Seattle Mariners: 3 Things We Learned Last Night

In what felt like the most painfully drawn out game of the year, the Mariners lost. It ended their eight game win streak, and left the thirty-plus thousand fans at Safeco Field losing playoff hope.

There was not much to cheer about last night, as the Mariners begin their most important home-stand of the year. The King struggled (again), the offense was stagnant, and the defense was deplorable, but that wasn’t all.

Here are three things we learned in last night’s crushing 6-0 defeat.

The King Is Dead?

Felix Hernandez has been the heart and soul of the Mariners over most of the past decade. His accomplishments? Historic. His talent? Hall of Fame worthy. But are we watching The King’s decline?

Despite his nickname, Hernandez does not have the privilege of being The King for life. In sports, studs come and go, it’s just the nature of the beast. After last night, some fans may be asking, “who will replace Hernandez as the #1 starter come next season?”.

Yesterday, Hernandez allowed five more runs. three more walks. Two more home runs allowed. And threw just three strikeouts. It was the third time in four games he allowed five-plus runs. All of these numbers I just mentioned don’t help his chances to not set career-worsts.

Even with the injury time factored in, Hernandez is on pace to challenge his career worst totals. He is five home runs allowed shy of setting a new low-mark. Twenty bases on balls from personal infamy. And, fifty-three strikeouts behind his previous career low.

Marte Is The Most Disliked Man In Seattle

Mariner fans are still trying to forgive Ketel Marte for destroying Taijuan Walker’s perfect game earlier this week with his error. Last night he didn’t help his case. Marte committed two more errors and put up a goose egg in the hit column. He also had a strikeout, but I don’t want to rub

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salt in his wounds.

Marte has now committed an error in eighteen games. His nineteen total errors is fifth worst in all of baseball. As an unfortunate side-note, Kyle Seager leads the MLB with twenty-three errors. The double-error night for Marte was his second multi-error game of his breif two year career.

Last night, after his second error and his third empty at-bat, the fans let Marte have it. The majority of the crowd showered boos in his direction.

Big Harm, Less Foul

A loss last night was more painful then most others. Sure, a loss always hurts, but when you’re in the midst of a highly competitive Wild Card race, each loss stings a little more.

The Orioles and Blue Jays both won last night, so a Mariners win would’ve have been very important. A few games back, the Mariners were just 1.5 games behind the Wild Card leaders. Now that number is three.

With the number of games shrinking -sixteen left- every game matters, a lot. Another eight game win streak would be nice, but the Mariners can make the playoffs without it.

Bonus Knowledge

Arquimedes Caminero can throw very fast. He hit 102 MPH last night. Even though he fared well yesterday with his fire, he has struggled with the heat like never before.

It is not only the fastball that is coming in hot; his slider, sinker and cutter have all been faster than previous seasons. Because of it and the lack of control that comes along with it, his ERA and H/9 are at the highest levels they have ever been.

Like all good fastball pitchers, Caminero will learn that he can’t overthrow the ball as he appears to be this season. His flame-throwing counterpart in the bullpen, Edwin Diaz has been able to bounce back from his lower point of throwing too fast.

Next: Mariners Near No-No's

Hopefully the Mariners budding star-closer can mentor the Cuban-born twenty-nine year old, and they can grow together.