It had been a good week previously for the Seattle Mariners. They went 3-3 against a tough patch of schedule including two road wins over the Angels and a no-hitter against the best team in baseball, the Dodgers. That momentum, though, has now left the building. The San Diego Padres entered Seattle with a 20-41, but left with three straight victories. San Diego recorded their first sweep of anyone on the entire season. Seattle has now dropped five in a row, the last two of the Dodger series and three against San Diego, all at home. They are a season low 11 games under .500 (27-38), and have the second worst record in the American League ahead of only Minnesota.
Bad News Abounds. You can’t get swept at home by a team slightly ahead of the Cubs for the worst record in all of baseball. Or, you shouldn’t. The offense got nothing mustered in the three game set, scoring only six runs and getting beat 1-0 on Wednesday. Felix Hernandez, making his first start in 11 days on Tuesday because of back issues, struggled allowing nine hits and 5 ER in 6 IP. Erasmo Ramirez, making his first start of the season, also struggled against the last place Padres allowing eight hits and 5 ER in 5 IP. After smashing the ball against Texas a couple of weeks ago and a decent series against the Dodgers, Justin Smoak struggled at the plate again for Seattle going 1-for-9 in three games. After their outburst in Anaheim, the offense in the last six games has scored 1, 3, 2, 4, 0, and 2, losing five of those games.
Franklin Gutierrez return from the DL to patrol CF for the Seattle Mariners making his debut last night against the San Diego Padres.
Roster Changes. The roster was shaken up this week. Franklin Gutierrez came off the DL, and the CF looked sharp in his debut last night to S.D. going 1-for-2 with an RBI and run scored. The team also called up for their second stints this season: Casper Wells, Steve Delabar, and Erasmo Ramirez. Mike Carp made his second trip to the DL with a right shoulder inflammation, and Stephen Pryor, the pitcher who got the win in last Friday’s no hitter, was put on the DL with a strained left groin. The Mariners sent to Tacoma Alex Liddi and Blake Beavan. Liddi put up decent numbers (.231-3 HR-10 RBI), but with a log jam in the IF was sent to Tacoma for more regular playing time. Ever since a short start against Detroit where he was hit with a line drive, Beavan has struggled in the Mariners’ rotation to the point where he was 1-2 with a 11.77 ERA in his last three starts. On the season, he was 3-6 with a 5.92 ERA.
On The Horizon. The Mariners look to snap their five game losing skid as the San Francisco Giants come to town. This will be the first meeting between the Giants and Mariners this season. San Francisco is 36-28 and second in the N.L. West behind the Dodgers. The Giants are coming off a 3-3 home stand highlighted by Matt Cain’s perfect game. The Mariners will miss Cain in this series, good news for a flailing offense. Seattle stacks up a pretty strong rotation with Jason Vargas, Kevin Millwood (in his first start since starting his no-hitter), and Felix Hernandez.