Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Bats Come Alive Against Greinke, Bullpen Gives it Away

Episode Date: April 29, 2021

This was not a typical 2021 Mariner loss. The offense was able to get to Zack Greinke -- who utterly dominated the M's the last time he faced them -- but the bullpen was the problem in this one. D.C. talks about this game, and also the unfortunate injury news that's come out in the last couple days. The Mariners have added two players to its organization via waiver claims, and D.C. tells you about these two players, an infielder and a catcher. To close out the show, Clive Braithwaite IV joins D.C. and talks about his memories of the 2001 Mariners, which more or less got him into baseball. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today on Locked-on Mariners, the host wishes he would have begun recording before 1.15 in the morning. Welcome to Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Here's your host, D.C. Lundberg. Thank you very much, Joey Martin, and welcome to those of you out there in podcast land. I'm D.C. Lundberg, and I'm tired. And we have a very different sort of loss to talk about. Today on Locked on Mariner's part of the Locked On Podcast Network or T-L-O-P-N or T-L-O-P-N-O-P-N-O-T-Lopin. Please remember the download rate and follow this program on whichever podcasting app that you personally care to use.

Ask your smart device to play Locked-on Mariner's podcast or any program here on Tloppin. Tonight, the Locked-on Podcast Network is partnering with the Draft Network to cover the NFL Draft Live. Get insight and analysis from Locked-on Local and Local and... experts and the Draft Network's national experts. Subscribe to the locked on NFL YouTube page to watch live three-day coverage of the NFL draft April 29th, that's today, through May 1st, that's Sunday. Now to Mariners baseball and it was another frustrating game. Not for the same reasons game one and two of this four game series are frustrating.

It was a different sort of loss for the Mariners, as I mentioned in the open. The bullpen, the usually reliable bullpen, blew up. it. There were some fun parts to this one, though. The Mariners chased Zach Granky after he pitched only four innings. They touched him up for four runs in those four innings, got four hits off of Granky, two walks. Those two walks came in back-to-back plate appearances with two out in the fourth. Jose Marmaladejos drew the first one. Then Taylor Tremel drew the next one. Tremel showed great patience during this plate appearance. Both the two-one pitch, and the 3-1 pitch were just off the outside corner, not easy pitches to watch go by.

But Tram knew that there was only one strike on him, so he could take close pitches like that, and they were both far enough off of the plate to be called balls, and he reached base. Both runners scored on a Luis Torren's double. Tremel was involved in a play at the plate. The throw from cutoff man Carlos Correa beat Tramel by quite a bit, but the throw was also low and in the dirt, and Martin Maldonado couldn't handle it. Tram slid into home plate feet first. His lead foot got tangled with Maldonado's glove and throwing hand. Tram wound up stepping on Maldonado's hands by accident.

The ball rolled away. Maldonado was hurt, so he couldn't go get that. the ball, and then Tram came back and touched home plate with his hand after he had originally missed it being blocked off the plate by Maldonado, and that scored the M's third run of the game. Maldonado wound up being okay, thank goodness, and stayed in the game. Terence then was driven home on a J.P. Crawford double into the right field corner. Terence ripped a hanging breaking ball into left field for his double, and Crawford pulled a fastball at the bottom of the zone for his double. Grinky was not at all the same pitcher that we

saw dominate the Mariners in Seattle a week and a half ago. Luis Torrenz had gotten the Mariners on the board leading off the third inning with a solo home run. Grinky tried to get ahead of him with the fastball and Torrance jumped on it and rode it out to left field. The pitch was not particularly well executed and Torrance went after the first fastball that he saw from Grinkey, rather than try to hit one of those 67-mile-an-hour breaking balls that Granky has. I'm all for patience and trying to work the count, but if you see a fastball early in the count against a tough pitcher and you think you can handle it, go for it. Case and point, Louise Torrens.

Kyle Lewis hit a home run in the fifth off-reliever Brandon Belak for the Mariners' fifth and final run. Scored that point was 5 to 2, and it was looking pretty good. Justin Dunn had a pretty good day, aside from the second and sixth innings. He opened up the second by walking Kyle Tucker, then allowed back-to-back two-out singles to Chas McCormick and Miles Straw, which scored Tucker and McCormick respectively. Dunn threw 26 pitches in that second inning, and that gave the Astros a two-nothing lead, but the M's scored all five of their runs unanswered. Dunn began the sixth and did return.

tired the first two men, but then allowed a double to Yuli Guriel, and Scott Service removed him from the game in favor of Casey Sadler, who promptly gave up an RBI single to Carlos Correa. Keenan Middleton came into pitch the seventh, and he was wild once again. He hit the first batter he faced, but then got the next two guys, even though he still was not sharp. His fastball was all over the place. He had trouble locating his breaking ball. Service saw the same thing I was looking at and replaced him with Raphael Montero. after Middleton had faced the minimum of three batters. Montero got Michael Brantley to end the inning, but the next inning would be a nightmare.

Montero went back out and started off fine, with the ground out to first base. Then the wheels came off. Kyle Tucker and Yuli Guriel both singled, then Carlos Correa grounded to Evan White. White threw the second to try to get the force on Guriel, but his throw was off the mark. Correa came into score, and the Astros found themselves down only one run at 5 to 4. No outro recorded on that play. Alemniz Diaz then pinch hit for McCormick, who has a something like a 1300 OPS against the Mariners. He kills the Mariners. And he got a center cut fastball from Montero that he took

into the left center field gap. It was not particularly well hit. It was off the label. And the Mariners were frankly lucky that Diaz missed it and didn't deposit it into the Crawford boxes. Gurriel scored on that play to tie the game, then Montero walked Miles Straw to load the bases, prompting service to summon Will Vest from the pen to try to stop the bleeding. But Vest walked the first man he faced, Jason Castro, who was pinch hitting for Martin Maldonado, forcing in Houston's sixth run, giving them the lead. Jose Al Tuvae was next and he hit a sack fly out to right field to score Diaz and give the Astros a 7 to 5 lead.

Michael Brantley grounded out to end the hellish inning on the first pitch to him, but my goodness, what a disastrous inning. This is not what we have come to expect from the bullpen. The offense had a great fourth inning. Granky was off his game and the merrists took advantage. Dunn did his job for the most part aside from the second, but it was all wasted by a collective bad game from the bullpen. There's not much else to say. There's some more bad news to get to in the next segment regarding. some injury updates, but I also have to say that Mitch Hanager was a late scratch in last night's game.

He was removed from the starting lineup about an hour prior to game time. Judging by Scott's surface as postgame comments, it sounded to me as if he was a bit ill. It's not known whether he'll be playing tomorrow morning or not. Sam Haggurty, who was originally in the starting lineup as the number six hitter, was moved to the leadoff spot, but he had a rough day. He struck out three times, and he was. was seemingly the only pitcher against whom Grinky was on point. He did collect a base knock in the seventh against Belak, however, and it was pretty well smoked. He turned on an inside pitch and

yanked it into right field. Speaking of right field, Hanager was originally in the starting lineup in right field. Jose Omar Malajos got the start in right field. I think that's his first major league game in right field. I really should have checked on that before I went on the air. In any case, he batted sixth where Telegram, Sam, originally was in the starting lineup with Telegram Sam moving to the lead-off position. The M's offense did put it together in the fourth to score three runs. Two of them reached base on bases on balls. The only two walks that they would draw last night.

They struck out ten times. Telegram Sam notched three of them, as noted. Kyle Lewis and Taylor Trem both struck out twice. Tram was frozen by a 99-mile-an-hour fastball by Ryan Stanek in the ninth inning. He knew it right away and walked away frustrated. I'm wondering if he may have been looking for something off speed, since that's usually how pitchers try to get him out. If that was the case, I cannot blame him, because that has been the modus operandi for the most part against him. Stanek, by the way, looks like he should be playing guitar in a Leonard Skinner tribute band.

Astros wins 7 to 5, clinch the four-game series against the Meriters, which concludes tomorrow at 1110 a.m. in Seattle and Spokane, 1.10 p.m. in Houston and Texarkana. Yusikichi will get the start for the Mariners. He's been hit or missed thus far. Starting for the Astros will be Luis Garcia, who will be making his third start of the season and fifth appearance. He appeared in five games last year as well,

which were his first five big league games. And in his career, he has a 296 ERA in 27 and the third innings with a whip of 1.098. He's not given up a ton of hits thus far, but he's walked quite a few hitters, and this may play into the Mariners' hands quite well, as they will not swing at fastballs out of the zone. A few of them can be fooled into swinging at off-speed stuff,

which drops out of the zone, but you generally need to be around the plate to get them to swing and miss. So I think this might be a good matchup for the Mariners. Time for the trivia corner, and today's question reads thusly. Zach Granky has been around for a long time, since May of 2004. His first game against the Mariners took place that August 27th in Safeco Field. Was it a win for the Mariners, or was it a win for Grinkie's team, the Royals?

I'll tell you about this game following this word from the locker room. This episode is brought to you by the locker room, which I just mentioned. Locker room is the first social audio platform made for sports fans. The app is free to download, and once you're in, you can talk with fans, athletes, and inside. in real time about your favorite team or sports. Locker room is a great place to start or join conversations about the league. I'm sure you'll find fans on locker room just like yourself for watch parties, debates, postgame breakdowns, and of course, reacting to big news or rumors.

You can even find locked on hosts on the locker room. I will be joining when it's available for Android, as it is not available for Android as of yet only iOS devices, and you can download the free locker room app currently now on all iOS devices, as it were, my goodness gracious. Be sure to create a profile link your Twitter if you've got one and join the MLB group for the latest league updates. I know you'll find a ton of incredible rooms around your favorite teams and leagues, and I'm looking forward to joining once it's available for Android, and I will be sure to let you know once the Locked-on Mariners room is live.

Download the locker room app today. Locker Room, changing the way we talk about sports. Answer to the trivia question, Zach Grinky's first game against the Mariners, was August 27, 2004, and it was a 7-5 win for the Mariners. Neither starting pitcher figured in the decision. Grinky last had six innings in that start, gave up four home runs, all of them solo home runs. In fact, the Mariners hit back-to-back-to-back-home runs in the fifth inning. Miguel Olivo, Jose Lopez, and Iram Bokochika doing the honors.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Irom Boca Chica. Who remembered that he was a mariner? Those were the 7, 8, and 9 hitters in the lineup that day, by the way. Olivo added another home run off Grinky in the 6th. Then the Mariners connected for two more long balls in a three-run eighth inning off DJ Carrasco to take the lead in the ball game. Brett Boone hit a two-run home. run with Ramon Santiago aboard, then Scott Spizio hit a solo blast into succeeding at bat.

Carrasco was tagged with the loss while Mariner reliever George Cheryl picked up the win. JJ Putz earned a save in this one, which was started by Gilmesh, who would later pitch for the Royals. Coming up, a segment in which I give injury updates, so I'm not going to make light of the topic since that would just be me, and also not funny. this from Rock Auto, a family business serving auto parts customers online for 20 years. Go to

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Amazing selection, reliably low prices, all the parts your car will ever need. Rock Auto.com. Welcome back to Lockdown Mariners. Here once again is your host, D.C. Lundberg. Thank you very much, Joey. There are some updates on player health, and really none of them are good updates, unfortunately. Also, the Mariners have made some other roster moves on Wednesday. But I'll start with the news on Nick Margievich, who underwent an MRI on Monday,

and was also placed on the 10-day injured list that day. He will undergo more tests in Seattle sometime in the near future, but his shoulder is still inflamed, so they're going to wait for that inflammation to subside prior to any further testing. There's no timetable for his return, obviously. The Mariners have not announced if L.J. Newsom is going to be inserted into the rotation in Margot's stead. It was also reported that they're kind of fiddling with the idea of utilizing a five-man rotation for the next couple of weeks because they have a couple of off

days, as I noted in yesterday's show. So they could do that and have pitchers pitch on their normal rest, at least for the immediate future. It was also revealed yesterday that James Paxton had undergone Tommy John's surgery sometime last week. We knew his season was finished, and this more or less makes it official. He was on a one-year contract, so he will be a free agent this off season. He is going to attempt to pitch next year, and given his success in the past, he's going to draw interest from teams. I don't know if the Mariners are going to be one of those teams or not.

It depends on how the rotation shakes out the rest of the. the way. Remember, Logan and Gilbert was more than likely going to be at the big league level sometime later on this season. So Paxton's services may not be needed by the M's in 2022, whether he would have been injured this year or not. Shedlong Jr., who has not played since last season, was moved from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day injured list. Obviously, that is not good news. I'm sure that, I'm not sure, pardon me, when he is eligible to return, but this did open up a spot on the 40-man roster, which the M's filled yesterday. In fact, they added two players to the 40-man roster and designated pitcher Brandon Brennan for assignment.

Brennan was originally acquired by the M's in a Rule 5 draft following the 2018 season and pitched 2019 and 20 with the Mariners. In 47 games over those two seasons, he accumulated a 4-4-5 earned run average and a whip of 1.280 in 54 and 2 thirds innings. He walked a ton of hitters, 29 of them in those 54 and 2 thirds, and also gave up eight home runs. Ratio-wise, not very good. He's off the 40-man roster now,

and if he goes unclaimed by another team, the Mariners could option him to the miners to keep him in the organization or give him his outright release. He's not a kid anymore. He'll turn 30 in July. I do think somebody else will claim him, Just a guess. Obviously, don't read anything into that. The Mariners claimed two players off waiver on Wednesday.

Both of them are now on the 40-man roster. The first one is infielder Jack Mayfield, who was in the Angels organization. He has 49 games of Big League experience under his belt with the Angels and Astros over the last three seasons. 47 of those games came with Houston in 2019 and 2020. He's played two games with the Angels this year. He's a versatile guy. He can play second, short, and third, and his offensive numbers and the high minors aren't bad. At the AAA level, 300 games, he's slashing 268, 325, 475. In 1,224 plate appearances, he's got 74 doubles and 50 home runs, 91 walks, and 227 strikeouts.

That's a few too many. At the double A level, 151 games, his slashing. line is 269, 323, 488. 30 home runs and 29 doubles in 618 plate appearances, 44 walks, and 120 strikeouts. He's 30 years old, like Brandon Brennan is, and his 31st birthday will be in September. So he's no kid either. He's been in the minor since 2013. He was originally signed as an amateur free agent on June 17, 2013 by the Astros. In his 150, Big League plate appearances, he's slashing 165, 193 to 75. Five doubles and two home runs. So he's a power bat, but he strikes out a ton. The other player the M's claimed was a catcher out of the Brewer's system, Jacob Nottingham. The Mariners catching depth really basically is nil outside

Tom Murphy and Luis Torrens. And they're both off to bad starts, even though Torrance turned in a great game yesterday. They certainly could use as another catcher with big league experience on the 40-man roster. Nottingham has played 38 games with the Brewers over the last three seasons. He's 26 years old and was described by Scott Service as, quote, a big physical guy, end quote. He's 6-2-220 and he's also a power bat, hitting five home runs in his 85 played appearances at the Major League level.

In 133 games at the AAA level, he is slashing 250, 326, 421. He has 528 AAA plate appearances in which he's hit 31 doubles and 15 home runs. 42 walks, but a whopping 154 strikeouts. That's a lot. And remember, that's AAA, not the bigs. In the minors, he's caught 33% of the attempted base thieves who tried to run against him. That's pretty good. And at the big league level, he's got 21, but that's only 3 of 14, very small sample size.

Nottingham is headed to the alternate training site in Seattle. It's possible that he could join the big league club once the team gets back in town on Friday to face the Angels. I'm pretty sure Murphy is out of minor league options, so he would have to be waived if the Mariners wanted to send him down. But I'm unsure about Torrens, and I do not see the Mariners carrying three catchers on the big league roster, especially with them only carrying three bench players in total. Have you got a question or a comment? Send it to Locked on Mariners at gmail.com. Questions and comments about any subject are welcome and encouraged.

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Thank you once again, J.M. Well, gang, as I said in the teas going into the last break, I'm kind of at a loss as to what to talk about in today's final segment. usually when I need to fill a segment or an entire show, I'll text John Miller and then the two of us will get on the air and have a conversation that pertains to either the current Mariners or to something in baseball history. But it's very, very late at this time and he's on vacation. So even if it was still early evening or late evening, I wouldn't bother him. He's on an anniversary trip with his wife and there's no way I'm going to disturb that. So instead of John, I have invited my personal secretary, Clive Braithwaite the 4th, to, on the show, to chat. Clive, how art thou?

I'm well. And it's great to be on a show where I'm doing more than reading listener emails. Yes, I'm sure it is. You've guest hosted before, though. But this is still something different for you. Clive, I want to talk about how you became interested in baseball, because it's kind of an interesting story. I first got into baseball in 2001. I was going to university in England at the time, but I wanted to study abroad, so I spent a year in America.

I discovered baseball at that time, and that was the season the Mariners rewrote the history books. I finished my studies in America, and moved back to England at August to finish my studies at home. But I missed baseball, so much so that I eventually decided. to move to America, and decided Seattle would be a good place since that's where the Mariners were. I never lost my love for the M's, even though they were not at all the team they were when I fell in love with baseball. No, they are certainly not. You did not stay in Seattle that long, did you? I was there for a few years. Technically, I did not live in Seattle. I lived in Shoreline. Oh, that's right. But I was in Shoreline for three and a half years. I moved. I moved. I

there in the summer of 2010, and moved away in 2014. I got the idea that it would be neat to live in all 50 states, so I decided that I'd move somewhere, stay for a year or so, then move on. There have been places I lived for only six months because I just didn't like them, and places I've stayed longer. And I've also stayed put for a while where I am now because of the virus. But I'm looking to move on one. Once again, I'm not getting any younger, and I've still got quite a few states left to check off the list. I might, I shouldn't ask this next question what I'm going to. Where did you live that you didn't like so much?

Places with humid climates, namely Florida and Georgia. Even western Washington was a little to muggy for me in the summer, but not nearly as bad as the southeast. How many states have you been able to check off your list thus far? Only nine so far. When I was in university, I studied abroad in California. Then several years later, I moved to shoreline Washington, and that's where we met, at the karaoke bar on 15th Avenue. After I got the idea to try to at one point live in all 50 states, I decided to move to the complete opposite corner of the map, so I chose Florida, stayed for about six months, then stayed in Georgia for a another six months. But as I said, I didn't like the climate, so I came back to the West Coast and lived in Oregon for a while. Then it was onto Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and then my current home, Wyoming. How long have you been in Wyoming? I don't recall. I've been in Wyoming since August of 2019. And for those curious, I live in Cody, which is in the northwest corner of the state.

I'm looking to move again soon though, but don't know whether I'm going to go north to Montana or east to Nebraska. It definitely won't be Alaska or Hawaii, since I don't want to fly right now. I'm not getting any younger, and I've still got 41 states to go. So I'm more than likely going to only stay in any given place for a few months at a time just to say I've done it. That makes sense. We've got to get back to talking about baseball. though. When you lived in California during the 2001 season,

what were some of your favorite memories pertaining to the 2001 Mariners? I have more general memories than specific ones, since I had other things on my mind. I very much enjoyed watching the Mariners and baseball at large, but I also needed to focus on my studies. And of course, what 20-year-old English boy

wouldn't be distracted by all the beautiful California girls I was so. surrounded by. But to answer your question, the All-Star game was a lot of fun to watch, as was the Home Run Derby. Did you get to go to either of those? No, I did not, but I love how you said Home Run Darby. But I had a great time at All-Star Fan Fest.

I went on two different days. Although in retrospect, I really wasted the second day I was there. I did nothing but the booth where you could pretend to announce a famous play in baseball history. That is literally all I did the second day I was there. Still have the videotapes from that, but I really regret not getting around to more of the activities that they had. I did wander around quite a bit the first day, though, but I still feel like the second day was completely wasted, and I really regret that. Oh, well, but at least you had fun. True. Do you have anything else to add Clive talking about the 2001 Mariners? I'm not sure what else I

could say. Like I said, I have more general memories than specific ones. I loved watching each hero, Brett Boone, David Bell was fun to watch play third base, John Ola Rood was fun to watch at the other corner, Freddie Garcia was on top of his game, and then you had Arthur Rhodes and Jeff Nesson in that bullpen, setting up Cosu'o hero Sassocky and that nasty forkball. It was just a fun team to watch. Oh, it sure was. Aaron Seeley was also great that season. He had that 12 to 6 curve ball that I love to watch him throw. You mentioned Kazahiro Sasaki, that forkball was a thing of beauty when he could get it to dive out of the strike zone and it would just disappear on hitters. It was just a fun team to watch and they were clicking on all cylinders more often

than not. But we have chewed up more than enough time, so we're going to call it a show. So, Clive, thanks for jumping on here at the last minute and helping me out. It was my pleasure. Excellent. Ladies and gentlemen, get all the sports news that you need in under 20 minutes with a locked on today podcast. Host Peter Bikowski updates you in the latest news in every major sport with the help of our local experts. Follow the Locked on Today podcast on the Odyssey app or wherever you get podcasts. That is all for today.

Join us tomorrow as we wrap up this four game set against the Astros. Joining me will be Larry Tate, Pokey, and a Taco. Please remember to download, rate, and follow Locked-on Mariners. Look for us on any podcasting app that you can think of. Leave a rating and review if your podcasting app of choice, so allows. Thank you for listening, gang. This was your first show. I do hope you enjoyed it.

Well, I hope you enjoyed it no matter how many episodes that you've heard in the past. Either way, I hope you'll join us for the next one tomorrow to close out the week. Have a great day. This is Joey Martin for Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network.