Mariners manager Eric Wedge displeased with Ichiro & Montero after latest loss

In case you hadn’t heard yet, the Mariners lost a sixth straight game Friday night, falling 4-2 to San Francisco.

And in a game where a few things stood out—Buster Posy hitting a ball to Pioneer Square, Mariners batters flailing at the plate, etc.—two moments from the game were perhaps most damaging for the Mariners, and frustrating for Eric Wedge.

In the second inning, Jesus Montero doubled to open the inning, but was promptly doubled off after misjudging a line drive to center field.

“It can’t happen,” Wedge said. “That happened the other day and it happened again today. We talked about it, that just can’t happen. He has to read that better … When you make a mistake once it’s one thing, but twice is another. That just can’t happen out there.”

Montero admits he misjudged the ball, but his explanation was also telling.

“I thought that ball was going to land, and I was ready to score,” he said. “He made a good play. I was like, ‘You’ve got to make it home right now so we tie the game.’ I’m not that fast, so I was trying to get to home plate. That was my goal at that moment.”

You’ve got to make it home right now to tie the game. That’s the type of thought running through the head of a young player who has been a part of an offense that has struggled for too long. Montero should know that with nobody out, he doesn’t need to score on that play if the ball drops, and that he’d be hard pressed, even with a good jump, to score on a ball hit that hard anyway. But as Wedge admitted after the game, players, especially the young ones, start to press when things aren’t going well.

Only an inning later, Wedge was upset with one of his players once again. After a Miguel Olivo double and a Brendan Ryan walk gave the Mariners two on with one out, Ichiro came up with a chance to get the Mariners back in the game. He swung at the first pitch he saw, and popped it up to second base, part of an 0 for 4 night.

“We need more from him, it’s as simple as that,” Wedge said of Suzuki. “We need him to do more. He’s obviously our most veteran guy, and when he has those opportunities, we need him to step up. We can’t always put it on the kids. We need the guys who have been around a little bit to step up as well, and obviously he’s been around here longer than anybody.”