The Seattle Mariners were swept at home by the physically decimated Los Angeles Angels over the weekend. After losing games one and two of the series late on bullpen collapses, the Mariners once again failed to provide any run support for Felix Hernandez and were shut out 0-3 on Sunday. In the midst of what has so far been a pretty remarkable season, even the most casual Mariners’ fan has to have taken notice that the club doesn’t win very often at home. In fact, the difference in performance on the road versus at home is quite remarkable.
Sporting an impressive 13-6 record away from Safeco Field, the M’s have treated their energized fans to a less than spectacular 8-10 tally within the not-so-friendly confines at the corner of Dave Nichols Way and Edgar Martinez Drive. That’s a winning percentage of .684 in other teams’ parks and .444 in their own. What’s perhaps even more troubling are the teams they’ve lost to in front of their faithful fans.
The Mariners were swept in the very first home series of the season by the Oakland A’s, a team struggling to stay out of the cellar of the AL west with a 16-22 record. And then being swept in this last weekend’s series by an Angels ball club that has suffered the loss of their ace pitcher, Garrett Richards, for the season for Tommy John surgery, and arguably one of the best, if not the best, defensive players in all of baseball in SS Andrelton Simmons. Simmons will have surgery to repair a torn ligament in his thumb and will probably miss six to eight weeks plus rehab assignment time. There’s a reason the Angels are being referred to as “Mike Trout and a bunch of other guys.”
Looking a little deeper at individual players, Robinson Cano is hitting .363 with 9 HR and 22 RBI away from Safeco but .213 with 3 HR and 12 RBI at Safeco. Likewise, Nelson Cruz is hitting .324 any place not in the state of Washington but just .197 in the Emerald City. (To be fair, Cruz has not shown a lot of power yet this season, but that power is pretty equally distributed along home/away splits.) A final example has Kyle Seager hitting .267 with 5 HR and 15 RBI while travelling the country, but only .222 and 2 HR when sleeping in his own bed at night. And these examples aren’t random. They are the offensive stars of the team and currently three of the top four Mariners at the plate so far this season – catcher Chris Iannetta being the fourth.
Granted, some of this is due to the park itself. As in past seasons, Safeco ranks as the 10th best pitchers’ park. Or to put it another way, it’s the 10th worst park to try and hit in. Only five parks in MLB are worse for hitting HR. But both teams should be affected equally. Is it possible that the weak hitting A’s and Angels are diminished less than the Mariners by the park and are, therefore, technically given a boost? Maybe, but doubtful.
On a more positive note, the Mariners did lose their first five games of the season at home. So in a “glass is half-full world,” the M’s are 8-5 at home since. After this road trip to Baltimore and Cincinnati, the subsequent home stand features relatively week teams in the A’s, Minnesota Twins, and San Diego Padres. By the end of that eight game home defense, closing out May, the home record may very well have evened out. It better. Because no team in MLB is going to play .684 on the road for an entire season.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
