargas: 1-0, 7 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, 9 K's
Erik Bedard: 1-0, 8 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.63 WHIP, 9 K's
Doug Fister: 8 IP, 1.12 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 2 K's
David Pauley: 1-0, 3 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.33 WHIP, 4 K's
Felix Hernandez: 1-1, 16 IP, 1.68 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, 22 K's

Seattle Mariners starting five: 5-1, 53 IP, 0.68 ERA, 0.70 WHIP, 58 K's


The Bad:

Well this week there won't be a single pitcher on my bad list which is nice to see. Instead you'll see the Mariners go 6-1 despite the top of the order slumping. The Mariners went 6-1 this week despite their best two hitters Ichiro and Justin Smoak slumping this week. While the other member of this list seems to live here as his contract appears worse and worse every day. The Mariners still aren't hitting but the starting pitching has been so great they won games. Hopefully with Gutierrez up and soon Dustin Ackley they can start hitting some.

Hitting Slump:

Ichiro: 5-26(.192), RBI, 2 runs, two caught stealing
Justin Smoak: 6-28(.214), 2 RBI's, 2 runs, 10 K's
Chone Figgins: 5-30(.167), 2 runs, 7 K's, Caught Stealing

Chone Figgins on the season has been a disaster. He's hitting just .212/.250/.288 with only nine walks to 20 K's. He also has just seven stolen bases to five caught stealing. He is totally useless and needs to be benched and turned into a Mark McLemore type utility guy. If Jack Zduriencik gets fired Figgins will be the main reason.


The Awesome:

The Mariners starting pitching dating back to last week have produced nine straight great starts. The Mariners have two pitchers with ERA's in the 2's, Hernandez is at 3.01 and two others in the 3's. Other than the week League blew up the Bullpen has been pretty solid as well. The starting pitching has saved this club so I'll break down each starting pitcher and what they've done on the year plus their hot streaks.

Michael Pineda: 9 starts, 6-2, 58 1/3 IP(6 2/3 IP a start), 2.16 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 61 K's, .194 BAA. Not only should Pineda be ROY but he should be on the all-star team.

Felix Hernandez: 11 starts, 5-4, 77 2/3 IP(7 IP a start), 3.01 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 77 K's, .225 BAA. Hernandez is having another great year with no run support. With him and Pineda the Mariners have the best 1-2 punch in the American League by far.

Jason Vargas: 9 starts, 3-2, 58 1/3(6 2/3 IP a start), 3.39 ERA, 1.2 WHIP,41 K's, .253 BAA. Vargas has been on fire lately going 3-0 in his last four starts pitching 30 2/3 IP with a 1.46 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 20 K's. In his last three starts he has gone 23 2/3 IP allowing just one earned run.

Doug Fister: 9 starts, 2-4, 58 1/3(6 2/3 IP a start), 2.93 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 35 K's, .274 BAA. Fister has been the hard luck guy going 16 IP allowing just three earned runs his last two starts and received two no decisions. Fister has been pitching great all season long.

Erik Bedard: 8 starts, 2-4, 45 2/3(5 2/3 IP a start), 3.94 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 41 K's, .236 BAA. Remember when Bedard was terrible? In his first four starts he was 0-4, pitched just 18 2/3 IP(4 2/3 IP a start), 7.71 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 7 home runs allowed and struck out 17.

Now Bedard in his last four starts is 2-0, pitched 27 innings(6 2/3 IP a start), 1.33 ERA, 0.77 WHIP, 24 K's. He has also allowed zero home runs. Bedard is pitching like the Bedard Bill Bavasi thought he traded for in 2008.

As you can see this Mariners pitching staff has been terrific and carrying this team. If the Mariners can get a few more hitters Eric Wedge can see his team back in the playoffs. Wedge has a tough job putting out a successful lineup but it sure is easy with this starting rotation. The Mariners have the best starting rotation in the American League. You have two aces(Felix and Pineda), a former ace(Bedard) and two great back end of the rotation guys(Vargas and Fister). Just sneak in the playoffs then do damage should be the Mariners goal.

AL West Standings:

Texas Rangers: 24-23, First Place
L.A. Angels: 24-24, 0.5 GB
Seattle Mariners: 22-24, 1.5 GB
Oakland A's: 22-25, 2.0 GB

So there you have it guys the Mariners are out of last place. The pitching staff has been great and hopefully some hitters can turn it around. When Ackley is finally called up Wedge should bench Figgins for Kennedy. Figgins is horrible and killing this team. The Mariners top of the order which includes Ichiro is making 27 million yet neither is stealing enough bases. The pitching has been great but if the Mariners want to make a run they need to get another stick or two. As is I'll enjoy this week seeing our starting pitching dominate all seven starts. I hope the Mariners fans are finally taking notice and more than 15 thousand people show up for the next home game. Also the Yankees are coming to town so please fans don't sell your tickets to Yankee fans. I'm sick and tired of this split crowd non sense. Hopefully the Mariners pitching can continue this roll they are on.