By the Numbers: Mariners’ horrifying home stand

The Mariners had some momentum entering their most recent six-game home stand, after going 5-4 on a difficult road trip. They channelled exactly none of that momentum into success in those six contests and dropped each and every one of them, including two starts by Felix Hernandez. Before they try and bury this past week in the past, let’s look at just how awful the series against Texas and LA were in By the Numbers.

38 – Runs allowed by the Mariners in the two series. All but two of those runs were earned by Mariners pitching, equating to an ERA of 5.89. That’s rough, considering how poorly the Mariners offense did in the six-game stretch.

12 – Runs scored by the Mariners against the Angels and Rangers, including just two against the Angels in three games. That’s a run differential of minus-26, meaning the team lost each game by an average of 4.5 runs. No way to spin that positively, except perhaps to say that two of the games were sort of close. Yeah, no way to spin that positively.

8 – Earned runs allowed by Felix Hernandez yesterday against Texas, a career-high. He also only lasted three innings, his shortest start since 2007. Felix has this weird tendency to suck against Texas. It’s an annoying tendency, since the Mariners play the Rangers 19 times a year. Felix pitched great against the Angels on Friday, but of course, the Mariners didn’t score.

6 – Quality starts by Mariners opponents in their six-game skid. At some point, this becomes less about the pitchers and more about the hitters they are facing/destroying. I mean, Garrett Richards? Travis Blackley?

14 – Games Seattle is under .500 after the home stand. For perspective, at the peak of their eight-game winning streak around the All-Star Break, the Mariners were 48-52. Since then, they’re 11-21. All kinds of hurt going on there.

2 – Home runs by Dustin Ackley on the home stand. If there’s a bright spot to the crap the Mariners have been throwing up lately, it’s their former No. 2 overall selection. Ackley hit home runs No. 2 and 3 this week, and has raised his average to a previously unheard of .256. That’s four points higher than Justin Smoak, five points higher than Raul Ibanez and 21 points higher than Michael Saunders. More critically, that’s 29 points higher than Nick Franklin, who was supposed to supplant Ackley at second. Baseball is a confusing sport.

1 – Major League debuts by Taijuan Walker Friday in Houston, with the goal of changing the subject and distracting Mariners’ fans attentions away from this horror of a losing streak. Here’s to hoping Tai does just that.