Back to earth

Spring training, for all its dreamy and visionary speculation, runs straight into brute reality sometimes.  And the Mariner's last two games warn of a future of some frustrating and unsatisfsctory moments.  That the losses came against "real" contending teams like the Dodgers and Cubs may better reveal the M's actual potential than less challenging competitors like the A's, Rangers and Padres.

Friday was a whipping at the hands of Chicago.  Pitching just got clobbered, even with their newly acclaimed opening night starter "ace,"Marco Gonzalez, on the mound.  To be fair, Marco had on off night, not uncommon for even the best pitchers in spring training.  But despite a powerful Mariner response, pitching let them down.  And that remains this team's weakest element, a so-so starting rotation when you get past Gonzalez and an unknown, untested bullpen that will remain unreliable until proven otherwise.

Saturday's contest against Los Angeles showed the alternate worst case scenario for the M's... one that has been characteristic of the last few seasons, sadly reflective of most King Felix's best years: superb pitching with no run support from a potent offense that suddenly turns cold.

These two losing modes need more than new players for its correction.  The M's need consistency.  Both the pitching and offense need to show up every night.  I just can't get excited about future seasons watching Evan White launch bombs only to witness Eric Swanson give up the lead next inning or to see Justus Sheffield strike out the side followed by Braden Bishop grounding into an inning-ending, bases loaded double-play.

I don't know who is responsible for assuring gametime consistency.  Maybe the flaw lies within the manager, Scott Servais.  All I know is all the talent in the world cannot overcome inconsistent play.

Note:  a correction.  The above wasn't fair to the bullpen.  Except for Marco's poor start Friday and two home runs yielded by Swanson to Kiki Hernandez (welcome to the bigs kid!) the next eight pitchers had a line of 11 innings, 4 hits and no runs.  Maybe there's a bullpen there afterall, but those pitchers won't succeed if starters put them in a hole and batters don't score runs.