Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Mariners Maintain First Place, But Struggles Continue With Annoying Loss to Reds

Starting point is 00:00:00 Well, we all knew regression was coming, but the Mariners have seemingly hit a brick wall. That's now four losses in their last seven games with a six to three defeat at the hands of the Reds. Let's talk about it. 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, September 4th, 2023. Happy Labor Day, everyone.

Starting point is 00:00:29 This is tighting. It's all. and Kobe Patnaud for the Locked-on Marriars Postgame show. Thank you so much for making us your first listen after the game. Subscribe, like, and turn on alerts if you're watching on YouTube, or subscribe and leave a five-star review on your preferred podcast platform if you like what you hear. And if you're part of the crew and rock with us every single day, let us know in the comments below.

Starting point is 00:00:47 And if you want to hear from us even more, please consider signing up for our Patreon. You can now get a free seven-day trial to check out the show. The link, as well as our social accounts. It's in the description of this episode. 6 to 3, the final score from Cincinnati. Mariners lose their series opener with the Reds and have now lost four of their last seven games. They will remain in first place for today, however, thanks to an Astros win over the Rangers.

Starting point is 00:01:16 But their playoff buffer has unfortunately dropped to two games with a Blue Jays win in Oakland. Colby, this has now been a full week of a lacklustre baseball from the Mariners. And, you know, I don't want to say the wheels are falling off because, I mean, look at the Rangers. If you want an example, the wheels actually falling off, that's probably it. But this isn't good either. The Mariners are playing their worst ball in over a month. The pitching has been flat. The bats have been pitiful.

Starting point is 00:01:49 It's a bad product to watch right now. So floor is yours. What's on your mind? You know, it's, it's interesting that, you know, we say they drop four of seven and, and like, it's the time to panic and all that stuff. And that means they went three and four. Like they don't drop the game. Yeah, that doesn't sound that bad.

Starting point is 00:02:14 No, but that's just how well they've been playing since July 1st. And now in back to back days, they lost by three runs when they hadn't lost by three in more than a month. Well, and I think it's also a testament to how close this playoff race is, right? Every single game matters in a big way. Right. Right. I mean, we're sitting here talking about like, oh, they still hold on to first.

Starting point is 00:02:35 Like that means anything on September 4th. It doesn't. Like, just mention this right off the top. Tomorrow we're doing a mailbag episode. We are not answering any questions about who would you rather face in the playoffs. How would you line up your rotation in the playoffs? You have to get there first. Are you nuts?

Starting point is 00:02:54 You're sitting here asking us about, oh, would you rather face the Rangers or the twins in the playoffs? Let's get there. Let's get to a point where the club is playing good ball. By the way, they still have nine more games to go before their next day off. They're against good teams.

Starting point is 00:03:07 We know this. We know that their schedule. And if they play like this against even Texas who's struggling at the end of the year, they have a shot to lose all those games. So miss me with the whole like, oh, what's the playoff roster look like? No,

Starting point is 00:03:19 we're not answering those questions. You have to get there before any of that stuff, even matters. And right now, while you're still in a good position, you are fading. Uh, your position is fading pretty quick. Thankfully, you know, the rest of the American League West sucked, uh, this weekend too. So at the end of the day, you've lost one game on Houston and that's the net. Uh, one game on Texas. One game on Texas, one game on Houston. Like, that's the net. Uh, so that's good, I guess. But yeah, this team's got to play better. In the last three days in particular, it's been really bad starting pitching.

Starting point is 00:03:54 And it's been early and constant. And thankfully, the Mariners were able to win one of those games because it's the one game where the offense actually showed up early and often. But yeah, it's been three really bad starts in a row. There's no need to sugarcoat it. There's no like, well, you know, Brian Wu battled and he got through five.

Starting point is 00:04:12 Cool. He didn't absolutely murder your bullpen today. That's not good enough. That's not what you're looking for. And with Wu, it's a little more like, reasonable to give him that out. But Luis Castillo and George Kirby were awful, awful. And you need those guys.

Starting point is 00:04:30 Those are your aces. They have to be better than that. You have more pitching advantages the next two days. You have to take advantage of it. More importantly, you have to get out of those first couple of innings unscathed. You cannot constantly play from behind and expect this offense to pick you up. Because what this offense is right now, if Julio isn't going into God mode, which he wasn't today, although a very impressive home run.

Starting point is 00:04:53 He left a small village on the bases with a couple bad at bats. Fine, whatever. That's going to happen. Right. But if that's going to happen, then you need a Eugenio to be better. You need Thai France to be better because if either JP, Julio, or Teosker struggle, and today all three of them had their moments with not great at bats, but, you know, they all contributed some.

Starting point is 00:05:17 But if they're, if all three, if one of those three isn't going to just, you know, carry you, then this offense is pretty shallow right now because you're talking about Dom Canzon and Canzone is kind of a hit or hit or miss every day. We don't know what you're going to get. Cal Raleigh didn't play a lot, didn't play today until the end. And he's kind of hit or miss too. Like this offense is not that deep. Josh Rojas has cooled off since the start of the road trip. Like you have to get more from guys who you've counted on in the past. And right now that's mostly that's mostly Gino and Thai France. They have to be better. Good to see Ty back in there today after, you know, a scary hit by pitch.

Starting point is 00:05:54 But I mean, my lord, I've never seen a slower runner than Ty trying to beat out a ball that ricocheted off the pitcher, clanked off the second baseman's glove, rolled out to center field and the shortstop with a delayed reaction to field and still throw them out by two steps. Like, yeah, yeah. I mean, he's hurting your team. That's embarrassing. It's embarrassing. It's embarrassing. Yeah. Ty France is the worst player in your team right now. And that is a problem. He has to be at least neutral.

Starting point is 00:06:20 He has to be at least he's not going to kill us. And right now he is. And again, because Julio didn't go into God mode today, because Tay Oscar didn't go into God mode, because JP, you know, didn't get on base four times.

Starting point is 00:06:32 Like you need somebody else to step up. And right now nobody's doing that. And it's been a couple, you know, I say rough games for Julio, knowing that yesterday he hit like, I think two balls at 110 miles an hour. And today he had, you know, just a mammoth opposite field home run.

Starting point is 00:06:47 But, you know, relative to what he did in August, it's been, you know, a couple, okay, okay, but not great days for Julio. And the rest of the guys have to step up because you're not going to get Julio going four for five every single day to bail you out. Well, and when you say bad days, it doesn't necessarily have to be his fault, right? It can also just be bad luck, right? You suffered from bad luck and therefore had a bad day because of that, right? More yesterday than today. Yeah, yeah, then today, of course, yeah. Because today, I mean, yeah, he had two really awful at bats.

Starting point is 00:07:14 I mean, there was a couple of questionable calls during those at bats as well, but he still needs to be able to overcome that. And he had an opportunity, what, to take the lead, right, with the bases loaded, where he, where you filed off 95 down the middle. Down the middle. That's the pre-breakout Julio, right? That was the issue that was really plaguing him was that he was getting those opportunities. and not taking advantage of them.

Starting point is 00:07:42 That was a big opportunity there where, you know, maybe he doesn't put that ball on the seats, but he's at least going to get two with that. He should be able to get at least two with that. Just hit the ball hard in fair territory, right? Don't miss it. Like maybe you hit a screaming line drive and it's right at Ellie De La Cruz,

Starting point is 00:07:57 but like at least you gave yourself a shot. So it's just one of those things. You just, he can't miss those pitches. And I felt like to Oscar miss and he chased a lot. Gino again continues to struggle. Ty France continues to struggle. Mike Ford actually had a good day,

Starting point is 00:08:14 had an infield single, because, you know, that's something that totally happens. Also at the big home run. But right now, this team is basically relying on solo home runs, and they're not stringing at bats together. They've done it once in this little skid,

Starting point is 00:08:27 you know, against the Mets on Saturday. But really, aside from that game, they're living and dying by the home run. They're not stringing good at bat after good at bat together. they're chasing a lot more. It feels like they're chasing worse pitches. Like there's kind of in a funk right now.

Starting point is 00:08:42 And it's really hard to watch, especially because, well, A, the division is right there for you to take. Like if the Mariners were playing well right now, if they'd kind of continued what they were in August, they'd be two,

Starting point is 00:08:52 three games up on the Astros and four or five up on the Rangers right now. Like, yeah, the opportunity was there. So while it's good that the rest of the playoff field is struggling a little bit, like it's still a huge missed opportunity. So, yeah.

Starting point is 00:09:06 Again, the fact that they hold on to first place here on September 4th, who cares? Who cares? You only care about the standings on October 2nd, right? The season ends October 1st. Like, that's when you care. So I just, they have to play better. Like at the end of the day, if the Mariners continue to play like this for the rest of the month, which again, it's a small sample size. They could turn it around as early as tomorrow.

Starting point is 00:09:28 But if they do continue to play like this, forget who do you want to play in the playoffs. You're not going to get that choice. You're going to be on the outside looking in. So yeah, the Mariners have to start playing better. And it starts, let's be very clear about this. It starts with the starting pitching. You're built on pitching. You have to be better than you have in the last three days.

Starting point is 00:09:47 It's not a, well, you know, hopefully no, no, no, no. It's have to. You have to be better than you were the last three days. But the offense certainly hasn't carried their part either. So, yeah, they're just kind of, you know, not clicking right now. and you hope that they turn that around. But, you know, kind of the thing with this Mariners team this year has been like long stretches of mediocrity, long stretches of greatness. There's been very, very few, like, small spurts of, like, bad and then they turn good again.

Starting point is 00:10:16 Like, it's been mostly just, you know, they are what they are for a couple weeks. And then they kind of cycle through. So can they turn it around? I hope so. The pitching matchup certainly say they can the next few days. But they've had the pitching advantage this entire road trip, except for maybe Friday. and here they sit one and three on the road trip. Friday was the best pitch game that they got this whole road trip so far.

Starting point is 00:10:39 So yeah. Yeah. They got to play better. At the end of the day, that's what it is. They have to pitch better. They have to pitch better. They have to string together good at bats.

Starting point is 00:10:48 Like, they're not playing well this week. Yeah. Yeah, they had the seven nothing win last Monday. And then they, you know, they scored eight on Saturday and won that game.

Starting point is 00:10:58 But outside of that, this offense is just, it's been bad like when it's been bad it's been really bad and they have not been facing juggernaut pitching staffs by any stretch so yeah yeah they got to pick it up like everybody on the team like who do you blame the most everybody everybody everybody's been bad except for the bullpen i'll get the bullpen some credit they've had to cover a lot of innings the last three or four days yeah yeah and they've done a good job they've gone up a run here or there but when you're covering four or five six innings a night like only giving up one or two is pretty darn good so yeah kudos to the

Starting point is 00:11:31 guys out on the pen. A couple of them has struggled, yes, in their outings, but overall, they've been really solid. And, you know, again, they've covered what, four headings today and gave up a run? Like, you'll take that every time. Yeah, they're holding it down. They're holding it down. But yeah, they need better

Starting point is 00:11:47 starting pitching performances, especially out of guys like Brian Wu. Let's talk about him. Just a moment. But first, a reminder of this episode of the Lockdown-Airist post-game show is brought to you by Nutraful. You don't have to choose between better hair growth and your health. Nutraful provides a whole body health approach for men that promotes

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Starting point is 00:12:54 And you're listening to the Locked-on Mayor in his post-game show. Thank you again for making us your first listen after the mayor is six to three loss to the Cincinnati Reds game two of the series is tomorrow night or well tomorrow afternoon actually 3 30 start time Pacific you can catch all the action on the mayor's hometown broadcast of serious xm via the sxm app so brian woo did not get off to a particularly good start in this game he was able to give you three more innings after that of scoreless ball which you know you mentioned earlier great from the

Starting point is 00:13:28 perspective of saving your bullpen at least a little bit. Obviously, they had to cover a lot of endings yesterday with Kirby, only going three. But this is just not what you want. So the question that I want to ask you here is, I mean, we've been wondering it for a long time now. We've talked about it a long time now for the last month or two. You know, has Wu finally found the end of his rope? Maybe, but I don't know because he's been pretty much hit or miss for the last month so, well, since he came back from the IL, he's had, you know, some good starts, some bad starts.

Starting point is 00:14:06 And so I'm not seeing a ton on the, on the Vlo front that suggests that he's, you know, tiring or anything like that. But today, you know, he tried to go back to the cutter against the lefties and he just had no command of it, none. You hit a couple guys in the foot. And then obviously the, he even threw a cutter to Noelvi when he hit Marte in the elbow pad. So I think all three hit by pitches were on the. cutter. So he just did not have that pitch at all today. He didn't have any issue getting ahead of guys. He had issues finishing them off because if you don't, again, if you're trying to throw the cutter and you don't have it, like, you're kind of screwed. Like, he can get swings and misses on the

Starting point is 00:14:47 fastball. But as we know, like huge whiff rates on a fastball are, is pretty rare. It's not typically a swing and miss pitch. So he has to have something off speed. He has to have something different. If he doesn't have the cutter, he doesn't trust the change up. Then, you know, he's going to get into some good O2 counts with good challenging fastballs, but hitters are going to shorten up. They're going to put the ball in play, and especially if they don't even have to worry about another pitch coming. So I don't know Vuz hit the wall, only he can really answer that. He should be pretty well rested, though.

Starting point is 00:15:20 I mean, he got extra rest before this start. He had the two weeks off in August. Like, it just, I don't see a reason why we should just assume it's definitely that. he's hit the wall. But also, he's got to push through it because you really don't have any other options or answers for that spot. So I would say, I don't think he's hit the wall, but also I have no idea how you would even tell because he threw strikes. Again, he just a couple pitches here and there. And mostly, you know, plenty of 02, 1-2 counts. Just couldn't finish him, just like George Kirby the day before. So I don't know. I don't know if he's finished or if he's, you know,

Starting point is 00:15:59 hit the rookie wall or whatever, but he's kind of, you gotta kind of try and find a way to push him through it or, or, um, you know, you got to help him with bullpinning or, or, you know, an opener or something,

Starting point is 00:16:11 uh, because you don't really have a bulk guy that you can throw right now. Well, his Velo was down on all of his pitches today. Pretty significantly too. The, the cutter was down by almost two full miles per hour. The sinker was down,

Starting point is 00:16:25 uh, by one and a half miles per hour. Same with the four seam. like that right does seem concerning it's it was a hot day in Cincinnati um I don't know you know I guess it's just really a thing that you need to wait and see in the next start you know if these issues crop up again um and you know he looked fine for the final three innings where he went scoreless today like it wasn't terrible it seemed like he kind of got some things under control here but yeah like you mentioned right it's like if he is hitting a wall you're kind of

Starting point is 00:17:02 in a bad spot because you don't really have anyone else i mean luke weaver is the guy and yeah i don't like i know you really like luke weber but i don't want to trust i don't want him i don't want him starting games in a playoff race yeah same same so yeah so hopefully hopefully this is not that hopefully this was just a bad start for Wu didn't have his best stuff just didn't feel sharp today just for whatever reason and then he gets back on the horse next time around because the mayor is really they need them right because he has what three four starts left i think he's got four left if they stay in current alignment yeah so and one of those is going to come in the in the final series against

Starting point is 00:17:47 texas which may or may not be for a playoff spot let alone the division so yeah yeah we'll see All right, so let's talk more about this series in just a moment, but first a reminder, this episode of the Lockdown Airs Postgame show is brought to you by Sleeper, the MLB playoffer right around the corner, which means the clock is ticking on your chance to 100 times your cash on daily fantasy baseball. Pick more or less on stats for your favorite players like home runs, hit strikeouts, and more for up to a 100 times payout on Sleeper. Get your picks right and you can win big. If things don't well in your home league this year, you can still solve it. the fantasy baseball season over at sleeper there you can pick the players you want and call your shot and when you use promo code locked on that's l o c a d o n you'll get up to a hundred dollars matched on your first deposit terms of conditions apply see sleepers terms of use for

Starting point is 00:18:41 details currently operational in over 30 states check out sleeper today and you're listening to the locked on marries post game show thank you again for making us your first listen after the mayor is six to three loss of the cincinnati reds you can catch game two of this series tomorrow on the Mariners hometown broadcasts with Sirius XM via the SXM app. So you mentioned it earlier, Colby. The Mariners still have the pitching advantage in the series. They weren't able to take advantage of that today. They weren't able to take advantage of a bullpen game for the Reds.

Starting point is 00:19:13 Tomorrow is very interesting on multiple levels. Connor Phillips, former Mariners prospect, is making his major league debut against his former team, the team that drafted him just what three years ago, two years ago. It wasn't that long ago. The mayor has drafted Connor Phillips. He was, of course, the player to be named later in the Jesse Winker and AU Henning of Swara this trade, going along with Justin Dunn, Jake Fraley, and Brandon Williamson.

Starting point is 00:19:40 You're going to be countering with Bryce Miller. And then on Wednesday, the Reds initially had Lion Richardson scheduled to pitch in that game. That has now turned into a to be determined because Richardson was sent down today. So not sure what the plan is there on Wednesday for the Reds. And you're going to be countering with Logan Gilbert. So you have the advantage here. And with the way that this team is playing right now,

Starting point is 00:20:07 you don't want this to snowball. I think that the next two games are must win games. Like you have to win these next two games against Cincinnati just because how things are rolling right now. But seriously, man, like this team is like you don't want to spiral, especially at this time of year. You don't want to get too down on yourself and you've got to play the raise next. So I think you really need to take advantage of this opportunity here. No, I think you really should.

Starting point is 00:20:35 But I don't know if I would go as far as a must win. But like, yeah, we're getting to the point where every win matters. So like in kind of a, you know, big picture grand scheme of things type of beat. Like, yeah, every game is kind of must win, knowing that you're going to lose some. So this is why winning the first game of a series is so important. You can kind of make decisions in game two that, you know, you can take a few more risk because you have a game in your back pocket. Now the Mariners, they have to win series because, you know,

Starting point is 00:21:05 Toronto is playing some really bad teams right now. And even though, you know, they're not blowing these teams out by any stretch, the Rockies and today are the A's. They're still playing bad teams. So they can make up that two game difference pretty quick on you. Houston and Texas play each other. next two days. So, you know, however that works, it works. It doesn't really matter if you win you or two. So yeah, I just, I don't know. I'd say these are must win games, but there are games

Starting point is 00:21:34 that you should win. Like, you should be reasonably certain that you're going to win those games. And I'm, I'm not, like, I'm certainly not confident that they're going to win those games, uh, despite the, the pretty obvious pitching matchup. And, you know, the, the reds bullpen right now, they have two healthy starters. They're just bullpenning the heck out of this. And Connor Phillips is a guy that, yes, he's got good stuff. And yes, he'll probably rack up some strikeouts tomorrow. But he is going to walk guys or he is going to be wild.

Starting point is 00:22:03 He's going to be around the plate. He's walking about seven guys per nine and AAA. Right. And so, you know, you never know. Maybe tomorrow just happens to be a day where he has pinpoint command, highly unlikely. So you can't chase. You cannot help him. He has good stuff, but he will put himself in trouble.

Starting point is 00:22:19 So the key to tomorrow's game is work counts. And when you get that pitch down the middle, when you get that 2-0 fastball, because Phillips is trying not to walk guys, you better do damage on it. So, yeah, I think Phillips will probably, you know, strike out a fair number of guys because he's got that type of stuff. But there should be no shortage of base runners. There should be no shortage of opportunities, you know, for those Mariners offense to, you know, kind of right the wrong. Turn the ship around. There you go. there you go.

Starting point is 00:22:49 So, yeah. Sure. It's just they have to do it. And, you know, it'd be amazing if Bryce Miller could go seven for the first time in his career. But if he gives you six, then you're probably pretty happy with that because you should have brash. You should have Munoz. You should have Topa inspired. I think he's gone six and two thirds.

Starting point is 00:23:07 Oh, he might have gone seven in his very first start against Oakland. Yeah, wasn't? Yeah, I felt like he went seven. Now I'm curious. You got me just on one of those little things where I'm like. maybe i don't know uh he went seven against detroit in his third start okay and against the white socks in uh june do those count no but uh they don't they don't fit your narrative so yeah they don't don't count yeah no but still it's not like that miller's a guy that you like oh yeah we'll just

Starting point is 00:23:37 have him go 110 pitches and like right yeah it's you've got a you don't have to work as hard as you do with woo to kind of manage his his workload but still there a little bit bit. So hopefully, you know, Miller can can, I don't know, would it, would it kill him to work through the first, the first time through the order without giving up a run, give your offense some time to cook so they're not playing from a hole immediately? Like that would be great. That'd be nice. But you don't know. Like you don't know. For all we know Phillips is, you know, the adrenaline and whatever just creates this great moment for him and Miller struggles. And all of a sudden, you've lost this series and you've lost two series in a row. Like,

Starting point is 00:24:15 that has to be on the table. So it's just one of those things where it's hard to feel good about the club based on how they played in the last seven games. And while you don't want the seven games to override the previous, what, 30 or whatever, we're getting down to it, man. Like we have 25 games left, 26 games left, you know, and we know that the Mariners are not locks to make the playoffs. They're still in good position to make the playoffs,

Starting point is 00:24:46 but they're by no means in. There are four teams right now fighting for three spots, which means somebody is going to be watching in October. And if you don't start playing better, it's going to be you. This is the result of your first half struggles, that even just an all-time run that you went on just gets you to the point of contention.

Starting point is 00:25:08 Like it doesn't even guarantee you a spot. Like you are still in, the thick of it or now you're in the thick of it just now even after that run like so you're still at a a point where a bad week might kill your season yeah and you might be in the midst of that bad week because again after this you go to Tampa bay no day off you don't get a day off um so there's no chance to reset your bullpen and you kind of look at what the starters have done the last few days you've ridden that bullpen pretty darn hard so you know this could be a thing where like you could lose four in a row to Tampa.

Starting point is 00:25:44 And if you do that, like, your season is in danger. So, yeah, you have to, you have to play better. Like, at the end of the day, like, if you can get through this, what is it, a 10-game road trip. You can get through this 10-game road trip at, you know, four and six. You're probably okay. But right now, I mean, you could go 2 and 8. That's how you're playing right now. So, yeah, you just have to start.

Starting point is 00:26:13 banking wins and the best way to, you know, hold off the Astros or the Rangers or the Blue Jays is to never give them a chance to catch you because you just keep on winning. Obviously, a 25 game win streak isn't realistic, but you can't go and lose, you know, 14 of 25 and expect to make the playoffs. You're probably not going to if you do that. So there's no reason to panic yet, but, you know, concern meters up a little bit. And we saw them do this last year, by the way, in September as well. And it worked out fine.

Starting point is 00:26:41 13 to 12 loss against the Royals. Right, right, right. But it's just because there's three playoff spots open to you this year. Instead of last year there was two and really one. Yeah. And that's great. But you're also, you know, again, you're only a game and a half up, well, two games technically on Toronto. And you're tied with Houston.

Starting point is 00:27:09 and so it just You have to play better You have to play better Houston won today So technically you're tied But obviously the tie breaker Yeah Yeah yeah

Starting point is 00:27:19 So yeah And you don't have that tie breaker on Texas And you're probably not going to have it So yeah Play better Like at the end of the day It's really simple I hate to be you know

Starting point is 00:27:32 repetitive and all that stuff But like again if you go 11 And I don't I think they have 25 games left Maybe it's 26 But whatever you go four, you go four games under 500 the rest of the way, you're probably missing the playoffs. That's just the reality of the

Starting point is 00:27:45 situation, unless Texas just continues to implode. I mean, we'll see about Texas because that bullpen is, is bad. It's, it's getting exposed hard right now. Like, they were, they were in that game with Houston today. And then the bullpen came

Starting point is 00:28:01 in, and they, the Houston dropped like nine unanswered on their, on their head. Like, they're in a bad spot. they're in a bad spot and they're losing in bad ways too like that's that's got to be mentally demoralizing for that clubhouse right now like knowing that you had this lead in the a west now you've lost it now you're losing your grip on the playoffs as a whole it kind of reminds me in a way of the a's back in what 2014 when they got off to that insane start in the first half they traded for jason hamill and jeff samarja and then they barely made it into the last thing they barely made it into the last one of the last year's he's the last year to the last year to the last year to the last year and then they barely made it into the the postseason and then they lost to the royals and the wild card

Starting point is 00:28:43 that's kind of that their season kind of reminds me of that a little bit here but I don't know if they're even going to be able to hang on I mean a lot of that is also going to be dependent on the Mariners how the Mariners fit into the thing because I think the Astros are going to make it I'm not really concerned about the Astros making it but the Blue Jays are in the easiest part of their schedule they're winning the games

Starting point is 00:29:03 that they need to be winning for the most part they did drop one to Colorado or two to Colorado I can't remember one but one Yeah. I just don't want to I don't want to get caught up at a midoff here. Like I don't want the Mariners to get caught up in a midoff with the Rangers. I just bury them. Barry the Blue Jays, bury the Rangers.

Starting point is 00:29:21 Whoever it is, bury them. Right. And you had a chance to really do that to Texas the last seven days. And you didn't. And you had a chance. I mean, not as good of a chance, but you had a chance to really kind of put Toronto to bed.

Starting point is 00:29:34 And you didn't. And now they're right back in it. So just again, I know it's cliche. I know it's like, oh, that's not an analysis. But at the end of the day, it's true. You have to play better. You're better than the teams you're playing right now.

Starting point is 00:29:47 Act like it. Play like it. When? And if you win, if you go out there and you go 15 and 10 in these last 25 or whatever, if you go three, four, five games over 500 for the rest of the month, you're probably making the playoffs. In fact, you have a good chance to win the division. It shouldn't be that hard.

Starting point is 00:30:05 But you have to play better because you are going to get four against Tampa. but you are going to get three against the Dodgers. Like there, you got three against Houston. You know, you got seven against Texas who's probably going to be fighting for their playoff live, just like you. Like,

Starting point is 00:30:16 yeah. And you only have two days off from here until the end of the year. You're in a dogfight right now. You got to start acting like it. Every game matters. Every out matters. Every pitch matters. Every at bat matters.

Starting point is 00:30:27 Start winning them or you're going to be on the outside looking in in October. And we're going to have to have a long discussion about how the Mariners choked down the stretch or whatever. And that's not. not a conversation. I'm all that interested in having. So same when more pitches. Yeah, would not like to spend my off season talking about that. So please don't do that. Thank you. Signed. Signed. That's going to do it for. Yeah, that's going to do a far show. Thank you so much for joining us here on the lockdown mirrors postgame show for Colby Pat node. I'm Tadang

Starting point is 00:30:59 Gonzalez. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at LO underscore Mariners. You follow me at Damienzalus. It's C-A-N-Z-L-Z and Colby at C-Pat 11. That's C-P-A-T-1. follow us on Instagram and TikTok as well over at Locked-on Mariners. That's one word, Locked-on Mariners. You can also find all that stuff in the description of this episode. Thank you again for making us your first listen after the game. You can catch game two of this series on the Marriors hometown broadcast tomorrow with Sirius XM via the SXM app.

Starting point is 00:31:26 Have yourself a beautiful baseball day, and we'll see you next time. Peace.

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