SEATTLE – It’s a tad past the halfway mark of the season and what do we know about the 2006 Seattle Mariners?
One, we know they’re capable of playing stretches of some pretty impressive baseball.
Two, we know that they’re capable of playing stretches of some pretty grim baseball.
Three, we know they’re more than fortunate to play in the mediocre AL West, or they’d be in big-time trouble.
That’s about it.
That’s about it, because we’ve seen just about everything this season from this team.
Which means we have no more of a handle on the M’s now than we did in the season opener, April 3.
We’ve seen a six-game losing streak, but we’ve also seen them win 14 of 17 in a recent stretch. Twice, they’ve won five in a row. They had an 18-8 record in June after a 12-17 May and an 11-15 April. As with most of the American League, they dominated their National League counterparts to the tune of a 14-4 mark.
Ichiro Suzuki, as he has been since he arrived in Seattle five years ago, is the offensive catalyst, having hit in streaks of 20 and 18 games. Still the premier leadoff hitter in baseball, Suzuki hit .386 in June.
Adrian Beltre, a whipping boy for his spotty offensive production since the M’s signed him for millions last season, finally seems to be turning it around and hit .397 in a 14-game hitting streak that ended Sunday.
Richie Sexson and Raul Ibanez have combined for 35 homers and 147 RBI going into today. Ibanez is as steady as the aging process. Sexson, finally, is heating up, with eight homers and 26 RBI in June.
Oh, and all Jose Lopez has done is have an All-Star season at second base. He and shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt make up the best young double-play combo in baseball.
Although Jose Pineiro and Eddie Guardado are having puzzling seasons, the pitching staff has held up as well as anyone could expect.
When Jamie Moyer gets run support, he wins. How he does it at age 43 is a question better left for modern medical science. After a slow start, boy wonder Felix Hernandez has battled to an 8-8 mark and leads the M’s with 98 strikeouts in 1032/3 innings. Gil Meche, not counting Tuesday’s struggle, is showing the promise so many predicted for him. Reliever J.J. Putz deserves an All-Star spot, period.
But with the bright spots come questions.
The Mariners won’t have the National League to beat up on in the second half of the season. They are 10-17 against the rest of the AL West (including 1-9 against the Oakland A’s) and 28-39 against the American League.
How will the team fare without Jeremy Reed (fractured thumb) in center field for four to six weeks? Although he hit just .217, Reed has been solid on defense. General manager Bill Bavasi said this week that the plan is to platoon utility player Willie Bloomquist and Shin-Soo Choo (just up from Tacoma). Can they rob the opposition of runs on a par with Reed?
If not, can the M’s nab a replacement by the trading deadline, at the end of the month?
Can catcher Kenji Johjima continue his sizable contributions, especially with the bat? At this pace, the first-year major-leaguer will finish the season approaching .300, with 20 homers and 80 RBI.
Considering the competition within the division, nobody’s asking the Mariners to suddenly become the 1927 Yankees. It doesn’t appear that the A’s, Rangers or Angels have the consistency to put together a devastating run in the remaining months of the season. Simply staying close when the real stretch runs starts in September means playing .500 ball.
The division winner likely won’t win more than 85 games.
Is this the team to reach that?
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