Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - MARINERS POSTCAST: Seattle Mariners CAN'T SECURE SERIES WIN vs Houston Astros

Starting point is 00:00:04 This is the Mariners Postcast. Your instant game reaction for the Seattle Mariners. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back, Bryce Miller. Goodbye, Cal Raleigh. This team is just stuck in neutral. Every time it feels like there's kind of going to be a step forward happening, they shoot themselves in the foot with that step forward.

Starting point is 00:00:38 It's a tough one for Seattle today. They lose this one of the Houston Astros, four to three. Lots to talk about, to be honest. Let's talk big picture first, though. It's so maddening how you have guys at the bottom of this roster that just are so awful at their jobs, right? The good teams, not everyone has superstars in every... level of the 26-man roster, right? You're not going to have, you know,

Starting point is 00:01:15 Julio's, Cowles, Randys, Josh Naylor's, everyday players just sitting on your bench waiting to come in. But the good teams have viable options to come in and provide value in some way. But I'm looking at the Mariners' bottom of the roster, and I see Leo Rivas and I see Rob Ruff Snyder. Connor Joe less so. But we'll throw him.

Starting point is 00:01:38 in there as well. And I just see no value. I don't see a guy that comes in and plays great defense and, you know, is pesky at bats. I don't see, obviously don't see guys that can hit left-handed pitching. And look, on one hand, I don't want to blame Dan Wilson because these are the guys that are supposed to come in when left-handed pitchers come in. But on the other hand, it's like, it's so easy to get. get obviously better players than Luke Rayleigh and Dom Canzon out of this lineup,

Starting point is 00:02:15 just by putting in a left-hand pitcher, especially if it's earlier in the game in the sixth or seventh inning, knowing they're going to get another at-bat later in the game, and it ended up being the biggest at-bat, the two biggest at-bats in this game. So, look, there's a lot of things that go into tonight's loss, but I just wanted to get that off my chest, that the bottom of this roster is an issue. Cal most likely is going to go on the aisle. We'll talk about that a little bit. I think Julio had one of his best at-bats,

Starting point is 00:02:46 like pure pitch-by-pitch at-bats tonight in the walk that tied the game in the ninth inning. And so the top end of your roster is fine. Bryce Miller had a great start. I think the majority of your starting pitching. Your top end of the roster can compete with anyone's in baseball. ball. It's it's the bottom end where guys need to come in and play a role and they absolutely can't do that right now. Let's start with that start with Bryce Miller. It's his first game in 26. We heard all this hype in spring training and especially after seeing him in the postseason

Starting point is 00:03:24 last year. Now, if you guys remember, Bryce Miller's 2025 regular season was very poor. It was very Luis Castillo like right now. And, you know, then he gets the injury with the bone spurs and stuff like that. Comes back and is probably the Mariners best pitcher in the postseason. Then gets injured in spring training again. And then it comes out. This is his first start. And I think he looked great.

Starting point is 00:03:49 I think he looked fantastic. It's good to see his Velo was up. You could definitely tell that he had a little extra juice. He was just chomping at the bit to come in and make it impact for this team. so it's good to see him pitching the way he did. His final line tonight ends up being 5.1 innings pitch, eight hits, which isn't great. Two runs both earned one walk and three Ks.

Starting point is 00:04:13 So there are some things. It's not like he came in and dominated or anything like that. But if you look at the underlying stuff, the velocity, the efficiency, those things both look very good tonight. And it's good to see him back. and hopefully he can be a part of this rotation for the foreseeable future here in 2026. But I do have to question the decision to leave him in after the umpire delay. And, you know, you hate to see umpires get hurt.

Starting point is 00:04:46 My guess is concussion with him. But I believe it was in the sixth inning. He's in the middle of an abat against his former college teammate and Brandon Shoemake. and it's over a 10 minute delay. You had stated ahead of time that you were looking at 80 to 85 pitches for Bryce Miller. Now, you're in the sixth inning. You're trying to get through six as much as possible, trying to get every out you can because you're now in a six-man rotation,

Starting point is 00:05:16 so you have one less bullpen arm. I do understand that. But it is Bryce Miller's first start of the season off the IL. and you had stated 80 to 85 pitches. 80 to 85 pitches. And, you know, it's one thing. If there's no delay and he's, you know, kind of working through a couple A-Bs and he gets a couple groundouts

Starting point is 00:05:39 and you want to let him finish the inning, I think that would have been a little bit more defensible. This one wasn't for me because there's just a giant delay. It's basically like going in another inning. And he was at 79. It's right around where you expected him to be. And he had already given up a home run. earlier in the inning to make it two-one.

Starting point is 00:05:57 So I don't love the decision to leave him in there. You bring in Cooper Chris well, and he's the one obviously that ends up surrendering the lead. And then, of course, you get Bizarro to come in and give up the lead. And it just, it's not ideal. It was a mismanaging of that situation. because Brandon Schumey hits the single. Bryce Matthews then hits a single.

Starting point is 00:06:28 Then it's like, okay, let's get Cooper Chris well in there. Zach Cole hits the single. Christian Vasquez flies out and then Jose Altuve walks and then Yordon Alvarez. Oh, sorry, Jose Altuvae hits the sack fly and then Yardan Alvarez grounds out. And it's two, too, just like that. And on a day where you feel like you could have scored a lot more and let's talk about that now because that is one part of this is if you give up two runs, you should expect to win the game.

Starting point is 00:06:57 The Mariners had Lance McCullors multiple times on the ropes, and they could not get it done. Cole Young has a very bad day. These actually been very bad at the plate since that, what was it, Minnesota series since that road trip in the Midwest. Guys, he's down to a 681 OPS. He is struggling right now. So tough to see everyone was ready to anoint him as one of the best players on this team.

Starting point is 00:07:27 And no, it's not time for that right now. Not to say and taking him out of this lineup, but he's on the bottom end and he's really, really struggling right now. So there's just a lot that goes into this game. I'm trying to put in my mind what else came up today. Let's get to that eighth inning because Edward bizarre, sorry, because the seventh inning, Nick DeVila comes in, bullpen, and it's fantastic. It gets through Paredes, Walker, and Desenzo,

Starting point is 00:08:04 one, two, three, great outing from him. And then another one, two, three ending from the Marriers. Eighth inning, Bizarro comes in. Rough day for him. It just seems like every good outing he has, he has about a bad, outing after that. Brandon Shue makes singles, Bryce Matthews, grounds to, grounds to, I don't remember exactly who that was. Oh, that's right. Okay. It grounds out to, not out, but he grounds to Edward Vizarro, tries to throw to second base. J.P. Crawford is

Starting point is 00:08:42 unable to catch it. Then Brandon Shumake gets to third because the throw goes all the way into center field. Julio fumbles it in center field and almost allows Brennan Shoemake to score. But thankfully, you didn't. It was just regarding that throw, because that actually is what ended up allowing the run to score and give Houston the lead.

Starting point is 00:09:11 It's a bad throw from Bizarro, but you also expect a shortstop in this league to be making that catch. It doesn't even look like he's reaching that much at all. So both things are true. I'm not saying that JP is more at fault than Bizarro there, but he needs to make that catch. Bizarro needs to make a better throw, or just toward the first base.

Starting point is 00:09:33 Get the out, right? Then you get the out to a sacrifice fly and make it 3-2 Houston. And it seems like it's all going to be done and dusted after that. You get to the ninth inning Conner Joe grounds out. Snyder does work a walk, good for him. Cole Young flies out. Mitch Garver ends up getting the walk. And then J.P. Crawford, it's a single to load the bases.

Starting point is 00:10:04 And then Julio Rodriguez with a fantastic at bat. And I mean fantastic at bat. Pitch by pitch, it's one of the best at-bats that I've seen him personally have. And I realize it's just a walk. and I realize it's just one run, and I realize the Mariners didn't win this game. But put everything in this situation. I have seen so many times Julio Rodriguez, and they knew that they could try and get him to chase with the high fastball, didn't chase it once.

Starting point is 00:10:35 And he did get a couple pitches that it felt like he could have done damage on. You're not going to hit those every single time. He fouls them off, ends up working the walk, taking the pitches that I feel like he usually would have chased. But it's great to see his patience level really rise. And I think that's going to really raise his ceiling as a baseball player because we know his ability to hit for power, to hit for contact. If he were to walk a little bit and get some of that in his game,

Starting point is 00:11:04 I think he would be such a good offensive player when you add in his speed too on the base pads. Let's talk extras and talk Cal Raleigh in the next part of the show because there's a lot to discuss there. you tie the game. It looks like you're going to be an okay shape moving forward. Andres Munoz coming out for the bottom of the ninth, gets the job done. And then dot, dot, dot, let's talk about that next on the Mariner's Postcast.

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Starting point is 00:14:11 Let's talk about extras first, and then we'll get into Cal. I'm going to go through a couple sequences here. Munoz looks great in the ninth inning, strikes out the side, does give up a single to Cam Smith, but looks great. Brian O'Brien of Brayu comes in the top of the 10th. obviously you have the ghost runner Brandon Donovan works a four-pitch walk Brian and Bray who's had issues with command

Starting point is 00:14:34 all year long continues to have that issue and Brandon Donovan does a good job coming into the game working a walk first and second nobody out Randy is a tough at bat look I realize he was four for four last night and he was two for five tonight

Starting point is 00:14:51 not necessarily a terrible day overall but in that situation you need better from him especially knowing if you're Randy and I know this puts more pressure on you, and I know this shouldn't be the case. But knowing you have Connor Joe and Rob Reff Snyder behind you, and we'll talk about the decisions to put those guys in, we already have a little bit,

Starting point is 00:15:10 but it's just terrible from Dan to do that that early in the game. And it's just mind-boggling how simple it is to get the Mariners best hitters out of the game. I would have let at least Dom Kanzone face the lefty earlier in the game. I think it was Stephen O'Kert at that time. But if not both of them, to be completely honest, because Joe and Rest Snyder, Joe, I'm kind of leaving out of this because he's done it a couple times. But Rob Ratz Snyder is just useless right now. I'm sorry, I can't watch it anymore.

Starting point is 00:15:42 But Randy, knowing that those guys are behind you, you need to get something out of it. If it's a walk, at least put the ball in play, try and move the runner in some way. It shouldn't be that way. It shouldn't be all up to you with nobody out. That's the whole point of having nobody out is you can be aggressive and knowing that there's two other chances behind you. But it's the reality of where you are. So it's not a good at bat from him in that situation. And of course, knowing the people behind you, Joe grounds into a force out.

Starting point is 00:16:15 But he ends up getting on first base, good for him, and Rob Reff Snyder with a weak flyout to keep the game tied in the top of the 10th inning. look a lot of people want the bunt sack fly you don't do that as the away team because a the likelihood of it happening is higher than trying to you know get a rally going and stuff like that but you don't it's you're not playing for the win in that situation you're playing to get the lead and then you know theoretically the astros could do the same thing right you want you want to get more than one run is is the goal and sometimes you get zero instead but if you the home team, that's what you need to do. And that's exactly kind of what it ended up happening. Hoppy comes in and you get a wild pitch and it sends Bryce Matthews to third and Jack Cole

Starting point is 00:17:07 hits a single. Doesn't even need the bunt sack fly. So Houston wins this one. It's their first win against the Mariners. I can't remember exactly when, but in the last 10 games. So mayors don't get the 10 in a row against Houston. Let's talk about Cal because on the Bizarro error where he threw to center field and everything happened. They showed a little glimpse of him grimacing and holding his side as he had to kind of turn and cover for the throw. It's malpractice to have him in this game right now. It's malpractice to have him in the lineup and it's malpractice to even when he wasn't playing to not put him on the eye out. If you know he's in that much discomfort and it's obvious by his at-bats, which don't look good,

Starting point is 00:17:55 even though he gets the two singles last night, I understand that. He's not Cal Raleigh right now. And as much as we crap on Mitch Garver sometimes, Mitch Garver will give you more value right now than Cal Raleigh in the lineup based off of his current state, his current injured state. So there's just no positive to having him still in this lineup, in this game. And he ends up coming out of the game. And that tells me like, all right, it's not right.

Starting point is 00:18:24 put him on the aisle. They need to do him right in the team from that matter. Because Cal's right now, if you look at stats, he's the worst everyday player on this team on the offensive side of the ball. So not only are you limiting his ability to get healthy, you are also playing the worst player right now. And I know that's harsh to say, because we don't like Mitch Garver that much. And watching him play every day is not going to be the same. But right now he's a better player than Cal Raleigh. It's just, you can't have him in the lineup right now. It's too early in the year. And again, like, it's not like there's a tradeoff.

Starting point is 00:19:06 Mitch Garver's the better player right now. So put Cal Raleigh on the aisle for as long as he needs. Hopefully it's a small thing. It's just, it's not even close. And someone says, Sid Rocks, thanks for listening. Garver, defensively, is not better than Cal. You're right. He's not, but it's comparable, and the offense is not comparable right now. It's just not even close. And I like Johnny Parade as a backup a little bit. So for me, it's just you absolutely need to put him on the aisle for the reason number one to get him right and have him ready when it comes to the end of the season.

Starting point is 00:19:40 But reason number two, because you have better options right now, all right? That's why you have Mitch Garver, a very capable backup catcher in this league. Okay, Mariners can win the series tomorrow still after all this. it is Luis Castillo pitching tomorrow. We'll see how that goes. That will be a very interesting one. Reminder, no postcast during weekday, day games. So you won't hear from me tomorrow,

Starting point is 00:20:03 but you still got Ty and Colby making an episode that comes out right after the game. So you're basically getting your postgame content from them. And they got you covered. So they'll cover that game and cover the series as a whole as well. So look out for that on Lockdown Mariners YouTube page. hopefully the Mariners can get the dub and, you know, kind of put all this behind us. I would have taken three out of four easily going into the series.

Starting point is 00:20:28 So if you do that tomorrow, great. And hopefully Castillo, which I feel like if there's any lineup for Castillo to kind of get things right, it's this one, a very righty, heavy lineup that is very free swinging like the Astros. Hopefully, this is his get right game, but we'll end up seeing after tomorrow. All right. We'll talk to you guys on Friday as the Mariners come back home. excuse me we'll talk to you guys back on friday look for tie and colby for tomorrow have a good one go

Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - MARINERS POSTCAST: Seattle Mariners CAN'T SECURE SERIES WIN vs Houston Astros

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