Mariners take series against Athletics with record breaking performance by Bryan Woo

The Mariners have got to be one of the wierdest teams in baseball. All you ever seem to hear about this team is negative. That the offseason acquisitions aren't performing as well as they should be (that's true), that their superstar isn't playing well enough (also true), and that the offense seems broken and strikes out WAY too much (also true).

Well, okay, maybe there is a lot of negative about this offense. Somehow, they do it when it matters though, and are actually one of the five best teams in baseball at scoring runners in clutch situations, although they are a bottom five team at having runners in scoring position. Take their second run of the day for example in the finale. Cal Raleigh stole a base. Yeah, you read that right.

He then scored on an RBI single, where in any other world, he would've jogged down to second, and the Mariners would've had runners on 1st and 2nd and left them stranded. Instead, he was able to make it home from second on the Garver single to give the Mariners the 2-0 lead. Garver did a bit more later on with a bombo to make it 3-0, which is what the final score would be.

Given who was on the mound, it shouldn't have been a surprise that the Athletics were unable to score any runs. Heading into the year, there was actually talk about moving Bryan Woo to the pen (mostly from fans) with the idea being that he was our clear 5th starter. He started the year hurt, and Miller looked great, seemingly furthering the gap between Woo and the rest of the staff.

Instead, Bryan Woo has been the Mariners best pitcher since coming back from the Injured List. This isn't the best pitcher of a struggling staff, or just eeking it out, either. Bryan Woo actually went ahead and set a Mariners team record for the lowest ERA through the first six starts of a season, having allowed just four runs through 33.2 IP, for an ERA of 1.07.

That's insane, and a testament to why this team was adamant about not moving any of their starting pitching in the offseason. When things are clicking, the staff is the best one in baseball. Woo led them to the 3-0 win, and although the bats didn't do much in the finale, they did enough to get the Mariners their 11th series win in the last 15 series, improving their record to 36-28 with a five-game lead on the Texas Rangers.

The Mariners are one of the hottest teams in baseball over the last couple of weeks, and look to continue that as they face a much tougher test while they head to Missouri to play the Kansas City Royals. It's going to be a fun weekend, folks.