It's all over

Well, the Mariner's season, at least.  It's too early for my end-of-season really round-up.  I need a couple of days to lay out my final conclusions.  Don't worry, I will.

For now, it's satisfying to look back over my shoulder and reflect, with some, wonder at the significance at a full season taken as a whole.  However it turns out a season is a remarkable thing snd no two are alike.  Even if you started all over again, with exactly the same players, it wouldn't be the same.  It can't be repeated.

That's the wonderful part of it.  Every season is unique.  A set of an events that can never be, will never be, exactly repeated.  For better or worse, the Ms 2019 season is like none that preceded it and any that will will ever follow.

And that is the wonder of it.  We will never see this season again. There may be, let's hope not, some like it, but this odd combination of Vogie and Mallex and Marco, even if they all come back together next season cannot repeat what we just experienced.

Look back.  You'll never see this again.

The last game

I never thought it would be otherwise, but coming to the end of the 2019 season and knowing it's over for the M's, that other teams will play on into October, arrives with a sense of sadness and loss.  94 losses to be exact.  If we watch, and we will because baseball is in our blood, we'll have to see our rivals, the A's and 'stro's play on.  Indeed, I expect to see Houston go all the way.  Their fans went through three seasons of what we just experienced not long ago.  They know the humiliation of 100 gamed lost.  Three of them!  Less than ten years ago.    Believe me, they earned their current success.

So after this afternoon the competitive side of Seattle's operations shuts down for a few months.  I can feel the chill of winter setting in already.  I'm sure of GM Jerry Dipoto will be active in the off-season, there are still plenty of holes to fill, especially in the starting rotation.  I fully expect to see some of the more veteran players I've followed this year fed into the system of trades and waivers.  Best bets to go, sadly, Dee Gordon, Austin Nola, Santana, Leblanc, Tom Murphy, maybe even Vogie.

Sometime in February thoughts, hopes, for the 2020 season will replace the frustrations of this one that ends today.  The game, like life, follows an inevitable cycle, paralleling the seasons, from spring-like renewal through to the slowing days of autumn.  And then, like today, the end.

One more game for us, then farewell to the various memories of 2019 and the breathless prospects of 2020.  I like even-numbered years... or the ones that end in 5.

Marco's turn

Marco Gonzalez' last two starts have been superb, ace written all over them.  14 innings, four runs... unfortunately two losses.  M's offense fell asleep on him both times.  Indeed, his last four starts were all strong, 28 innings, 5 runs.  Yes, that's a 1.60 ERA.

He showed a lot this season and lived up to Dipoto’s expectation as a model for the new Ms.  There were a couple of down moments, a particularly immature midseason meltdown over an ump's bad call that set up a loss, but he apologized for that and settled down and acted like the leader his team needs the rest of the way.

He could have easily notched 20 wins.  Six of his losses were by one-run.  He's not over-powering, but he mixes up his pitches and gets the job done.  He's young to be a veteran, but on this team he is.  This was an important season for him, a time when he was asked to step up, not just as the head of the rotation but as a team leader.  He did just that.

Job well done!

Farewell Felix

Watching Felix' last Mariner game, much like viewing Ichiro's retirement, touched me emotionally.  Win or lose, these players become part of the team's identity and their achievements, over the long haul, provide parallel and supportive narratives to that of the team itself.  The history of the Mariners is inextricably bound up with the unfolding career of any of its players, especially true in the case of Felix.

And Felix went out of his way to invite the fans along on the ride, expressing his emotions openly and freely.  The King's Court, that yellow-shirted section (last night several sections along the left-field line) reacted, as Hernandez did, to each strike, ball, hit and out... most particularly his strikeouts.

Last night Felix prompted tears, laughter, tears and an evening full of sentimentality.

It was something to see him point to the King's Court in acknowledgement of each of his Ks, a most uncharacteristic gesture to fans rarely seen in professional sports, even for Felix.  The mutual love was there for all to see.

I've written about this before: Felix was kind of a hard-luck pitcher.  He had 180+ quality starts but around 50 wins to show for it.  Never enough run support to get him a lead after he had given up only two runs over seven innings.  Too bad, really.

And last night, despite the sentiment and energy, was actually no different.  He struggled a little and gave up three... another home run... the M's pushed across only one.  He walked off the field carrying one more loss in his back pocket.

Is he done?  Probably not.  Odds are some team will invite him to spring training.  I hope he passes up on the opportunity and retires.  He just isn't the pitcher he was and age and I suspect a degree of stubbornness preclude a renaissance.

He did and accomplished much.  Being just one of 24 to pitch a perfect game is a historic achievement. Thanks for the contribution, the effort and the memories.

The last (home) stand

The hitting woes that started in Baltimore continued into the first game of the Mariners final homestand of the season.  Houston's Derrick Cole is a terrific pitcher and he was calibrated for the post-season soon to come.  He just overpowered the Ms.

One note.  Mallex Smith is beginning to win me over.  He has speed and he's learning how to use it.  I've seen an intensity in him that is impressive and I've watched him work hard all season to improve.  He might fit into the reimagined Ms roster.

Another cup of that yummy Kool-Aid please

Marco looked pretty good shutting out Pittsburgh over seven innings.  No walks!  A 6-0 win, nicely done.

Homer galore.  Think back to the beginning of the season, would you have expected the sluggers to be Narvaez, Nola and Long?  Narvaez?  Maybe.  Long?  That little guy in the swim goggles?  I don't know.  Nola?  Who?

No errors.  No caught stealing,  but Narvy shoots down two of theirs.

Then Tui and MacClain shut the door decisively.

Tui has a 1.86 ERA.  Narvaez has 22 home runs, Nola ten!

And if Lewis had to strike out four times... and we knew he would... this was the game to do it.

A lot to like here.  Much to think about when the future comes.

Sunshine through September showers

If back-to-back walk off wins can't get you excited about the Mariners next season, nothing will.  But the most encouraging thing was Sheffield's start.  I know, he fell apart in the fifth after an error behind him, but up til then he looked good, really good, throwing ace stuff, one of the nastiest sliders I've ever seen.  It's clear he's learning and he got a lot to learn, but the signs are positive.  He has something special.

2020 Spring Training comes early

The last two games, losses to the Reds and White Sox, by big scores, 11 to 5 and 9 to 7, feel different, not that there isn't a lot of resemblance to the previous 86 clobberings the Ms have been given and the fans have endured this season.  There have been the usual bullpen meltdowns and another puzzling start where Yusei just can't get the car in gear.

Maybe it's all the faces and the faint whiff of spring, even as the very first Pacific Northwest autumn rains mark the end of summer.  Even those rains seem unfamiliar, accompanied by the flash and bang of thunder and lightning rarely seen in this reason.  I'm not sure about some of the pitchers, but there were probably a dozen rookies who hit of threw for the M's last night.

This is not last year's line-up.  This isn't even last April’s.  And, if Dipoto's vision for a whole new team is sound, the difference in the line-ups is encouraging news, truly prospects of better things to come.   And our vigilant appraisal of minor-league seasons in Tacoma, Modesto and far flung Alabama (Go Nuts!) suggest even more pleasant surprises over the next couple of seasons.

Okay, okay, I know I'm letting the hot hitting of Kyle Lewis cloud my judgment. I know big league pitchers will soon enough figure out Lewis and have him swinging as wildly and missing as Daniel Vogelbach.  But maybe, just maybe, Vogie and Kikuchi will figure it out and a host of talented Mariner pitchers and hitters will flood the line-up... so many of them that opposing teams will have to constantly scramble to keep up with the parade of fresh, eager players.

I don't miss Zunino of Beckham at all, or Encarnacion  or any of the others, even Cano (maybe Nellie a little), not when I can watch Shed and JP, Kyle and Dylan, or even Narvaez and Murphy.  Maybe a full moon Friday the 13th is omen of good things to come.

Of course

Two words...  Kyle Lewis.  One more word, wow!

Lollipops, rainbows and unicorns... right here!

Maybe, just maybe, the payoffs from the Dipoto led and inspired rebuilding of the Seattle Mariners was seen in last night's victory against the Cincinnati Reds.  Maybe.

This season has seen a lot of major league debuts, but I've really looked forward to Kyle Lewis.  He lived up to the hype.  He hit the ball hard in a groundout in his first at bat, then blasted a home run to left-center for his first hit ever.  He looked comfortable at the plate, less so in the field, but altogether a symbolic and encouraging start.  Only makes me more excited to see Kellenic, J-Rod and Evan White.  Maybe.

Less maybe, more probably, Justus Sheffield made his fourth start and pitched well.  This kid has an mlb slider and he gave up one run in six strong innings.   Each time he looks a little better and it's speculating how high his ceiling may be.  Here's hoping Dunn, who should pitch soon, is just as good.

Ah c'mon

When I decided to use this blog to follow the M's through a whole season I never anticipated things would get so bad I would lose any appetite for writing about something I've loved following since my early teens.  But yesterday's game finally exhausted any desire to report on these Mariners.

Houston's four game series sweep was bad enough.  But the last game, the final of a ten game roadtrip that yielded exactly one Seattle victory, was the worst... historically so.  The 21 to 1 difference was the biggest loss the M's have ever suffered.  On top of that they were held to one hit, for the second time this season (after getting no-hit twice).  

The whole team just collapsed, hitting and pitching, all at once, altogether.  It's probably fitting that the total collapse began with Felix on the mound, his late career comeback pretty much failed.  He never got out of the third and, if I counted correctly, five doubles, a walk and a hit batsman before he and Servais threw in the towel.

Just a disaster. I need time to recover.

September Blues

The trip to Houston has started with two disappointing games and the Ms haven’t even faced Justin Verlander yet.  Verlander, who is making his first start since pitching a no-hitter, must be licking his chops to go after the Mariners who have already been the victim of two no-hit games.

It could be a chore for Verlander, since arriving in Houston the Mariners offense seems to have awakened.  This revival, however, has been accompanied by a simultaneous collapse in the pitching. The first two games have seen encouraging first-inning leads quickly erased.

There's no way around the conclusion that this team is hard to root for.  Dipoto's strategy for reimagining the Ms is just another was of extending spring training through a full season of interchangeable players, many easily forgotten after their brief moment in the spotlight.  A series of meaningless games everyone of them full of lots of learning opportunities but none of them having an significance in the overall scheme of things.

So this has become a season of moments, some significant and remarkable, others, many, hardly worth notice or memory.  And that's what it was last night: Vogie's 30th homer to the opposite field.  The night before Kyle Seager became the first M to hit twenty home runs in eight consecutive seasons.  Good stuff, but just a few tasty nuggets in a really watery stew.

Kind of discouraging

I hope these new reimagined Mariners are learning from their mistakes, because there are plenty of them.  For awhile, blessedly, the blown saves, careless base-running, errant throws and poor pitching decisions had diminished, but the start of the ill-fated Yankee series, saw the return on bad baseball.

Yesterday's loss to the Cubs took a well-pitched Justus Sheffield game (he knows how to pitch) into another bullpen disaster.  Sorry for the pissy mood, but I just didn't want to see it.  A corollary to the test for insanity of doing the same thing over and over and expecting a new result is watching the same plot unfold and imagining a late inning big run rally.  It ain't gonna happen.

One more game with Chicago, then back to Texas for a four game set with Houston.  Time to get it back on track.

Now the fun begins

Not that the game lacks for daily surprises, in the next few days major league baseball's equivalent to Christmas presents under the tree will unfold, as "September callup-ups" flood the team rosters with new players invited to join the "big" club now that minor league play is finished.  Since most teams are well out of play-off contention fan attention will shift to evaluating the quality of these new players, most getting their shot in the majors for the first time.

As hard as I try I cannot recall a single remarkable September call-up in a life time of following, first, the Los Angeles Dodgers, second, the Ms.  I'm sure I have seen some, but the memory of none sticks... which probably tells you how seriously I take a look at these prospects.

For me, September baseball, except for contending teams, is only slight more real than spring training.  I just don't trust the numbers and for good reason: seeing a AAA batter go against a AA pitcher in a major league ballpark doesn't tell you much, except for how a player handles pressure.

Of course, this season for the Ms has felt like endless September as one new player after another has flooded (flushed?) through Seattle.

......

The split of a four-game series in Texas showed some good things.  Except for a blown save loss they could have taken three of four from the Rangers and had they avoided some base-running errors it would have been a good showing and bounce-back after the pasting by the Yankees.

Off to Wrigley for a two-game set.