Better Play Coming For The Mariners

The Mariners find themselves in a position where they are definitely not hot but I wouldn’t necessarily call them cold just yet. Last night saw Felix Hernandez give up more 4 homeruns. Considering what we know him to be capable of and what he has done this year I thought it would be more likely that he hit 4 homeruns in a game rather than give up 4.

Regardless, he was hit hard last night in a game featuring potential playoff teams. These are games you would like to see them put up a better fight. Is it possible that playoff pressure will cause them to crumble?

These guys live for this. The pressure is what they have been craving. If they’re feeling the pressure it’s fueling their fire because it’s proof they’re in position to do what they everyone in this league wants, to win, make the playoffs, and hopefully, win a world series.

At 5-5 in their last 10 games there may be some question marks coming down the stretch but rest assured that better baseball is coming our way. How can we be sure about this? Last night’s start from Felix is a good place to start. We know that was a fluke start. As was his short outing in Boston. The Boston series was a disaster for the starting pitching and yet they were still able to get the sweep thanks to the best bullpen in baseball.

You can on the starting pitching to get back to form. While we might have already seen the best we will from Chris Young we can count on more quality innings from him and Hisashi Iwakuma.

The pitching has carried the team all year as the offense hasn’t been terribly good but good enough to win games. Of course, they’ve been lead by Robinson Cano. But can anyone guess who has been the most value over the last two weeks? Dustin Ackley has looked like the player everyone wished he was in this second half.

He has cooled off since he exploded to start the second half and but has remained a presence in the lineup. While Cano hasn’t been bad in that time frame it would be nice to see him hit a hot streak. If there is any time it’s now. It’s been great to see Ackley do so well. I can’t help but still think he has the chance to be good. If Ackley can keep up his good play and we get streaks from Cano and Kyle Seager the Mariners will be looking to be in good shape for the rest of the year.