Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Marco Spectacular, Offense Not So Much

Episode Date: August 19, 2020

As good as the Mariners offense was on Monday, they were almost that bad last night. On the flip side, as bad as the pitching was on Monday, Marco Gonzales was that good, if not better. D.C. breaks down the latest Mariners loss, which has become an unfortunate trend. In the second half, in light of Kyle & Corey Seager finally facing off against one another, we look at some other pairs of Big League brothers who have played for the Mariners. 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.

Welcome to Locked-on Mariner's, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Here's your host, D.C. Lundberg. Happy Wednesday, gang. Welcome to Locked-on Mariner's. I am D.C. Lundberg, and we are part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, or T-L-O-P-N or T-Lopin, brought to you by Rock Auto. Please remember to download, rate, and subscribe to this program on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, or whichever podcasting app that you personally care to use.

Ask your smart device to play Locked-on Mariners Podcast or Locked-on-N-N-N-E-R-G or Locked-on-N-E-R-G, or Locked-N-E-R-G, for those scoring at home. M's drop another one in Chavez Ravine, ladies and gentlemen. However, this was a much better ballgame. Then Monday night's game was it was certainly a better pitched ball game. On both sides, we'll get to that in just a minute. A couple more roster notes to pass along before we get to that game, however. And the first one involves catcher Tom Murphy, who I reported yesterday, there's no timetable for his return.

Now there's really no timetable for his return. He was transferred from the 10-day injured list to the 45-day injured list, retroactive to July 20th. That opens up a roster spot on the 40-man, roster. He's eligible to come off the disabled list now on September 4th. That's about two and a half weeks or so away. His foot is obviously still bothering him specifically when he runs or assumes his catching position, you know, which is kind of important, obviously. So he's going to be on the shelf for a while. It's so it's a really good thing that Austin Nola is as productive as he has been.

Other roster notes to pass along, the Mariners have sent Malix Smith down to the alternate training site. He started very badly. 133 is his batting average in 14 games, which is even worse than the start he got off to last year. And in addition to that, Kyle Lewis has usurped his center field position, and he was relegated to right field. The Mariners now have one, count him, one outfielder on their active roster, although Tim Lopes and Dylan Moore obviously are capable outfielders. In his stead, the Mariners called up from the alternate training site from the taxi squad, relief pitcher Art Warren, who did pitch at the big league level with the Mariners last season. This move left the Mariners with two spare position players at any given time.

Last night, Tim Lopes and catcher Joe Odom were the two reserves, and Lopes was inserted into the game to pitch it for Vogel back late in the game. Speaking of that game, let's get to it now. Again, a much better ballgame than Monday nights. And something I appreciate, it was under three hours. This was a two-hour and 38-minute ballgame. It was a two-to-one loss. But let's give credit to Marco Gonzalez because man, was he outstanding.

Seven innings pitched, five hits, one run, it was earned, nine strikeout, which ties a career high, and no walks. This guy has performed as a number. number one starter, his last at least two out. He seems been very good all season. ERA is now at 3-3-4, and his whip has gone down. It was already below 1. His whip is now 0.88. That's really, really good. He has walked, ladies and gentlemen, three hitters all season, and that is in 29 and 2 thirds innings of work. He's 2 and 2 in 5 starts. He deserves 8 p.3rd. three and one or four and oh.

Well, maybe three and one because the first game in Houston, not his most auspicious outing. But hey, you know, you can't win them all. And I don't remember who it was who said this, but he made the point that there are going to be days as a pitcher where you could go out there and shoot BBs from a gun into the catchers' mitt, and the hitters are still going to jump all over you and hit everything out of the ballpark.

And then there are going to be days where you can stand 20 feet away and underhand the ball soft toss it to him, and you're going to strike out 12 hitters. That is just the way baseball is, and Marco Gonzalez has been absolutely stellar his last few outings, and it has been great to see. The other pitcher in this ball game was Dan Altavilla. Yeah, and when he came in, I kind of figured that the Mariners were screwed. One inning of work from him, one hit, two walks. That's the bugaboo with Altavilla.

Two strikeouts. that's the other part of it. He's kind of like, he's kind of like Johann Ramirez in that respect. Really good stuff, can't control it. Altavilla tends to get a little bit over-excited and overthrow at times and leave pitches in the middle of the strike zone, begging to be hit

while also walking a few better. So in that regard, he's also like Bobby Ayala. But one hit today, one run, it was earned. That one hit was an RBI single from Corey Seeger. Speaking of Corey Seeger, let's go to the Seeger watch, as it were.

Something I just made up. Corey Seeger went two for four today with that RBI. And Kyle Seeger won for four. So hey, Corey Seger wins this battle. His team has won both battles thus far. Mariners and Dodgers will go at it again tomorrow. This time in Seattle, in, you know, pick an expletive cell phone company field. Pitching for the Mariners will be Taiwan Walker.

Hopefully he puts in a good outing. You know, I guess I could say that about every pitcher, but, you know, he's been hit or missed this season. He's had some very good strings, and then he's been prone to the beginning, maybe more than some of the other starting pitchers have, and opposing the Mariners will be Julio Orias. He also of the single-digit uniform.

You know, he also wears number seven. It kind of would have been funny if he and Marco pitched against each other, which is neither here nor there. And I am digressing. Let's get to the Mariners trivia question at this time, ladies and gentlemen. Offbeat question today. Marco Gonzalez wears number seven, a single-digit uniform number, is unusual for a pitcher.

Who were the first and last mariners to wear number seven? Yeah, that's the question for today. In any case, ladies and gentlemen, we're going to get to that answer. Right after this word from Rock Auto. These days, it is impossible to stock all the auto and body parts that are needed in a traditional chain store with all the makes and models that are out there. Why endure often pointless or, you know, ridiculous questioning, it seems, and wait while the counterperson orders the parts on his computer, which you can do yourself,

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right locked on in their how the heck did you hear about us box so they know that we sent you amazing selection reliably low prices and all the parts your car will ever need rock auto dot com answer to the mariners trivia question marco gonzalez currently wears number seven for the seattle mariners it is odd for a for a pitcher to have a single digit number the question was however who were the last before marco and the first seattle mariners to wear number seven The first Seattle Mariner to Dawn number seven was in their first season, 1977, and it was first baseman outfielder Dan Meyer. The most recent before Marco was in the 2018 season, and I actually remembered correctly for a change. It was Andrew Romine, the utility infielder, who pitched in two games that season, at least two games.

I remember him pitching two games of a three-game series against the Dodgers in Safeco Field, and I was at the second. one, and that's the first time I have ever seen an infielder pitch live. You know, I'd like to say it was exciting. It actually was kind of exciting, just because it was so different. In the second half of the show, I'm going to list every single Mariner who's ever worn number seven. Or not, that would be really boring. Hey, if you've got a question for me or a comment on the show, send an email to Lockdown Mariners

at gmail.com, and I will consider using it for the Friday mailbag segment. Still not sure we're doing one this Friday might bump it to next week. shall see. And yesterday I said, if you have a baseball question for me, I should not have said that, because I accept all kinds of questions, not all kinds of questions, but it does not have to be a baseball question. It can be a personal opinion question, ask me about television, ask me about music. Anything you want to ask, just as long as it's not, you know, bronchy or dirty or inappropriate, or anything like that, those questions I will just throw in the old trash bin. But send those questions in, send those comments, and tell me, love the show, tell me you

think the show sucks. I'll read those on the air too. Locked-on Mariners at gmail.com. Second half of today's show coming right up after this message. Now back to Locked-on Mariners and your host, D.C. Lundberg. Thanks, J.M. I sure hope that y'all out there enjoyed that commercial that they just played. I have no idea what it was for, since it's just kind of digitally inserted into the program. Oh my gosh, my tongue isn't working. In any case, yeah, last part of Locked-on Mariner's B-block about to commence, We're going to talk about some pairs of brothers who have played big league baseball for the Mariners and maybe for some other teams too. I can think of two right off the top of the bat, but I don't think we're quite done with the brothers Seeger yet.

Let's talk about Corey. Let's talk about Kyle. Let's also talk about Justin. Yes, there is a third Seeger brother, ladies and gentlemen. He is the middle child, so he is the Jan Brady of the Seeger family. That's not fair. I shouldn't say that. But Justin Seeger had a five-year minor league career in the Mariners system.

He peaked at AA Arkansas in 2017, where he hit 214 in 14 games. He started that season with the Advanced A Bakersfield team, the Bakersfield Blaze, which I don't believe exist anymore, 222 in 80 games. Career minor league average of 228, 310 on 4.5. base and 331 slugging. He was mostly a corner infield or mostly a first baseman. He got one game in pitching in 2016 for the Bakersfield Blaze. It was two-thirds of an inning of work.

This had to have been mopping up some sort of blowout. Two-thirds of an inning of work. He has credit for one game finished. And his whip is 4.5, 27 hits per nine innings, 13.5 walks per nine innings. I'm making fun of these. I shouldn't make fun of these numbers. That's better than I can do, of course. But he was an infielder in any case,

first baseman, third baseman type. He was born May 15th, 1992, drafted in the 12th round by the Seattle Mariners out of the University of North Carolina in 2013. Kyle Seeger was a third round draft choice out of that same university of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2009, Corey Seeger's got him both beat.

He was a first round draft choice out of high school, 18th overall in 2012. He made his major league debut in 2015, where he just started hitting right out of the shoot. 337 batting average in limited duty at the end of the 2015 season, so his rookie status was still intact. 308 and 157 games, 365 on base, and 512 slugging, and he was the 2016-1616-19. National League rookie of the year already exceeded his brother's expectations in his first full season of Major League action. And remember when the players had the players weekend jerseys a few years ago and Corey Seeger had already become a national star? And Kyle was, you know, pretty much known to baseball people only. Kyle had a good sense of humor about it, very happy for his younger brother.

He donned Corey's brother on his jersey when they were allowed. to wear nicknames. And I'm not a fan of the nicknames thing on jerseys, but you have to give Kyle credit for that. It is pretty funny that he has that kind of sense of humor and was a good enough sport and gracious enough to give his younger brother some props. Some other pairs of brothers who at least one of has played for the Mariners. The first one I thought of was actually Mike Maddox, who pitched briefly for the Mariners in 1997, I want to say. He is the older brother of Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddox. In fact, Mike Maddox and Greg Maddox, I believe,

and email me and correct me if I'm wrong. But I believe that they're the first pair of brothers who face each other as rookies because they're both pitchers. They did that in 1986. Well, Mike was with the Phillies and Greg was with the Cubs. And as far as Mike Maddox's tenure, yeah, six games in 1997. 10.13 ERA, 10 and two thirds innings pitch. That was one year that the Mariners were just throwing anything at the wall in terms of bullpen

in seeing what stuck because they were in a pennant race, but that bullpen is really what held them back. They had a historically good offense that season. And, you know, that 1013 ERA, that's pretty much par for the course for the bullpen. I'm sorry to say for the Mariners. Mike Maddox has gone on to a very successful career, though, as a pitching coach. He has been a pitching coach for, it seems like, forever, and he did pitch in the big leagues until he was 38,

and he wasn't even left-handed, which is kind of amazing. The other one that I can think of was obviously Brett Boone, whose brother Aaron Boone played for the Cincinnati Reds. Started off later with the Yankees. I forget who else he played for, but Brett Boone did have two stints with the Mariners. Their father played Major League Baseball, their grandfather played Major League Baseball.

So pretty soon one of their sons is going, to wind up playing for the Blue Jays, I bet, because they seem to have every single other player's, former player's kid who isn't named Fernando Tatis Jr. playing for that team right now. If you can think of any other pairs of, actually, there's one more. Chris Gwynn is currently in the Mariners front office, and he is Tony Gwyn's younger brother. Chris Gwyn did have a big league career. He played with the Dodgers and a few other teams, mostly as a fourth outfielder and pinch hitter type. Obviously did not reach the level of Tony Gwynn,

but who has? Tony Gwyn was one of the best hitters, pure hitters, that I have ever seen. If you can think of any other Seattle Mariners who had a brother playing at the big leagues in the same time, send me an email and maybe I'll talk about it on tomorrow's show. Or maybe I won't. Who knows? But in any case, we're going to talk about tomorrow's game

versus the Dodgers on tomorrow's show, oddly enough, where I will be joined by, guest panelists Carmine Ragusa, the Noid from Domino's commercials, and a beef brisket sandwich. Incidentally, the Noid is probably going to eat the beef brisket sandwich on the air, which you will not want to miss. So download rate and subscribe to this program on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, or any other podcasting app that happens to pop into your head. Follow this show on Twitter at L.O. underscore Mariners. And also follow me on Twitter. I'd really appreciate that.

at DC underscore Lundberg. Have a great Wednesday, ladies and gentlemen. This is Joey Martin letting you know that we'll be back tomorrow for another edition of Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network.