Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Mariners Clip the Angels' Wings

Episode Date: July 12, 2021

It was a pretty good weekend of Mariners baseball. Not perfect, of course, but they did take two of three games against the Los Angeles Angels. D.C. talks about all three games, including another gem from Chris Flexen on Saturday, and Cal Raleigh's first big league game on Sunday. D.C. spends some times diving into Mr. Flexen's numbers, and also highlights David Fletcher, one of his favorite players, who had a fantastic series in Seattle. 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, 12 PBA pros take turns trying to throw as many strikes as they can in two minutes. 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, the PBA Strike Derby was yesterday afternoon. Yesterday morning, 11 o'clock a.m. Pacific Standard Time. Very, very fun event. Congratulations to Andrew Anderson, who took home the strike. Derby Crown. Hello, gang, I am D.C. Lunberg, and it's another edition of Catch Up Monday here on Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on podcast Network, or T-L-O-P-N or T-Lopin, or Tlopin.

Please remember to download and follow this program using whichever podcasting app that you personally care to use. Ask your smart device to play Locked-on Mariner's podcast already program here on Tloppin. Early last week, I had told Stacey Gatsulius when she was on this program that the Mariners had been winning but not always playing good baseball. They'd played some good baseball, but also getting kind of lucky. Over the weekend, the Mariners played some pretty darn good baseball and won two of the three games. We'll go in order recapping those three games. Yesterday, the Mariners called up another one of their top prospects, Cal Raleigh, who was the starting catcher yesterday.

I think the timing of that was a little odd for a couple of reasons, but really only worthy of a slight eyebrow raise. We'll get into that just a little bit in C Block. In addition, it was reported late last week that a decision on Hector Santiago's appeal would be announced on Wednesday. So he was available for the bullpen game yesterday, which would have been Justice Sheffield's, pardon me, spot in the rotation.

We'll talk about that game again in C Block, but we'll begin with Friday night's game here on catch-up Monday. It was Marco Gonzalez's final start before the mid-season break, and while he still wasn't back to his old self, he wasn't as bad as he had been in recent starts. Still didn't exactly have the feel for his pitches, and the command was lacking as well, but he only gave up three runs in five-and-two-thirds innings. You know, I say only, but that still is not a very good line. Five and two-thirds, three runs, all earned, seven hits, one walk, two home runs, and three strikeouts. He allowed a home run to the first batter of the game, David Fletcher. It was Fletcher's first home run of the series, and he is going into the mid-season break with two. But more on him in just a little bit. The other home run, Gonzalez-aloud, was off the bat of a more likely power source,

the incomparable Shohei Otani, and that one, ladies and gentlemen, was launched. It was Otani's 133 home run of the season that leads the major leagues. The Angels have played 89 games, so if you take those 33 home runs, over those 89 games and project them out over a full season. Otani San is on pace to hit 60 home runs, and he's a pitcher. He is such a unique player. There is no context for what he's doing. It's never been done before.

As much as I complain about the state of baseball these days, and it's bad, players like Otani San really make it fun. He and his teammate Mike Trout, who was unfortunately on the injured list, you know, two of my favorite players right now. I love David Fletcher, too, but he's not the face of baseball like Mike Trout really should be. Or even Shohei Otani really maybe should be at this point. I'm digressing, though. It's not so unfortunate for the Mariners that Trout was on the disabled list during this series

considering what he's done against the Mariners, particularly in Seattle. But, you know, I'm digressing again. After Marco Gonzalez, the bullpen came in and did its job once again. J.T. Chagua, Anthony Mosevich, Drew Steckin-Rice, Steckenrider and Kendall Graveman allowed a collective two hits, and they struck out three and did not allow any runs to cross. The Mariners were down three-nothing, but it got a couple of them back in the fourth. It was actually shaping up to be another quick inning, but with two out, Jake Frealy reached base on an error by Luis Rengifo, or Renhifo, I guess it, as I am sorry. He was wild pitched to second, and Luis Torrenz walked after working the count full.

Shedlong Jr. stepped up and launched one. the opposite way, off the top of the outfield wall, inches from being a home run, both runners scored on this double. And when I was watching it live, I thought that Long may have been standing in the box to admire his handiwork once again. But upon rewatching it to prepare for this program, I think he actually may have had the notion that it was going foul. But whatever the case, if he had been hustling out of the box right away, he might have wound

up with a triple, considering his speed and where the ball was. I am not going to say he would have had a triple, but it would have been more of a possibility. In either way, it was a two-run double to get the Mariners back into the game, a very important hit, and the next hitter, Dylan Moore, ended the inning, so the point was rendered moot. The Mariners tied the game up in the seventh inning by putting together a pretty nice inning. With one out, J.P. Crawford drew a base on balls.

Mitch Hanigar turned in a nine pitch at bat that ended with a sharp single, grounded the opposite way. Kyle Seeger flew out, and on the very next pitch, Ty France had a very low liner, pretty much just over the pitcher's mound. Crawford scored from second base to tie the game. Next half inning, the Angels put two runners on, one of them on a Dillenmore fielding error, but they could not send any home.

Then the fun started, and it started the way so many of these great innings do, with a base on balls. Shed Long Jr. drew a one-out walk, following an eight-pitch plate appearance. Following a Dylanmore strikeout, Jake Bowers singled, and Mr. Long scooted along to third. That brought up J.P. Crawford.

And while the inning was capped off by the guy on deck, this played appearance by Crawford was key. He fouled off four pitches, got the count to two and two, then took balls three and four to load the bases for Manager. And he would not see nine pitches. The first two he did see missed the zone up, and it was looking good. My housemate Shannon was hoping for a grand slam, but I was thinking to myself,

don't get greedy. A ball in the gap somewhere would do the trick just fine. And of course, guess what? The third pitch was right over the heart of the plate at the knees. Manninger put a great swing on it and rode it out into the Mariners' bullpen, sending Grandma to the kitchen for the rye bread and the mustard for that Grand Salami that Shannon was hoping for. We were both going crazy watching the game.

Marco's lackluster start was all but forgotten, and the Mariners had a four-run lead going into the bottom of the ninth inning with Kendall Graveman heading out to the hill. That Grand Slam did take away a save opportunity, but I don't think Mr. Graveman minded too much. 7-3 final, really fun game, even though it was another very long one. Over three and a half hours, Drew Steckenrider got the win in relief.

Mike Mayors was tagged with the loss. Jose Cantano was the one who served up the salami, but two of the runners on base were charged to Mr. Mayers. Alex Cobb started for the Halos, and he actually pitched few ratings than Gonzales did. Five and one-third as opposed to Marcos five-and-two-third. He gave up four hits, two runs. None of them were earned.

He walked three and struck out five. Only two Mariners failed to reach base, and that would be Kyle Seeger and Dylan Moore. Manninger checked in with two hits. Crawford walked twice. Maritors drew six bases on balls. By and large, this team knows how to work the count, and they can draw a walk. And the defense was also very good, not only in this game, but throughout the series.

Moore did commit a fielding error, but he made a pretty rangy play on a pop-up. Ace Fraley, pardon me, made a great catch. And the outstanding defense continued throughout the series. We might talk about that a little bit coming up in the next season. couple segments as we continue to recap the weekend series, but right now it's time for the trivia corner. However, today we do not have one. I ran a bit behind schedule while preparing for the show. I'd like to get it published in a reasonable amount of time. Plus, I have a presentation for class to finish up that's due this afternoon. So we will go right into the commercial break,

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teams prep for their runs to the playoffs. Head to the website or use your mobile device to sign up and receive your 50% welcome bonus on your first deposit. Bet Online, your online sports book experts promo code Locked On. Welcome back to Locked on Mariners. Here once again is your host, D.C. Lundberg. Thank you very much, Joey Martin. Continuing here on Locked on Mariner's on Catchup Monday,

talking about Saturday's game and it was a fantastic ball game, although there really is not too much to dive into. It was a well-pitched game for the most part, particularly for the Mariners, Both starting pitchers went seven innings. Chris Flexen got in his final start before the mid-season break, and he was once again brilliant. Seven innings, only three hits, two walks, six hits, no runs. 95 pitches for Mr. Flexon.

Command was beginning to elude him in the seventh. He did walk a batter in that inning and had to throw 18 pitches. His other walk was way back in the first inning, and that was to, again, Shohei Otani. Two of the three hits he allowed were in the fifth, another inning in which he had to throw quite a few pitches. I'll talk more about Mr. Flexen after wrapping up the game. Again, not too much to say. The Mariners manufactured themselves a run in the fourth inning.

Mitch Hanninger led off with a walk. Luis Torrens singled him over to third one out later, low-line drive down the first baseline, almost into the corner it hit where the stands kind of jut out, right back to the right fielder limiting Mr. Torrance to that single. And then Jake Frans, Rayley grounded sharply into the shift. Torrens was forced out at second base,

but Ace beat the relay throw to first, avoiding an inning-ending double play and plating Manninger. It was scored a fielder's choice and an RBI for Mr. Freyley. Mariners add on one more in the sixth. Manninger getting on base to get things going once again, this time a one-out single. He was erased in a force play hit into by Thai France, and with Frenchy aboard at first,

Luis Torrens lined a nine. another one down the first base line. This one did get into the corner and rattled around quite a bit, allowing French to get into third with an RBI triple. Two of the Mariners' slower runners, one of them scoring from first on that triple and the other one hitting the triple. It was his first triple of the season and his second of his career. His other triple came back on July 26th, 2017,

against the Mets in San Diego. Mariner's threatened again in the 8th, loading the bases with two away, but they couldn't bring anybody home. Ty French reached with a single, and both Luis Torrens and Tom Murphy walked. Murphy caught, while Torrens DH'd, by the way. Paul Seawald was called upon to secure the victory, and he had some tough customers to go through. He passed the first test, striking out Shohei Otani. As good as he is, he does strike out quite a bit, ladies and gentlemen. And then Mr. Seawald got Jared Walsh to fly out.

was looking really good. After Seawald retired the two best hitters in the Angels lineup, and then he got Jose Iglesias to ground out to end the ballgame and earn his second save. Patrick Sandoval did not pitch badly for the Angels. He also went seven innings. He allowed six hits, two runs. They were both earned. Two walks, and he struck out six.

Former Mariners Steve Seych put the first two Mariners on base in the eighth inning before giving way to Alex Claudio. Claudio walked Murphy but did not allow any runs to cross. Great ball game, very, very enjoyable game. Mayer's missed an opportunity in the eighth, but it hardly mattered. The way Mr. Flexen, Mr. Steckinrider, and Mr. Seawald were going, Steck struck out the side in the eighth inning, by the way. Back to Mr. Flexen, though.

I had said before the season on this program that I was a little leery of his acquisition because his first stint in the big leagues with the Mets was pretty bad, and also his numbers in AAA were not very good. I was also somewhat hopeful that, you know, maybe he had turned things around in the Korean League, and man, he did just that. He's had some starts that were less than stellar for sure. The game in San Diego springs to mind. But after that disaster, which saw his ERA for the season go above five, he has a 2-26 earned run

average in the eight subsequent starts, and opponents are only hitting 208. He has 6.6 hits per nine innings since May 27th. his first start after that bomb in San Diego, as opposed to his season ratio of 9.1 hits per nine innings. His season whip is a very respectable 1.213, but in his last eight starts, it's under one. His walk rate and strikeout rates are pretty similar over that eight game stretch as opposed to his season ratios, slightly better in both cases. He has a nasty home road split, though, and they seem to talk about that on TV prior to just about every single one of his starts,

10 of his 16 starts have come at home. And in those 10 starts, he has an ERA of 176, and an opponent's average of 218. And his whip at home is also under 1 at 0.946. On the road, he has started six games, and his ERA is nearly 7 at 6.97. Opponents are hitting 352 against him on the road, and his whip is nearly in orbit.

1.742. Five of the eight home runs he is allowed have been on the road, and he has almost exactly twice as many innings pitched at home than he does on the road. But I was curious how those numbers would change if that one horrible start in San Diego were taken out of the equation. And some of them actually changed quite a bit. His road whip and ERA both go down significantly to 1.466 and 4.91, respectively, and that also takes away two home runs allowed. Furthermore, if you take that San Diego disaster out of his season stats,

his whip does drop a bit to 1.114, and his ERA would drop below 3 to 278. Not only would that be the best ERA in the Mariners rotation, it would be the fourth best ERA in the American League among starting pitchers, behind only Lance Lynn, Kyle Gibson, and Garrett Cole. His other ratios also improved slightly but not notably. I didn't realize how much that one start skewed his numbers. I'd be very interested to take that start out of his season end numbers to see what they would look like.

With Marco having a down year, with Chef also having a down year, with all the injuries. And also with the emergence of Yusikichi as a frontline starter, Mr. Flexion really has been one of the unsung heroes for the Mariners this season. If you have a question or a comment, I encourage you to send that on over to Lockdown Mariners at Gmail.com. Why do I say it like that? Not a used car salesman. Lockdown Mariners at Gmail.com is a place to send questions and comments which are on any subject. Those are highly encouraged. It does not have to be about the Mariners, baseball, or sports at all.

Coming up, which Mariner prospect was called up from the miners to make his Major League debut yesterday? Spoiler alert, it rhymes with Schmall Shmali. Now this vital message from Bilt Bar, the greatest protein bars in the history of protein. They're low in sugar and calories, and they're high in protein and fiber. But best of all, gang, they are high in good old-fashioned deliciousness. Go to BiltBar.com to place an order so you can try them for yourself. You can order their variety box to sample a little of everything, or compile a box of the three flavors you'd most like to try.

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Once again, J.M. Final segment today on Catchup Monday here on Locked on Locked on Locked on Lockedon. on Mariners. Prior to yesterday's game, the Mariners brought up top prospect Cal Raleigh from AAA, and he was in the starting lineup as the catcher and number six hitter. I thought the timing of this was slightly odd because it was the last game before the mid-season break. The Mariners don't play again until Friday night, and also because it was slated to be a bullpen day for the Mariners. It was supposed to be just as Sheffield's turn in the rotation. That's a tough ask for a young kid. I was impressed with his first at bat,

even though it was a strikeout. He fouled off a bunch of pitches. He really hung in there, and he took some good swings. He wound up going 0 for four with the game with two strikeouts and also had a passed ball behind the plate. It was a slider in the dirt that didn't take any sort of a bounce and pretty much went right through the wickets. Could have just as easily been scored a wild pitch,

but Mr. Raleigh gets charged with a past ball. He's another catcher who drops to one knee with runners on base. I've talked about that on the show before. why I think that's a bad idea. In this particular case, I don't think it would have made a difference, however. Bullpen games are very unpredictable. And while most of the Mariners did fine, it was really two pitchers that spoiled the deal,

in addition to the Mariners not really doing much at all offensively. The starting assignment was given to Hector Santiago. He's a former starter who's turned into a pretty nice middle inning reliever for the Mariners. And he did okay for the most part. Three plus innings, two hits, one. walk, one strikeout. The lone run that he allowed was a home run off the bat of noted slugger David Fletcher. The two home runs that he's hit this season have come in this series. His season high is six, and they were wondering on TV whether or not this was the first series

in which he'd hit multiple home runs. Aaron Goldsmith figured that it had to be as few home runs as he hits. Well, Dan Wilson reasoned that home runs come in bunches. So maybe it was not the first time. and Willie was right. This was the second time that Mr. Fletcher has hit multiple home runs in a series. The other series was last year, and it was against the Mariners. For some reason, Fletcher hits well against the Mariners, so does Mike Trout.

You know, he wasn't able to play in this series because he was on the disabled list. Lucky for Mariners pitchers, but baseball needs Mike Trout. In any case, David Fletcher against the Mariners has now played 50 games, 210 plate appearances, a slash line of, 306, 351, 482. He has six career home runs against the Mariners. That is exactly half of his career total. Oh, my goodness gracious.

For some reason, he does that against the Mariners. His career batting average is 296 in a career on base of 344. His on base and batting average against the Mariners are both, you know, above that. It's 482 slugging percentage against the Mariners is way above his career slugging percentage of 385. For some reason, this guy, just against the Mariners, for whatever reason, I don't know how to explain. I love David Fletcher.

He's one of my favorite players. He is the type of hitter that I really like to watch because he's not a power hitter. He's a slap hitter who's going to serve the ball the other way, maybe kind of dunk one over the third base his head. He's a good lead-off hitter, hitting 309 for the season with an on-base of 3-36. You might want to see him walk a little bit more since he's a lead-off. hitter, but contact-wise, his contact hitting ability screams leadoff hitter, or maybe even number nine hitter.

And that's not to say that J.P. Crawford has not done a good job as the Mariners leadoff hitter. Obviously he has. I'll probably be talking about him later on in the week. Maybe tomorrow, I am not exactly sure. David Fletcher, one of my favorite players, but again, I'm digressing. Mariners got on the board first in this game in the bottom of the first. J.P. Crawford doing his thing atop the lineup once a game.

Again, another great lead-off hitter and a man who's turned himself in to a lead-off hitter. Anyway, Mr. Crawford got the festivities underway with a single, a Mitch Hanninger double sent him along to third, and a Thai-France Sacrifice Fly brought him home. A semi-manufactured run in the first inning, looking okay at that point, but that's really all the Mariners wound up doing. Meanwhile, the Mariners' cavalcade of relievers were hit or miss, mostly hit, as I said earlier, but the two misses were big misses.

Santiago could only muster three plus innings, as noted earlier. I thought he did fine, actually. He was followed by the avocado, who pitched a scoreless inning and struck out two. Johan Ramirez was next, and he again proved why he's best suited for mop-up duty. He started off by hitting Taylor Ward with the pitch. Following that was a walk to Juan Lagaris, and then Jack Mayfield, who had been with the manners earlier this season, sacrifice bunted both runners along, and they were both driven in

on a David Fletcher single to give them Angels a three to one lead. Four batters, only one out recorded, and that was on a sacrifice. Anthony Mosevic followed him, and despite wild pitching Mr. Fletcher to second, he did not allow him or anyone else to score, and he was able to limit the damage. Keenan Middleton was next and pitched a scoreless sixth, but in the seventh he allowed one run on an RBI single from guess who? Yes, indeed, it was David Fletcher once again. Eric Swanson was called in from the pen after that RBI single.

He was also able to limit the damage to that one run. Raphael Montero got the 8th, and by that time the Mariners were down 4-1, not doing a whole lot on offense, and it kind of seemed like it was over. He did pitch a scoreless 8th, but the Angels pretty much put the game away against him in the 9th, scoring 3. A couple fliers and bloops found their way into the outfield. The past ball that I mentioned earlier brought home a run, and amazingly David Fletcher did not drive in any runs in the ninth inning, although he did score one after leading off the frame with the single. Mariners pitching allowed seven runs, six of them earned on 11 hits, four walks, one home run, and they struck out seven.

Angel pitching only allowed four hits, but they did walk four Mariners. Kyle Seeger did not play yesterday or Saturday. He was a late scratch on Saturday with a bone man. Bruise. Dylan Moore played third base in his stead both games, and he looked pretty good out there. He hasn't played a whole lot of third base, but he more than held his own. He's got quick hands there, and he's got some range too, and he has more than enough arm to play the hot corner. One of his throws this weekend was a little errant, but not too bad. Ty Franch was able to handle it fine. I don't remember whether that was Saturday or Sunday, but Dylan Moore can play some third base, ladies and gentlemen. Mariner's do win the series, Sunday was not the best of games.

lots of long counts and a lot of Angel base runners led to another three and a half hour plus ball game. Again, most of the Mariners pitchers did fine. It was really Johann Ramirez and Raphael Montero, the usual suspects, as it were, who gave it away. Middleton also gave up a run, but pitched a scoreless inning as well. But the Mariner offense producing only one run was also a pretty big problem. I am not sure what we're going to be talking about tomorrow, to be completely honest, with no mariner baseball until Friday, there's not going to be a damn thing to recap on this show.

I might go into some historical stuff later on in the week, but I do want to spend at least a segment or two talking about some of the meritor statistics, like I started to do with Chris Flexen earlier in the program. I'm not sure if I'm going to do that tomorrow or later on in the week, but joining me tomorrow will be Moss Steiger, Goofy, and a tuna bacon wrap. Please remember to download and follow Locked-on Mariners. Look for us in any podcasting app you can think of.

Leave a rating and review for podcasting app of choice so allows. And remember to check out the other great shows here on the Locked On Podcast Network. I am D.C. Lundberg. Thank you very much for listening, ladies and gentlemen. I'm going to go finish my presentation for class, and I will talk to you tomorrow. Get all the sports news you need in under 20 minutes with the Locked On Today podcast. Host Peter Bukowski will keep you updated on the latest news in every major sport with Lockdons team of local experts. Follow the Locked On Today podcast on the Odyssey app or wherever you get podcasts.

This is Joey Martin speaking for Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network.