Back to Reality

Well, it was certainly fun while it lasted. Mariners went from winning 8 of 11 to a four game losing streak. What happened?

Just by looking at our lineup and the averages, it's honestly a little surprising we have 16 wins. Now that Smoak is hitting third, our fourth and fifth hitters (Olivo and Cust) have batting averages lower than .220. That hurts. Mike Wilson and Carlos Peguero are also off to slow starts after being called up to replace Milton Bradley and Ryan Langerhans.

Starting pitching has been solid this entire season and even with these losses lately, their numbers are not that bad. Felix has a 3.30 era, Pineda with 2.80 era, Vargas, Bedard, and Fister hovering between 3.50 - 4.50 era in their recent starts. It has actually become sad that the starting pitchers have been getting so little run support. King Felix especially, as he is getting no more than two runs this season.

The reason for some of the high run totals for opponents has unfortunately been linked to the performance of Brandon League. As nasty as his sinker has been, he's getting lit up lately and now has a inflated earned run average of 4.80. Most of his saves also haven't come without allowing at least one run.

So, how do we get better?

Offense needs to pick it up and start swinging! Michael Saunders has been hard to watch lately. He never seems to swing at the first or second pitch, gets behind in the count, and strikes out looking or is forced to hit a ball out of the zone. Miguel Olivo and Chone Figgins need to come up to the plate much more aggressive and that could go for the entire lineup outside of Justin Smoak.

I like what I see from Mike Wilson thus far. It's refreshing to see a guy in left field willing to dive and sprint to make a catch which wasn't seen with ear-plugged Milton Bradley. Wilson has something to prove and has the desire to stay at the big league level. So expect to see 100% effort from him, both on the field and at the plate. It will be interesting to see who wins this spot on the team as Carlos Peguero is battling with Mike Wilson at least until Franklin Gutierrez arrives.

Speaking of Gutierrez, he's another piece that could spark the offense when he returns to form. He's a career .260 hitter and right now that seems amazing considering what the rest of our lineup is hitting.

Dustin Ackley is another player being talked about that could improve this team. Jack Zduriencik  is waiting though, at least until June to call him up for salary arbitration reasons and also to give him more time at second base which is a new position for him. Ackley has been hitting over .300 in his past 10 games so his bat isn't a concern and he shows great patience at the plate.It will be interesting to see what the plan is for Jack Wilson and Adam Kennedy if and when Dustin Ackley arrives.

The Mariners are struggling, no doubt about it, but there's reasons to believe they can turn it around with better approaches to the plate and possibly some additions to the lineup in the near future.

ChatSports’ Mariner Dugout:

Interview with Brendan Ryan on hitting in the AL and on Milton Bradley

Don’t forget to vote for Justin Smoak and Ichiro to the All Star Game!