Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Game One, Win One

Episode Date: April 2, 2021

The Mariners began the 2021 season with a victory... which was kind of handed to them by the Giants. D.C. talks about last night's game, including the impressive performances by both Jake Fraley and Taylor Trammell, who was making his Major League debut. He also talks about Kevin Gausman's game, and talks about why he thinks he may have been removed from the game too soon. 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 does his best to remain coherent and awake. Welcome to Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Here's your host, D.C. Lundberg. Yes, indeed. Thank you very much. Joey Martin, win number one for the Seattle Mariners last night. We're going to talk about that today on Locked-on Mariners. Of course, part of the Locked-on podcast network, or T-L-O-P-N, or T-Lopin, or T-Lopin, brought to you by the locker room. Please remember to download, rate, and follow this show,

using 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 Tlappin. Yes, indeed, Mariner's first win last night. I'm not so sure it was a... I'm not so sure that the Mariners won the ball game or the Giants handed it to the Mariners, quite honestly. But a win is a win, and we will absolutely take it.

and a pretty impressive debut from Taylor Tremel as well, despite the fact that he never got a hit. And Jake Fraley also turned in a pretty nice ballgame. Starting for the Mariners was Marco Gonzalez, and he did not have a typical Marco Gonzalez outing. He walked the first batter of the ballgame. He walked seven men all last year and walked three men today, although one of them was intentional.

Walked the first batter of the ball game, but he was later erased on a double play. So Marco does indeed turn in a one-year. two, three inning. Kevin Gosman also turned into a one, two, three inning in the first for the San Francisco Giants. He was very impressive. More on him later. Second inning is where things really started to go awry for Marco Gonzalez. Evan Longoria led off the inning with a home run to the opposite field. The pitch wasn't that bad. It was kind of, it was low and away on the lower outside corner. Longoria still was able to get the barrel on it and write it out to right field. Two outs later, Buster Posey homered.

This pitch hit the inside corner, but was just above the belt, and Posey was able to drive it out to left field for a home run and a 2-0-0 Giants lead. Giant would attack on one more in the fourth, with Wilmer Flores doubling home Donovan Solano, and two more would follow in the fifth, a one-out solo home run off the bat of Austin Slater, and a Brandon Belt double, which scored Solano, and the Giants had a 5-0 advantage at this point. M's would finally get on the board in the 7th. Evan White led off with a double. Taylor Tremel advanced him to third on a groundout. Then Dylan Moore popped one out to dead center field, breaking his bat in the process, scoring White on a sack fly for the first mariner run of 2021. Kevin Gosman was removed from the game at this point, and I'm going to talk about that later on in the show.

The Giants got that run right back, though, on the top of the eighth. With the runners at first and second and one out, Brandon Crawford hit a roll. to his shortstop counterpart, J.P. Crawford, who made a nice play just to get to the ball, but then he threw it away. Wilmer Flores scored from second base, and the Giants had a six-one lead. Then the bottom of the eighth, and things got fun. Former Mariner Matt Whistler came in from the Giants' pen to pitch this inning, and, well, let's just go through the inning. J.P. Crawford led off with a walk. A single from Mitch Hanigur would follow, then a bloop single from Thai France. The Mariners had the bases loaded,

with no one out, and Matt Whistler exited the ball game, surrendering the mound to Harlan Garcia. Wissler had problems finding the strike zone, and Garcia would continue this trend. In fact, he almost hit the first batter he faced, Kyle Seeger, in the shoulder or head area, twice. Seeger worked a walk for a gift-wrapped RBI, and the tying run came to the plate, still with nobody away. It was Evan White's turn, and while he did work the count full, He waved at a slider off the inside part of the plate and headed back to the dugout, empty-handed. That brought up Taylor Tremel, making his Major League debut. He worked the M's second-bases-loaded walk of the inning, making Garcia throw eight pitches.

I'll speak more about Tremel's debut and this specific at bat later on in the program. I was impressed. Garcia was then pulled in favor of submarine right-hander, Taylor Rogers. The first pitch he offered to Dylan Moore was smoked down the right-field line. scoring France and Seeger, and this brought the M's back to within one run. Jake Fraley was then hit by a pitch to reload the bases, bringing up Jose Marmalejos, pitch hitting for Tom Murphy. I was thinking, and even said out loud,

anything but a double play. Well, Marmo grounded one right to first baseman Brandon Belt, but his throw to second to force out Frey was way off the mark. Tremel came in to score the tying run, and Dylan Moore came around from second to score, and the Mariners had a 7-6 lead. It was scored a fielder's choice, and while it may not have been a double play ball had it been thrown cleanly, Moore surely would not have scored from second base, and the game would have only been tied.

The next two guys make out, but man, what a fun inning. Six runs, a one-rud lead going into the top of the ninth, which was entrusted to new closer, Raphael Montero. But unfortunately, Montero gave me Bobby. a flashbacks, as he hung a change-up to the first man he faced, pinch-hitter Alex Dickerson, who did exactly what he should have with it, take it out of the yard for a game-tying home run. A ground-out and two strikeouts did follow,

but Montero earned a blown save in his Mariners debut. I was really hoping that the Mariners would win it in the bottom of the ninth, because I did not want to have to be subjected to that stupid free-runner rule in the first game of the season, but they went down in short order, which ended up. the baseball game, and a vaguely similar game with T-ball rules took over at this point. Anthony Masevich went out to the mound for the 10th inning for the Mariners, with Evan Longoria serving as the free runner on second base for the Giants.

Brandon Belt was the first man up, and he did probably the worst thing he could have in this situation strike out. He did not put the ball in play, did not move the runner over. It was not a productive out. Wilmer Flores then grounded out, but he grounded to the left side of the infield, so Longoria had to stay put. Buster Posey flew out to Manager in right field for a quick top of the 10th inning. Evan White was the Mariners' free runner to begin the 10th, and in from the giant's bullpen

came Jose Alvarez, and he would continue the parade of giant relievers who had trouble throwing strikes. Taylor Tremel drew another walk to start things off and things were looking good. I said to my roommate that it would be apropos if the Mariners won with a walk-off walk, considering how the eighth inning went. Dylan Moore was next, and he also walked bringing up Jake Fraley, who wouldn't have even been on the opening day roster, if not for Kyle Lewis's injury. Alvarez threw him pretty much nothing but sliders off the plate,

none of which Ace Fraley offered at. On a 3-1 count, Alvarez threw one in the dirt away, bringing in white from third, and the Mariners walk it off with a walk, an 8-7 victory to open up 2021. I'll talk about the pitching lines and some of the players involved with this game a little bit later on, but now it's time for the trivia corner and today a trivia question. Marco Gonzalez had a very un-Marco Gonzalez-like game last night.

When was the last time he walked three batters and surrendered three home runs in a game? Answer following this from betonline.ag. Bet online is the fastest and easiest way to bet on all your sports action. Football might be over, but college basketball, NBA, and NFL are in full swing, and baseball's in progress too, gang. World curling championships start tonight, all day coverage tomorrow on the Olympic channel, I'm so excited.

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Head over to the website or use your mobile device. I'm talking like Clive Braithway to the fourth now, mobile device. to sign up today and receive your 50% welcome bonus on your first deposit. Bet online your online sports book experts promo code locked on. Answer to the trivia question. The last time Marco Gonzalez walked three and gave up three home runs in a game? Never.

He's never done that at the Major League level before. Last year he didn't walk more than one batter in any given ballgame, although he did allow three home runs on August 5th against the Dodge Still, he won that ball game, and lest you forget, the Dodgers just masked pretty much the whole season. Coming up, two Mariners made their Major League debuts last night. I will tell you about both gentlemen while I try to remain reasonably awake. Now back to Lockdown Mariners and your host, D.C. Lunger. Thank you very much, J.M.

Ladies and gentlemen, get all the sports news you need in under 20 minutes every morning with the Locked On Today podcast. Host Peter Bikowski updates you on the latest news. in every major sport with the help of our locked-on local experts. Follow the Locked-on Today podcast today on the Odyssey app or wherever you choose to get your podcasts. Speaking more about the Mariners 8-7 victory over the San Francisco Giants last night at home in Seattle, pitching lines will go over Marco Gonzalez, who's pitching line. Again, a very un-Marco-Gonzalez-like game from him last night. He did pitch six innings.

He gave up eight hits, five runs. They were all earned. He walked three. One of them was intentional. He struck out two. He's not going to have a high strikeout total. And he did surrender three home runs. Also very, very unusual for Marco Gonzalez.

Casey Sadler pitched a very impressive seventh inning. Will Vest made his major league debut. He pitched the eighth inning. And he was kind of shaky. He had trouble finding the strike zone. You'd think he'd be coming out of the Giants bullpen with that. but no, he's a Mariners pitcher. He did only give up one run which was unearned,

which scored on that J.P. Crawford throwing error. He struck out one, walked one, and allowed one hit. Raphael Montero had the ninth inning. We already spoke about that. He gave up that home run, but he got the next three guys in succession, two of whom he struck out. Anthony Mosevic pitched the one, two, three, 10th inning for the Mariners,

earned his first Major League win. Kevin Gosman started for the Giants and man did he look good. Six and two-thirds innings, 90 pitches only for him, only two hits allowed, one run, it was earned, two walks and six strikeouts. Caleb Baragar came in to clean up the seventh inning for Gosman, allowed a walk, and struck out the only other battered he faced. Matt Whistler came in to pitch the eighth inning for the Giants, wound up not getting anybody out. He was tagged with three of those runs, all of them earned. Harlan Garcia pitched a third of an inning, struck out the only out that he recorded, gave up two walks, was tagged with two more runs given up.

Taylor Rogers allowed one run. It was unearned and also a hit that double by Dylan Moore we spoke of, and he pitches two-thirds of an inning. In the ninth inning, the Giants call upon Jake McGee, and he pitched a one-two-three ninth inning, striking out one batter. And then, of course, Jose Alvarez did not record it out in his ninth inning, was tagged with the loss after walking the only three batters that he faced and forced in forced in the winning run, and since the winning run was the free runner, it is not an earned run.

This is something that I learned that if the free runner scores, it is not an earned run. I want to talk about Kevin Gosman for a little bit, or at least Gabe Kapler's management of Gosman and his pitching staff. I don't understand why he was removed from the game. I'm not going to say he was cruising, but he was still doing very well, and the Mariners could not seem to do much against him. even at that point in the ballgame. He had only thrown 90 pitches, which seems to me like a low total,

especially from your number one starter, even for opening day. Now, I'm not saying that he should have finished the ball game or thrown 165 pitches or something like that, but it looked to me as if he was still effective and that he was removed prematurely. I had a feeling as if the Mariners were going to make Kapler pay for pulling Gosman so soon,

and I turned out to be right. Just about everyone he ran out there had trouble throwing, throwing strikes, and generally when you pull your starter early, when he's doing well, the bullpen has a tendency to come in and blow the game for you. You see what your pitcher out there on the mound in the game is doing. And unless you don't like what you see, you got to leave him in unless he's thrown a ton of pitches. And I don't consider 90 a ton of pitches, even for opening day.

You never know what a fresh pitcher coming in from the bullpen is going to give you. throwing and warming up the bullpen is much different than pitching in a game. And it happens all the time. Even a starting pitcher, he'll warm up great in the bullpen and then come in and, you know, be done after two and two thirds after giving seven runs. Or he could warm up really poorly and come in and just blow everybody away. Nolan Ryan did that. There's actually one specific story with Nolan Ryan.

Before one game in his Texas Rangers days, he just warmed up awful. He went to his manager, Bobby Valentine, and said, you better have somebody ready to go quick. I don't know how long I'm going to last in this ballgame, and this just might be it. Bobby Valentine later recalled that Nolan Ryan even looked awful. He was very pale, and he was very worried, and Nolan Ryan wound up pitching a no-hitter that day.

So you never, never know. You just never know what's going to happen to a pitcher between the bullpen and the game mound. You never know what's going to happen when you bring in a fresh arm, and this game is a perfect existence. of that. In a way, it reminds me of the day James Paxton was cruising a few years ago, struck out 16 batters, no one seemed to be able to touch him. But he was pulled from the game early while he was still very sharp, and the bullpen threw that game away. It's frustrating

to see, and honestly, this is one that the Giants really just kind of gave away, and I'm going to try to give Kapler the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he saw something in Gosman that he didn't like. Maybe the pitching coach said, yeah, you're starting to drop his shoulder. He is starting to get tired. And I might have missed that, obviously, because I'm not a pitching coach. So maybe they did see something and they wanted to go get him. But man, did the bullpen just give the game to the Mariners. We'll take the win.

I'm very happy this wound up in the win column. But if you're a Giants fan, this one had to have stung. If you have a question or a comment, you would like me to address on the air, do not hesitate to send it into lockdown mariners at gmail.com. Questions and comments on any subject are welcome and encouraged. Keep them appropriate, though this is a family show. That's really the only stipulation. The other one is, I don't discuss politics on the show. I haven't said that in a while. I don't remember where I heard this, and I picked this up before I got into podcasting, and that is, if you discuss politics on the air, you are automatically

going to piss off half your audience. I don't want to piss off half my audience. I don't want to piss off half my audience. That is why I refrain from talking about that on the air. Questions and comments on any other subject, though, just as long as our family appropriate, are welcome and again, highly encouraged. Coming up, is a member of the Giants coaching staff the prime suspect in a series of arson fires dating back to the mid-90s? No, but I bet I've got your attention now, don't I? First, this from Bilt Bar, and the votes are in, ladies and gentlemen, you have decided which is the best tasting protein bar in the history of protein bars.

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protein bars in the history of greatest things. Builtbar.com promo code Locked 15, L-O-C-K-E-D-1-5 for 15% off your next order. Bilt Bar, we'll leave the light on for you. Welcome back to Lockdown Mariners. Here once again is your host, D.C. Lundberg. Thank you, J.M. Those out there in podcast land, if you are the type of baseball fan that cannot help but get giddy over prospects, then we have the perfect podcast for you.

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This is Odyssey, a podcasting app. A-U-D-A-C-Y. In the last part of the show, I want to talk about the two young outfielders, Taylor Tremel and Jake Fraley. We'll start with a young man making his Major League debut, and that's Taylor Tremel. Remember, gang, going into spring training, he was pretty much a long shot to make the opening day roster.

Well, he did not get a base hit last night. I think he still turned in a very good game. He walked twice, and I'll talk about the first one a bit more in depth in a little bit, and also recorded his first outfield assist. With Pedro Solano on first base and no one out in the fourth, Evan Longoria smoked a low-line drive into the right center field gap. Tremel had a ways to run to get to the ball. Longoria headed for second base,

and Tremel's throw to J.P. Crawford covering second was strong and accurate, and Longo was out. That was a very important first out in that inning. His first at-bat in the second went by very quickly. He popped out on the first pitch that he saw. Might have been a little nervous. That's understandable. And I thought that this great play that he had in the fourth inning might settle him down a little bit.

His eighth inning played appearance was most impressive. He was 0 for 3 with a strikeout at that point. And the bases were loaded with one out. And he was the tying run, no less. Harlan Garcia was not sharp. and Tramel showed good patience. A lot of the time a young kid who wants to make an impression will try to do too much. But Tramel stayed within himself, so to speak.

Prior to the at-bat, I said to the TV, Don't swing it unless it's in the middle of the zone. I'm sure that he could not hear me from 300 miles away, but he did take the first pitch, which clipped to the outside corner for a strike. And I thought that was a very good take and showed very good patience. A lot of young hitters would have offered it that. and sent it weakly to left field. He did just miss a couple of hanging pitches that he could have crushed a fastball in a slider,

but to his credit, he hung in there, put it behind him, and made Garcia throw eight pitches while drawing a well-earned basis-loaded walk in his first Major League RBI. He also walked in the 10th inning. I liked what I saw from Tremel today. I thought he had a very good game despite the fact that he was 0 for 3. And I think Jake Fraley, or Ace Fraley, as I like to call him, had a good game as well. He has something to prove also.

He has played a handful of games at the Big League level the last two seasons and really wasn't very good. And last season, he was considered a shoe-in to make the Big League roster, but performed so badly in summer camp that he began the season at the alternate training site. He was also in line for the starting left field job this spring, but really got off to a bad start. It didn't help that Tramell and Jared Kelmick both had very good springs. So even if he started okay, he may not have won the job. Tremel may have gotten it anyway.

And Fraley did finish pretty well. I liked the swing he put on the ball in his first at bat, which wound up being a flyout to deep left field. And he also walked three times, once with the bases loaded, and he was hit by a pitch. Again, I liked what I saw out of ace today. I hope he's put it all together. And if he has, then the Mariners will start.

certainly have an embarrassment of riches in the outfield with tremel ace kyle lewis when he returns jared kelnick probably later on this season and veteran mitch hanager there obviously will not be room for all of them on the big league roster and i'll be curious to see what the mariners do with this plethora of talent you can't move any of them to first base evan white is there i'm wondering if they would employ a four-man outfield of sorts with four of them rotating between starting in the outfield and at DH. That means that Thai France would have to have a regular defensive position, maybe third base,

which would take away the possibility of having Dylan Moore and Shedlong Jr. in the starting lineup at the same time. I'm getting way ahead of myself here. That's a topic for several months from now, and at this time, I think we're going to call it a day. Next show will be Monday. Early next week, we'll be doing a crossover with Locked-on Padres, where I will join Javier Reyes.

I don't know if that'll be Monday's program or a little bit later on in the week, but I'm guessing it probably will be Monday since we're taping it this afternoon. Taping it? We don't tape these things since we are recording it this afternoon. My goodness of my old fashion. In the interim, please remember to download rate and follow this program. Look for us on any podcasting app that springs to mind. Also, happy early birthday to Lockdown Mariners contributor John Miller.

His birthday is tomorrow, so go ahead and tweet. him at Seattle Pilots 69 and wish him a happy birthday. Thank you for listening to today's show. Enjoy the rest of the Giant Series, ladies and gentlemen, and the curling world championships begin this weekend as well. Pretty much all-day coverage on Olympic Channel on Saturday. You know I will be glued to the TV for that. Also, the Olympic Channel is re-airing the 2018 Olympic Gold Medal game that we won over Sweden

tonight at 6 p.m. I am so excited. I failed to DVR it back then. so I will finally get a chance to save it for posterity. John Schuster's 5-point end in the 8th. It was so excited. Anyways, sorry for the rambling outro. Baseball is back, curling is back, and I couldn't be happier about both.

Have a happy Easter, ladies and gentlemen. I'll talk to you on Monday. This is Joey Martin, speaking for Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network.