Week 3 Recap

• The Mariners had some tough pitching matchups this week, facing Doug Fister, Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, and Yu Darvish all in the span of four days. But they didn’t do any better against the likes of Nick Tepesch, Derek Lowe, and Justin Grimm. Mariner hitters were flailing at pitches this week with a combined total of seventy-two strikeouts. Their swing happy ways are reflected in their record this week. We we’re lucky to escape with a single win (against Justin Verlander!).

Player Performances

One of the features I’m including is a look at the recent player performances from the past two weeks. That small of a sample size will give us some pretty extreme data points. If you want to see the methodology behind these statistics, check out this page. The two tables below are the batting and pitching data from the last two weeks (4/8-4/21).

• Michael Morse came back only four days after he broke his pinky finger but he didn’t look comfortable at the plate at all. He did collect his first two, non-home run, extra base hits. I’m not sure how much his injury will affect his performance at the plate but I’ll be watching his at-bats a little closer this coming week.
• Kyle Seager and Kelly Shoppach carried the offensive load for the team this week. It’s nice to see Seager carry over the progress he made last year into this season. It’s weird to think that Seager has been more valuable to this team than Dustin Ackley, even though they were drafted in the same year, from the same college, and started in the majors around the same time. Seager never had the hype Ackley had as a prospect but he’s certainly developed into an important piece of the roster puzzle.
• It seems like Jesus Montero has lost his job as an everyday catcher only three weeks into the season. Kelly Shoppach started four of the six games this week and has hit well, much better than Montero. I’m starting to wonder when Montero will be shipped off to AAA-Tacoma to begin learning how to play first base. Smoak clearly isn’t progressing as quickly as everyone had hoped and has probably played himself out of the Mariner’s future.
• If Smoak loses his job, the question becomes who plays first base. Mike Morse is probably the most likely candidate but as we’ve seen this week with all the injuries we’ve suffered, our outfield depth is critically thin. Its clear Gutierrez isn’t an everyday player yet (he’s dealing with a pelvic issue this week) and Endy Chavez and Raul Ibanez aren’t good enough to be starters either. Taking Morse away from the outfield will only make that situation worse.

• Felix Hernandez and Max Scherzer dueled each other Wednesday night racking up twenty-four strikeouts between the two of them (there were forty! total strikeouts in the fourteen inning game). Felix was completely dominating in that game getting over 75% of his outs via strikeout or ground out and only allowing one unearned run on four hits. That was vintage Felix and the Mariners couldn’t get him a win. Over his last ten starts going back to last year, he’s 1-9. That’s crazy! We’re wasting the contributions of our best player because our offense can’t score a few measly runs.
• Hisashi Iwakuma continued his brilliance even though his start was cut short because a blister developed on his throwing hand. Hopefully he will be able to play through this minor issue and continue to provide excellent results for the team.
• This week saw the return of Hector Noesi, as the bullpen worked through its depth pretty quickly this week. He worked three innnings on Friday and only gave up one hit while striking out two.
• Charlie Furbush continued to struggle to find his command as he gave up five walks in two innings of work. I’m not sure what’s going on with him. His career walk rate is only 8.7% so this is pretty uncharacteristic for him.

AL West Standings

The Week Ahead

The Mariners continue their sixteen game stretch this week staying in Texas to face the Houston Astros and then come home for a four game series against the Angels. If the Mariners continue to play poorly, they could slip behind the Astros in the standings after this week. Hopefully our offense will be able to turn it around.