Mariners Analysis: M’s Bruised, Beaten But Not Defeated

Ketel Marte returned to the lineup on Monday, but the Mariners continue to play poorly without Leonys Martin and Felix Hernandez.

Outside of Joaquin Benoit’s right shoulder inflammation that placed him on the disabled list back on April 22nd, the Seattle Mariners core roster had been injury free, which no doubt played a big part in putting them in first place in the American League West in the early part of the season. No would could have guessed that a month later, almost to the day- and four days after Benoit returned to the bullpen- that the injury bug would comeback to haunt them in big way, in both the starting lineup and take down the head of their rotation.

On May 21st the Mariners beat the Cincinnati Reds in what would have been a much celebrated 4-0 victory away from home. However, in the fifth inning, an effort play-much like the ones that propelled the M’s- took out Ketel Marte as he successfully stole second base. He would be diagnosed with a sprained left thumb and was put on the 15-day DL. By the game’s end, the M’s were 26-17 on the season and holding onto first place in the division by a game and a half.

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Just the next week, on May 25th the Mariners were back at home facing division rivals in the Oakland Athletics and were in the midst of the early stages of what would end up being a 13-3 blowout, only to be bit again by an injury, this time it was Leonys Martin, and once more it was during an effort play that would have put another run on the board. With Martin at third, Robinson Cano had groundout out to first and Martin wisely attempted to sneak home, but was caught in the process. As he tried to start his sprint, he awkwardly planted his left leg, messing up his hamstring. Scott Servais and his staff took him out for precautionary reasons after he was out, but the damaged had been done; the next day he too was placed on the 15-day DL with a strained left hamstring.

The M’s were virtually unaffected in the very brief time that Marte was out, still managing a 2-1 record before Martin went down. But when the Cuban center fielder was sidelined as well, their record would begin to plunge. As of May 26th, with both men on the DL the team record was 28-18. The immediate affect on the team’s performance was evident. The M’s were subsequently swept by the worst team in baseball, the Minnesota Twins, and scored just two, five and four runs respectively during the series. Missing the speed of Marte and the best power-hitting of Martin’s career was stalling the Mariners offense.

It must be noted that during the series with the Twins, Felix Hernandez went down with a right calf strain which wasn’t entirely apparent during his outing, but his six runs allowed were definitely an indication that something was off. He would be the third man placed on the 15-day DL within the span of one week. While the young, promising, James Paxton was called up to replace Hernandez, he would, as we know, lose in both of his two starts during this ongoing sluggish stretch.

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The good news in all of this is that the team is on the mend and Marte was already reinserted back into the lineup last night, although the team still lost. Before Marte’s return, the Mariners record was 31-25, meaning that with all three studs out of the lineup the M’s went a mediocre 6-8, falling back into second place behind the surging Texas Rangers.

Martin should also be back- if all continues to go well during his recovery- towards the end of the week. His pop is needed, as the team has scored no more than four runs in any game during their four game losing streak.

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Unfortunately Hernandez’s rehabilitation is taking longer than expected and he could miss a couple of more starts; he was originally supposed to miss only two starts. Of course a healthy Hernandez would be a physical and emotional injection into this recently deflated-looking Mariner team. With all three men healthy, the hope is that things will go back to the way they were and the team can retake first place heading into the all-star break in a little over a month.