Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Mariners Kicking Off Crucial Series vs. A's

Episode Date: August 23, 2021

Join hosts Ty Dane Gonzalez and Colby Patnode as they discuss the Mariners' 6-3 win over the Astros, what right-handed relief pitcher Matt Andriese brings to the table and the playoff implications of the Mariners' upcoming two-game set with the Athletics.Be sure to follow or subscribe to Locked On Mariners wherever you prefer your podcasts! For questions and other inquiries, email: [e-mail] the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @danegnzlz | @CPat11For more of Ty and Colby, check out their Patreon: http://patreon.com/controlthezone/Molecule MattressVisit OnMolecule.com and save twenty percent with promo code LOCKEDON. Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus. 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.

You are Locked-on Mariners. Your daily Seattle Mariners podcast. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. This is Lockdown Mariners. Before we get into today's show, let's talk about Lockdown MLB. Join Walking Baseball Encyclopedia Paul Francis Sullivan, and please call him Sully every day on Lockdown MLB for a unique look at the majors, both president pass,

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It's all. Let's join as always by my co-host Colby Patnode. The Mariners are 1 and 0 in the Matt and Dries era. We're going to be talking a little bit about his addition to Seattle's bullpen later on in the show, even though he didn't even pitch yesterday. We're going to ignore the first two games. the Astros Mariners series and instead talk about yesterday's much more fun, six to three win and extra endings down at Minutemade Park.

And then we'll get you set for a very important two game series between the Mariners and the Oakland Athletics. Plenty of playoff implications in that one. But first, want to remind you to give this show a follow or subscribe to it wherever you prefer your podcast. We greatly appreciate it. Colby,

the Mariners were outscored 30 to 10 in their weekend series against the Astros. they went one and two, which is yet another reason why run differential is bad, especially when analyzing this team in particular. They're going to win close games, and when they lose, there's a good chance they're going to get blown out.

That's just kind of been their MO all year, and the good news is they play more close games than not, and they've been able to win quite a few of those. They are 67 and 58 after winning by a score of 6 to 3 down in Houston yesterday afternoon, the best news of all, despite the horrendous start to the series, they didn't lose any ground in the AOL wildcar race. Of course, they didn't make up

any ground either, but a lot of heroes in this come from behind victory on Sunday. Paul Seawald, Thai France, Johann Ramirez. Who do you want to get into first? The forgotten hero, Kendall Graveman. Yes, the Mariners won because of Joe Smith and Kendall Graveman. Funny how that works out.

But yeah, you know, like you said, a lot of heroes. Ty France is kind of the obvious one. Made the great defensive play. Had the game tying home run. The go ahead RBI at the time in the 11th. He was great, you know, as is becoming usual. But, you know, Tyler Anderson, you know, pretty underrated what he did, especially considering that he wasn't, like, his final line wasn't even indicative of how well he pitched.

one of those runs came on a really weird play that Kyle Seeger just whiffed on the baseball. I mean, it was it was very unusual for Seeger to miss that play. And a run scores as a direct result of that. But honestly, if you want to talk unsung heroes, it is Joe Smith. Joe Smith comes into the game with runners on second and third, one out. It's already two to nothing. We've seen how this goes. you know, it's really hard to come back on Houston.

And once that offense gets going, it's very hard to stop. And Joe Smith comes in and he strikes out the next two hitters. And it's only two to nothing. And it keeps Seattle within striking distance. And it takes a few innings. And then, of course, Jake Bowers, obviously gets a double off of Kendall Graveman and then JP dead center field double to drive him in. We'll ignore Mitch Hanigers follow up at bat.

But, you know, and then at that point, point, hey, it only takes one swing to get this thing into extras. And that's exactly what Ty France did, right guy up at the right time. And the rest is history. But none of that is possible if Seattle's down three to nothing or even four to nothing. But Joe Smith thankfully came in. And he did what Kendall Graven honestly was not able to do. He shut down a rally.

So, you know, a pretty good day for Jerry Depoto acquisitions in Anderson and Joe Smith because they got you got you through six and kept you in the game. game and that that shouldn't be overlooked if you want to talk about consistency Tyler Anderson is the model of it and his five starts since coming over and that trade with the pirates three strikeouts four strikeouts four strikeouts four strikeouts four strikeouts four strikeouts he's gone five and a third five five and a third six and five and a third in his first five starts he is just across the board just pretty much everything that you needed.

By the way, Anderson yesterday, 10 swings and misses. So it's pretty impressive against this lineup. And, you know, again, it's missing Breggman. It's missing Kyle Tucker. But, you know, Altuve, Brandley, Correa. They scored 27 runs against the Mariners in the first two games. So they're doing okay. Yeah.

And so it's, you know, it's all, it was all really good. And, oh, by the way, one other name I want to mention there, Johann Ramirez coming in, getting the save. Keenan Middleton just did not have it at all. And Johan comes in and then they say, okay, buddy, bases loaded, one out, we're up by three. Here's Jose Altuve and Michael Brantley. Good luck.

And he just slammed the door. He got those two guys out with ease, struck out El Tuvae on a nasty slider. And then he got the soft line out from Michael Brantley. And those are arguably two of the best, I don't know, 15 overall hitters and all the baseball, just pure contact guys. So yeah, it's very impressive what, you know, what Anderson and, you know, it's just you don't want to overlook Ramirez and you don't want to overlook Joe Smith because I feel like a lot of the attention is going to Paul Seawald, rightfully so.

And we also shouldn't overlook your second rider. So just an overall great day by every pitcher, not named Middleton. And then, you know, Kenan just, he didn't have it. and that happens sometimes. And good on Scott's service to, you know, recognize what was going on there that that was not working and to make the call to Johan Ramirez. You know, he didn't have many options.

He spent most of his bullets already out of the bullpen. You know, the other option that he had really was Eric Swanson, right? And that was it. You know, Steckhamruder went, Smith went. He had injuries. Seawald went. Well, he had Andres as well, right. But he's kind of the last one.

Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, I want to talk about Thai France again real quick. You know, he became just the second player in Mariners history to have a game tying RBI in the ninth inning and go on to drive in the go-ahead RBI and extra innings of the same game. Jim Presley was the other doing so on April 8th, 1986 against the California Angels. That was actually opening day that year. France continuing just to have a really, really strong road trip and has come up in a big way on multiple occasions over the last. week. Yeah, you know, his batting averages all the way up to 292. It's not a great chance, but there is an outside shot that, you know, Ty France could win the batting title this year.

Again, it's not a likely, and I would say it's almost a 0% chance, but, you know, Brantley leads the American League at 319. He's at 2.92. France is hitting about 350

since his return from the wrist injury. So, yeah, you know, he just continues to hit. And, you know, he just finds a way. He's just, he's a, he's kind of a throwback. You know, he's a doesn't, doesn't walk a ton.

Gets hit by a lot of pitches, though. But he has a high average. He uses the whole field. And if you make a mistake, he'll turn on it and he'll hurt you. So I heard Jason Churchill over at the baseball things podcast. He compared Thai France. And I think you'll like this one. He compared Thai France to Paul Goldschmidt.

and if that's the type of, of course. Yes, of course, obviously. Ty France is, I mean, Daniel Vogelback slow. But, you know, if he's Thai France minus or if Thai France is, is Paul Goldschmidt minus the foot speed, that is a heck of a player. And so, and you can kind of see it. You know, he's going, he's going to hit 300 one year, maybe, maybe multiple years. He's just a complete all-around hitter, and he's still getting better.

That's the scary part. Yeah, he's been so good for this team, and I think there's pretty much no question about it now at this point, that he's probably the team MVP out of coming out of this year. He's been incredibly valuable to the same, especially over the last few weeks, and this road trip, especially. You think about the last game in Texas,

and now you think about this game, and they desperately needed to at least one-one. in Houston and they got that. And that makes what was just an embarrassing start to the series kind of just fade away. And you can take that win and feel pretty solid about it and go into Oakland three games down and see what happens. So coming up, we're going to get into that A's series

at the end of the show. But first, we're going to focus on Matt and Dries. We're going to tell you everything you need to know about the new Mariners release. But first, I share a bed with a Pro Bowl quarterback, an Olympic swimmer, and a national women's soccer star. I should explain. When I heard how many elite athletes sleep on a molecule mattress and called it their best sleep ever, I had to order one for myself. And guess what?

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with the Tampa Bay raise and has bounced around over the last few years between Arizona, Anaheim and Boston. Starting this year with the Red Sox, things did not go well for him. 603 ERA, 470 FIPP, and 37 in a third inning's pitch. A lot of blue on his baseball savant page, which, if you don't know, is really bad. Ninth percentile in average X velocity, eighth percentile and hard hit rate, seventh percentile, an XWB, first. percentile and expected batting average.

That means he's quite literally been one of the worst pitchers in baseball in that category. Seventh percentile and expected slugging, 14th percentile and whiff rate, 37th percentile and chase percentage. There is some good news, however. The fastball and curveball spin rates are still above average. He's in the 73rd and 78th percentile in those categories, respectively. He's only walking 2.65 batters per nine innings, averaging a little over a strikeout pre-ending. He has some experience being stretched out as a starter, but has only started one

game since the end of 2018. But overall, this seems like a pretty solid flyer for the Mariners to take, especially at this point in the season. But what are your thoughts on Andrews Colby? Yeah, he's an interesting guy. I think we've thought of him as a depoto guy in the past. throws a ton of strikes. It certainly has the high spin rates, particularly on the fastball that Jerry's staff typically looks at.

And for Andrews, you don't have to go back all that far to see a pretty solid pitcher. Last year, you know, not great, but things like hard hit rate, 57th percentile, X-OVA 64th percentile,

X batting average 70th percentile. And, you know, again, that was just, a year ago. And you go back even one more year and it looks a little bit better. So Andres has a pretty good track record of being a solid, you know, major league quality pitcher. He's he's not a, he's not a number three starter.

He's not a high leverage guy. But this is a guy who should be able to come in. And, you know, we see these things like when Logan Gilbert, right, goes out and he gets shelled. Well, how do we get from the fourth inning to the eighth inning? we use Matt Andres and Andreese is just good enough that you might actually, you know, pitch well enough that you can kind of start to make a comeback as opposed to, you know, pouring, uh, throwing poor Robert Dugger out there and just, you know,

telling him to take it on the chin. Um, and then unfortunately DFAing him after he did that for you. Um, yeah, and Dries, pretty good guy, uh, you know, he might go multiple innings, but whenever Seattle acquires a pitcher, you have to be. pretty interested because they have a pretty good track record with turning arms like andrease around so maybe it's a pitch usage change maybe it's something else but yeah i mean last year is just last year opponents uh were hitting 175 off of his fastball 196 off of his change up and oh 91 off of his curveball so uh spin rates didn't go down significantly this is an a spider attack type of thing it's just something needs to

change and maybe the Mariners feel like they know exactly what to do and uh you kind of have to give them the benefit of the doubt on this one and you mentioned robert duggerd there you know the he wore the uh that one game against the astros and then gets dFAid for it he was called up for diego castillo who went on the 10 day iL with right shoulder inflammation and that you could kind of see that one coming right the velocity was up and down for him and um uh uh you know, you just, you saw some uncharacteristic things out of Castillo catching a lot of plate. Obviously, he really struggled down in Texas, you know, on, on two separate trips down there. So, you know, what's the level of concern here with Castillo? And how are you feeling overall about

that? It's, you know, it's a, it's a bummer, you know, first and foremost. And it is a shoulder thing, which is concerning, you know, Justin Don has dealt with. shoulder issues all year and we see what kind of toll that is and and i i would suspect that we're not going to see castillo this year you hope it's nothing enough to require surgery um but yeah it's it's it's obviously not good you know it's it's a bummer uh because that was that was a that was a big addition and that that you know was going to set you up nicely um unfortunately now some other guys have to step up so it uh it's a bummer uh We'll wait and see, you know, what the MRI show and whether or not it's a long-term thing or not.

But yeah, it certainly looked, you know, like Castillo wasn't 100%. You know, his arm slot had actually dropped a few inches, which, you know, would make sense if you have a shoulder issue. And it just flattened out the slider and the velocity wasn't there. So again, you hope this is just a rest thing and you move on. But we have to wait and see. But obviously, it's not good news. you know, in the short term, but hopefully it doesn't turn into bad news in the long run. All right.

We're going to wrap things up with a look at tonight's upcoming series with the Oakland Athletics. But first, this episode is brought to you by Billapar. Don't you hate it when you're out and about in hunger strikes, but the only convenient options are unhealthy and going to make you feel worse in the end? That doesn't have to be the case anymore if you choose Billt Bar. Billed Bar is providing folks with a healthy, nutritious and delicious alternative for snacking. Bill Bar has a plethora of delicious flavors ranging from coconut to cookies and cream, mint, brownie, and so much more.

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tied for the second wildcard in the American League and they're slumping right now. They've had some injuries. They're three and seven in their last 10 games and they've only scored one run in their last 14 innings played. But of course, the Mariners offense hasn't been all too great as well. Pitching matchups in this one tonight is Marco Gonzalez, who's been excellent over his last few starts for the Mariners against former Mariners prospect, Paul Blackburn.

And then on Tuesday, a really interesting one. that I'm sure we'll get into more tomorrow. But Chris Flexen versus Cole Irvin, who of course disparages the Mariners offense after allowing four runs on 10 hits to them back in May. And what did he do? In his response to that, he allowed another four runs on five hits,

the Mariners in July. And the Mariners naturally had some fun with that. But overall, you know, just looking at the series, of course, the Mariners won't be able to leapfrog the A's with the sweep, but they'd certainly make things, a lot more interesting in the wildcar race with one.

What do you think we'll see out of the Mariners tonight tomorrow, Colby? Well, you hope you see offense, again, kind of the running theme of the month of August. But yeah, you need to continue to pitch well. Bullpen got used pretty heavily yesterday, but again, they weren't used at all on Saturday. Thanks to Robert Dugger, who kind of went down with the ship, so to speak. So bullpen's an okay shape. They do have the off day on Wednesday, which should help them kind of,

you know, maybe be a bit more aggressive there. But it would be nice to see Marco go out and give you six or seven quality innings. And then, you know, the offense, look, you're not getting Mania.

You're not getting, you know, Bassett. We'll see what happens with that. Hope he's doing okay. You're not getting Montas. So you're kind of getting, and Oakland's not playing super well right now.

they've lost Luriano. You know, they did add Marte, but bullpen's still not great down there. So there's an opportunity here. You're catching Oakland at the right time. So hopefully you go down there. You take care of business. You know,

you would like to win at least one. But, you know, obviously a sweep is preferable and it's on the table. But basically don't get swept. And it's a pretty good series down there. Get home, get the off day, go up against the Royals. whereas I believe the A's are going to have to play the Yankees. So yeah, and the Yankees are the hottest team of baseball right now. So there's a non-zero chance that, you know, you go down there and even if you,

even if you just split with Oakland, there's a non-zero chance that we get on the mics next Monday and Seattle has leapfrogged Oakland. And if they sweep this two-game series, I think that's a strong possibility. Yeah, this is. things are starting to go pretty well for the Mariners in terms of just scoreboard watching. And I know you don't want me to talk to you about it until they're, there are two games behind, which could be the case tonight after tonight's game.

Tomorrow, you might be forced to talk to me about it. But I won't make you talk about it now. But I just, you know, you look at the teams ahead of them right now. The Red Sox are slumping right now. They've been really bad.

You think that the Mariners are going through it a little bit to the Red Sox have been, who they lost. pretty bad to the to the Rangers at Fenway Park the other night. I think they're winning right now as we're recording against the Rangers. Their game yesterday got rained out due to the hurricane stuff on the on the East Coast. By the way, anyone listening on the East Coast, I hope you guys are doing all right and staying safe. But yeah, you know, it's just every team ahead of them is just kind of in the same place where they are.

We're, you know, the mirrors right now offensively really slumping. you know, they just haven't been able to put things together consistently. The pitching has been nice for the most part, aside from that game. Texas and obviously the first two games, you know, it's just if everything that they needed to happen has kind of happened in terms of the wild card race right now. Obviously, Yankees becoming the hottest team in baseball, as you said, is not great. That does not help things. But in terms of just getting into that wild card two, the two teams that they're chasing right now, the Red Sox and the A's not doing so hot.

And the Blue Jays have also really fallen off. They've lost a couple to the tigers now at home. Their struggles just continue to go on after a really bad road trip for them. So, you know, we'll see. It's not like the Mariners really dominating either themselves. You know, it seems like all these teams are just kind of limp into the finish line for a chance to possibly. Seattle 7 and 3 in their last 10. That's true.

That's true. You do that the rest of the year. You're making the playoffs. Oh, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. It's just right now, you see some signs I say that it's a lot worse than seven and three. Yeah. Yeah.

It just feels worse than that. Yeah. And it's supposed to, you know, you take into account that they played six games against Texas recently. And, you know, they went against the slumping Blue Jays. And then they go into Houston and just get waxed. first two games. So that's just, it's, it's hard to feel super optimistic about the Mariners right now. But yeah, certainly right now, I think you stack them up against the, the Red Sox, the Blue Jays and the A's right now where all those teams currently stand and you, you got to feel at least pretty

decent about their chances, where, you know, everything currently falls. We'll see, though. Right. One, one, one thing of note here that might actually come into play. Seattle has one day off a week for the next four weeks, which, again, for a guy like Logan Gilbert who's struggling to get to the finish line, for a guy like Yusay Kukuchi, who's been hit or miss the last really,

you know, eight weeks, having that extra day, right? That could really help. So, you know, they get the off day on Wednesday, uh,

this week. And then next week it's Thursday. And then the next week, it's Thursday. and then the next, actually the next three weeks, they get Thursday off. So hopefully they can use that to their advantage. I'm not sure how that stacks up for other teams. But you're having, you know, three weeks in a row and four or five, or sorry, four weeks in a row and then five of six weeks with just six games on the schedule,

seems beneficial to a team like Seattle, especially. Yeah, yeah, yeah, especially, you know, with the guys that you mentioned, the guys that are really slumping in the in the rotation right now you know kakuchi's been rough to watch for the most part since the all-star break gilbert's been you know downright atrocious or the last few starts and you know i still think that he probably shouldn't make his next start but you don't really have other options and we've talked about that ad nauseum on the show but yeah not a not a great spot to be in with those two guys but hopefully the off days give them a little bit of a boost

because you could really use that. If you can get all these fives, all five of these guys pitching how they were, you know, about a month ago, then you're in a pretty good spot. You're in a pretty good spot,

especially with, you know, some of the injuries going on around you on these other teams that, you know, and just the slumping that's been going around on these other teams that you're chasing right now. So definitely not the most unfavorable spot to be in. They're in a pretty good spot right now. Three games back, obviously that's pretty hard to make up.

You know, it's over a month's time. You know, it's a lot harder than probably a lot of people think initially. But I don't know. I think they're right in the middle of this thing. So we'll see. And especially if they can get a sweep here in Oakland, that would be massive. That would be massive. They're one game back where they were right before the trade deadline.

I mean, anything's possible at that point with a month, you know, and some changes to go. That's, you got to feel good about that. And Seattle's schedule is going to be significantly easier than Oakland's, Boston's, and the Blue Jays. And you get Boston as well, right? So whether you're chasing Boston or Oakland, you're going to play these teams. So you can be, you know, I wouldn't say that they're necessarily in the driver's seat because they're not in the lead right now. But they definitely have some control over how things could go here. Right.

Like they are a team that can make things happen. But despite all the things we just talked about, I mean, what would you say their odds are on a zero to 100 scale? What do you think? Still like 5%. No, no, I'm probably a bit higher on that. I think they're about 15%.

Okay. Well, if you guys want to find out why, you can go over to the Control the Zone podcast and listen to this conversation over there. Yeah, we're going to be continuing that on today's episode of CTZ Mondays on our Patreon. That's for our Tier 2 and Tier 3 patrons over there. So check out Patreon.com for it slash Control the Zone for more information. That's going to do it for today's show, though. Appreciate you tuning in and hope to see you tomorrow.

So we recap tonight's action against A's. We're also going to talk about if the Mariners to re-sign Tyler Anderson, in the soft season. But if you want to keep the Seattle sports talk going, check out today's episode of Locked on Seahawks. All pro defensive tackle, Gino Atkins is visiting the Seahawks today. We'll see if maybe that

comes together. So check out Corbyn Smith on there and he'll get you set for next week's preseason game against the Chargers and maybe talk a little Geno Atkins, all that good stuff. For Colby Patnode, I'm Tiding Gonzalez and this has been locked on. Mariners. Be sure

to give us a follow on Twitter at L-O- underscore Mariners. You can follow me at Dane Gonzalez. It's D-A-N-E-G-N-Z-L-Z and Colby at CPAT 11, C-P-A-T-1-E. Have you so beautiful baseball day, and we'll see you tomorrow. Betting on Major League Baseball

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