Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - MARINERS POSTCAST: Seattle Mariners BEGIN ROAD TRIP WITH WIN versus Los Angeles Angels

Starting point is 00:00:02 Welcome to the Mariners Postcast. I'm Anderson Hearst. Mariners get the dub in the first game of the series against the Los Angeles Angels of Anahe. I'm Chris Crawford. Brian Wu was fantastic. The bullpen was awesome. Do we need to talk about Coy Young moving up in the lineup? I think we might. This is the Mariners Postcast. Your instant game reaction for the Seattle Mariners. Part of the Locked-on podcast network. your team every day.

Starting point is 00:00:39 Welcome to the Mariners Postcast. My name is Anderson Hurst. I got Chris Crawford with me. Mariners win this one three to one to go to four and four on the early season. Take the first game against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in L.A. on a nice Friday night. Welcome to the postcast. We go live right after every single Mariner baseball game.

Starting point is 00:01:02 We'll talk about how good Brian Wu was today. We'll talk about the anemic offense until. the very end and you actually got some pretty dang good at bats and hits in a big moments and you still get the win which was great. And then we'll do our unsung hero and unsung villains. So that's that's how we roll here on the Mariners postcast, which this is brought to you by Fanduel during the tournament. Fandual is offering $300 back in bonus bets every day for 10 days. Head to fandul.com to get started. All right, Chris Crawford. Thoughts on the win against the Angels in their first AL West showdown of the 2026 season.

Starting point is 00:01:42 So I was talking to Anders about this a little bit before we started. This is a very good win. This would have been a horrific loss. And I know it's early. I know it would have been the first game. I mean, it is the very first game that they play on the road and all of that stuff. But wasting an effort like Brian Woo's, which is something that, you know, as Mariner fans,

Starting point is 00:02:04 we have seen so many great starting pitching performances go by the wayside and not matter as much because the offense doesn't do bub kiss. Well, thank goodness for the offense in the ninth inning. And thank goodness for the Los Angeles Angels bullpen is going to give them a lot of troubles this year. And credit to the Mariners for taking advantage of it for sure. This is a good win. It could be a bittersweet win depending on the health of Brendan Donovan because boy, oh boy, would that be a big loss for the line? up. But overall, just a really, really nice way to start off the road trip of your very first road game of the year. You get a shutout and you get some clutch hits in the extra innings.

Starting point is 00:02:45 That's nice to see. Yeah, they mentioned it on the broadcast tonight. And they compared the record against the Angels in 2025 to the record in 2024. And it was like five and eight to nine and four or something like that. And they mentioned that, you know, your record against a team that was at the bottom of the division, both years, could be the difference between you winning the division going to the playoffs and not. So it's important to win these games, especially in division, especially against the bad teams, do what you can in those games. And they got it done tonight. Didn't always look pretty, though, Chris. But you know what did look pretty is Mr. Brian. Goes seven innings. I think he only had like 85 pitches too. So extra efficient. This was just

Starting point is 00:03:31 vintage Brian Wu. Let's start with the start. What do you see? So good. The command was so good. And by the way, even when Brian Wood doesn't pitch well, he looks good. My goodness, that's a handsome man. Like, it's a little unfair how handsome the Seattle Mariners are. Like, we're getting in ridiculous category for being completely honest. But today it wasn't the swing and miss stuff. It was just locating everything. I think he generated nine swing and misses above of those 85 pitches. But this is a case where you can dominate without getting a lot of swings and misses because you locate so well. And he was able to locate that foreseen fastball. He was able to, you know, the big thing with Brian Wu and the biggest question mark I had about Brian Wu was how was he going to get left handers out? Because his rookie year, he got slacked by him. Oh, he has a pitch against left handers now. Oh, yeah. And part of it is just impeccable command. He is what George Kirby was a couple of years ago, just a guy who throws everything for strike. But with more ability to miss bats and more efficient. Another six-inning starts. First time we've seen a mariner, I believe,

Starting point is 00:04:34 pitch into the seventh inning in 2026. I'd be shocked if it wasn't, to be honest. But I was just super impressed with everything I saw from Brian Wu. Are the angels the best lineup that he'll face? No, but talk about passing the eye test. The command from Brian Wu today was as good as I've seen from a Seattle mariner this year. And that is quite the compliment because they've had some really good starts this year. Yeah, he's working all parts of the plate, which is the big thing for me. He always would have that two seamer that tails in armside to right hand the hitters. It's always been a weapon for him. Even with a little bit of a sweeper too, which he's gotten better at commanding, I think that's that's kind of always been in his bag of tricks. The big thing for me is that fastball

Starting point is 00:05:19 that starts at the belt and then tails in and just hits the inside part of the strike zone to left-handed hitters. That is that is the one that, man, that is so pretty to watch. And, and, I have different favorite mariner pitchers for different situations. I think he's my most aesthetically pleasing Mariners pitcher to watch just because he makes it look really easy, to be honest, just his motion. But he also fills up the strike zone, throws all of his pitches. And he has a little bit of an edge on the mound, which I love to see. But in a good way, not in a kind of, you know, he gets rattled way.

Starting point is 00:05:56 I think it's in a very good way. You saw that on his pickoff, by the way, too. He was, he wanted that call so bad. Yeah. Yeah. And you know what? That's, that stuff. And it wasn't a negative today.

Starting point is 00:06:07 And you can't say anything negative about a guy who throws seven shutout innings and allows one hit. By the way, I said they had the shutout. I forgot they scored the run. Yeah, they did. At the bottom of the 10th. I regret the air.

Starting point is 00:06:17 But one thing I do worry about just a little bit with Brian Wu is that he can get a little too amped up at times. Yeah. Like just, just a few too many times. But that also helps them because. With all to respect to George Kirby and Logan Gilbert, who are incredibly competitive guys, and I'm not saying that Luis Castillo and Bryce Miller and just a different, different era or I should say.

Starting point is 00:06:40 He is a bulldog. He is a guy who really cares and works his tail off. And you can tell that he has been working his tail off. Just look at his body. I'm sorry to talk about the handsomness again, but like just look at how different he looks in his body compared to when he came up, right? Like that guy is just jacked now. And it's helped.

Starting point is 00:07:01 It's helped him maintain his velocity. It's helped him get six-inning starts more than any other Seattle Mariner pitcher. The bullpen today, though, oh, my gosh. Yep. Dude. Matt Brash and And Andreas Munoz in particular. And Gapes-Spire gets the job done, too. There's no insult to that.

Starting point is 00:07:18 But, yeah, oh, my gosh. That's as good as I've seen Andres Munoz looking a long time. And that's, again, a compliment to this, more than an insult to others, because Andres Munoz is one of the top five closers in baseball. And I only say top five because I don't want to leave some people out that I'm just not thinking of. He's as good as anyone. And but the fact that he was throwing that 100 mile per hour fastball, the fact that he was getting that thing up in the zone against hitters like Mike Trout,

Starting point is 00:07:45 who has been fantastic to begin this season. Oh, that was impressive. And then Gabe Spire does his job, gets a couple of outs. Luckily for him, that run is unearned for those of you who are talking about that type of stuff for reasons that involve a company that we promote quite a bit. But I was so impressed with the pitching all game. Just all game, these guys, you know, take advantage of one of the wendiest days probably in Los Angeles or Anaheim or whatever city they play in history.

Starting point is 00:08:14 But good, good gracious, all of the pitchers today were just phenomenal. Yeah, and we can qualify it by saying that it was a good matchup for them. They should be relatively dominant against this. offense. But, you know, the Angels hit a lot of home runs last year. It's not the only way they scored runs last year. But yeah, I mean, it's not an awful lineup, but it's not a great one either. So while they, while you can say, yeah, but it's the angels. Yeah, I'll give some, you know, credit to that. But I also like being that dominant is just another level, right? And that's what and that's what they were, especially I think Moon. you know, you hit the nail on the head. That was like, wow.

Starting point is 00:08:59 And that was a big moment in the game. It was still zero, zero. For sure. If angels score anything, they win the game. So I actually, a quick shout out to Dan Wilson, because I think excellent work by putting him in in a tie game for the meat of the order, even though it's not a safe situation. So that's a big thumbs up for me because absolutely the right thing to do.

Starting point is 00:09:21 And then I think putting in Gabe Spire, I would have been curious if they had just scored the one run. They ended up getting two more. you. I would have been curious. I kind of in my head was thinking I would have put Munoz back out there, but he did have 16 pitches. I thought it was less. I thought it was more like that nine or 10 at most range, but it was his first time pitching since the previous Saturday. So there's a lot of rest in between. I don't know. We're talking about theoretical situations that didn't happen here. Mariner scored three runs. It was the right thing to do to put a spire in there for the Chanawell, the lefty. And then, you know, they end up, you know, working through it.

Starting point is 00:09:55 there in the rest of the 10th inning. Chris, let's talk about the offense and let's talk about Brendan Donovan slash what happened there. Quickly, we're going to give some love to our sponsors for today's show. But let us know in the chat. Do you guys think Brandon Donovan's okay? Who is your unsung hero today? Who do you want to highlight?

Starting point is 00:10:14 Because me and Chris can't talk about everyone. We don't have the time for that. So make sure that if you want to talk about someone to let the chat know, we'll be right back here on the Mariners Postcast. The tournament is here one of the best times of the year. Brackets, buzzer beaters, upsets, it's nonstop action from tip to final cutdown. And right now, Fandall is giving new customers a way to stay in the action all tournament long. One of my favorite parts about it is it's $300 back in bonus bets for 10 days.

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Starting point is 00:14:14 Chris, three to one. Let's talk about the offense. Kind of a no show for most of the night. However, I actually took decent positives from this game. I think the zero was a misleading score line, not entirely as a team effort, but from the guys that I wanted to see start to kind of get out of their funk a little bit. I saw good, not great, but good days from Josh. Naylor and Julio Rodriguez.

Starting point is 00:14:41 Cow starting to get out of it a little bit. Still not great from him. But, you know, it's better than what they showed in the homestand. That's for sure. So, I mean, I guess anything is better than almost what they did, unless you're striking out every single time. So, but the big thing for me, let's talk about Brennan Donovan, because he's trying to stretch an infield ground or into a single.

Starting point is 00:15:06 To me, it looked hamstring. he gets pulled out of the game. Leo Rivas goes into third base. They don't see him on the bench for the remainder of the game. I don't think we've seen an update yet. I've been focused on our postcast. Thank you for shaking your head and confirming that we have not seen an update. So is it already Colt Emerson time, Chris Crawford?

Starting point is 00:15:27 I'm going to be really curious to see what's going on. I wish I could turn the volume up on my TV because they're interviewing Dan Wilson right now. But this would be a big loss. this would be a significant loss to this lineup because Brenda Donovan's been their best hitter, really, honestly. Like, I'll respect to Cole Young, who will give flowers to in a second. He's been their most consistent offensive player and a big jump at the top of the lineup. At the very least, he's been able to get on.

Starting point is 00:15:56 To answer your question, though, or to piggyback on what you were saying, I do think the bats looked pretty good today. I thought that there were some really good at bats, just the results weren't there. And I think some of that has to do with the fact. at that wind, man. The opposite of what we had from the Cubs series last year, we kind of had in this Angel series. There were some balls that got knocked down.

Starting point is 00:16:16 And to be fair, there were a couple balls knocked down that woo through as well. Mike Trout probably in a normal day. That ball probably gets out. So it'd be fair. But J.B. Crawford probably, and his first game back, probably hits a homer as well. So everything evens out a little bit. But I thought the bats were good. I thought they were solid.

Starting point is 00:16:34 Boy, I'm Reed Detmer's thrown at Julio. really ticked me off. It's just, that's a loser mentality. It's a loser mentality from a guy who's been a loser for most of his career. And we'll have a loser for most of his career. He's a loser. Look at his overall numbers. He's sucked as a starter.

Starting point is 00:16:52 And I don't have nice things to say about him. And Louisville is an overrated city. I, it really ticked me off. Don't throw it people. Don't throw 95 mile per hours of people. That mariners were clearly not trying to hurt Mike Trout or hit Mike Trout. or hit Mike Trout in that portion of the game. Come on.

Starting point is 00:17:10 But I do think the abats were good. In particular, the 10th inning with Cole Young, that's such a great piece of hitting, man. Like, lining that triple, which should have been a homer. It was a nice play by the right fielder to kind of knock it down. That is a deep right field as well.

Starting point is 00:17:25 It's a very deep right field. I kind of thought Young was going to get an inside the park homer there. Yeah. Just the way it was rolling there and I was written for it because it would have been just fun to talk about. but man, how good is he? And there's the question. I brought it up when we started the show.

Starting point is 00:17:41 Yeah. If the Mariners bring up Colt Emerson, or even if they don't, if they bring up Ryan Bliss, because they want Emerson to get another week or so of playing AAA baseball, where does Cole Young hit in this lineup? Because I wouldn't say he hits lead off.

Starting point is 00:17:57 I'm not hitting him eighth or ninth anymore. He's had two good of at bats now for me to say that. If it was me, because of the experience J.P. Crawford has leading off. I move him to the lead off spot to begin. I know, I know. But just you have to give it a few games. And then I think I'm hitting Cole Young second because I can't do it with Randy.

Starting point is 00:18:16 He looked too bad in the lead off spot last year for me to say that's the guy that you go to there. So I go with the guy who's had some success there in Crawford, I guess, even though I prefer him to hit ninth for the rest of his mariner career. Let's not get it twisted there. But I'll be really curious to see what they do because it ain't going to be cold to Emerson hitting in the top three to begin his career, if that's who they get called up. Yeah, a lot to respond there. First with the lineup, I think they'll do JP if Brennan Donovan is out for any sort of time.

Starting point is 00:18:49 And I'm talking specifically against right-handed pitching. I actually thought Rob Reff Snyder had a couple good A-Bs today. He did have some good at bats today. Yeah, gets on base twice. That's all you need from your lead-off guy. That really is all you need from him. So I still don't mind him leading off against left-handed pitching. I know some people will not like it, but I don't hate it.

Starting point is 00:19:07 I'll put it that way. I, while I love kind of just letting him be in that nine spot, and that's where he's been successful, I'm going to say it. I think against right-handed pitching, Koliang should be the lead off hitter. I really do. I really do. He's been your best hitter. I don't hate it. In the early portion of the season.

Starting point is 00:19:27 I don't hate it. But the weird thing is, like, he's, five of his nine hits have been against left-handed pitching. Yeah, he's so good. So I guess this is like this is kind of a dichotomy here. Yeah. Yeah. So I don't know.

Starting point is 00:19:39 That's a really good point too. And that's one of the things that's been so impressive. And I thought Angie Mantic brought a really good point about him letting the ball travel into him. Like he's done such a so much better of a job of that than he did in 2025. And some of that is experience. And some of it is just, you know, it's kind of experience too, just becoming a better player along the way.

Starting point is 00:20:02 But yeah, that's going to be an interesting one. We still don't have an update. If you guys heard anything on... Apparently, some people in the chat are saying day to day. I can't confirm that. Okay. But we'll see. I have Ryan Divish's page open.

Starting point is 00:20:15 I wish there were better reporters to have open, but you just got to do what you've got to do. Yeah, yeah. Most people are actually agreeing with you saying leave Cole Young kind of in that bottom of the order range. See, I would agree with that if he, if his at-bats were more like Leo Rivas's or J.P. Crawford's where you're just the pesky, get on-base guy.

Starting point is 00:20:32 Right. He's been bashing. He's been hitting the ball hard. So I want him to get a couple more ABs during the day. But that's just me. I don't mind not mess with it either. I don't have a huge preference. By the way, just real quick, I love Ryan Divish.

Starting point is 00:20:46 That was the Reddembers. I don't have anything positive to say about Ryan Divish, that tiny little man. I do love him quite a bit. That's fair. Yeah. He's, there's a reason why he's beloved. amongst the Mariners fan base, media, all that stuff. And for a guy that says beloved, he's a grumpy human.

Starting point is 00:21:06 Oh, he's just the, I mean, he wakes up on the wrong side of the bed every single day of his life. Now, part of it is because he loves attention. He won't admit it, but he loves being, like, when they play pit bull at the concerts are at the game and they're like, oh, don't play it. He's kind of like saying, don't play that. Don't play it. Don't get people responding to me. Oh, I love it. I love it.

Starting point is 00:21:30 We got a rock and roll here. Really quick, I will respond to the throwing at Julio. I agree with you. I don't think Brian Wu was trying to throw at Mike Trout. It was a slider that missed. It was just a slider that didn't break. Sorry. However, if I'm, if the rolls are flipped,

Starting point is 00:21:50 I am a little ticked off as an Angels fan, going too straight up and in. And like, so I think both sides are kind of like, okay, let's, let's not do that. Fair enough. So that's the only devil's advocate that I'll play. If it was a fastball, I would be a wholeheartedly, totally agree. You just can't do that. You can't go up and in twice like that.

Starting point is 00:22:13 But it was just a breaking ball, one of the few pitches that got away from him that ended up near his head. Are we sure it was a breaking ball? It sure looked like it to me because it just, it had very little, not a, enough velocity on the pitch, I think. Let me look at a pitch by pitch here. Yeah, well, forcing fastball and sinker. 94, 95, 95. Okay. Well, I take it back then. And Brian Wu is a head hunter and we should send him to. No, I still don't think he was trying to hit it. I'm just screwing with you. But, yeah, like, you can see both sides to it. So, yeah, but who, but don't throw out people. Yeah. Just don't throw it people. You're getting, someone's going to get seriously

Starting point is 00:22:52 hurt or worse. Do I have to give you an unsung hero for tonight? I suppose I do. I'll go Randy a Rosarina. Another three reach game for him. He's really quietly had a really good start to this season. Especially for not having any homers yet. Like the fact by the way that we're eight games in and neither Cal Julio Nailer or a Rosarina has a homer yet. Pretty wild. It's pretty crazy. And the fact you're forward four with that is pretty nice as well. Unsung hero, Kate Anderson, four innings of shutout baseball on his pro debut too. I love getting into. I'm going to go just to continue the conversation with the hit by pitch.

Starting point is 00:23:31 I'm going to go unsung moment. Julio's reaction to getting thrown behind. I loved his little like. Yeah. I like it too. I like it too. Yeah. And maybe that's a little something that gets him going a little bit.

Starting point is 00:23:44 Sure. I hope so. Honestly. Like if that's something that's like kicks him in the tush a little bit. It's like, oh, okay. Let's do this. You want to play that way? I kind of like that from him.

Starting point is 00:23:54 It's a little different side because normally he's very happy, go lucky, like joy playing baseball, which I love as well. Sure. I love the little bit of, oh, okay. All right, let's, let's do this. And it's a little bit of maturity from him. I love it. I love it.

Starting point is 00:24:09 Still only 25. Okay, we got to get out of here. We'll be back with you guys tomorrow. I, unfortunately will not. It will be just Chris tomorrow with you guys. I have to cover this. Yeah, I know. I have to cover this godforsaken hockey team tomorrow.

Starting point is 00:24:26 And I'm not excited about it if you guys can't tell. So have fun with Chris. Be nice to him. I know you guys will. Hopefully the Mariners win and all, if they don't, I'm going to be the reason why. So I have to do three ad raids tomorrow by myself. That makes me go.

Starting point is 00:24:43 We'll talk to you guys tomorrow. Go, Mariner.

Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - MARINERS POSTCAST: Seattle Mariners BEGIN ROAD TRIP WITH WIN versus Los Angeles Angels

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