With the Seattle Mariners’ season six weeks into full swing, it appears another 100 loss season will probably be unlikely. That’s encouraging for Mariners fans. However, a season with a .500 record is in jeopardy without some changes. With the exception of the last couple games in Boston, the young Mariners have shown a lot of promise this season. Most games they play, the M’s maintain competiveness and play pretty good ball even when they do lose.
They’ve been putting up a lot more runs than last year’s team. Unfortunately, it’s been a year full of great starts made by the starting pitching staff that often get thwarted by one bad inning or one bad pitch. It happened to both starting pitchers Hernandez and Nosei in New York this past weekend. Felix’s sinker didn’t sink on the pitch that counted most to Raul Ibanez and Nosei couldn’t get out of a two out jam and it cost their team the game both times. There were also a few hits by the Mariners that couldn’t quite get out of the hitter friendly-ballparks of New York and Boston. The Mariners’ hopes at making a comeback later in games have been foiled by a distance of five or ten feet the last few games. Mike Carp’s double off the top of the warning track at New Yankee Stadium could have sparked so much more had it been hit a little higher and a homerun. The other day in Boston with the M’s down 4-0, Kyle Seager hit a drive all the way to the fences but it was just short, it was almost a 3 run shot but instead it just ended the inning.
Sometimes the Mariners’ dilemma of missed opportunities leading to men left in scoring position can be credited to good pitchers working out of a jam, but often it’s just inexperience or lack of poise in the batters. I feel switching up the batting order is definitely a must. Baseball season is a very long one and testing out a jumbled lineup in the next week could help. Why not give lead off back to Ichiro? He’s hitting around .300 again (best on the team) and with Chone Figgins’ demotion, he’s still a better lead off guy than Dustin Ackley. Ackley can move down to second in the lineup; he’s got decent speed and an acceptable batting average (.248). Team RBI leading Kyle Seager should be moved to the third spot in the lineup; he’s been very productive offensively, probably more so than anyone else and he can do more than Ichiro there. Mike Carp’s bat has been hot lately and he’s hitting the ball hard; have him be the clean-up guy. John Jaso batted second in the lineup yesterday and has had some clutch hits for the M’s earlier this year, but why not put the spark he provides at the bottom of the lineup? I like Jaso hitting eighth where he can set things up when the order comes back around to Ichiro or Ackley. Jesus Montero is leading the Mariners with five homers this year and should maintain a spot somewhere around fifth or sixth in the batting order. Justin Smoak, on the other hand, should be punished for being an acclaimed power hitting sensation that can’t even bat .240 this year; have him at the very bottom of the order. As for shortstops Ryan and Kawasaki, they’re both hitting below .200 and a possible upgrade from number nine to number seven in the lineup could help them get out of their individual funks.
Expect to see more of Alex Liddi, who has been fantastic at the plate when given the opportunity. Some starts for him will be more prevalent if guys like Smoak and Ryan continue to struggle at the plate. Casper Wells will also get some more time on the field. Players need rest, and Wells and Liddi would love to play more. When these promising young guns do start, Manager Eric Wedge needs to get them in the middle of the lineup (between #4 and #7), where than can produce and drive in runs most effectively.
This is the magic of baseball; lineups are always changing throughout the year and guys are constantly getting demoted/promoted, more so than any other sport. Young guys like Seager and Liddi have a lot to prove and manager Eric Wedge is starting to make it happen, while veteran Chone Figgins has been demoted to utility man. Lineups and batting orders are based off of what a player is doing currently, not based off of what they’ve done in the past. That’s why baseball is better than life, it’s fair.
This year should be better than last for the Mariners (not too hard to do), but some players need to step it up. Starters Millwood and Noesi need to be pitching six good innings, rather than five good innings with one nightmare of an inning mixed in. Ryan and Smoak need to work on their swings, as well as seeing and hitting the ball better to get those batting averages up. As a team in general, everyone needs to step up when teammates are in scoring position and they’re up to bat.
As a manager, Eric Wedge can aid clutch hitting from his team by mixing up starting lineups and batting orders. The Mariners ability to get clutch hits on offense and work out of jams on defense could be the difference between a 90 win season and a 90 loss season. Yes, I still have hopes for a 90 win season; Seattle has a young, talented team that is almost never out of a game. If players step up to opportunities given to them by Wedge and capitalize on them; just about every team besides Texas should have their hands full playing against Seattle.
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