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The Mariners bullpen blew it again
Thursday’s Say Hey, Baseball looks at yet another Mariners implosion, the Cubs’ World Series rings, and alternate reality Barry Bonds.
Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports
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It has not been a great start to the season for the Mariners. They’re just 2-8 and in last place in the AL West, but even worse than that early standing is how they got there. On Saturday, their bullpen blew a quality start from Felix Hernandez, resulting in a 5-4 loss to the Angels, and that was followed by a traumatizing seven-run, ninth-inning disaster on Sunday that gave the Angels the series sweep. On Tuesday, starter Ariel Miranda left after 52⁄3 innings, with just two runs allowed but two baserunners left on. The M’s pen would allow both of those inherited runners to score along with two others, and Seattle would drop that game 7-5.
It happened again on Wednesday against Houston, and while it’s not as horrific as Sunday’s affair, it being the fourth time since Saturday that the bullpen has blown the game doesn’t help things. Seattle had a 5-0 lead after three innings, and even after allowing Houston to score in consecutive frames, were still up 5-4 after Yovani Gallardo’s start and an inning of scoreless relief by Mark Rzepczynski. Then, Dan Altavilla and Dillon Overton gave up a combined six hits, two walks, and six runs during the seventh and eighth innings, and the Mariners wound up losing 10-5 after allowing 10 unanswered runs.
It’s still very early in the season, so panicking about the Mariners is going a little too far even after the week they’ve had. Losing these games to divisional opponents, though, in this manner and in April, is disconcerting. The AL West was expected to be crowded this year, with the Rangers, Astros, Mariners, and possibly the Angels all gunning for the division or at least a Wild Card spot. The further the Mariners fall behind now because they can’t close out a game, the harder it’s going to be for them to vault ahead later on in the year.
- Giancarlo Stanton hit his first two homers of the 2017 season on Wednesday, and a fan went jumping into the outfield pool at Marlins Park to retrieve the second of those as a souvenir.
- Speaking of extreme starts to the year, Michael Baumann looks at the Blue Jays and Diamondbacks and wonders when it’s no longer too early to panic or plan for the playoffs.
- The Cubs received their World Series rings, and they cost $70,000 each. Hey, when you went over a century without a win, you know you have to make the ring you get count.
- The Atlanta highway system has had some issues lately: the most recent incident involves a truck full of the Braves’ foam tomahawks.
- What if Barry Bonds had played without a bat? Jon Bois investigates the game’s preeminent intentionally walked star.
- Rob Manfred says that MLB and the Indians have made “specific steps in an identified process and are making progress” on removing Chief Wahoo from Cleveland’s gear. Or you could just like, remove the racist logo, guys.
- Vice Sports has some ideas for replacement logos that would all be better than Chief Wahoo.
- This is from October during Cleveland’s World Series bid, but it’s still relevant today because that logo still exists.
- As is this from Lindsey Adler: it’s a reminder that Chief Wahoo was already promised to become less of a focus, but instead, Cleveland made it front-and-center for their postseason run.
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