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Re: Mariners

Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2018 8:25 am
by Merganzer
oregontrack wrote:we finished the toughest 15 game stretch we’ll have this season 7-8. that was a rough week, but i’ll take it. what’s more important is that we began this 15 game stretch 4.5 games ahead of the angels, and after today’s games we’re 6.5 up.

we have some winnable series coming up this week, 4 at baltimore and three at home against KC.
That's right. All that happened during that 15 game stretch was that the Mariners aren't catching the Astros, but that was not realistic at any point. The 2nd Wildcard is there for the Mariners, 4 1/2 over the Angels, and about 8 over the Twins and Tigers. Be interesting to see what moves DiPoto makes down the stretch, the trade that brought Haniger & Segura over from Arizona for Taijuan Walker & Ketel Marte was impressive.

Re: Mariners

Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2018 2:37 pm
by Merganzer
Mariners 5 Orioles 3

Re: Mariners

Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2018 6:55 pm
by Merganzer
Paxton gets back on track, beats Baltimore, 3-2. Mariners 24th, (lead the league) 1 run win.

Re: Mariners

Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2018 7:42 am
by oregontrack
angels keep losing in boston, too. we've got an 8 game lead back over anaheim, but oakland has actually passed them in the west. we lead oakland by 7 games.

Re: Mariners

Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2018 10:02 am
by Merganzer
What do the Mariners need the most down the stretch? I believe the strongest need is another starting pitcher. The bullpen had it rough against the Red Sox and Yankees, but that was really their first bad stretch. Felix is now a Gamer, he goes out there and everybody hopes that he'll be okay, but not with a lot of confidence. The best starters lately have been LeBlanc, Gonzalez and Leak, and Paxton had two tough games in a row, but I think he'll be fine.
It's also worth noting that this great run by the Mariners started when Cano was suspended. Dee Gordon won't hit as many home runs as Cano, but I find him superior in every other category, in the field, every game he's making a play that "lookin' cool" Cano wouldn't have been close to. Cano's availability with 40 games left in the season is actually more of an inconvenience than an asset.

Re: Mariners

Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2018 7:54 pm
by Merganzer
Mariners 8 Orioles 7 in 11. Three hits for Haniger & Seager, HR's for Healy & Seager.

Re: Mariners

Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2018 8:48 pm
by oregontrack
Merganzer wrote:What do the Mariners need the most down the stretch? I believe the strongest need is another starting pitcher. The bullpen had it rough against the Red Sox and Yankees, but that was really their first bad stretch. Felix is now a Gamer, he goes out there and everybody hopes that he'll be okay, but not with a lot of confidence. The best starters lately have been LeBlanc, Gonzalez and Leak, and Paxton had two tough games in a row, but I think he'll be fine.
It's also worth noting that this great run by the Mariners started when Cano was suspended. Dee Gordon won't hit as many home runs as Cano, but I find him superior in every other category, in the field, every game he's making a play that "lookin' cool" Cano wouldn't have been close to. Cano's availability with 40 games left in the season is actually more of an inconvenience than an asset.
it depends what one thinks the ceiling is for this team. on the one hand, the team could do nothing and probably be fine. this would preserve the farm system from being plundered further, which it really can’t afford. the argument for standing pat through the deadline would be that they are highly unlikely to have a better record than the astros over 162 games, so the division is effectively out of reach. new york and boston are the two best teams in baseball, and the loser of that division race is almost assuredly going to be the host wild card team. it’s basically a given we’re playing for the 2nd wild card, and we have a 7 game lead over a very flawed oakland team at the moment, and a 9 game lead over the angels. at this point, we’d have to massively choke not to make the postseason. we really don’t need to add anything to break the playoff drought. this situation will only exacerbate if seattle keeps winning and expanding their lead and oakland/anaheim cede the season and spend August/September playing a bunch of their younger guys.

if you think the m’s can go into new york or boston and win a game and then take out the other in a 5 game series to get to the ALCS, then the team will need much better pitching. aside from diaz, the bullpen really sucks. nicasio has been a massive disappointment, and colome has been super sketchy since coming over from tampa. the bridge from starter to diaz is rife with potential landmines. pazos really should be the 8th inning guy at this point, but servais doesn’t trust him for whatever reason. altavilla can be good, but he’s hurt. bradford is just getting back. for our rotation, paxton is leagues better than everyone else. marco has been a nice surprise but you have absolutely no idea what you’re getting when anyone else starts. they’ve mostly been serviceable, but this is not a group that will win a playoff series.

the offense is fine. zunino needs to pick it up.

as for gordon/cano, i don’t think there will be much to worry about. cano is ineligible for the postseason because of his suspension, and by the time he gets back i think seattle will be well out of the division race but well ahead of the 2nd wild card race; meaning bringing him back would be kind of useless. so what’s the point of playing him? i wouldn’t be surprised if he “has a nagging shoulder thing” and the club just shuts him down. thaaaaaaaat said, if i’m wrong and seattle finds itself in the division race OR stumbles and needs to hold off another team for the wildcard, he’ll play and he’ll play a bunch. dee is great, but cano was having a fantastic season before his suspension. his OBP and slugging put dee to shame. and cano is a wonderful defender, i reject outright that dee is making a bunch of plays out in the field that cano can’t make. cano throws some people off because he’s so good with the glove he makes it look edfortless, like he’s not trying. but he’s a superb defensive 2B.

Re: Mariners

Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2018 8:43 am
by nogerO
Conventional wisdom is split on the road and win 75-80% at home, gives you 100+ wins, so very tough stretch but not bad all in all. Too many errors.

Re: Mariners

Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2018 8:48 am
by Merganzer
oregontrack wrote:
Merganzer wrote:What do the Mariners need the most down the stretch? I believe the strongest need is another starting pitcher. The bullpen had it rough against the Red Sox and Yankees, but that was really their first bad stretch. Felix is now a Gamer, he goes out there and everybody hopes that he'll be okay, but not with a lot of confidence. The best starters lately have been LeBlanc, Gonzalez and Leak, and Paxton had two tough games in a row, but I think he'll be fine.
It's also worth noting that this great run by the Mariners started when Cano was suspended. Dee Gordon won't hit as many home runs as Cano, but I find him superior in every other category, in the field, every game he's making a play that "lookin' cool" Cano wouldn't have been close to. Cano's availability with 40 games left in the season is actually more of an inconvenience than an asset.
it depends what one thinks the ceiling is for this team. on the one hand, the team could do nothing and probably be fine. this would preserve the farm system from being plundered further, which it really can’t afford. the argument for standing pat through the deadline would be that they are highly unlikely to have a better record than the astros over 162 games, so the division is effectively out of reach. new york and boston are the two best teams in baseball, and the loser of that division race is almost assuredly going to be the host wild card team. it’s basically a given we’re playing for the 2nd wild card, and we have a 7 game lead over a very flawed oakland team at the moment, and a 9 game lead over the angels. at this point, we’d have to massively choke not to make the postseason. we really don’t need to add anything to break the playoff drought. this situation will only exacerbate if seattle keeps winning and expanding their lead and oakland/anaheim cede the season and spend August/September playing a bunch of their younger guys.

if you think the m’s can go into new york or boston and win a game and then take out the other in a 5 game series to get to the ALCS, then the team will need much better pitching. aside from diaz, the bullpen really sucks. nicasio has been a massive disappointment, and colome has been super sketchy since coming over from tampa. the bridge from starter to diaz is rife with potential landmines. pazos really should be the 8th inning guy at this point, but servais doesn’t trust him for whatever reason. altavilla can be good, but he’s hurt. bradford is just getting back. for our rotation, paxton is leagues better than everyone else. marco has been a nice surprise but you have absolutely no idea what you’re getting when anyone else starts. they’ve mostly been serviceable, but this is not a group that will win a playoff series.

the offense is fine. zunino needs to pick it up.

as for gordon/cano, i don’t think there will be much to worry about. cano is ineligible for the postseason because of his suspension, and by the time he gets back i think seattle will be well out of the division race but well ahead of the 2nd wild card race; meaning bringing him back would be kind of useless. so what’s the point of playing him? i wouldn’t be surprised if he “has a nagging shoulder thing” and the club just shuts him down. thaaaaaaaat said, if i’m wrong and seattle finds itself in the division race OR stumbles and needs to hold off another team for the wildcard, he’ll play and he’ll play a bunch. dee is great, but cano was having a fantastic season before his suspension. his OBP and slugging put dee to shame. and cano is a wonderful defender, i reject outright that dee is making a bunch of plays out in the field that cano can’t make. cano throws some people off because he’s so good with the glove he makes it look edfortless, like he’s not trying. but he’s a superb defensive 2B.
I agree with your analysis overall. I can't really project the Mariners winning a playoff series, they could destroy either the Yankees or Red Sox, by getting them in the 1 game Wild card round. It is pitching definitely, save for Diaz, that is keeping the Mariners from really contending for the division. As for Cano, he's in the HOF, and agree about his effortless look. I suppose I went a bit afield saying that Gordon was making plays that Cano couldn't have, should have been he's making the same plays Cano would have.

Re: Mariners

Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2018 3:27 pm
by Merganzer
Mariners go to 8-0 in Extra innings, 4-2 over Orioles, to get to 20 games above .500, 51-31. Also, interesting to hear that the Mariners have the most sacrifice hits in MLB, as well as being the only team to have 4 players with 15 or more home runs, (Healy 15, Haniger 16, Seager 16, Cruz 21).

Re: Mariners

Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2018 3:39 pm
by oregontrack
wow i thought for sure the yankees could say that too, but they've got 3 guys w/ 15 or more and gary sanchez is at 14.

a's won again today too, angels plays at boston later.

we're still 7 up on oakland, an anaheim loss will put us 10 games ahead. angels are in a world of hurt w/o ohtani.

Re: Mariners

Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2018 5:31 pm
by Merganzer
oregontrack wrote:. angels are in a world of hurt w/o ohtani.
Just saw a note that Ohtani will resume hitting, future of pitching is undecided.

Re: Mariners

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2018 9:36 pm
by Merganzer
Complete game, 4-1 win for Marco Gonzales, Haniger, Zunino with Home Runs.

Re: Mariners

Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2018 9:56 pm
by Merganzer
Mariners 6 Royals 4. The Royals got 3 in the top of the first, Mariners got 1 back in the 2nd, and tied it with Healy's 2 run homer. Healy went 4-4 on the night, Haniger 3/4. Diaz gets MLB leading 31st Save. First 6 game winning streak for the Mariners this season.

Re: Mariners

Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2018 3:14 pm
by thomas time
Mariners do what they should do going 7-0 vs Baltimore and K.C. Paxton 8 shutout innings and Diaz a 1 2 3 ninth for a 1-0 win.