Have The Seattle Mariners Angered The Baseball Gods?
Of course, I know, there are no baseball gods. Or are there? Covering baseball by the numbers is fascinating fun and I'm a statistics fan just as much as the next guy or gal but come on, sometimes you look at a situation and think there is no way that such things can happen without the intervention of a wrathful spirit.
Such a situation has developed with the 2017 Seattle Mariners.It's the sort of thing that leads to game recaps like this one from Lookout Landing's Kate Preusser
Almost a quarter of the way through a season where management spent big bucks to end a) 40 years of not winning the AL pennant and b) a playoff drought that has reached 15 years, the Mariners are three games under .500 and in fourth place. I speculated they would turn it around on this current road trip against the hapless Phillies and formerly hapless Blue Jays. One could say I mis-speculated, if mis-speculated was a word.
But it's not just what has happened. It's the way things have happened. Consider the following.
Good times. Of the five guys expected to pitch in the Mariners rotation, only one is left - veteran Yovani Gallardo, who the Mariners acquired in a trade with the Orioles in January for back-of-the-rotation stability. Now, he's the Last Man Standing.
Gallardo probably has every good luck charm he possesses spread out on the den floor and sleeps among them at night, one eye open.
The Mariners now are going with Gallardo, Ariel Miranda (who allowed eight runs in 3 1/3 innings in his last start in Philadelphia), 58 silent dugout prayers, rain dances and a bunch of young pitchers with little Major League experience. On Saturday that person was Ryan Weber, who actually pitched very well against the Blue Jays right up until that moment he had to leave the game with shoulder tightness.
"It's challenging," manager Scott Servais understated to the Seattle Times.
It's also worth noting that outfielder Mitch Haniger is still out and, for much of April, so was shortstop Jean Segura.
But I know what every optimist is thinking, because I think it, too. It looks like no one will catch the Astros, but the Mariners - even after this early season stuff of nightmares - are only 2 1/2 games out of the wildcard race. If they end the 15-season playoff drought this year, all of this will just be part of a great baseball story.
And, anyway, isn't it time for the baseball gods to turn their attention from Seattle and direct it someplace long overdue for a playoff drought, like the Bronx or 4 Yawkey Way? Just a thought.
Such a situation has developed with the 2017 Seattle Mariners.It's the sort of thing that leads to game recaps like this one from Lookout Landing's Kate Preusser
Almost a quarter of the way through a season where management spent big bucks to end a) 40 years of not winning the AL pennant and b) a playoff drought that has reached 15 years, the Mariners are three games under .500 and in fourth place. I speculated they would turn it around on this current road trip against the hapless Phillies and formerly hapless Blue Jays. One could say I mis-speculated, if mis-speculated was a word.
But it's not just what has happened. It's the way things have happened. Consider the following.
- Mariners ace Felix Hernandez has been out since April 25th and just suffered a setback this week in his rehab assignment.
- In the absence of King Felix, lefty James Paxton pitched like an ace himself until he went down with a strained left forearm on May 5.
- Well, at least the team still has Hisashi Iwakuma....Oh. Nevermind. He went down next with shoulder inflammation and the team announced this weekend he won't be back until (at the earliest) mid-June.
- But wait! Don't forget that Drew Smyly, one of the Mariners' big free agent acquisitions in the off-season, still hasn't made one pitch this season. He suffered an elbow strain in spring training.
Good times. Of the five guys expected to pitch in the Mariners rotation, only one is left - veteran Yovani Gallardo, who the Mariners acquired in a trade with the Orioles in January for back-of-the-rotation stability. Now, he's the Last Man Standing.
Gallardo probably has every good luck charm he possesses spread out on the den floor and sleeps among them at night, one eye open.
The Mariners now are going with Gallardo, Ariel Miranda (who allowed eight runs in 3 1/3 innings in his last start in Philadelphia), 58 silent dugout prayers, rain dances and a bunch of young pitchers with little Major League experience. On Saturday that person was Ryan Weber, who actually pitched very well against the Blue Jays right up until that moment he had to leave the game with shoulder tightness.
"It's challenging," manager Scott Servais understated to the Seattle Times.
It's also worth noting that outfielder Mitch Haniger is still out and, for much of April, so was shortstop Jean Segura.
But I know what every optimist is thinking, because I think it, too. It looks like no one will catch the Astros, but the Mariners - even after this early season stuff of nightmares - are only 2 1/2 games out of the wildcard race. If they end the 15-season playoff drought this year, all of this will just be part of a great baseball story.
And, anyway, isn't it time for the baseball gods to turn their attention from Seattle and direct it someplace long overdue for a playoff drought, like the Bronx or 4 Yawkey Way? Just a thought.
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