NEW YORK— Gold Glove? How about a golden arm?
Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager entered the season’s second half Friday night with a streak of 407 chances since his last throwing error, which occurred May 29, 2014, against the Los Angeles Angels at Safeco Field.
“It’s all about your footwork,” he said. “If your feet are pointing in the right direction, that’s where the ball is going to go.
“There are a lot of plays where it looks like you’re off-balance, but you try to keep your footwork and hips in the general direction.”
Seager’s last throwing error came on a Mike Trout grounder that permitted Trout to reach second base after what was scored an infield single.
The streak spans 197 games. Seager has nine fielding errors in 1,747 innings since his last throwing error.
Two points to note: No other third baseman has logged more than 1,6291/3 innings since Seager’s last throwing error. And no third baseman with at least 1,010 innings has fewer than 10 errors overall.
As he did after winning his first Gold Glove last fall, Seager pointed to infield coach Chris Woodward as a major factor in his defensive success.
“Woody has worked so much with me,” Seager said. “He really does think about things in a different perspective. He puts a lot of emphasis on ‘If you’re in this position, this is what’s going to happen.’
“Everything he says makes sense from a practical perspective, and it’s repeatable.”
Four hundred and seven times … and counting.
Wilhelmsen returns
As expected, right-handed reliever Tom Wilhelmsen rejoined the Mariners prior to Friday’s game after being recalled from Triple-A Tacoma.
Wilhelmsen replaces right-hander Danny Farquhar, who was optioned to the Rainiers after last Sunday’s loss to the Los Angeles Angels. Wilhelmsen pitched two-thirds of a scoreless inning in Friday’s 4-3 loss to the Yankees.
The Mariners demoted Wilhelmsen to the minors on July 4 after he yielded nine runs in 62/3 innings over seven games from June 16 to July 2. He compiled a 1.96 ERA in 15 previous appearances.
Updated odds
Still think the Mariners can mount a comeback and win the World Series? You can get 50-to-1 odds from www.BovadaLV, the online gaming site, in its latest posting.
The odds on the Mariners match those for Oakland and the Chicago White Sox as the longest among American League clubs. There are seven National League clubs with longer odds, including Philadelphia at 1,000/1.
The favorites are the Kansas City Royals at 6/1. St. Louis and Washington are tied for second at 8/1.
Minor details
Left-hander Danny Hultzen was activated on the Double-A Jackson roster after returning from a rehab assignment at Peoria in the Arizona Rookie League.
Short hops
Seager has six two-homer games in his career. The Mariners are 3-3 in those games. … Free-agent reliever Jason Frasor, who drew interest from the Mariners, signed with Atlanta. … Catcher Erik Kratz, released Wednesday by the Mariners from their Tacoma roster, signed a minor-league deal with Philadelphia. … A year and a half after signing with the Mariners, Robinson Cano is the all-time leader at the new Yankee Stadium in extra-base hits (183) and doubles (100). The new stadium opened in 2009. … The Mariners have lost seven straight to the Yankees over the past two seasons. They had won five in a row at Yankee Stadium prior to Friday’s loss. … Reliever Carson Smith is averaging 13.86 strikeouts per nine innings in the 13 appearances since recording his first big-league save.
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