M's week in review: April 17-23

Well, that was ugly. 1-6 for the week, dropping the Patriot’s Day game to Boston in the bottom of the ninth, then 2 out of 3 to Texas and a sweep at the hands of the Tigers. If you are glass half full kind of fan, then 3 of the losses were by only one run and 2 more were by just two. On the half empty side, they were a ninth inning rally away from 0-7 for the week and scored a meager 18 runs in the 6 losses.

Their 88 runs are 11th in the AL (down 3 slots). Actually 11th in runs isn’t bad considering that they are 11th in OBP (.315) and only 13th in SLG (.382). Our boys do lead the AL in steals at 18 and are 5th in SB percentage at 75%. It only seems like they are getting thrown out half the time.

Betancourt was hot this week, hitting .438 for the week while slugging .625. Ichiro heated up also, posting a nifty OBP of .455. Jurassic Carl had a nice week (boo!) at 350/480/750, hitting the walk off homer in the Mariners only win. Bloomquist had 3 singles in 10 AB, delighting his fans. However his OBP of .273 and SLG of .300 for the week continue to prove just how inept he is at plate. Beltre also put up a nice avg of .333 for the week, but only slugged .375. So don’t call it a comeback. Sexson and Reed were terrible, Johjima and Lopez cooled off. All in all a terrible week.

On the pitching side, Washburn had a nice near complete game loss (albeit with only 2 strikeouts), Meche had a mediocre start against Boston where he gave up two taters in 6 innings and one Safeco start where he pitched just as bad, but kept the ball in the park against the Tigers. Joel and Jamie had a couple of unspectacular starts, but the big news is that the real King showed up this week. Other than his first two innings against Texas, Hernandez was brilliant, striking out 16 in his next 10 innings of work. Of course he did give up 7 runs total across the two starts, which with the M’s offense, was enough to earn two losses.

Soriano continues to dazzle in the pen, throwing 3 scoreless with 5 strikeouts. Sherril was good this week also, 3 scoreless with 4 strikeouts and Putz was pretty good too, 3 strikouts and one ER in his 3 innings. I’ve written about Eddie elsewhere, but the line is 1.2 IP, 4 runs, 4 K’s and 4 walks. Ugh. Woods and Mateo struggled also.

Finally the M’s made a curious move, designating Borchard for assignment to bring up Nageotte, who promptly gave up a 3 run bomb in his first inning of work. Why? Only one Mariner reliever pitched more than 3 innings last week, and he (Mateo) only pitched 4. Are you telling me that 3 innings is too heavy a workload?!? Hoyt Wilhelm is rolling over in his grave. I know that M’s are hoping that Borchard slips thru waivers and can play everyday in Tacoma, but bringing back the 12th pitcher is just silly, it really is. Borchard could have helped if they had played him, but instead we bring up a kid who walked 9 guys in 16 innings in AAA (while striking out only 8!), to rot in the end of the bullpen. Brilliant!

Next Week: 3 against the red hot White Sox, off day on Thursday, then 3 in Baltimore. And possibly they will trade Ichiro to make room for a 13th pitcher.