April 10, 2025 • 36 mins
Anderson Hirst is back with you for another edition of Mariners Weekly after the Mariners get swept in San Francisco but come back and with the Astros series at home.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back into Mariners Weekly. This is Anderson Hurst, your host.
We will do a kind of weekly update on your
Seattle baseball team, the Mariners after each week of games,
kind of in between the first series of the week
and the second series of the week, usually coming at
the off day. Sometimes it'll be on a Wednesday, sometimes
(00:21):
it'll be on a Thursday. Sometimes it'll be on a Monday.
So this is your weekly update. And after the first
week where Seattle went three and four, Seattle goes two
and four in the following week, So the second week
of the season, this is our second update. They get
swept in San Francisco, unfortunately, a very good Giants team
(00:43):
with their home opener. The first and third game where
extremely close, came down to the last out Seattle back
and forth extra innings. It just you had a spot
start from Luis f Castillo, and it just it was
hard to watch in those extra innings when you did
(01:06):
well in scoring runs and kind of keeping up and
outscoring your issues in the first part of the game,
and then once extras came, he just couldn't couldn't get
the job done. Then in the second game, Bryce Miller
looks a little shaky but hopefully he'll bounce back. And
then in the third game you get a good start
(01:27):
from Brian Wu goes six innings, five hits, four and
runs only one walk with six strikeouts. He does exactly
what you need him to do, especially after taxing your
bullpen in the first game. You need your starters to
at least go six. He does just that. But the
big story you get to extra innings. You have a
big hit from Randy Rose Arena, a theme we will
(01:51):
come back on in the following series to tie the
game and send it to extra innings. But then Seattle
can't get anything done and in the on the top
half of the tenth inning, and then in the bottom
of the tenth Victor Roebliss unfortunately injures his shoulder on
a catch in foul territory and that literally the very
(02:14):
next pitch, San Francisco would walk it off for the sweep.
Unfortunate unfortunate for Seattle to get swepts. They at that
point still hadn't won a series. They had lost too
and then split one, so a tough tough go of
it for the Mariners, especially considering the Victor robless news.
We would later find out he has a shoulder issue
(02:37):
and it looks like he's gonna miss at least twelve weeks,
So looking at a three month timeline at least for
Victor Robust before he is able to return to action.
Just a huge blow for the team. Not your best player,
but definitely someone who is your leadoff hitter, who's a
spark plug, plays great defense, does stuff on the bass pass,
and I just think an energy ball lack of a
(03:00):
better term, someone who gives you that spark when you
absolutely need it, and just his personality will still be
in the clubhouse and stuff. We'll see kind of how
that goes along with his rehab and everything. But yeah,
I'm gonna be interested to see how the Mariners react
without their leadoff hitter, without Victor Robliss in their lineup
for the foreseeable future. So it'll be interesting to see
(03:23):
how they adjust who goes into that leadoff spot. It's
looking like more often than not, it'll be Julio Rodriguez,
who I am a big advocate for in terms of
that's where he should be batting. I think he should
be your leadoff hitter. Not that I don't think Victor
Robless is a bad leadoff hitter. I just think Julio
is best when he is batting leadoff. That's where he
(03:44):
was almost his entire rookie year when he had his
best year, and I just think it eventually will start
to kind of get make him get into a groove
a little bit. I think he's better at starting things
than trying to be the guy to finish things. Though,
once again, we'll come back in the Houston Series and
he did hit have a huge clutch hit to tie
(04:05):
the game with the bases loaded, So I think his
clutch batting is coming around a little bit. I want
to see a little bit more of it. Still elite
defensively and everything he provides more than at the plate,
which I know can be frustrating because that's what you
expected to do and be your superstar. But I still
(04:26):
think he's going to be that guy. He's still twenty
four years of age. I know the age thing is
starting to get a little bit old. We've said it
for the last three years and we're saying it again here.
But I think you could tell differences in his season,
at least in the start of his season now versus
(04:46):
when we were doing it, versus his starts his last
three years. When his rookie year, he was just striking
out a lot, and if you remember when he first
came up, they thought about sending him back down. He
was not getting a lot of calls from umpires. But
then he started to heat up and he had his
long stretch of really really good baseball, helping send Seattle
(05:09):
to the playoffs. In twenty twenty two. Twenty twenty three,
he had a very cold start, then really heated up
pretty quickly after the first month or so of the season,
and he kind of kept that level for the entire season,
and then at twenty twenty four was his probably his
worst year offensively because he started off really cold and
(05:32):
really never hit for slug until August September. So that's
something there that you're already seeing a change in because
he's a He's walking a lot more, which I think
is fantastic. He needs to become a little bit more patient,
use his on base skills, not just be the guy
to hit forty dingers, even though I know he has
(05:55):
that in him. If he starts to have the process
of just getting on base, he's going to force pitchers
to pitch to him more and then he's going to
get more pitches to hit. It's a process thing for him,
and I'm starting to see that tick a little bit,
and I think Edgar's having something to do with that.
I went down to the clubhouse in the opening series,
and he spends so much time with Edgar, like a
(06:17):
good thirty forty minutes in the batting cage, working on
little things, and I think it's starting to pay off
a little bit. His results aren't quite there yet, but
you can see his hitting philosophy is starting to rub
off on Julio and I think in the long run,
that's going to be a very very good thing for
the Seattle Mariners. A couple other things, Ryan Bliss also
(06:40):
gets injured after the first game of the Houston series.
After Seattle gets swept by San Francisco, they come back
home for a three game set against the Houston Astros,
who themselves have been struggling to start the season, so
a kind of a prove it game for both teams,
(07:01):
and Seattle ends up winning the series. Wins the first game,
loses the second game, and then on the third game,
when it looked like all hope was lost and they
were down five to zero, in the eighth inning, they
get the bases loaded, Randy rose Arena hits the Grand
Slam and it really gets things going. I think Randy's
been Seattle's best hitter in the early going in this season.
(07:23):
Once again, similar kind of story here. I don't think
the numbers back it up. But baseball is such a
weird game. You can be doing the right things, taking
good at bats, hitting the ball hard, everything you can
control can be going well, but the results may not
be showing. And I think that's something that's happening with
Randy Arose Arena. But it's starting to turn around now.
(07:45):
I just think every bat that he's taken looks like
a professional at bat. It looks like he's very comfortable
up there. I know Jorge Polonco has been the early
story of the season because of his RBI, because of
his I guess maybe it's more of a surprise because
you're comparing it to what you saw last year, and
(08:06):
I just think the results have been there for Polanco,
Whereas I still think the same, if not better at
bats are happening with Randy rose Arena. He's just not
getting the results. He's still hitting the ball hard. That
will come if he continues to do what he's doing
now and I start, I think it looks like he's
starting to gain some confidence and comfort in Seattle's outfield
with Julio Rodriguez and formerly Victor Roebus. But we'll see
(08:29):
kind of how they fill that right field gap. But yeah,
I think Randy turning into that player that we thought
we were trading for is going to be a huge
factor in this season. And if he can be that guy,
I think the Mariners will find themselves in a playoff
spot come the end of the season. I have confidence
(08:51):
Julio is going to be the player that we know
and love at least an eight hundred oh ps guy,
and if he takes the next step, that's another factor
into the reason why the Mariners can be in that
playoff spot. So I'm really looking at those two guys.
Those are the guys that I have sky high expectations for.
And then whatever you get from other parts of your lineup,
whether it's Dylan Moore who's been good to start the season,
(09:13):
whether it's been you know, Miles master Bony coming up
with a couple of big hits, these aren't gonna be
guys that are contributing day in and day out, but
just helping you get wins here and there, and then
relying on your big boys. Julio and Randy are the
two that I'm looking at. Callie's to turn it around
a little bit, but he's walking a lot more than
(09:34):
he has in the past as well. The Mariners are
getting on base at a really good clip. That's something
that's different about this offense than the previous couple years
of offense. They're still striking out a decent amount, and
they're actually they're striking out a lot, but they're not
at the same level as a other teams in the league.
(09:55):
I think they're usually they'd be second to worst or
worst in the MLB by this point in both the
previous two years. Right now, I think they're eighth worst,
so there's still eight teams below them. Strikeouts aren't everything, right,
because you look at the teams that have the most strikeouts,
it's the Red Sox number one, It's the Dodgers number two,
(10:16):
the Pirates, three Rockies, four Marlins, five Tiger six Yankees,
six Cubs eighth, the Red's ninth, Mariners ninth. So there
are some good teams on that list. Most notably the
Los Angeles Dodgers that are hitting well. So your team
(10:37):
could still be hit striking out a lot, but having success,
you have to have the slug you have to. It's
kind of a three true outcome look on things. Right,
if you're striking out a lot, you have to A
be walking a lot, and b be hitting a lot
of home runs. Right, If you're doing all three of
those things, you're still gonna probably have a very good offense.
(11:00):
Very rarely do you get an offense that is striking
out a lot, or sorry, not striking out a lot,
but walking a lot and hitting a lot of home runs.
That just doesn't happen. The opposite end is you could
get teams that don't strike out, but they don't hit
a lot of home runs. They put the ball in
play more. I think teams like the Cleveland Guardians, teams
(11:22):
like the Tampa Rays, like teams that kind of play
small ball in that sense. The Toronto Blue Jays, weirdly enough,
are low on the strikeout lists, and they don't have
a lot of home runs either, so you have to
be the team. And Mariners right now currently sit at
(11:44):
thirteenth in home runs, So I think that number could
uptick a little bit if they start to hit the
ball out of the ballpark a little bit more. I
think that'll be something that the offense can start to
turn around a little bit. All that being said, the
Mariners right now are five and eight, so still not
the start to the season that you expect. It's I
hate being the guy to say it's early, but it is.
(12:05):
This is a big series against the Rangers, all right.
What I kind of like about this early part of
the season for Seattle is you're already in Gomo. You
can't like, Okay, we're five hundred, we're only a game back,
like it's early, YadA, YadA, YadA. It's already in Gomo.
If you lose too out of three of the Rangers here,
you're losing a game in the standings once again, and
you're already four games back at this point in the season.
(12:27):
So I feel like there's a sense of urgency, and
that's something that Scott's Service teams never seemed to have
at this point in the season. So I'm curious to
see if Dan Wilson's coaching style will rub off on
Seattle and if that permeates itself to being a little
bit more urgent at this point in the season, because
I think there needs to be a sense of urgency.
(12:49):
Texas looks good, the Angels are coming out hot. I
think the A's still have something to say. I don't.
I honestly think the Astros might be the worst team
in the division. Called with all that being said and done,
now the Mariners have to separate themselves from that pack
and really be the ones to challenge Texas. And if
they take two out of three or great scenarios, if
(13:11):
they sweep this weekend series against Texas at home, I
think that's a huge, huge moment for Seattle at this
point the season, especially with the injuries they have. They
need to get George Kirby back, because you guys are
seeing it every fifth start. You know, you'll get the
occasional tough outing from Brian wu or Bryce Miller, but
(13:32):
they're still going six strong. Maybe they give up three
runs or four instead of you know, two or one,
but god, it is so we've taken it for granted
these last four years. But every fifth start. And I
think Luis f. Castillo has has some good traits to
(13:52):
him as a pitcher, but he is not the other five,
and we obviously saw what happened with Emberson Hancock as well.
I just think like pitching is what this team is
based on, and we see what it would be like
if we didn't have the five guys that we have.
So we need George Kirby to come back. We need
(14:13):
him to come back and be the ace type of
pitcher that we know he can be. And it's looking
like he's gonna be coming back early May, so still
a few weeks out, but that'll be a big if
they're able to tread water until that happens and then
can start to kind of get into groove with their
five starting guys. I think that's gonna be something where
we can kind of look forward to a run for Seattle.
(14:35):
So again, a big series against Texas. You take two
three against Houston. That the first game, you know, lots
of different ways you can look at it, but at
the end of the day, Seattle, you know, came in.
It was Luis Castillo versus fran Er Valdez. Oh sorry,
(14:56):
that was the second day. The first day it was
Logan Gilbert taking the mound. He went five point two
to one, hit one, earned, two walks, seven strikeouts. His
only hit and only earned run came from the Jose
al Twove home run. It was kind of the first
game you saw what would happen without Randy a Rose
(15:17):
of rain or sorry, without Victor Robless. The right fielder
would end up being Luke Rayley. You saw like what
it would be like without, you know, Seattle being able
to have their lead off hitter or supposed lead off hitter.
Julio starts in that spot, goes over four. Kind of
(15:37):
a tough stretch for him, but he ends up kind
of turning it around a little bit. Andres Munoz closes
the door in the in the ninth inning, after Houston
goes up three to two, you get the bottom of
the eighth inning, two people on. Jorge Polonco hits a
two RBI single to take the lead for Seattle going
(16:01):
into the bottom half or the top half of the
ninth inning, and that's where Andres Munios would come in
and absolutely close the door. He brings the fire. He's
been one of Seattle's best players this year. Every single
time he's come up, JP with a great diving catch
to get the first out of the ninth inning. But
Munyos has been, he's been the guy. It's hard to
(16:25):
really overstate how important a really, really good closer can be,
especially for a team that plays a lot of close
games like Seattle does, and having the confidence you do
in andres Minyoz to come in and close the door.
I think he's one of the top five closers in
the game at this point in time, So hopefully Seattle
can kind of keep that momentum going into the Texas series.
(16:47):
Lose Game two, Luis Castillo go's five strong without allowing
an earned run, had to kind of work out of
a couple jams a couple of times, but does what
he needs to do. Very Louis Castillo start for me,
because so often we would see him like he's not
going to be the type of pitcher to absolutely dominate
(17:10):
just top to bottom with fifteen strikeouts, go eight innings
and just not throw a guy on base. But he's
the type of guy that once he gets a couple
people on he does exactly what he needs to do,
makes the exact pitches he needs to make in order
to close the door and make sure that you still
have a chance to win. Every single time he goes
(17:32):
out onto the mound, and that's what makes him as
good as he is. I think he's doesn't have as
dominant of stuff as when he first got traded over
here to Seattle, but I still believe he's one of
your best pitchers and when you need a start, you
know you're going to get something from him. So it's
(17:53):
good to see in the early going of the season
how he's been pitching, which has been great against some
good offensive teams, I might add, So that'll be something
to keep an eye on as we move along. But
you end up losing because you go into extra innings.
The one run you got from him was from an
error from the third basement Dylan Moore. But you're able
to get what you need from the starting pitching even
(18:17):
though you took it to extra innings, you couldn't get
the job done. Once again, that the ghost runder does
knock out as an urn run. So the Seattle somehow
loses the game two to one without allowing an earn run,
and they're they're going into Wednesday's Game four and eight
needing a win, needing to get the series win for
their first series win of the season against Houston Astros
(18:38):
at home, and they start off a little bit, a
little bit slow Luis F. Castillo. Once again, as I
mentioned earlier, you're starting to see what it would be
like if the Mariners didn't have the five guys that
they have. I think there's some good stuff there, but
he's just not not one of the five hammers that
you're used to seeing every single day. So that's something
(19:01):
that will keep an eye on how they're gonna tackle
the every fifth day starter Luis. Luis F. Castillo goes
four four innings, six hits, three runs, five walks and
three strikeouts. Uh Bizardo Snyder and Casey Lawrence with the
other three pitchers. So Seattle was battling from behind from
(19:22):
the get go. Here and a couple Randy Rose Arena. He,
like I said earlier, he's been the best hitter I
think in Seattle for this early part of the season.
Gets the Grand Slam, a big Grand Slam that puts
you back in the game. The place was starting to
die a little bit. Everyone was sensing, oh, here we
go again, a poor start to the season, kind of
(19:42):
dreading losing to the Astros once again. But he he
puts an end to that, puts some put some energy
into the building and makes it five to four going
in to the eighth inning and or ninth inning, I
should say after after his grand Slam he used to
and actually scores one in the top half of the ninth,
so they have a two run lead going into the
(20:04):
bottom of the ninth inning. The Mariners load the bases
once again, Julio Rodriguez with a two run double, a
huge hit for him, I think, And if you look
at kind of the way that at bat played out,
you could tell the difference in approach and Julio Rodriguez's
swing there, and it was great to see. I think
(20:28):
it's something we can definitely keep an eye on as
the season goes along. But Julio, if we if he
continues this this approach where you're gonna be a little
bit more patient. You got to hit the fastball. That's
something that I've noticed a little bit. He's been a
little late to fastballs. He needs to be able to
pull that baseball when it's when it's coming at him
(20:51):
a little bit faster and be ready to pull the
trigger and go dead red. But it was a perfect
pitch from Brian to Bray. You a slider on the
lower outside corner. And he just pokes it the other
way into the corner, gets to second base. I was
curious why they didn't send Dylan Moore. Oh, actually maybe
(21:13):
it maybe it wasn't Dylan Moore on uh on third base.
It might have been JP Crawford. Yeah, that's what it was.
It was JP Crawford, and uh. I was curious why
they didn't send him to to have him be the
walk off hero. But it ended up playing out because
the bases got loaded again after another walk. Jorge Polanco,
(21:34):
Jorge Planco walks. I believe, no, he doesn't. He hits.
So that was with no. Alex Julio hits the double. Uh,
Polanco hits a ground out. Garver hits a ground out.
Uh No, Garver walks, and then cal strikes out. And
then that brings up Brandy Roserena once again, and my goodness,
he uh wants again walks. But everything you need from
(21:59):
him that at bat. And that's why I've always liked
Randy at bats. He will take his walk if it's
given to him, but he will also pounce on a
pitch when it's there. So Randy with driving in five
of the seven runs for Seattle, just a huge day
for him. The other two of course coming from Julio
on the two run double. Yeah, this was a huge
(22:22):
win for Seattle. They kind of win everything seemed down
and out, down five zero, came back, ended up winning
the game. Everything you could ask for. And now now
Seattle needs to take that momentum going into the Texas series.
They need to win at least two out of three
in that game in that series, and then they'll start
to build good weeks, start to build good series, and
(22:44):
that'll be something Dan Wilson can can build on. So
I want to hear from the skipper. We're gonna hear
from Dan Wilson here in just a second, So we'll
hear from him. We'll hear from Julio Rodriguez both postgame
after Wednesday's game. It was an excellent, excellent kind of
way to wrap up the three game set versus Houston,
(23:05):
getting two out of three, versus those guys kind of
continuing their slow start and maybe getting you out of
yours a little bit. This has to be a jumping
off point for Seattle. If it's if it's a blip
in the radar and you start to go downhill again,
you lose the Texas Series and anything after that, then
then we can start to look a little bit longer term.
But I'm still refusing to kind of give up this
(23:28):
early in the season on this team. I think there's
still something there. There's there's a different energy with this
group than I've seen in years past. I really really
want to see the jump Julio can make. I want
to see Randy be that guy that we traded for,
and I want to see that what this team looks
like when George Kirby comes back. I think that's a
bigger I think that's a bigger injury than the Victor
(23:49):
Robis one. Everyone's talking about the Robust injury and how
much that'll affect Seattle. I think you can fill in
playing right field. Luke Rayley will do that just fine.
You need to find a first basement. I don't think
Rowdy te Lez is the answer right now, but I
don't think Donovan Solano is the answer right now either.
But I still think that fifth starter, that George Kirby
(24:10):
ability is going to be so key to this team
going forward and giving kind of getting back in that
groove of having someone you believe every single day to
give you a chance to win, and hopefully Seattle will
find start finding their offensive footing a little bit, and
honestly they have. They this is a faster start offensively
then I'm used to seeing for the Seattle Mariners. You
(24:33):
look at runs scored, it's probably the main stat that
I look at Seattle right now is twenty first in
run scored. You would like that to go up a
little bit. They have played two less games than the
first place Chicago Cubs, so counting stat that should go up.
But there's a lot of teams that have played one
(24:54):
less game than even Seattle at this point, so I
would expect there. But they're literally one run lower than
the Texas Rangers, who they play this weekend, who have
first place in the division, so you could see those
offensive numbers kind of tick up a little bit. They're
on base has actually been pretty good. They are over
(25:15):
a three hundred clip. They're at nineteenth. I shouldn't say
pretty good, but from what we're used to seeing with
Mariners offenses, that's not as as low as it could be.
So hopefully Seattle will get two out of three versus Texas.
We'll talk to you guys again next week. Let's just
take a quick look at Seattle's schedule here they have
(25:38):
a weekend series against the Rangers and then they go
to Cincinnati on Tuesday. So well, actually, you know what,
I think that's a good that's a good way to
go about it. We're gonna check in back with our
podcast on Monday after the Rangers series because I think
however that series goes, will determine kind of what we're
(25:58):
looking at for the next couple weeks for the Mariners,
because if they win that series, I think we could
start to be like, all right, we're back in the
we're back in this thing a little bit, and we
could start to kind of look at things that way.
If they lose that series, well we might have to
have some bigger conversations. So all right, before we get
out of here, let's let's hear from the Mariners skipper
Dan Wilson, as we always do here on Mariners Weekly,
(26:19):
after the series versus the Houston Astros. Here's what he
had to say on Wednesday after the Mariners comeback victory.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Boy, where do you start on a game like that?
You know, we talk about it a lot. These guys
put up some incredible at bats late in the game,
to come back to get close and then in the
ninth to win it. You know, you talk about you know,
being selective, being careful, Randy with the grand Slam and
(26:52):
then a walk off walk It's just a great at
bat there, Julio going down the right field line. Great,
a great app ad there. You know, even Donnie Silanell
getting an no too fast ball up in the zone
hitting that ball to right field and Mastro hitting ballop them.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
I mean, it's just right down the line.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
When when you talk about the past late in the
game to come back, and that's not to mention what's
inside the heart of each and every one of those guys.
And uh, you know, I think pitching wise, the bullpen
did an outstanding job keeping that thing right where it
needed to be, and uh, you know, gave us a
chance late in the game to win it. And and
(27:30):
and our guys, you know, our offense took care of
the rest just to you know, to win the series
that way after a loss, a really tough loss last night.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
That shows so much and uh, just a just a
great job today by our guys. The leaves that added
this group and that you've seen from this group. How
important is kids? As a result, I just yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
You know, this is uh, you know, winnings a whole
lot better than losing. And today, you know, we were
able to get the result that we wanted. And and uh,
you know, these guys never they never doubted, you know,
they they never felt like they were.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
Out of it.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Did they put together a really good eighth inning h
to get close, and then that ninth inning to do
it again. Uh.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
You know, it's just you know, it's it's it's impressive,
it really is.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
And and they do it so often, and this is
one you know, hopefully we continue to build on secret.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
That he goes up there he wants to hit.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
And still get the big walk off.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
It's just what did you see this? Yeah, really a
big day for Andy.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
You know, the Grand Slam was was crushed, you know,
earlier in the game hitting the ball, I believe right field,
you know, a couple of walks today. I mean, this
is a guy that's you know, he's really swinging the
bat well and we saw it all spring where he
was you know, it really changed his approach and was
using them to the field and and he's continuing to
do that and the bats have been really really good
(29:05):
and today was you know, you know, to be in
that situation two outs, uh, and and really show some patience.
You know, even when he swung at the I think
it was the two to o or I can't remember
which pitch it was, but he swung out, he was
a little disappointed in himself that he had swung it
at a pitch that wasn't a strike.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
And and uh, you know he's.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
He's really taken to the approach and and uh again
it's it's really shown and those were some impressive at
bats today. Energy and really these guys, but it seems
likely moments to kind of fire his teammates.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
So just what do you see about his ability to
do that.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Yeah, you know, our our we've we've talked about it
since the off season. You know, our outfield is extremely
dynamic and and uh to a man, these guys have
a joy for the game. They have a love for
the game, and and they have incredible talent to go
with that all, you know, and uh, uh Randy's it
fits right in with that group, and it's a tight group.
(30:03):
And uh they they they are a lot of energy
for this team and and that will continue to be
throughout the year.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Struggling a little bit going with this game as it's
by early series. For him to come through.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
That close situation, how did that for him?
Speaker 1 (30:19):
His confidence?
Speaker 3 (30:20):
And you guys going, yeah, I mean, you know this
is h yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
It it's just.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Big overall that that uh, you know, we were able
to put up some good.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
At bats lated to win this thing in and uh,
you know it didn't matter who was in the box,
but but Julio certainly did come up with some some
you know, big RBIs for us, and and uh, you know, to.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
Be able to shoot that ball, you know, that's big.
And when he's able to do that, that's that's where
he's at his best too. That was a huge at
bat and and uh really kind of turned the time
for us. You mentioned everybody's Solano Mastriboni, who Randy.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
I mean, when you've had some big, bigger injuries and losses,
is that.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
What it's gonna take in terms of everyone.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
Having quality at bats and kind of pitching in a
way that it Yeah, I mean, you know we've.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
We've talked about it all along. It's it's little things.
You know, it might be a walk today, and it
was a walk today that won us a ball game.
There's a lot of little things that can come up
and and that's why we need everybody one through nine
to contribute. And we got that today, no doubt about it.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
And uh, you know we'll come back.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
Here on Friday and and we'll do the same thing
with one through nine.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
Fist making the read on the replay for Salona to
be safe.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Just how important was it for him to react that
quickly and.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
See see what he did.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
Yeah, that's a that's a huge play for us, you know,
you know, heads up to Donnie too to be able
to get back to the bag. That's a that's a
tough read, you know, to to get back. It was
a very close play, but you know, a huge turnaround
for us to to be able to have that that
runner at third with just the one out. You know,
that's that was a great read bye by Donnie. Huge
(31:53):
that that that Biss was able to to be right
on that call and and get it overturned. That's just
to you know, you know, we look for breaks and
and that was a break for us and a great
job by bisted.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
It to help with that.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Do you feel like you guys would do for some breaks?
To Yeah, you know, you always feel like you're on
the downside of breaks.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
You know, I feel I do feel like our guys
have hit a lot of balls hard and and have
you know, they've been caught. But you know, you don't
know where your break's gonna come from.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
But I think in some ways to you make your
own breaks, and and today our guys made their own breaks.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
You bring up today with with a tack.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Bull and hes up, Yeah, I mean Casey threw the
ball extremely well. You know, he is really invaluable to
have that kind of a guy who knows how to pitch.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
He's a veteran, he's been around and and uh, you know,
was really.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
Able to to pitch very well and and keep this
game right where it needed to stay. You can't say
enough about his performance today and and uh, you know,
really glad.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
To have him do that for us, and and then
to be.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Able to turn around and get it get a victory
from it is is big.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
The obviously the side is.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
Yeah, still a little bit of soreness on on his
you know, from when he swings right handed, and uh,
you know that was the reason for it. But you know,
continues to get better and better and we'll keep monitoring
it and and uh but again a bat that we
want to keep in the lineup.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
As much as possible.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
Dan, can you handle at least.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
Comes this year? Yeah, I mean so far it has been.
But if if we're gonna come out on this way,
I'll take one hundred and forty nine of them. But uh,
you know again, it's what's in that clubhouse. It's what's
inside each of every one of those guys to be
able to do something like that down, you know, for nothing, Uh,
you know, in a game that that uh, you know,
(33:57):
it was a tough it was a tough go Brown
through the ball very well. And then for those guys
to come back like they did and then you know,
come back on the ninth again and do it again,
That's that shows a lot, all.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
Right, that's Dan Wilson. Once again, we were hearing the
blaring of the music at the end of a series
win for the Mariners against the Houston Astro. Second time
in a row we've had that. So it's always one
of my favorite parts about hearing those post game sounds
of guy's vibe and all that stuff. So it's good.
It's good to hear the guys are in good spirits.
(34:31):
I like what Dan was saying about kind of keeping
things in perspective regarding this team, and you know, where
you can take get some breaks, sometimes you can't. It's early.
Like one of the reasons where it's early comes into
play is with some results even though your process is
(34:53):
going well from the offensive side of the ball, and
batting average still has a place in evaluating, you know,
evaluating players in today's game. But I do believe, especially
this early in the season, like Randy is a below
two hundred batting average, Julio has a below two hundred
(35:14):
batting average, but I think both of those guys are
having better offensive years than they did last year. Already,
Randy is an eight hundred ohps, so he's either walking,
he's he's or hitting the ball hard and sometimes he's
getting unlucky for it. So there can be a lot
of discrepancy with batting average and how you're actually playing offensively.
And I'm going to beat that drum the entire year,
(35:36):
so you guys will be hearing that a lot from me.
So this team's not going to have a lot of
high batting average guys. When you put the ball in
play in T Mobile Park. It doesn't always work out,
and that's one of the reasons it makes such a
hard park to hit in. That's why you have to
lean on the long ball, have to lean on your walks,
And I think this team's doing a good job at
the beginning of the season of leaning into those two
things that kind of work in this ballpark. So hopefully
(35:59):
that can continues. Hopefully that's one thing I think Randy
brings to the team really well. He takes a lot
of walks. He's almost had like an eighteen percent walk rate,
It's one of the highest in the majors. Julio's added
that part to his game. He's always been kind of
a high strikeout guy, but then doesn't walk. If you
kind of add the duality of getting more walks alongside
of that, then that kind of negates a lot of
(36:20):
the strikeouts that you're going to take as well. So
hopefully that continues. I'm excited to see what happens in
this weekend series versus the Rangers. I'll do it for
here from Mariners Weekly you can catch. We'll do something
a little bit similar next week. But the off days
actually on Monday, and I actually think that's a good idea,
kind of recheck in with the Mariners after a big
(36:40):
series in Texas. So you'll hear me in just three games,
but let's let's go get two out of three versus
Texas and kind of get back into this division race
a little bit. So that's Mariner's Weekly with Anderson Hurst.
Thanks for listening.
Welcome back into Mariners Weekly. This is Anderson Hurst, your host.
We will do a kind of weekly update on your
Seattle baseball team, the Mariners after each week of games,
kind of in between the first series of the week
and the second series of the week, usually coming at
the off day. Sometimes it'll be on a Wednesday, sometimes
(00:21):
it'll be on a Thursday. Sometimes it'll be on a Monday.
So this is your weekly update. And after the first
week where Seattle went three and four, Seattle goes two
and four in the following week, So the second week
of the season, this is our second update. They get
swept in San Francisco, unfortunately, a very good Giants team
(00:43):
with their home opener. The first and third game where
extremely close, came down to the last out Seattle back
and forth extra innings. It just you had a spot
start from Luis f Castillo, and it just it was
hard to watch in those extra innings when you did
(01:06):
well in scoring runs and kind of keeping up and
outscoring your issues in the first part of the game,
and then once extras came, he just couldn't couldn't get
the job done. Then in the second game, Bryce Miller
looks a little shaky but hopefully he'll bounce back. And
then in the third game you get a good start
(01:27):
from Brian Wu goes six innings, five hits, four and
runs only one walk with six strikeouts. He does exactly
what you need him to do, especially after taxing your
bullpen in the first game. You need your starters to
at least go six. He does just that. But the
big story you get to extra innings. You have a
big hit from Randy Rose Arena, a theme we will
(01:51):
come back on in the following series to tie the
game and send it to extra innings. But then Seattle
can't get anything done and in the on the top
half of the tenth inning, and then in the bottom
of the tenth Victor Roebliss unfortunately injures his shoulder on
a catch in foul territory and that literally the very
(02:14):
next pitch, San Francisco would walk it off for the sweep.
Unfortunate unfortunate for Seattle to get swepts. They at that
point still hadn't won a series. They had lost too
and then split one, so a tough tough go of
it for the Mariners, especially considering the Victor robless news.
We would later find out he has a shoulder issue
(02:37):
and it looks like he's gonna miss at least twelve weeks,
So looking at a three month timeline at least for
Victor Robust before he is able to return to action.
Just a huge blow for the team. Not your best player,
but definitely someone who is your leadoff hitter, who's a
spark plug, plays great defense, does stuff on the bass pass,
and I just think an energy ball lack of a
(03:00):
better term, someone who gives you that spark when you
absolutely need it, and just his personality will still be
in the clubhouse and stuff. We'll see kind of how
that goes along with his rehab and everything. But yeah,
I'm gonna be interested to see how the Mariners react
without their leadoff hitter, without Victor Robliss in their lineup
for the foreseeable future. So it'll be interesting to see
(03:23):
how they adjust who goes into that leadoff spot. It's
looking like more often than not, it'll be Julio Rodriguez,
who I am a big advocate for in terms of
that's where he should be batting. I think he should
be your leadoff hitter. Not that I don't think Victor
Robless is a bad leadoff hitter. I just think Julio
is best when he is batting leadoff. That's where he
(03:44):
was almost his entire rookie year when he had his
best year, and I just think it eventually will start
to kind of get make him get into a groove
a little bit. I think he's better at starting things
than trying to be the guy to finish things. Though,
once again, we'll come back in the Houston Series and
he did hit have a huge clutch hit to tie
(04:05):
the game with the bases loaded, So I think his
clutch batting is coming around a little bit. I want
to see a little bit more of it. Still elite
defensively and everything he provides more than at the plate,
which I know can be frustrating because that's what you
expected to do and be your superstar. But I still
(04:26):
think he's going to be that guy. He's still twenty
four years of age. I know the age thing is
starting to get a little bit old. We've said it
for the last three years and we're saying it again here.
But I think you could tell differences in his season,
at least in the start of his season now versus
(04:46):
when we were doing it, versus his starts his last
three years. When his rookie year, he was just striking
out a lot, and if you remember when he first
came up, they thought about sending him back down. He
was not getting a lot of calls from umpires. But
then he started to heat up and he had his
long stretch of really really good baseball, helping send Seattle
(05:09):
to the playoffs. In twenty twenty two. Twenty twenty three,
he had a very cold start, then really heated up
pretty quickly after the first month or so of the season,
and he kind of kept that level for the entire season,
and then at twenty twenty four was his probably his
worst year offensively because he started off really cold and
(05:32):
really never hit for slug until August September. So that's
something there that you're already seeing a change in because
he's a He's walking a lot more, which I think
is fantastic. He needs to become a little bit more patient,
use his on base skills, not just be the guy
to hit forty dingers, even though I know he has
(05:55):
that in him. If he starts to have the process
of just getting on base, he's going to force pitchers
to pitch to him more and then he's going to
get more pitches to hit. It's a process thing for him,
and I'm starting to see that tick a little bit,
and I think Edgar's having something to do with that.
I went down to the clubhouse in the opening series,
and he spends so much time with Edgar, like a
(06:17):
good thirty forty minutes in the batting cage, working on
little things, and I think it's starting to pay off
a little bit. His results aren't quite there yet, but
you can see his hitting philosophy is starting to rub
off on Julio and I think in the long run,
that's going to be a very very good thing for
the Seattle Mariners. A couple other things, Ryan Bliss also
(06:40):
gets injured after the first game of the Houston series.
After Seattle gets swept by San Francisco, they come back
home for a three game set against the Houston Astros,
who themselves have been struggling to start the season, so
a kind of a prove it game for both teams,
(07:01):
and Seattle ends up winning the series. Wins the first game,
loses the second game, and then on the third game,
when it looked like all hope was lost and they
were down five to zero, in the eighth inning, they
get the bases loaded, Randy rose Arena hits the Grand
Slam and it really gets things going. I think Randy's
been Seattle's best hitter in the early going in this season.
(07:23):
Once again, similar kind of story here. I don't think
the numbers back it up. But baseball is such a
weird game. You can be doing the right things, taking
good at bats, hitting the ball hard, everything you can
control can be going well, but the results may not
be showing. And I think that's something that's happening with
Randy Arose Arena. But it's starting to turn around now.
(07:45):
I just think every bat that he's taken looks like
a professional at bat. It looks like he's very comfortable
up there. I know Jorge Polonco has been the early
story of the season because of his RBI, because of
his I guess maybe it's more of a surprise because
you're comparing it to what you saw last year, and
(08:06):
I just think the results have been there for Polanco,
Whereas I still think the same, if not better at
bats are happening with Randy rose Arena. He's just not
getting the results. He's still hitting the ball hard. That
will come if he continues to do what he's doing
now and I start, I think it looks like he's
starting to gain some confidence and comfort in Seattle's outfield
with Julio Rodriguez and formerly Victor Roebus. But we'll see
(08:29):
kind of how they fill that right field gap. But yeah,
I think Randy turning into that player that we thought
we were trading for is going to be a huge
factor in this season. And if he can be that guy,
I think the Mariners will find themselves in a playoff
spot come the end of the season. I have confidence
(08:51):
Julio is going to be the player that we know
and love at least an eight hundred oh ps guy,
and if he takes the next step, that's another factor
into the reason why the Mariners can be in that
playoff spot. So I'm really looking at those two guys.
Those are the guys that I have sky high expectations for.
And then whatever you get from other parts of your lineup,
whether it's Dylan Moore who's been good to start the season,
(09:13):
whether it's been you know, Miles master Bony coming up
with a couple of big hits, these aren't gonna be
guys that are contributing day in and day out, but
just helping you get wins here and there, and then
relying on your big boys. Julio and Randy are the
two that I'm looking at. Callie's to turn it around
a little bit, but he's walking a lot more than
(09:34):
he has in the past as well. The Mariners are
getting on base at a really good clip. That's something
that's different about this offense than the previous couple years
of offense. They're still striking out a decent amount, and
they're actually they're striking out a lot, but they're not
at the same level as a other teams in the league.
(09:55):
I think they're usually they'd be second to worst or
worst in the MLB by this point in both the
previous two years. Right now, I think they're eighth worst,
so there's still eight teams below them. Strikeouts aren't everything, right,
because you look at the teams that have the most strikeouts,
it's the Red Sox number one, It's the Dodgers number two,
(10:16):
the Pirates, three Rockies, four Marlins, five Tiger six Yankees,
six Cubs eighth, the Red's ninth, Mariners ninth. So there
are some good teams on that list. Most notably the
Los Angeles Dodgers that are hitting well. So your team
(10:37):
could still be hit striking out a lot, but having success,
you have to have the slug you have to. It's
kind of a three true outcome look on things. Right,
if you're striking out a lot, you have to A
be walking a lot, and b be hitting a lot
of home runs. Right, If you're doing all three of
those things, you're still gonna probably have a very good offense.
(11:00):
Very rarely do you get an offense that is striking
out a lot, or sorry, not striking out a lot,
but walking a lot and hitting a lot of home runs.
That just doesn't happen. The opposite end is you could
get teams that don't strike out, but they don't hit
a lot of home runs. They put the ball in
play more. I think teams like the Cleveland Guardians, teams
(11:22):
like the Tampa Rays, like teams that kind of play
small ball in that sense. The Toronto Blue Jays, weirdly enough,
are low on the strikeout lists, and they don't have
a lot of home runs either, so you have to
be the team. And Mariners right now currently sit at
(11:44):
thirteenth in home runs, So I think that number could
uptick a little bit if they start to hit the
ball out of the ballpark a little bit more. I
think that'll be something that the offense can start to
turn around a little bit. All that being said, the
Mariners right now are five and eight, so still not
the start to the season that you expect. It's I
hate being the guy to say it's early, but it is.
(12:05):
This is a big series against the Rangers, all right.
What I kind of like about this early part of
the season for Seattle is you're already in Gomo. You
can't like, Okay, we're five hundred, we're only a game back,
like it's early, YadA, YadA, YadA. It's already in Gomo.
If you lose too out of three of the Rangers here,
you're losing a game in the standings once again, and
you're already four games back at this point in the season.
(12:27):
So I feel like there's a sense of urgency, and
that's something that Scott's Service teams never seemed to have
at this point in the season. So I'm curious to
see if Dan Wilson's coaching style will rub off on
Seattle and if that permeates itself to being a little
bit more urgent at this point in the season, because
I think there needs to be a sense of urgency.
(12:49):
Texas looks good, the Angels are coming out hot. I
think the A's still have something to say. I don't.
I honestly think the Astros might be the worst team
in the division. Called with all that being said and done,
now the Mariners have to separate themselves from that pack
and really be the ones to challenge Texas. And if
they take two out of three or great scenarios, if
(13:11):
they sweep this weekend series against Texas at home, I
think that's a huge, huge moment for Seattle at this
point the season, especially with the injuries they have. They
need to get George Kirby back, because you guys are
seeing it every fifth start. You know, you'll get the
occasional tough outing from Brian wu or Bryce Miller, but
(13:32):
they're still going six strong. Maybe they give up three
runs or four instead of you know, two or one,
but god, it is so we've taken it for granted
these last four years. But every fifth start. And I
think Luis f. Castillo has has some good traits to
(13:52):
him as a pitcher, but he is not the other five,
and we obviously saw what happened with Emberson Hancock as well.
I just think like pitching is what this team is
based on, and we see what it would be like
if we didn't have the five guys that we have.
So we need George Kirby to come back. We need
(14:13):
him to come back and be the ace type of
pitcher that we know he can be. And it's looking
like he's gonna be coming back early May, so still
a few weeks out, but that'll be a big if
they're able to tread water until that happens and then
can start to kind of get into groove with their
five starting guys. I think that's gonna be something where
we can kind of look forward to a run for Seattle.
(14:35):
So again, a big series against Texas. You take two
three against Houston. That the first game, you know, lots
of different ways you can look at it, but at
the end of the day, Seattle, you know, came in.
It was Luis Castillo versus fran Er Valdez. Oh sorry,
(14:56):
that was the second day. The first day it was
Logan Gilbert taking the mound. He went five point two
to one, hit one, earned, two walks, seven strikeouts. His
only hit and only earned run came from the Jose
al Twove home run. It was kind of the first
game you saw what would happen without Randy a Rose
(15:17):
of rain or sorry, without Victor Robless. The right fielder
would end up being Luke Rayley. You saw like what
it would be like without, you know, Seattle being able
to have their lead off hitter or supposed lead off hitter.
Julio starts in that spot, goes over four. Kind of
(15:37):
a tough stretch for him, but he ends up kind
of turning it around a little bit. Andres Munoz closes
the door in the in the ninth inning, after Houston
goes up three to two, you get the bottom of
the eighth inning, two people on. Jorge Polonco hits a
two RBI single to take the lead for Seattle going
(16:01):
into the bottom half or the top half of the
ninth inning, and that's where Andres Munios would come in
and absolutely close the door. He brings the fire. He's
been one of Seattle's best players this year. Every single
time he's come up, JP with a great diving catch
to get the first out of the ninth inning. But
Munyos has been, he's been the guy. It's hard to
(16:25):
really overstate how important a really, really good closer can be,
especially for a team that plays a lot of close
games like Seattle does, and having the confidence you do
in andres Minyoz to come in and close the door.
I think he's one of the top five closers in
the game at this point in time, So hopefully Seattle
can kind of keep that momentum going into the Texas series.
(16:47):
Lose Game two, Luis Castillo go's five strong without allowing
an earned run, had to kind of work out of
a couple jams a couple of times, but does what
he needs to do. Very Louis Castillo start for me,
because so often we would see him like he's not
going to be the type of pitcher to absolutely dominate
(17:10):
just top to bottom with fifteen strikeouts, go eight innings
and just not throw a guy on base. But he's
the type of guy that once he gets a couple
people on he does exactly what he needs to do,
makes the exact pitches he needs to make in order
to close the door and make sure that you still
have a chance to win. Every single time he goes
(17:32):
out onto the mound, and that's what makes him as
good as he is. I think he's doesn't have as
dominant of stuff as when he first got traded over
here to Seattle, but I still believe he's one of
your best pitchers and when you need a start, you
know you're going to get something from him. So it's
(17:53):
good to see in the early going of the season
how he's been pitching, which has been great against some
good offensive teams, I might add, So that'll be something
to keep an eye on as we move along. But
you end up losing because you go into extra innings.
The one run you got from him was from an
error from the third basement Dylan Moore. But you're able
to get what you need from the starting pitching even
(18:17):
though you took it to extra innings, you couldn't get
the job done. Once again, that the ghost runder does
knock out as an urn run. So the Seattle somehow
loses the game two to one without allowing an earn run,
and they're they're going into Wednesday's Game four and eight
needing a win, needing to get the series win for
their first series win of the season against Houston Astros
(18:38):
at home, and they start off a little bit, a
little bit slow Luis F. Castillo. Once again, as I
mentioned earlier, you're starting to see what it would be
like if the Mariners didn't have the five guys that
they have. I think there's some good stuff there, but
he's just not not one of the five hammers that
you're used to seeing every single day. So that's something
(19:01):
that will keep an eye on how they're gonna tackle
the every fifth day starter Luis. Luis F. Castillo goes
four four innings, six hits, three runs, five walks and
three strikeouts. Uh Bizardo Snyder and Casey Lawrence with the
other three pitchers. So Seattle was battling from behind from
(19:22):
the get go. Here and a couple Randy Rose Arena. He,
like I said earlier, he's been the best hitter I
think in Seattle for this early part of the season.
Gets the Grand Slam, a big Grand Slam that puts
you back in the game. The place was starting to
die a little bit. Everyone was sensing, oh, here we
go again, a poor start to the season, kind of
(19:42):
dreading losing to the Astros once again. But he he
puts an end to that, puts some put some energy
into the building and makes it five to four going
in to the eighth inning and or ninth inning, I
should say after after his grand Slam he used to
and actually scores one in the top half of the ninth,
so they have a two run lead going into the
(20:04):
bottom of the ninth inning. The Mariners load the bases
once again, Julio Rodriguez with a two run double, a
huge hit for him, I think, And if you look
at kind of the way that at bat played out,
you could tell the difference in approach and Julio Rodriguez's
swing there, and it was great to see. I think
(20:28):
it's something we can definitely keep an eye on as
the season goes along. But Julio, if we if he
continues this this approach where you're gonna be a little
bit more patient. You got to hit the fastball. That's
something that I've noticed a little bit. He's been a
little late to fastballs. He needs to be able to
pull that baseball when it's when it's coming at him
(20:51):
a little bit faster and be ready to pull the
trigger and go dead red. But it was a perfect
pitch from Brian to Bray. You a slider on the
lower outside corner. And he just pokes it the other
way into the corner, gets to second base. I was
curious why they didn't send Dylan Moore. Oh, actually maybe
(21:13):
it maybe it wasn't Dylan Moore on uh on third base.
It might have been JP Crawford. Yeah, that's what it was.
It was JP Crawford, and uh. I was curious why
they didn't send him to to have him be the
walk off hero. But it ended up playing out because
the bases got loaded again after another walk. Jorge Polanco,
(21:34):
Jorge Planco walks. I believe, no, he doesn't. He hits.
So that was with no. Alex Julio hits the double. Uh,
Polanco hits a ground out. Garver hits a ground out.
Uh No, Garver walks, and then cal strikes out. And
then that brings up Brandy Roserena once again, and my goodness,
he uh wants again walks. But everything you need from
(21:59):
him that at bat. And that's why I've always liked
Randy at bats. He will take his walk if it's
given to him, but he will also pounce on a
pitch when it's there. So Randy with driving in five
of the seven runs for Seattle, just a huge day
for him. The other two of course coming from Julio
on the two run double. Yeah, this was a huge
(22:22):
win for Seattle. They kind of win everything seemed down
and out, down five zero, came back, ended up winning
the game. Everything you could ask for. And now now
Seattle needs to take that momentum going into the Texas series.
They need to win at least two out of three
in that game in that series, and then they'll start
to build good weeks, start to build good series, and
(22:44):
that'll be something Dan Wilson can can build on. So
I want to hear from the skipper. We're gonna hear
from Dan Wilson here in just a second, So we'll
hear from him. We'll hear from Julio Rodriguez both postgame
after Wednesday's game. It was an excellent, excellent kind of
way to wrap up the three game set versus Houston,
(23:05):
getting two out of three, versus those guys kind of
continuing their slow start and maybe getting you out of
yours a little bit. This has to be a jumping
off point for Seattle. If it's if it's a blip
in the radar and you start to go downhill again,
you lose the Texas Series and anything after that, then
then we can start to look a little bit longer term.
But I'm still refusing to kind of give up this
(23:28):
early in the season on this team. I think there's
still something there. There's there's a different energy with this
group than I've seen in years past. I really really
want to see the jump Julio can make. I want
to see Randy be that guy that we traded for,
and I want to see that what this team looks
like when George Kirby comes back. I think that's a
bigger I think that's a bigger injury than the Victor
(23:49):
Robis one. Everyone's talking about the Robust injury and how
much that'll affect Seattle. I think you can fill in
playing right field. Luke Rayley will do that just fine.
You need to find a first basement. I don't think
Rowdy te Lez is the answer right now, but I
don't think Donovan Solano is the answer right now either.
But I still think that fifth starter, that George Kirby
(24:10):
ability is going to be so key to this team
going forward and giving kind of getting back in that
groove of having someone you believe every single day to
give you a chance to win, and hopefully Seattle will
find start finding their offensive footing a little bit, and
honestly they have. They this is a faster start offensively
then I'm used to seeing for the Seattle Mariners. You
(24:33):
look at runs scored, it's probably the main stat that
I look at Seattle right now is twenty first in
run scored. You would like that to go up a
little bit. They have played two less games than the
first place Chicago Cubs, so counting stat that should go up.
But there's a lot of teams that have played one
(24:54):
less game than even Seattle at this point, so I
would expect there. But they're literally one run lower than
the Texas Rangers, who they play this weekend, who have
first place in the division, so you could see those
offensive numbers kind of tick up a little bit. They're
on base has actually been pretty good. They are over
(25:15):
a three hundred clip. They're at nineteenth. I shouldn't say
pretty good, but from what we're used to seeing with
Mariners offenses, that's not as as low as it could be.
So hopefully Seattle will get two out of three versus Texas.
We'll talk to you guys again next week. Let's just
take a quick look at Seattle's schedule here they have
(25:38):
a weekend series against the Rangers and then they go
to Cincinnati on Tuesday. So well, actually, you know what,
I think that's a good that's a good way to
go about it. We're gonna check in back with our
podcast on Monday after the Rangers series because I think
however that series goes, will determine kind of what we're
(25:58):
looking at for the next couple weeks for the Mariners,
because if they win that series, I think we could
start to be like, all right, we're back in the
we're back in this thing a little bit, and we
could start to kind of look at things that way.
If they lose that series, well we might have to
have some bigger conversations. So all right, before we get
out of here, let's let's hear from the Mariners skipper
Dan Wilson, as we always do here on Mariners Weekly,
(26:19):
after the series versus the Houston Astros. Here's what he
had to say on Wednesday after the Mariners comeback victory.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Boy, where do you start on a game like that?
You know, we talk about it a lot. These guys
put up some incredible at bats late in the game,
to come back to get close and then in the
ninth to win it. You know, you talk about you know,
being selective, being careful, Randy with the grand Slam and
(26:52):
then a walk off walk It's just a great at
bat there, Julio going down the right field line. Great,
a great app ad there. You know, even Donnie Silanell
getting an no too fast ball up in the zone
hitting that ball to right field and Mastro hitting ballop them.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
I mean, it's just right down the line.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
When when you talk about the past late in the
game to come back, and that's not to mention what's
inside the heart of each and every one of those guys.
And uh, you know, I think pitching wise, the bullpen
did an outstanding job keeping that thing right where it
needed to be, and uh, you know, gave us a
chance late in the game to win it. And and
(27:30):
and our guys, you know, our offense took care of
the rest just to you know, to win the series
that way after a loss, a really tough loss last night.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
That shows so much and uh, just a just a
great job today by our guys. The leaves that added
this group and that you've seen from this group. How
important is kids? As a result, I just yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
You know, this is uh, you know, winnings a whole
lot better than losing. And today, you know, we were
able to get the result that we wanted. And and uh,
you know, these guys never they never doubted, you know,
they they never felt like they were.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
Out of it.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Did they put together a really good eighth inning h
to get close, and then that ninth inning to do
it again. Uh.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
You know, it's just you know, it's it's it's impressive,
it really is.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
And and they do it so often, and this is
one you know, hopefully we continue to build on secret.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
That he goes up there he wants to hit.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
And still get the big walk off.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
It's just what did you see this? Yeah, really a
big day for Andy.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
You know, the Grand Slam was was crushed, you know,
earlier in the game hitting the ball, I believe right field,
you know, a couple of walks today. I mean, this
is a guy that's you know, he's really swinging the
bat well and we saw it all spring where he
was you know, it really changed his approach and was
using them to the field and and he's continuing to
do that and the bats have been really really good
(29:05):
and today was you know, you know, to be in
that situation two outs, uh, and and really show some patience.
You know, even when he swung at the I think
it was the two to o or I can't remember
which pitch it was, but he swung out, he was
a little disappointed in himself that he had swung it
at a pitch that wasn't a strike.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
And and uh, you know he's.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
He's really taken to the approach and and uh again
it's it's really shown and those were some impressive at
bats today. Energy and really these guys, but it seems
likely moments to kind of fire his teammates.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
So just what do you see about his ability to
do that.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Yeah, you know, our our we've we've talked about it
since the off season. You know, our outfield is extremely
dynamic and and uh to a man, these guys have
a joy for the game. They have a love for
the game, and and they have incredible talent to go
with that all, you know, and uh, uh Randy's it
fits right in with that group, and it's a tight group.
(30:03):
And uh they they they are a lot of energy
for this team and and that will continue to be
throughout the year.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Struggling a little bit going with this game as it's
by early series. For him to come through.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
That close situation, how did that for him?
Speaker 1 (30:19):
His confidence?
Speaker 3 (30:20):
And you guys going, yeah, I mean, you know this
is h yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
It it's just.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Big overall that that uh, you know, we were able
to put up some good.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
At bats lated to win this thing in and uh,
you know it didn't matter who was in the box,
but but Julio certainly did come up with some some
you know, big RBIs for us, and and uh, you know, to.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
Be able to shoot that ball, you know, that's big.
And when he's able to do that, that's that's where
he's at his best too. That was a huge at
bat and and uh really kind of turned the time
for us. You mentioned everybody's Solano Mastriboni, who Randy.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
I mean, when you've had some big, bigger injuries and losses,
is that.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
What it's gonna take in terms of everyone.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
Having quality at bats and kind of pitching in a
way that it Yeah, I mean, you know we've.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
We've talked about it all along. It's it's little things.
You know, it might be a walk today, and it
was a walk today that won us a ball game.
There's a lot of little things that can come up
and and that's why we need everybody one through nine
to contribute. And we got that today, no doubt about it.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
And uh, you know we'll come back.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
Here on Friday and and we'll do the same thing
with one through nine.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
Fist making the read on the replay for Salona to
be safe.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Just how important was it for him to react that
quickly and.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
See see what he did.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
Yeah, that's a that's a huge play for us, you know,
you know, heads up to Donnie too to be able
to get back to the bag. That's a that's a
tough read, you know, to to get back. It was
a very close play, but you know, a huge turnaround
for us to to be able to have that that
runner at third with just the one out. You know,
that's that was a great read bye by Donnie. Huge
(31:53):
that that that Biss was able to to be right
on that call and and get it overturned. That's just
to you know, you know, we look for breaks and
and that was a break for us and a great
job by bisted.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
It to help with that.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Do you feel like you guys would do for some breaks?
To Yeah, you know, you always feel like you're on
the downside of breaks.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
You know, I feel I do feel like our guys
have hit a lot of balls hard and and have
you know, they've been caught. But you know, you don't
know where your break's gonna come from.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
But I think in some ways to you make your
own breaks, and and today our guys made their own breaks.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
You bring up today with with a tack.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Bull and hes up, Yeah, I mean Casey threw the
ball extremely well. You know, he is really invaluable to
have that kind of a guy who knows how to pitch.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
He's a veteran, he's been around and and uh, you know,
was really.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
Able to to pitch very well and and keep this
game right where it needed to stay. You can't say
enough about his performance today and and uh, you know,
really glad.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
To have him do that for us, and and then
to be.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Able to turn around and get it get a victory
from it is is big.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
The obviously the side is.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
Yeah, still a little bit of soreness on on his
you know, from when he swings right handed, and uh,
you know that was the reason for it. But you know,
continues to get better and better and we'll keep monitoring
it and and uh but again a bat that we
want to keep in the lineup.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
As much as possible.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
Dan, can you handle at least.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
Comes this year? Yeah, I mean so far it has been.
But if if we're gonna come out on this way,
I'll take one hundred and forty nine of them. But uh,
you know again, it's what's in that clubhouse. It's what's
inside each of every one of those guys to be
able to do something like that down, you know, for nothing, Uh,
you know, in a game that that uh, you know,
(33:57):
it was a tough it was a tough go Brown
through the ball very well. And then for those guys
to come back like they did and then you know,
come back on the ninth again and do it again,
That's that shows a lot, all.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
Right, that's Dan Wilson. Once again, we were hearing the
blaring of the music at the end of a series
win for the Mariners against the Houston Astro. Second time
in a row we've had that. So it's always one
of my favorite parts about hearing those post game sounds
of guy's vibe and all that stuff. So it's good.
It's good to hear the guys are in good spirits.
(34:31):
I like what Dan was saying about kind of keeping
things in perspective regarding this team, and you know, where
you can take get some breaks, sometimes you can't. It's early.
Like one of the reasons where it's early comes into
play is with some results even though your process is
(34:53):
going well from the offensive side of the ball, and
batting average still has a place in evaluating, you know,
evaluating players in today's game. But I do believe, especially
this early in the season, like Randy is a below
two hundred batting average, Julio has a below two hundred
(35:14):
batting average, but I think both of those guys are
having better offensive years than they did last year. Already,
Randy is an eight hundred ohps, so he's either walking,
he's he's or hitting the ball hard and sometimes he's
getting unlucky for it. So there can be a lot
of discrepancy with batting average and how you're actually playing offensively.
And I'm going to beat that drum the entire year,
(35:36):
so you guys will be hearing that a lot from me.
So this team's not going to have a lot of
high batting average guys. When you put the ball in
play in T Mobile Park. It doesn't always work out,
and that's one of the reasons it makes such a
hard park to hit in. That's why you have to
lean on the long ball, have to lean on your walks,
And I think this team's doing a good job at
the beginning of the season of leaning into those two
things that kind of work in this ballpark. So hopefully
(35:59):
that can continues. Hopefully that's one thing I think Randy
brings to the team really well. He takes a lot
of walks. He's almost had like an eighteen percent walk rate,
It's one of the highest in the majors. Julio's added
that part to his game. He's always been kind of
a high strikeout guy, but then doesn't walk. If you
kind of add the duality of getting more walks alongside
of that, then that kind of negates a lot of
(36:20):
the strikeouts that you're going to take as well. So
hopefully that continues. I'm excited to see what happens in
this weekend series versus the Rangers. I'll do it for
here from Mariners Weekly you can catch. We'll do something
a little bit similar next week. But the off days
actually on Monday, and I actually think that's a good idea,
kind of recheck in with the Mariners after a big
(36:40):
series in Texas. So you'll hear me in just three games,
but let's let's go get two out of three versus
Texas and kind of get back into this division race
a little bit. So that's Mariner's Weekly with Anderson Hurst.
Thanks for listening.
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