From Stem to Stern: M’s Almost Play Well, But Don’t

The Seattle Mariners completed a series down in Tampa yesterday, and hopefully they learned something while watching the Ray sweep the series. The M’s really should have won 2 of the 3 games, but let poor defensive play cost them the opener, and shoddy bullpen pitching cost them the finale. The Rays, meanwhile, were the Rays, and  made very few mistakes and simply let the M’s beat themselves. The M’s are making too many mistake right now to be able to beat good teams like the Rays.

Captain: Mike Carp (3 of 11 (.273) with 2 BB and a double. Hitting streak to 20 games.
Walkin the Plank: Adam Kennedy (1 of 11 (.091) and his poor defense cost the M’s, and Felix the win in the opener)
Impressive: Kyle Seager (5 of 12 (.417) with a HR
Depressing: Miguel Olivo (1 of 8 (.125) 3 SO, will likely occupy this spot for a while unless he starts playing better)

Series Notes:

• Felix deserved to win the opener. He was really let down by Adam Kennedy who was playing third that game. There were 3 plays that a decent third baseman makes that he didn’t, and all three contributed to runs that were scored by Tampa.
• Mike Carp’s hitting streak is up to 20 games, though he is beginning to slow down a bit. He’s now hitting a lot more singles and less doubles and HRs than he did earlier in the streak.
• The Charlie Furbush yo-yo continued, and he followed up a decent start with one where he lasted only 3 inning and game up 5 runs. I’m starting to believe that with his inconsistency and awkward delivery that he belongs in the Bullpen.
• Speaking of the bullpen, what was once a strength for this team has become a frustrating problem. In this series the bullpen combined to throw 7 innings and gave up 8 runs. That’s a 10.27 ERA. The bullpen was mostly to blame for costing the M’s a win in the final game of the series.
• Chance Ruffin made his debut on Saturday, throwing 1 inning and giving up 1 hit and no runs. So far so good for the newest Mariner.
• As a team, the Mariners hit just 3 of 21 (.143) with runners in scoring position in this series.
• M’s have now lost 5 straight games.