Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Emerson Hancock SHINES Again in Seattle Mariners' Series Loss | Mailbag Monday

Episode Date: April 6, 2026

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Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 Another annoying series at Angel Stadium ends with the Marrins losing 203. We'll give you our takeaways and answer some of your questions coming up here on the Lockdown Marriss podcast. You are Locked-on Mariners, your daily Seattle Mariners podcast. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Ahoy, Sailors, it is Monday, April 6, 2026. My name is Tading Azales, and I'm joined by Ben Reneery of the sea level substack and podcast. Today's episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use the promo code locked on.
Starting point is 00:00:39 That's LocoN for $20 off your first purchase. And on today's show, we're going to give you our takeaways from the Maris Series loss in Anaheim and then answer some of your questions. And I'm dealing with a little bit of a cold here. So if my voice sounds kind of icky, that's why hopefully we'll be through that here in the next couple of days. Ben, thanks so much for hopping on. Appreciate you doing this. Let's get into this unfortunate series loss.
Starting point is 00:01:05 for the Marries down in Anaheim. Another series loss for the Marys down at Anaheim. I don't know what it is about this place. I mean, the Angels have been bad for a long time, but the Marys just can't seem to beat these guys down in their home ballpark. I want to start with a pitching set of things here. Brian Wu was fantastic on Friday.
Starting point is 00:01:26 He's gotten off to a great start this season and continues to prove that he is, in my mind, definitively the best starting pitcher in this rotation. I don't really think there's much of a debate about that at this point. Though I guess Emerson Hancock might have something to say about that through these first two starts. I mean, sheesh. So I actually want to talk about Hancock because like Wu start fantastic, but also not really much to take away there because like it's Brian Wu being Brian Wu, right?
Starting point is 00:01:56 Hancock, though, obviously has the fantastic start against the Guardians. And we're wondering like, okay, is that just kind of like a flash on the pan here? like the Guardians lineup. Obviously they have Jose Ramirez, but that's not a particularly good lineup. I mean, not like the Angels have a particularly great lineup either, but like,
Starting point is 00:02:15 let's see what it looks like on the road. Let's see what it looks like for a second start. And it got off to a very bumpy start there. And the first inning was giving up a lot of hard contact, gave up the leadoff home run to Zach Netto, which proved to be the only run scored in that entire game. Thanks to Joe Adol. Yikes.
Starting point is 00:02:33 But from the first inning onward, though, Hancock really started to settle in. And I think the thing that really stood out to me was the Velo actually kind of stuck for most of the start. Yeah. Which was not the case against Cleveland last week. So what did you think, what did you make of Hancock's start? Yeah, I think it's been, I think we're all going to constantly be on, like, is this real watch with him for a little while? And I think it's real to a certain extent.
Starting point is 00:03:04 Like so far his fastball outside of that first inning in Anaheim, like it's been in good locations. So like if he does have the Velo, that four seamer is playing up pretty well and he's been able to get it to the top rail from that three-quarter slot. Like it could be a very effective pitch. I think so far what we've seen is I don't know. I think we're going to kind of be on,
Starting point is 00:03:28 is this real watch for a little watch? while. But what I do think is he's going to be more viable than he's been in the past as a starter. To what extent that viability is going to continue to exist, I think remains to be seen. What I do think is that he's going to be effective in the bullpen when and if he has to go there. So I think that is number one. Like I think he's shown that with that four seamer sweeper mix, he's got a good mix there, that he can be effective getting out both of the starter. and then eventually I think could be really good as a reliever. I think eventually it's going to be,
Starting point is 00:04:05 he's going to have to have some semblance of the change-up and some semblance of a sinker just to kind of have a little bit more of a pitch mix. But I think it's been super encouraging so far. I don't think you can ask any, you have to keep in mind too, this is their number six starter. See, I mean, from that perspective, if you think at it from that lens,
Starting point is 00:04:28 like he has given you more than enough in these first two starts. And I have to think that it's pretty encouraging. You know, we'll continue to watch and continue to see what this looks like against a really good lineup. I would guess it's going to take a little bit of a step back. But I think it's a real arsenal change. It's a real arm slot change. And I think we've seen some really encouraging things for Emerson, and he's very much given you a chance to win both of his starts so far.
Starting point is 00:04:56 Yeah, yeah. So he gave up three hard hit balls in the first inning. And thankfully, he was able to get out of that with just the one run given up, thanks to a great play by Cal Raleigh on a wild pitch, was able to scoop that ball up and make like a sliding throw to Hancock to nab the runner there at home. And from that point forward,
Starting point is 00:05:15 that just kind of allowed Hancock to settle in, like I said. And again, yeah, the Velo stuck. You know, so he averaged 94.1 on the four-seamer last week against the Guardians. He was up full-tick to 95.1 this time around. And, you know, again, like, I think it was the fourth or fifth inning.
Starting point is 00:05:36 He threw a 97-mile-per-hour fastball. Probably hated a little bit by the weather, too. Yeah. But that's super encouraging, man. Yeah, I was like, wow. Okay. Like, you know, because it was interesting, you know, against the Guardians,
Starting point is 00:05:51 when he went down to kind of averaging like 92, 93, on a couple of the strikeout pitches that he had, he was able to get into his bag and get up to 94. And I was like, okay, that's interesting. That, like, the velocity is still kind of there when he needs it, when he absolutely needs it. But then pulling 97 out, like four innings deep. I think he was like 45 pitches in because he had a really efficient start as well.
Starting point is 00:06:17 I think he, where did he wrap up his night? I know, like, around the sixth inning, he was only at like 68 pitches or something like that. he wrapped up six and two thirds 82 pitches yeah so like super efficient but again yeah like 45 pitches into a start he's throwing 97 like that's not typical and that necessarily that hasn't necessarily been a weather thing for him either like I think about his starts in San Diego Boston and you know where he's going through all different kinds of weather and like the velo you know the velo dipping was still a thing so I don't know this is uh this is really interesting and again it's like like you said it's kind of like a
Starting point is 00:06:55 wait and see a thing like it's a real is how did you describe a real watch is this real watch yeah you still kind of on that because it's like these first two starts are just kind of like all over the place yeah i mean it's definitely it's definitely real to an extent for sure it's just like how real is it going to continue to be i think it is the thing i have no doubts though no doubts and i tweeted this over the weekend that it's going to be effective when and if he's got a transition to the bullpen. Like that's going to be real. I think it's just, you know, when he has to face a really good lineup, like, to what
Starting point is 00:07:30 extent is it real and how effective is it going to be with a more so of a two-pitch mix and how much more can he, you know, can he get debt, tap back into that change up more when he needs it? And, you know, is the two-seamer, you know, can he use that kind of in a similar way that, like, you know, Wu and those guys use their two-seamer to kind of just play off their four-seem fastball. It's also been kind of interesting that over the last couple years, I've really dove into their pitch mixes and kind of what ways the whole staff is going.
Starting point is 00:08:05 They've really leaned into the four-seamer so far this year. And they obviously have some guys with some really good four-seemers, but they've dove into that pitch a lot more. And I have to guess that that's just, you know, they try to get more swing and miss and get that thing back up at the top rail. So it's been pretty encouraging so far. And then, you know, Friday's episode, we were wondering, like, all right, how are both Hancock and Luis Castio going to follow up their first starts, which were fantastic? Well, Emerson Hancock, I think, passed with flying colors.
Starting point is 00:08:39 Luis Castio, not so much. Now, he obviously didn't have some help and some key situations from his defense yesterday. But for the most part, yeah, he was nowhere near as effective as he was against the Yankees. the VILA was a smidge down average wise but overall the fastball which really interesting because the Angels they mentioned this a lot on the broadcast yesterday over the course of the game
Starting point is 00:09:05 Angels have not been a particularly good fastball hitting team but they were smoking his fastball yesterday consistently and it put him into quite a bit of trouble I mean this start almost kind of went like a lot of Logan Gilbert's starts over the last calendar year where, you know, it feels like he's on the doorstep of getting out of an inning. And then a couple of two out hits happen. And suddenly his pitch count gets ballooned and he's kind of having to play catch up.
Starting point is 00:09:35 And it's kind of what happened with Castillo yesterday. And again, yeah, the fastball just got smoked. Fastball command was not anywhere near as good as it was against the Yankees. A lot more misses with slider as well. Just overall kind of a regressive day for Luis. But, you know, Angel Stadium. I mentioned this on Friday. It's been kind of a house of horrors for him.
Starting point is 00:09:56 He's pitched overall really well against the Angels in his career. I think it was like, I think they showed on the broadcast yesterday. It's like a two, five, three career ERA against the Angels. But an Angel Stadium specifically going into yesterday started, I think it was like a 497 ERA. So that just kind of continued for him. Yeah, I think a big part of Castillo too is like, how does he perform out of the stretch? He struggles out of the stretch sometimes and he just, he just finds,
Starting point is 00:10:22 he didn't have to pitch out of the stretch a lot against the Yankees. And he was super effective. And he kind of got into the stretch. And he doesn't always, sometimes he just doesn't have it out of the stretch as well. And he's usually able to kind of, he's very good usually at minimizing damage overall. But it balloons his pitch count when he just falls into these deep counts super often out of the stretch. And that's just kind of something that's just kind of who he is at this point. but it's going to happen from time to time.
Starting point is 00:10:52 I still think he's really good. I still think, you know, the VLO is still encouraging at this point in the year. Just not his best start ever, obviously, yesterday. All right. We will get into more of our takeaways from the series, and then we will answer some of your questions in just a moment. But first reminder,
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Starting point is 00:12:53 episode add free and get access to our private listener group chat. Tap the link in the description and use the promo code finally to claim your free month. All right. So we've talked about Emerson Hancock and Luis Castillo, their starts and kind of how, you know, different directions. Those two guys went against the angels. What else do you want to talk about from the series? Because a lot happened.
Starting point is 00:13:13 Obviously, there's the Joe Adele of it all. There's a lot of offensive struggles, even though they, you know, scored seven runs. There was, I mean, yesterday in general is just such a. a sloppy, sloppy game. You know, I tweeted this after the game. They were very fortunate to keep that game competitive and obviously props to them for being able to make a couple of comebacks in that one yesterday. But I mean, I feel like a better team would have buried them after all the mistakes that
Starting point is 00:13:40 they made yesterday. Defensive miscues. Again, two out hits and two out RBI. Getting picked off. Like just a lot of, a lot of sloppy baseball. And basically every facet of the game yesterday. day. So where do you want to go with this? I'll give you the floor. What are some other takeaways from the series? I think it is, they're kind of at the point where a lot of people seem to be
Starting point is 00:14:05 searching for like trying to blame things on different areas. I think this ultimately comes down to if your best players don't play well, you are probably not going to play well. And I think it's just as simple as that. Like their best players are not going to be this bad for the whole season. It's just not, it's just not going to happen. And you know what's funny to? We're just like kind of ironic.
Starting point is 00:14:32 Is that like, you know, I assume specifically you're talking about that 2, 3, 4 stack, right? That's the area of this club that we've mostly focused on. You know, the two times that they've gotten, you know, hero moments out of Julio, they've lost. Yep. Yep.
Starting point is 00:14:49 Okay. Cool. And Cal. set that up too somehow yeah so so even so even when that two three four stack is coming through like it's still just it feels like it's not coming together it's been it's been just really sloppy bad baseball in some ways just kind of early season stuff um that's been really bad i think it's actually somewhat encouraging that they've been able to like kind of you know every game has been close and they've played pretty terribly um overall defensively offensively offensively like the runners in scoring position and woes have just been been so bad. I think there's several very encouraging things. I think Cole Young has to be, I mean, that has just been so massive, his ability to carry the offense. Against lefties, too, primarily.
Starting point is 00:15:41 Against lefties, defensively, he's made some big plays that I think of overall saved innings and saved runs. So I think his development so far this year has been, extremely encouraging. But like, you know, they can, you can search for, I saw people blaming, you know, the platoon situations. And I saw people blaming all kinds of things, the bullpen and all kinds of situations. And, you know, in those first couple games of the year, I do think it was somewhat of the bullpen, you know, kind of letting some things up and maybe some bullpen management decisions causing those losses. But for the most part, in sports, if your best play,
Starting point is 00:16:21 players do not play well. You're not going to play well. And their best players just aren't in a good spot right now. And it's not, it's not, I don't think Cal Raleigh is going to go, you know, the whole year without hard hit balls or like, you know, whiffing at a whatever it is, a 60% rate on on forcing fast balls. I think, um, that kind of stuff will figure itself out. I think it's been encouraging enough that they've, you know, been able to get some help from other guys and other guys have have stepped up obviously the overall results are the standard is higher than that now and we all know that um and these guys will figure it out i know it's frustrating because you know you want to see cow build off the um off of the near MVP season and you want to see Julio kill the early season
Starting point is 00:17:06 um Julio woes that have have plagued his basically entire career but you know it will come together at some point um and i think there's plenty you know Brendan Donovan i think is been, you know, obviously the little injury thing. Hopefully you can get back in the lineup today. I think that'd be huge because him setting the table at the top of the lineup is so big for this team. So they need to get him back. And overall, I kind of want to just continue to see where he's at defensively at third base. I'm sure we're going to talk about that a little bit later. But I think, you know, I want him to get back in the lineup so you can have obviously one of your best hitters and your table setter who's been swinging the bat well.
Starting point is 00:17:49 I think you need to get him at the top of the lineup again. And he just needs to continue to see reps at third base and continue to get those angles. You know, some of the some of the drop step stuff and the angles at third base have been, you know, a little tricky for him. But I don't think it's been, you know, completely disastrous. I think there's been some growing pains and there will continue to be some growing pains. But I don't think it's this thing where it's like, I think sometimes we think of these players as like, robots where they can just like, yep, you just plug him in over there and he'll be
Starting point is 00:18:20 solid right away. They're professional baseball players. Yeah. It's hard. It's the other side of the infield. He played a lot of outfield last year. And second base is completely different than third base. The footwork is different.
Starting point is 00:18:32 Some of the drop steps that you have to take are different on giving ground on some of those balls to your glove side or going to a backhand and stopping and making that long throw across is very different than the second base position. So I think there's been some encouraging stuff, obviously some discouraging stuff. But I think ultimately it will even out in some ways. And hopefully they can get the offense on track in a place where I feel like they've had some, I guess I don't know this numbers-wise, but I feel like Texas has been a pretty good spot for some of these guys. I think Cal specifically has had some pretty good numbers.
Starting point is 00:19:08 And I think Julio as well. Yeah. And obviously they're going to be facing the meat and potatoes of that ranger. rotation, but like they've actually had some success against DeGrom. They've actually kind of owned Avaldi over the last three years, which is crazy. He's a bad in his first couple starts. Yeah. And that guy typically, you know, outside of these first couple starts,
Starting point is 00:19:29 like typically that guy doesn't get owned by anyone, but the Barrens have kind of had his number over the last few years. So, and then we'll see how the, you know, the McKenzie Gore of it all goes. But yeah, hopefully this is, you know, an opportunity for them to get right. Because I feel like we have seen some some positive signs that like it feels like they are starting to turn the corner it's just not all the way there and some of the issues that have been prevalent over the first 10 games have still popped up here and there like again like cal you know striking out with the basis load of yesterday and the 11th but yeah um all right let's let's uh let's get into these questions
Starting point is 00:20:04 so jeff wants to know who should be hitting second uh cal looks lost at the plate so i i assume this is like Assuming that Brennan Donovan is back in the lineup and he's hitting one. So who should hit two? It's tough, man, because, like, I do think you really should break up the Cal, Julio, Naler stack right now. Specifically, Cal and Julio, I just don't think you should be having those guys hit back to back right now until they start to figure it out. But also, you know, for as good as Luke Rayleigh's been to start the year, he also strikes out a ton. It's just like I mostly want to break up the strikeouts. So and like it kind of feels like the only way to do that though is to bump up Cole Young who's also struck out quite a bit to start the year.
Starting point is 00:20:52 But I feel like he's the guy I kind of trust most. I don't know. Yeah, it's hard. You might want to leave him alone for right now and just let him. Yeah. Like I want to leave. Yeah, I want to leave him alone. And then like do I really want to bump up J.P. to the second spot?
Starting point is 00:21:08 You know, him just like three games at the returning to the lineup. No, not really. And it's like, okay, I could bump up Naler to the two spot. But then Cal and Julio and Randy are going to be stacked together. And that's a lot of strikeouts there. And you have a big lefty stack going at the top there. Yeah. So this isn't to say keep things as is.
Starting point is 00:21:31 But it kind of feels like you're just going to have to live with a high strikeout stack somewhere in your lineup, no matter what you do. Yeah. I kind of think a way that they could do this. to maybe give Julio a day off in this series, I think might be a little helpful, just kind of break up that stack. I think that would be nice. And then you just bump up, I think, Randy, into that spot.
Starting point is 00:21:55 So probably in one of these first two games, I think I would just give Julio a breather. Although he was a little better in that Angel series, I don't think it would hurt him, you know, to give him a day off. He was kind of, I think he's fine, but he was kind of flexing that wrist a little bit in one of those games.
Starting point is 00:22:10 I don't know if it was yesterday or Saturday or whatever. every day that was. But I think it's hard because I would consider bringing Nailer up or Randy up to the two spot for a game or two because those guys have looked better than Julio and Cal, I think, right now. It might just be, Cal is just very, his swing is just out of sorts a little bit right now. He's just the fastball timing is off. The sequencing is just a little all over the place right now.
Starting point is 00:22:41 And when I say sequencing, I mean his swing is not sequencing the way that we've seen Cal. Like you just don't see the same, you know, consistency and flow in his swing that you normally see. Things are firing just a little out of order right now. And it's, I think, partially because it's not being a ball. No, no. And you see it. Like the barrel is not near the ball on some of these spots in the zone. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:23:06 And so I think it would be good to maybe, you know, maybe for a game or two, just kind of lessen the amount of at bats he's going to get, maybe drop him down to the four or five spots. It's still a pressure spot. You're not going to drop Cal Raleigh down to the eight spot and just be like, here you go. It's not like a high school lineup or something where you can bump him down to the eight spot.
Starting point is 00:23:26 And you're like, all right, you're probably going to get more fastballs down there. Like, no, it's, or fastballs are his struggle right now. Anyways.
Starting point is 00:23:33 And also like, I still want to be able to give these guys plenty of opportunities to try and work through their things. Like, I don't want to just limit Cal to probably three at bats a game, you know? Yeah. So I think the guys at the bottom of the lineup have got on base for the most part. And I think it's just putting a lot of stress on his struggles right now because he's coming up with runners in scoring position or runners on base pretty consistently.
Starting point is 00:24:00 And it's just making those flaws right now even more loud. Yeah. So, yeah, I think ultimately he'll figure it out. ultimately you got to keep putting them out there but i think a hulio day off in the series might just be good just to get you know i don't know reset things a little bit yeah throw luke raley out there um in center field or whatever the case may be and uh get dom canzo in the lineup also so yeah i think they can do some things kind of give some guys some days off it's kind of the thing that they the beautiful part about having a lot of guys that need at bats is is you can do that from time to time yeah
Starting point is 00:24:35 So I think if you're looking for a lineup change though It would likely be Rayleigh hitting two and then Cal probably push down to five Ideally you would push Cal down to five because at least you can break up him and Julio hitting back to back with Naler In between the two, but But again, you know obviously Rayleigh comes with his own strikeout issues. So we'll see I mean in a way You just kind of have to deal with it and you kind of just have to deal with it and you kind of just have to stick by your guys. But,
Starting point is 00:25:08 yeah, I'm, you know, I'm not opposed to, to line up changes and trying something new here. Obviously, talked about this on Thursday last week that, like,
Starting point is 00:25:19 you know, you should probably break up that stack. But again, it's just like, if you break up that stack, there's probably going to still be another high strikeout stack somewhere in your lineup. It's just something that you're going to have to live with.
Starting point is 00:25:29 All right. We'll answer more of your questions in just a moment. But first, a reminder, this episode of the Locktime Marries podcast is brought to you by TurboTex. It's tax time, but for a lot of us, the old way of doing taxes is a lot. Trying to book an appointment that's not the most convenient, sitting in a waiting room with a stack of papers,
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Starting point is 00:26:20 Head to turbotax.com slash local to find a store near you and book your appointment. And you're listening to the Locktime Airs podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Let's get back into your questions here on Mailbag Monday. Code Mo once now. What are your thoughts on Jose Ferre so far this season? I feel like it's been a little it's a little frustrating
Starting point is 00:26:45 because I feel like it's been a little misleading. I haven't watched him and been like this is terrible or anything like that. I just feel like it's been a little unlucky. Probably still figuring out the best ways to use him, the best spots to use him. But I feel like some of the batted ball luck
Starting point is 00:27:04 has been not great. I feel like there's been some specifically some issues with some third base defense in times when he's been in there. I mean, listen to the ex of Velos against him yesterday. 75.2, 74.1. That was a double. 81.1. There was a sackbunt, so 34 off the bat there. 66.9. And then a 96.4 mile per hour single off the bat of Adam Frazier, who had three hits yesterday. of course. Remember when Adam Fraser hit that game-winning home run against them in Kansas City last year?
Starting point is 00:27:42 That was fun. Oh, my God. It was pretty funny to see Julio tag on a routine fly ball to left field, just run right in his face. Like, hey, dude, you can't throw me out. That was pretty funny. Ultimately, they didn't win. He was kind of a reason why. But I feel like Ferrer has been fine.
Starting point is 00:28:01 Like, I'm not, I understand the frustration. with it because the results haven't been there. But I don't think this is some catastrophic thing where it's like this guy, you know, doesn't look anything like, I feel like there's been a lot of good things. And I feel like the Mariners haven't soured on what he is or what he can be whatsoever. I feel like the results just haven't necessarily matched how well he's pitched, which is frustrating in a small sample size at the beginning of the year, especially when you're not playing well.
Starting point is 00:28:32 Those are just going to be magnified or amplified. So yeah, I mean like you know, he's faced eight lefties four of them have gotten hits against them. Like that's obviously very frustrating. But you know, I feel like yesterday was a great example of what we spent all offseason talking about with a guy like Ferrarum. Just kind of how the the Mariners have built their their bullpen is like they have a lot of these high ground ball guys. But that's kind of a misalignment with what their defense ultimately is. And they got put on full display yesterday. So yeah, that's a bit frustrating, but it's also a bit of like, well, kind of saw that coming.
Starting point is 00:29:13 So, yeah, I mean, again, like you said, like, I don't think the numbers have been, or I mean, I don't think that he's been necessarily bad. The numbers have obviously been really bad. But like some things that you can hang your hat on here with forer and just hopefully it starts to look a bit better. But yeah, I'm not, I'm not concerned about him. It's just, yeah, like you said, it's been a little. disappointing so far and some of these things have just kind of been out of his hands as well like yesterday like i really don't blame him much for for how yesterday went no no it's not like i haven't watched him and been like this guy looks so bad this is not at all what we thought they were getting i think this
Starting point is 00:29:51 you see the stuff you see the velo uh you see some of the stuff on his office feet pitches and the other thing is like you know to a certain extent i kind of talk about this with um you know some of the guys they send down to Tacoma or whatever in the beginning of the year that shows some promise. Sometimes it takes a little bit for these guys in their pitch mixes and their changes that the pitching lab is trying. Sometimes it takes a little bit for those to seep in. And maybe they do find a way to unlock a little more swing and miss with pitch mixes or other things. So yeah, no, I don't blame for air too much. I don't think it's necessarily his fault. I think it's just a victim of small sample size, high expectation and some bad luck.
Starting point is 00:30:30 I'm the Audi wants to know. Am I crazy to wonder why the team doesn't move the zombie runner to third base every time? If a batter hit a double to lead off an extra inning, you'd move him along every time. Why didn't we do that in the 11th? I mean, you know me. I'm not a huge fan of giving up free outs, but especially on the road. Like on the road, you need to be on the attack. And I mean, you saw exactly why you need to do that yesterday because you only score one run in that situation.
Starting point is 00:30:57 Well, the angels can easily tie it up. and then they've reset things more so in their favor. Right. Like when Oh, Hoppe hit that sack fly, what that ultimately did was, obviously extended to the game, but what it ultimately did was,
Starting point is 00:31:11 and now forced the Maris to come up to bat again with Cole Young, Mitch Garver, and Leo Rivas due up, and the Angels, top of the lineup, do up the next turn. So, like, that, like, while the Angels didn't necessarily win the game in that moment,
Starting point is 00:31:28 they kind of did. Like they put themselves in a much more favorable position than the Marrins were in. So, yeah, if you're the road team, you've got to be on the attack. And so I have no issue with how the Marrins approached both extra ratings yesterday as the road team. Yeah, they've had a lot of issues with runners in scoring position anyways. So again, I think it just magnifies that stuff. And when you don't have a team, at least right now, I think they're better suited to do this than they were last year. but when you don't have a team that's high contact,
Starting point is 00:32:02 then it's like, all right, well, you know, I can move them over to third base, but if the next guy strikes out, I get there's more ways to access a run from that position with a runner on third base and one out. You know, maybe yesterday I can understand why that maybe is a situation where you would want a bun because you just don't have a lot of guys swinging the bat super well.
Starting point is 00:32:23 So you just kind of with your bullpen, you know, pretty rested and with all your dudes available to access, that actually might be a situation where you might want to think about doing it, but overall it's just not something that, it's situation dependent, I think, in a lot of ways. And it depends on who's up with that runner on second base and no outs. And can that person actually get a bunt down? Because otherwise, you might be wasting two strikes in an app that bet where that guy's probably just not very good at it.
Starting point is 00:32:56 Like, that also might be the case. It's just very situation dependent. And it's frustrating. It's one of those things where you might be wrong either way, especially when you're just not swinging the bats well at all. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you make a great point there. That's also assuming that you can even get the bunt down
Starting point is 00:33:15 and it's going to do its job, right? Like, what was it a couple of nights ago? Leo Rivas tried to lay down a punt and he wasn't able to do it. Like, the mirrors don't really have a lot of guys that I trust to lay down a butt with any sort of. consistency. It's really Luke Rayleigh. And I mostly want Luke Rayleigh swinging for the fences in those situations. So, yeah, I mean, like, Victor Robles hasn't been particularly good at it. Leo Rebaugh hasn't been. Maybe Josh Naylor, but are you really going to ask Josh
Starting point is 00:33:42 Naylor to button when like the other team knows it's coming? Like, probably not. Like, I think another has to swing in the bat. So yeah, yeah. I don't know, man. Also, do you really want to play like, do you really want to play like a 13 inning game? where you're just getting the one run in, then the other team gets the one run, then you just go back and forth and you burn all your bullpen guys. Like early in the air, probably not.
Starting point is 00:34:06 You probably want to just go for that kill shot, especially like you said on the road. All right. Well, that's going to do it for our show. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Locktime Marr's podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Once again, if you never miss an episode,
Starting point is 00:34:19 it's time to make it official. Join the Lockdown Every Day or Club and get ad-free audio access to our members only Discord and more, all built for our most loyal fans. for Ben Reneery. I'm Tiding Gonzalez. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L0 underscore Mariner's. You can follow me at Tadine Gonzalez and Ben at Ben at Ben Reneery 10. We're also on Blue Sky. You can follow me at TDG, Ben at Ben Reneery MLB in the show at Lockdown Mariners. You can also find us on Instagram and TikTok at Lockdown Mariners.
Starting point is 00:34:43 Have yourself a beautiful baseball day and we'll see you next time. Peace.

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