Here’s what I make of the Mariners’ bullpen after a monumental meltdown in an 8-7 loss to the Orioles:
This is a pen that’s set up well to protect a lead in the last two, maybe three innings. Ask the relievers to go four and you’re inviting some major trouble (as with most bullpens).
Starter Jarrod Washburn was suffering from the flu, and it didn’t help that he was hit on the foot by a hard grounder in the first inning. Whether that’s the reason his pitch count climbed and he lasted only five innings, nobody will know. We’ve seen Washburn do this plenty of times when he’s been in perfect health.
Hurting or not, it’s important that a pitcher shut down the other team after his hitters give him a lead, and that didn’t happen with Washburn or the M’s bullpen. The Mariners led 5-0 after scoring four runs in the third, but Washburn gave up single runs in the fourth and fifth to make it 5-2.
As the Mariners went through nearly everyone they had in the bullpen to get through this game, the only one who looked good was Brandon Morrow. He pitched impressively in the ninth, when he struck out Jay Payton with a 98 mph fastball.
Roy Corcoran, Arthur Rhodes, Mark Lowe and Sean Green all gave up runs.
As the demise unfolded, one thought struck me. I still think this is a better pen than what we’ve seen this month, especially when the starter can go no less than six innings and M’s can line up closer J.J. Putz behind guys like Morrow, Ryan Rowland-Smith, Rhodes and Lowe for the last couple of innings.
When a starter puts in a short outing like Washburn did, it’s important for someone to come out of the pen and give the M’s at least two innings. Who might that be?
Hmmm, let’s see. Cha Seung Baek is down there, but he must be on some kind of sabbatical because he hasn’t pitched in 11 days. I realized he has a reputation for needing a few days to bounce back, but this is a little overboard. Do you think R.A. Dickey is sitting around with the Tacoma Rainiers wondering what’s going on?
Other notes and observations:
—Umpires had a tough night, too. Orioles starter Adam Loewen should have been called for a balk when he picked Ichiro Suzuki off first base in the first inning. Loewen clearly was moving toward the plate — he even stepped that direction — before he flung the ball to first base as Suzuki took off. Then there was the Arthur Rhodes Affair in the seventh. He thought he’d thrown a couple of good pitches to Nick Markakis, who walked. Manager John McLaren thought the same thing, and he unloaded on plate umpire Casey Moser, who ejected him.
—Except for a flash of production in the third inning, the offense sputtered again. McLaren is urging the M’s to get on base and make things happen, and they did in the third when they drew two walks, got three hits and pulled off a double steal. The result was a four-run inning that gave them a 5-0 lead. Then they went back to their old ways and managed six baserunners the rest of the game, scoring only on Suzuki’s two-run homer in the seventh.
—The crowd of 16,727 was the third smallest for a Mariners game in Safeco Field history.
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