Sunday, May 22, 2011

MARINERS: In last 9 games, M's pitching has been unreal

King Felix
Sorry about the lack of posts the last couple of days. I’ve been super busy, and haven’t been able to just sit down and write an article. My overall mood goes south if I go multiple days without putting something on the blog, so it’s good to be back.

While I was gone, something extraordinary happened with the Mariners; or more specifically, the starting pitching.

In the last 9 games, Felix Hernandez, Jason Vargas, Doug Fister, Erik Bedard, and Michael Pineda have averaged 7 2/3 innings per start, have an accumulative ERA of 0.77 and a .160 opponent batting average. Oh, and the Mariners are 6-3 during this span.

To Continue...

The dominance of the starters was highlighted by a three game obliteration of the San Diego Padres over the weekend. The M's held the Padres to just one earned run in three games. Bedard, Pineda, and Felix combined strike out the Padres 35 times. That's a 11.67 K/9 ratio over an entire series.

Wow. You just don’t see those numbers every day. Granted, the Padres are one of the worst offensive teams in baseball, but allowing 1 run in three games is World Series caliber

Wait, World Series? The Mariners aren’t even in first place of the AL West yet. How can I possibly be thinking playoffs? I might be getting a little over optimistic here.

I could be, but let’s think about this for a second. Unlike say, the AL East, the AL West has no power teams. The Rangers have slouched back into their “let’s hit 5 home runs, but give up 10” ways, the Angels are clearly getting old, and the A’s have just as much offense as the Mariners.

In other words, the AL West is anyone’s game. I don’t expect the Mariners to keep up these kinds of lights out pitching performances, but who knows? Maybe the Mariners can pull a 2009 where they won 85 games by relying on solid starting pitching and hoping for the best from the offense.

WEST 

W

L

PCT

GB

HOME

ROAD

L10

STRK


Texas RangersRangers
2423.5110.015-99-145-5W1
Los Angeles AngelsAngels
2424.5000.511-1113-133-7W1
Seattle MarinersMariners
2224.4781.511-1211-126-4W5
Oakland AthleticsAthletics
2225.4682.011-1211-133-7L5

85 games could win the AL West this year, so don’t tune out the Mariners just yet. They’re only 1 ½ games behind Texas for the AL West lead, so winning it is not out of the question. Just think about the 2010 San Francisco Giants. Their starting pitching carried them throughout the season into the playoffs, and eventually, the World Series title.

Stay tuned M’s fans… because we might have an early season division race on our hands.

Why not be optimistic about your 2011 Seattle Mariners? We have nothing to lose, right?

Reach Nathan Parsons at nathanparsons98@yahoo.com