Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Mitch Kills Braves' Vibe, Mariners Win 2-1 in Bryce Miller's Best Start

Episode Date: April 30, 2024

After getting no-hit through seven innings, it looked as if the Mariners' offense were about to waste arguably the best start of Bryce Miller's young career. But after a leadoff base hit from Jorge Polanco, the much maligned Mitch Garver sent a 3-2 hanging cutter from Atlanta reliever A.J. Minter well over the left field wall to solidify a wild 2-1 win for the M's. Ty and Colby discuss the offense's struggles and Garver's heroics, Miller's dominant outing against one of the best lineups in baseball, and get you set for Game 2 between the Mariners and Braves.Ask us questions! Follow the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @TyDaneGonzalez | @CPat11 Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!DoorDashGet all your Mother’s Day gifts, all in one place and get 50% off your next order, up to $15 when you spend $15+ on your next flower, convenience, grocery, or retail order now with code LOCKEDONMLB. That's LOCKEDONMLB. Order using DoorDash today. Terms apply. Monopoly GO!Get in the game and join your friends. Click HERE to Download MONOPOLY GO! now free on The App Store or Google Play. PrizePicksGo to PrizePicks.com/lockedonmlb and use code lockedonmlb for a first deposit match up to $100! eBay MotorsFrom brakes to exhaust kits and beyond, eBay Motors has over 122 million parts to keep your ride-or-die alive. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to bring home that big win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off your first purchase. FanDuelFanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning GUARANTEED That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – win or lose! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It would appear that Colby has a new main Mitch after Garver stunned the Braves last night. We're going to talk all about that ridiculous Mariners win coming up here on the Lockdown Marries podcast. Colby, hit it. You are Locked on Mariners. Your daily Seattle Mariners podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. Mitch don't kill my vibe. Miss don't kill my vibe.

Ahoy, sailors. It is Tuesday, April 30th, 20, 24. This is Tiding Gazzalas and Colby Patnode for the Lockdown Airs podcast. Brought to you by Monopoly Go, the mobile hit twist on classic Monopoly. Join your friends and download Monopoly Go now free on the app store and Google Play. Thank you so much for making us your first. Listen, 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. We'd love to hear from you. 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 is in the description of this episode. Well, Mitz certainly killed the Braves vibe. That's for sure. Mariners win two to one on a walk-off two-run homer last night.

Just an utterly ridiculous ending to an utterly ridiculous game. We had dueling no hitters for a while. The Mariners' offense looked absolutely pitiful. They blew yet another opportunity with the bases load. and fewer than two outs. It looked as if they were going to waste arguably Bryce Miller's best start of his young career, which of course we're going to talk a lot about later on in this show. But they won.

And it was because Jorge Polanco and Mitch Garver, who we talked a lot about on yesterday's episode, got the job done. So how are you feeling, Colby? It was certainly not a fun game until probably the last 15 seconds or so. just a lot of frustration, a lot of kind of a carryover of what we saw on Sunday in that game where this offense once again just striking out way too much, not getting on base enough, not hitting the ball nearly enough. Before the Garver home run, by the way, the Mariners had not hit a ball more than 300 feet.

they had one flyout that went 294 feet that was the first of you last night I had to text you last night and ask I was like have they even left the infield yet I think this was around the fifth or sixth inning and there was the yeah the flyout that you're talking about from Mitch Hanager that was it so prior to the Garver home run

they did not hit a ball further than 294 feet not necessarily mean you're going to the game, but, you know, that's not good, right? You hit the ball hard, you hit the ball far. Like, that's kind of the point, right? So they weren't really hitting the ball hard either. So that that is also an issue.

But, yeah, you know, we have four hard hit balls last night. Yes, two of them, of course, the only two that ended up mattering in the long run. But, yeah, you know, it was really frustrating because you load the bases, right? You actually get a big hit from Luke Rayley, um, who, Albies, you know, may or may not have saved the game. I think they were sending Rivas. Rivas can really run. He's a good runner now.

Cooney's got a great arm. But that was potentially a game time, you know, single, pinch at single for Rale. But anyways, they have the basis loaded. They have one out. Awesome. This is even after service blew it by asking Luis Urius to bunt. Despite having Thai France be the runner at second, the slowest guy on the team. Do you know how perfect that punt has to be for that to work?

It's literally got to be. Yeah, yeah. But no, yeah, let's just robin at bat from Louis Sirius. Sure. Why not? Just have two big time home runs this year. Yeah, sure. No, let's just let's just have him.

By the way, now I still need my guys behind him to get a hit, which we haven't done all night. We haven't hit a ball for than 294 feet all night. Maybe you just let this one play out, Scott, or at least put somebody fast out there on second base. So the punt doesn't have to be perfect. Yeah. Anyways. Like I get it. You're playing arguably the best team in baseball.

baseball. It's a close game. You might want to play small ball later on in the game. I totally understand that point of thinking, but that was not the situation at all to do that in. You have to be good at it, though. I want to play small ball. Well, are you good at it? No, then don't do it. But it's, it's so situation dependent, right?

And the situation there was you have Thai France on second. You have Luis Serius up to bat. Neither of those things work for that style. the ball that you want to play in that in that spot. It just, you don't want to play that style of all. You don't. The meritors don't bunt that often. Just when they choose to,

it's usually at the stupidest possible moment. Remember last year when you had J.P. Crawford, who was on fire, bunt against the Blue Jays, they lost that game. Huh, imagine that. Giving a team an at bat, giving a struggling pitcher and out for free,

doesn't always work. And you know what? It didn't work because Julio had a terrible at bat, which is only over, shadowed because Mitch Hanager went up there and decided to have an even worse one. You got your guys up to Julio and Mitch. Those are your boys. Those are the guys you want with JP on the shelf.

Those are the guys you want with the bases loaded. They failed. Epically failed. And that should have been it because you had no business winning yesterday's game. And then the much hated Jorge Polanco and the even more hated Mitch Garber come to the plate against AJ Menter, who is really good. Did you know that he already has seven decisions this year? So yeah, I mean, they use him when the game is tight late. Yeah, seven's a ridiculous number.

But yeah, I mean. And like 28 games or however many. Like that's nuts. That's a lot for a believer. But yeah, you know, and you know, and you know, Polanco gets the hit, the hard hit. Interesting decision to go to your lefty when you have two guys coming up who are. traditionally in their career has been lefty destroyers. So mentors the closer,

whatever you go to them in one run game, fine. I get it. But, you know, maybe play a little bit of matchup there. But thankfully they didn't. And Polanco comes through, absolutely scorched base it through the left side. Garber,

I believe the count was 3-0. And then it popped back to 3-2. And you're just kind of sitting there like, you know, based on what Garber had been doing, you're like, maybe he walks. and maybe we can kind of, you know, which would have, which would have meant another punt,

I'm sure. Can Cal Raleighbunt? Who knows? We're going to ask him to, though, because that makes sense. Yeah. And then Garber gets the hanging cutter, just dead center and,

and it was crazy because the, the two previous pitches that Mentor made were perfect to get the count back to three, two. And then he just makes the biggest mistake you could possibly make in that situation. Cutter right down the right down the plate didn't even cut it just kind of spun up there and you know Garber didn't miss it. I mean, it was it was a absolute tank job.

You know, and you can kind of see like the the relief, the frustration, the relief, the, you know, all of it, like all the emotions and the little bat, whatever we want to call that. Like I don't think that's a bat flip, but like, you know, it was it was very clear that, you know, Mitch He didn't even, he didn't even look happy. He was just like, finally, Jesus. Just, just relief. Just, oh, thank God. Because, yeah, it's, it's been rough, you know, and we know that Garber is a very accomplished player in this game.

And it's been a real struggle for him. And he's talked about, you know, I just don't feel like myself right now. And so for him to come up in that big situation, maybe it just takes some of the pressure off a little bit, you know, and does this mean that he's going to figure it out now? I don't know. Maybe we've seen Garber have big. you know, big hits and then kind of take a couple days. Yeah.

You know, we talked about this yesterday. He's in kind of a one step forward, two step back, kind of space right now. And he's just trying to find himself. So hopefully this is something that helps him, gives him some confidence going forward. Because, you know, it was, it was awesome. It's his first career walkoff home run at any level. First career walk off hit, I believe, at any level, which is crazy. Because Garber, Garber can hit.

He really can hit. And he just hasn't. So last night, it was just really funny to see, you know, Julio fail epically and then Hanigar come up after him and fail even worse than Julio had and just look awful at the plate all night. Hanager did and he wasn't the only one. And for Jorge Polanco and Mitch Garver, two guys who we get questions about pretty much every day.

Are you worried about them yet? Like they shouldn't be in the lineup, whatever you should be playing. You know, you should call up Samad Taylor and he should D.H. blah, blah, blah, all that stuff. And those are the guys who come through. And those are the guys who get the big hits. And it's not Julio. And by the way, that's what makes teams really good.

That's what makes good teams great. And this is the importance of Garver and Polanco. This exhibited exactly that because, look, there are going to be knights where Julio, JP, Cal, they're not going to be able to carry the load. So you need someone to make up the difference. And Garver and Polanco, those are the two guys that you look at first to be able to make up the difference.

And last night, they were able to do that. So Garver's heroics aside, the MVP of this game for the Marys was Bryce Miller. We're going to talk about his night in just a moment. But first a reminder, this episode of the Lockdown Marys podcast is brought to you by Fandul. It's playoff time in the NBA and NHL, baseball's in full swing,

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Again, that's fendual.com slash LOC, KD-O-N. FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. And you're listening to the Locked On Airs podcast. Thank you again for making us your first listen. You can catch game. two between the Mariners and the Braves tonight on the Mariners hometown broadcast with SiriusXM on the SXM app. All you have to do is search Mariners.

So, Colie, let's talk about Bryce Miller. Arguably the best start of his young career, given the opponent, given what he did. He had a perfect game going at one point in this game. He had a no hitter going on at one point in this game. He ends up going seven strong, two hits, one earn run, 10 strikeouts, ties his career high, just the one walk and only five hard hit balls against a team that is essentially an all-star team in itself. What were your impressions of Bryce Miller? Obviously very good. Miller is, you know, really evolved as a pitcher this year. But last night was actually kind of a throwback of Bryce Miller. It was

just pretty much here's the fastball, hit it if you can, and they they couldn't like he went right after guys. You know, he threw 59 four seamers, got 35 swings, 15 whiffs. 43% whiff rate on a forcing fastball is insane. And it was just absolutely nuts. Yeah, he's just going right after guys throwing it everywhere. He could get dotted up at the knees. He could go arm side. He could go glove side.

He could go elevated. Like, he just thrown that fastball pretty much wherever he wanted. So there was really never a point where he, you know, where he needed to change anything. Like he was just in attack mode all night, you know, and his secondary stuff was just kind of there to give, you know, give the Braves another look. Like he threw 17 sweepers. He got no whiffs on them. He only got two called strikes on that pitch. So now when they put it in play, they didn't put it in play particularly hard.

It would, nothing, nothing was very hard hit off of the sweeper. But it didn't really add a ton in terms of the whiffs and, you know, the getting ahead of guys. Like it only had a 12% called strike plus whiff rate. Splitter, he threw nine of them. He only got four swings and one with on that pitch, only one called strike on that pitch. And then the two seamer slash sinker, again, four swings, one with, got a couple called strikes on it. But, you know, it was two of them, two balls to put in play, one at 83.7 miles an hour on the two seamer, one at 90. So again, nothing hard hit, but nothing that was contributing to the dominance, I guess, we'll say.

like Miller basically went against the Atlanta Braves and dominated them with his fastball. And then every other pitch was just kind of there along for the ride. Like it was it was vintage Miller, but it was also a little bit of a different Miller at the same time because it was, it was just so much like here's my fastball, bet you can't hit it, told you sit down and just bring up the next guy. Like he was carving these guys up and it was very impressive.

And, you know, it's crazy that like Miller can have a game that good against that quality. even opponent and we could sit here and say like oh yeah that wasn't even the mariner's best start you know in the last three days like that's the level the mariners rotation is on right now yeah this is there i tweeted this last night this is their version of august julio yeah i mean not sustainable but uh it's it's a lot of fun to watch right now and and uh you know it's one of those runs that you remember and it's one of those runs uh i think was uh was a chusterman

and he tweeted out what the Mariners slash line has been for the last 15 games or whatever. And like they're running like a 35% strikeout for last week. Yeah, they're running like a 35% strikeout rate as an offense right now. And they're still winning games because the pitching has been that good. And Miller just kind of continues it. And so, you know, at some point one of these guys is going to have a blowup start. It's going to happen. Like it just hitters aren't this bad.

I mean, not even a blow up star. Like they're going to give up four over six, right? Yeah. And maybe tonight, Cassidy. Like this is a very, very good lineup. But when you look at what the Mariners have done over the last seven days against, let's remind people, the Texas Rangers in Texas, the Arizona Diamondbacks, who came into their series as the best offense in baseball in runs,

and the Atlanta Braves who arguably have the best lineup in all of baseball. now they set up two more games against the Braves but they're not facing the Rockies you know and then the white socks right no they're they're facing the World Series champion the World Series runner up in a world series favorite all in a row and they have dominated them with pitching so yeah you know Miller's just kind of it's an all time run like they're putting up deadball era numbers against some of the best teams in all baseball right and so Miller you know it's a it's an all time run like they're putting up deadball era numbers against some of the best teams in all baseball right and so Miller you know it it's sometimes it's almost a shame that like an outing like millers is so like i mean it's great but when you compare it or when you put it into the like context of the run the mariners are on right now with their pitching it's a little bit pedestrian you're like oh only 10 strikeouts like oh only a 45% whiff rate on the fastball like like that's just that just speaks to the level of the run the mariners starting pitching is on uh and the bullpen's certainly holding their own uh in this uh too But Miller, like I said, just here's the fastball, bet you can't hit it, told you sit down, bring up the next victim.

I'm just carving you up with basically one pitch. And then I'm going to sprinkle in just enough of the other stuff. Yep. I'm going to sprinkle in just enough of the other stuff to kind of keep you off my fastball enough. So that maybe in the back of your head, you're like, maybe he's not going to throw this time. Yes, I am. It's by you sit down. Like it was very impressive.

And Miller, after kind of a rough start against Texas the week before, he, joins Logan Gilbert as legitimate contenders to be the American League pitcher of the month. Yeah. So the tweet was the mayor has hit 175, 232, 358 with a 35% strikeout rate over the last week and went 5 and 2. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So those, those 15 whiffs that Miller had on the four seam, second most of any four seam this year behind, of course, George Kirby's 18 that he threw. on Saturday against the Arizona. On Saturday. Which is absolutely ridiculous pitching we're seeing right now. Totally not sustainable, but this has been a hell of a right.

But the, but the offense if it can just, you know, get back to average, it doesn't have to be is the point. So if you can just regress back to the main, it'd be great. Sure. By the way, you know, can we talk about Austin both real fast?

Sure. Because he gives up the single to Kellnick and, uh, Calnic, uh, whatever. Okay. Uh, he gives up the single to Kelnick. Then he proceeds to strike out in order in a one run game, the top of the ninth. Ronald Acuna Jr., Ozzy Albies, and Austin Riley.

Yeah. Austin both did that. By the way. Not Munoz. Let's, let's also show some love to the seventh inning that Bryce Miller through after, you know, he gives up the run. Well, he gives up his first hit, which was. kind of fluky in a way and then gives up the double to Ozzy Albies to make it one nothing and he ends up limiting the damage and that saved the game for the merits right there but yeah

both that that ending was so impressive for Moss of both I believe now every single Marr's reliever has a sub three ERA at the moment right uh they're going to need reinforcements still but it is pretty hilarious to me that the probably like the two worst arms in their bullpen right now were tasked with keeping a one to nothing game one to nothing against the best lineup in baseball and they did it. There's like, yeah, no problem.

We got this. Or combined strikeouts between Bolton and both. Yeah. And again, just to reiterate how insane this is, Austin both. Yep. Struck out in order in a one run game in the ninth inning Ronald Acuna Jr.

Ozzy Albies and Austin Riley to preserve a one nothing game. That's just what the Marrots do. Pitching is just insane. And again, by the way. I'm not surprised anymore, though.

With the way that the Mariners develop pitching and the way they develop relievers, like I, like nothing surprises me anymore. I'm just like, yeah, sure. Why not? I think in general, the idea of using both against Acuna, Albies, and Riley in a high-level spot. Oh, it's ridiculous. Oh, that's not.

That wasn't the move. Don't get me wrong. But when it happens, when it works out, I'm just like, yeah, of course it did. Sure. Yeah. Let me want to. Again, this team is going to have to add a significant bullpen arm at the deadline. I believe that. And his name is Paul Seawald.

Maybe. Could be. But for now, like, when Trent Thornton. in Taylor Sos Sato and Austin both and Cody Bolton like just like the guys who you're like, yeah like those are true middle guys and there's out here showing against like don't throw Taylor Saucato and don't disrespect friend of the show he is the middle he is the middle guy of middle guys okay and those guys are going out there against like three four five one two three in the order and just be like yeah no problem like even Thornton uh who blew the game on Sunday

Jonathan Klosset could play defense. He wouldn't have. But yeah, even he, you're just like, oh, yeah, sure, no. Like I feel reasonably good about these guys, even in these spots. It's been huge. It's been huge. The Mariners pitching is we're running out of statistics even to just like put into context how great the pitching has been for the last two weeks.

And keep in mind, two weeks in October is all you need to win the World Series. that's it the mariners could win the world series with one of the worst offenses we've ever seen like if the pitching were to do this in october now they have to get there first and the offense obviously has to be better so that when the pitching isn't great like you gotta get to october first right but that's all it takes in october right two weeks you're on a dominant two week run in october your world series champions it's it's like

we saw with the rangers the rangers had a horrific bullpen last year but then in the postseason for those couple of weeks. They were fine. They were good enough. And they won a World Series. Yep. It is small samples on, stacked on top of small samples in the playoffs.

So, you know, just, just a reminder that the Mariners pitching has been elite and they're not even healthy. So. We haven't even seen Brian Lou yet. That's the craziest part about this.

We probably won't see Brash. We haven't seen Santos. Yeah. still the best pitching staff in baseball. All right, so let's talk about what's on tap for game two. Luis Castillo versus Ronaldo Lopez. We'll get you set for that one in just a moment. But first, a reminder, this episode of the Lockdown Airs podcast is brought to you by DoorDash.

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Thank you again for making us your first listen. You can catch Game 2 between the Mariners and Braves tonight on the Marra's hometown broadcast with Sirius XM. On the SXM app, all you have to do is search Mariners. And that's what we're talking about now on today's episode, game two of this series. Marreras go for their fifth consecutive series victory. Luis Castillo on the bump for the M's against Rinaldo Lopez, who's been fantastic in his return to the rotation with the Atlanta Braves. This Mariners offense has struck out 10 plus times in 20 of their first 29 games this

season, and now they're going up against Lopez, who's been, again, like I said, fantastic this year. So, Colby, where are your confidence levels right now that the Marriers can score some runs off of Lopez tonight. I mean, it's not great. Lopez, pretty much a two-pitch guy. It's fastball on a slider, and he very rarely throws a change-up.

So, you know, I mean, it's a 26% strikeout rate, which is above league average, but it's not a lead or anything like that. You know, it's not a, it's not like an insane, whiff rate or anything like that. Like Lopez isn't a guy who should dominate you and yet he has dominated four other teams this year.

So it's kind of an interesting little matchup here. It's not insane spin on any of his pitches, but it's a two pitch guy, right? And you just kind of have to attack the fastball. But that's easier said than done like pretty much everything. And baseball is easier said than done. So I don't feel great.

You know, It's kind of hard. You've watched this offense for the last week. It's hard to feel really good about it. But, I mean, you're talking about a guy who's going to throw 60% fastballs, forcing fastballs. You have guys in this lineup who should be able to handle velocity. Now, obviously, the game plan or the scouting report is probably going to dictate that we're going to see Lopez throw more sliders tonight than he normally would. So as it usually does come down to is how do the Mariners handle breaking balls?

and based on last night, not well. So it's hard to feel good. It's really hard to feel confident about this, especially with the way that Hanager is swinging the bat right now, the way that Cow has kind of been cooled off recently. You know, it's difficult to feel great about it. And you don't have JP there. So, yeah, it's really hard to feel good that this team's going to put up,

you know, three, four runs on any given night. but baseball is weird. They put up, what, four against Zach Gallon on Friday night? I mean, like, this is a weird team, and they can hit some home runs, sure. But they got to start drawing more walks. They got to hit more doubles. Like right now, they're surviving on the home run ball, essentially, on offense. And that's just not going to continue to fly over the long term.

And we saw it last year, like really surviving on the home run for long stretches of the year. So it's really hard to feel confident going up against Lopez is off to a really good start. What do you think is going on with this offense right now? Because, you know, and I don't want to get into a whole, you know, fire the hitting coach type of discussion here. But this lineup was overhauled with quite a few guys that have historically struck out at average to slightly below average rates. And a lot of these guys, they're striking out, you know, at 30 percent, over 30 percent. close to 30% almost seemingly across the board in this lineup again 20 out of the 29 games they've struck out 10 plus times do you think there is like like because now that we're we're seeing

this happen more and more and more obviously the players have to execute but do you think there is maybe an external factor here no I'm just I'm never going to be that guy like oh it's the hitting coach's fault oh it's you know the philosophy I don't know because I don't know if it is or it isn't. So I'm not going to be the guy who's going to offer some random dudes job because the team isn't performing like I think they should. I don't know. I do not know the answer of your question.

So I'm just not going to be that guy. Like I'm not going to call for the firing of a hitting coach because, you know, a bunch of 30-year-old dudes have all of a sudden decided they can't hit a breaking ball. Like, is that the heart's fault? I don't know, maybe. But I don't know. That's not my call to make. So I don't know what's going on with the offense.

Now this is hard to buy that it's that all of this is just a coincidence Because again we talk about these these these haters profiles in their history I don't know what's going on I'm confused I'm perplexed by what's going on right now that all of these guys are struggling at extreme rates at the moment What's the date today? It's April 30th Right, it's early I get it right and we've seen Mitch Garber really struggle we've seen Polanco really struggle we've seen Rayleigh really struggle and pretty much all at the same time. So yeah, I mean, it sucks.

Like, first of all, we know it's really difficult to hit at T-Mobile Park early in the season. Like, that's not an excuse. That's just a fact. Look at the numbers. They'll back it up. But, yeah, the strikeouts are something to get better very clearly. But to me, like, I'm not willing to sit here and look at a guy like Jorge Polanco, who should be running like 25% strikeout.

and say like, oh, he's up to 36. That's clearly just who he is now. Like, no, I don't buy that. I think strikeout rates are going to go down for guys we think they're going to go down for. And ultimately, I trust what the player has been, that that will continue plus or minus, you know, a few degrees of just, you know, like I don't think that Mitch Garver is all of a sudden a 37% strikeout guy. I just don't. There's nothing in his profile to suggest that he is, except for one month in, in 2024.

like so I don't know what the answer is I don't know why the offense is struggling right now I know they're really struggling to hit spin but what's interesting about that is is that when we looked at the guys they brought in this winter right they all handled breaking balls like that was a that was clearly something that the Mariners wanted to add because they got rid of guys who really struggled with the slider they got rid of Gino they got rid of TEO they got rid of Kelnick they got rid of the guys who really struggled to hit spin and they brought in guys like Rayleigh and and garver and and Polanco who were all pretty decent at least. They were at least average at hitting those breaking pitches. So again, like, why are all those guys suddenly not able to hit spend? Like, again, I don't know what the, I don't know what the answer is. I just think that are we sure. I think it's a fair question to ask though at this point. Are we sure they can't or are they just not right now? You know, we're going to need more data. We're going to need more data. We're going to need more data to determine that. That's why this conversation right now, like, well, it might be fair to ask. It's not fair to come to any conclusions. Right. So.

I'm not going to come to a conclusion today. Lastly, before we get out here, Luis Castillo, thoughts on him and in this start. Do you think it's going to be another fastball heavy approach? It seems to be what they're going with right now. Just about every starter has gone really fastball heavy and been very aggressive with it.

Castillo really kind of had to walk the High Wire Act last time in Texas. I don't think he's going to get away with that tonight, so he kind of has to be dialed in early against this team. So I think the big pitch tonight might actually be the change up he's been mostly fastball slider uh early in this early in the season but i think when you look at albys when you look at olson when you look at harris you know i think that change up is going to be the key pitch uh for castillo obviously he has to have the fastball

it all starts with the fastball as it does with just about well really every mariner starter it starts with the fastball but i think tonight could be a change up night rather than a slider night. And, you know, he's got to be on it early. He can't kind of try and feel his way into this game. He can't get off to a slow start. Because if he does, it's liable to be for nothing before the mayor has even taken that bad. So he really has to come out of the gates. He's got to be aggressive, trust the stuff. Bill up the strike zone. You know, and you just can't be, you just can't pitch around Ronald Acuna Jr. because you're afraid of him. You got to go after him. And if you get you, he gets you, fine, whatever. He's the MVP. He's one of the best players in baseball. He's going to get you sometimes. But you can't put guys on base in front of Olson and like they have to earn it. You just can't walk guys. You can't fall behind 3-0 and have to, you know, lay in a fastball because you're afraid to walk, dude. It's like you got to be aggressive in the strike zone early. And I think the change-up is going to be the key to kind of hand it to handle Albies and Olson and Harris, the three big lefties in this lineup.

So we'll see what he can do. You know, they certainly managed to CUNY last night for the most part, a little infield single. I mean, really they managed everybody. They gave up three hits. But yeah, I think Castillo just has to be on it early. He's got to be aggressive with the fastball. And then I think the change-up is actually the pitch to watch tonight. For sure.

All right. So that's going to do it for our show. Before we get out of here, a reminder that Locked On has launched the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube. And now it's also available on Amazon Fire TV and the free Fire TV channels app. Locked on Sports today. here for you 24-7 covering the top sports stories of the day with the local experts of Locked-on, plus our national shows covering every league.

Find Locked-on sports today now available on the free Fire TV channels app. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Lockdown Marers podcast. For Colby Pat Node, I'm Tadang Gonzalez. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at LO underscore Meriners. You can follow me at Tidean Gonzalez and Colby at CPAT-11. You can also find all that stuff in the description of this episode. Thank you again for making us your first listen. Have yourself a beautiful baseball day.

we'll see you tomorrow. Peace.