In 2003, when the Mariners won 93 games, pitching was a big part of their success. They finished the season with a 3.76 staff earned run average. The following year, with basicallly the same pitching staff, the team ERA jumped to 4.76 and the Mariners lost 93 games.
Among the many theories for the decline in pitching, believe it or not, was the Mariners’ offensive problems in 2004. The Mariners scored 97 fewer runs in 2004 than 2003 and several of the pitchers I spoke with after that season ended admitted they tried to do too much to make up for the lack of offense. Knowing they might get beat if they allowed one or two runs, they tried to be too fine with their pitches or make the perfect pitch. As a result, they fell behind in the ball-strike count and were forced to throw a pitch over the plate, which often got hammered.
In essence, the Mariners’ offensive problems in 2004, when they scored only 698 runs, became a factor in a pitching staff that didn’t perform as it had the previous season. The 698 runs in 2004 were the Mariners’ fewest since 1994, and the 4.76 ERA was the highest since 1999.
That look back is a long-winded way of saying that the 2008 Mariners, as well as they’re pitching, must guard against doing too much to make up for the lack of offense. There’s already been a feeling they must throw the perfect pitch or one run might beat them.
“This is without question the best pitching staff I’ve ever been a part of,” Jarrod Washburn said. ” When you take the hill and you know that the team’s struggling, you have a tendency at times to try to do too much, try to be too fine. It’s something you can’t do, but it creeps into your mind. You just try your best to block it out and pitch your normal game.”
All the pitchers can do is be themselves and not get caught up in the hitting failures around them. If that happens, we’re really going to see the definition of ugly baseball.
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