Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - M's Start Spring On Right Foot

Episode Date: March 2, 2021

The Seattle Mariners got the Cactus League season underway yesterday by defeating the San Diego Padres -- in walk-off fashion, no less. D.C. talks about this first M's game of 2021. He also gives a small preview of the regular season, or at tells what rules from last season have carried over into this one. Also, the M's are putting an emphasis on baserunning this Spring. D.C. talks briefly about what the Mariners are preaching to their players about being more aggressive on the basepaths. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Here's your host, D.C. Lunders. Spring has sprung, or at least spring training has. Thank you, J.M. and thank you out there in Podcast Land for joining us today on Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network brought to you by Belt Bar. Please remember to download, rate, and subscribe to this program, using any podcasting app that you personally care to use. Ask your smart device to play Locked-on Mariners podcast or any program here on the Locked-on Podcast Network or T-L-O-P-N or, of course, Tlopin. The Cactus League season commenced yesterday, February 28, 2021, Anno Domini.

The M's began the spring schedule on the right foot, defeating the San Diego Padres five to four. Getting the starting nod for the Mariners was Marco Gonzalez, who will also draw the starting assignment on opening day exactly one month from today. More on that later on in the show. However, yesterday was the Padres who got the scoring underway in the top of the very first inning. With runners at first and second and one out, Tommy Pham grounded to third baseman Kyle Seeger. Seeger threw on to second for the force play, but second baseman Dylan Moore's throw to first was off the mark. Fam was safe at first, and the runner who was occupying second, Trent Grisham, came all the way around to score. The Ms would answer back in the bottom of the first, however,

with Kyle Seeger driving home Mitch Hanager. Yep, Manniger's back in action on an RBI single. The Mariners would go off a little bit in the third inning. Kyle Seeger would draw a four-pitch, two-out walk, and Ty France would hit a single on the very next pitch, sending Seeger to second. The very next pitch following that, Dylan Moore would also hit a single, this one scoring Seeger and sending France all the way to third. The very next pitch after that, Evan Mourneux.

White hit a double, scoring both France and Dylan Moore and a four-to-one Mariners lead. The Padres would answer back on the top of the fourth, however, on a solo home run from Will Myers, and they'd add another home run in the sixth inning off the bat of Jorge Onea. This one, a two-run home run to tie the game at four. The score would remain tied until the bottom of the ninth inning. Off Padres reliever Parker Markell, Taylor Tremel and Donovan Walton would both lead off with strikeouts. Jared Kelnick would then walk on four pitches. Braden Bishop would then be hit

by a pitch, and Minor League invite Jack Reinhimer would draw a four-pitch walk of his own. Bases were loaded at this point, bringing up top prospect young Julio Rodriguez, and on the first pitch that he saw from Markell, hit a ground ball single up the middle, scoring Jared Kelnick, the other top outfield prospect, to walk it off for a five to four Mariners victory. Gonzalez did get the start, and as its spring training, only went two innings, gave up that one run, which was unearned because of the error, two hits and a walk. Also appearing in this game for the Mariners were Kendall Graveman, Keenan Middleton, Anthony Micevich, Wyatt Mills, Will Vest, Casey Sadler, and Paul Sewell. Each of the relievers pitching one inning apiece,

Middleton giving up the solo home run, and Mills giving up the two-run home run. Paul Seward was credited with the win as it was a bottom of the ninth inning victory. There's not much reason to go over offensive statistics from the starting lineup. This early in spring training, nobody drew more than three at bats. Most people had two. Braden Bishop, Evan White, and Dylan Moore had one at bat a piece, although Moore and White both drew walks. As a team, the Mariners walked seven times, which is pretty good,

and collected nine hits, although they did strike out 13 times. But again, first spring training game, that number is bound to go down. So a pretty successful opener to the spring schedule versus the team with whom they share their spring training facility. Mariners did not have a game today, but they will be back in action, pardon me, tomorrow versus the Cleveland Indians. You say Kikichi getting the starting assignment versus the tribe. There was an article that kind of caught my eye on MLB.com on the Mariners website, rather, that was released today titled Mariners Revent Base Running Strategy.

I'm going to talk about that later on in the program and also talk about the regular season. We are a three-segment program now, ladies and gentlemen, so we do have two more topics upcoming on today's episode of Lockdown Mariners. But first, we're going to do the trivia corner. And today's trivia corner is a hall pass. And something of an interesting one, I think, maybe you won't think so after I read off this gentleman's statistics. I'll say this right now.

I do not think he's a Hall of Famer. but he's an interesting case at the very least. He played 16 seasons in the 1970s and 1980s and hit 442 home runs in those 16 seasons, but at the same time he hit 236, 240 doubles and 25 triples. His slugging average was 478, and is on base percentage 302,

about 65 points higher than his batting average. OPS of 780, which is because of that low on base percentage. He had a tendency to strikeout, but he also led the league in home runs twice, hitting as many as 48 in his season, that year having an OPS of 956, also a league leader season there. He also led the league in strikeouts three times, however, and would strike out routinely way more than 100 times a season back when that was not common. He was a three-time all-star as well, and I also should mention that this man was mostly an outfielder. He did place in the MVP voting a few times, looks like five times, finishing as high as 11th. Would you consider this man for the Hall of Fame? I think I know your answer to that question, but this is an interesting subject at the very least,

which is why I brought him up here in the trivia corner hall pass. Now it's time to tell you about betonline.ag, the fastest and easiest way to bet on all your sports action. Football may be over, but NBA college basketball and the NHL are in full swing. Bet Online even offers awards, TV, shows, and reality TV, yet still no bowling. Real-time updated odds and props on almost anything you can imagine, whatever that means. Bet Online has you covered for all the news, scores, and odds. It's the best way to place your bets and it's free to sign up. Head to the website or use your mobile device to sign up today and receive your 50% welcome bonus,

on your first deposit. Bet online, your online sports book experts, promo code locked on. The subject of today's hall pass, definitely not a Hall of Famer, maybe a Hall of Famer in your eyes, I don't know, but this, you haven't already figured it out, it's Dave Kingman,

the high home run total, the low batting average, and the high strikeout totals. An interesting case for the Hall of Fame at best, given his power production, 442 home runs, is nothing to sneeze at, especially in the 70s and 80s, certainly a productive player in terms of power,

and he also drove in 1,210 runs, also nothing to sneeze at in the 70s and 80s, but that low-banting average, the high strikeout total, and he also was not that much to write home about defensively. Coming up, will the Mariners be opening up the regular season at home or on the road? The answer is yes. Now back to Lockdown Mariners and your host, D.C. Lundberg. Thank you very much, J.M. You know, gang, we are covering everything you need to know about the Seattle Mariners right here on this show,

or at least I'm doing my damnedest to try. But what about the rest of sports? Now the Locked-on podcast network has you covered there as well with Locked-on Today. It's hosted by the great Peter Vickowski, and it has all the sports news you need every morning in under 20 minutes, no less. Subscribe to Locked on Today, Today, wherever you get your podcasts. Part two, not part two, but it's a lot part two, but it's. segment two here on Locked-on Mariners.

Talking about the regular season, it begins exactly one month from today or one month from yesterday, if this is published Tuesday morning, as I'm recording this on the evening of March 1st. Regular season begins on April 1st, 2021, and it will be a home game versus the San Francisco Giants.

Yeah, the first series is an interleague series versus those San Francisco Giants, bitter rivals of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Thursday, April 1st, Friday, April 2nd, and Saturday, April 3rd. First two games begin at 7.10 p.m. The Saturday game begins at 6.10 p.m. There is then an off day on Sunday, and the Mariners then begin, a home series against the Chicago White Sox, on Monday the 5th.

That Wednesday game, the 7th, last game of the homestand, will be an afternoon game beginning at 110 p.m. They then begin a road series. against the Minnesota Twins the very next day with an off day following that and a day game on Saturday and a day game on Sunday. So the Mariners will open things up again with a six-game homestands spanning seven days against the San Francisco Giants and Chicago White Sox. And there is there's going to be some carryover from some of the nuttiness that we had last season, which will carry over into 2021. But to back up a bit, almost a month ago now, It was, the league had proposed a shortened 154 game schedule that would have begun in late April with the World Series concluding in mid-November.

This would have included some of the garbage that we saw in 2020, including the universal designated hitter, seven-inning games for double-headers, and the Little League T-ball rule in which each extra inning starts with a runner at second base. I don't remember if I've talked about this on the show or not before. But the players unit rejected this proposal. and instead agreed to a proposal that included two of those items, seven inning games for doubleheaders, and that ridiculous extra inning free runner rule. This means that there will not be a universal DH this season,

which I'm honestly very surprised about. When those changes I mentioned were instituted last season, I figured that Commissioner Manfred had implemented that garbage using the virus as an excuse, using the virus as a way to usher in these changes through the back door, so to speak, saying that they're in place because of the pandemic and for quote-unquote health and safety reasons,

but just really shoving this crap down our throats because he wants to radically alter the game. I cannot get worked up over the seven-inning double-heder game too much, though I will be glad when things are back to normal in that regard. However, this extra inning free runner rule is just horrible. I thought it was going to be horrible before I saw it in action, and I was absolutely correct. I've stated exactly why this rule is atrocious on this show many, many times previously,

so I'm not going to repeat myself, at least not on this show. If you want to hear my thoughts on that rule, pardon me, go back and listen to some of the shows I did after the Mariners had played extra inning ball games. Also, not in place this year will be that awful bloated playoff structure in which more than half the league made the postseason. the league had originally proposed a system in which 14 teams, seven from each league, would advance. But from what I can gather, it looks like they're going to go back to what we had in 2019

with five teams per league making the playoffs. And that's a fine system. The elimination part of the universal D.H and bloated playoffs may not be permanent eliminations, though. According to an article that I found in the Boston Herald from, oh, roughly a month or so ago, five, six weeks ago. Quote, while it's clear both the league and players are in support of adding the DH to the National League, the players can use it as a bargaining chip after the 2021 season

when a new collective bargaining agreement will be negotiated. The same holds true for the expanded playoffs. End quote. Yes, that's right. The collective bargaining agreement is going to expire at the end of the season. That's a topic for another time. Back to this year, though. This is a quote from an article written by Matt Kelly for MLB.com.

Quote, the agreement also includes contract tracing technology used in the NBA that could allow for better discovery of those who came in close proximity to someone who tests positive for COVID-19, end quote. That is in place, but I have really nothing to say to that point, but it is an important point since, part of the agreement. I don't know anything about the NBA. I don't follow it. So I don't really know what protocols they're talking about. There is one more change on the horizon for next season, but we'll discuss that on our next episode.

If you got a question or comment, please send it over to Lockdown Mariners at gmail.com. I will reply to it on the air in an upcoming mailbag episode. I don't know if we're going to go back to a regular Friday mailbag or not. Depends on how many emails that I get, it might be every

other week. We shall see. But questions and comments on any subject will continue to be addressed on this program. As a matter of fact, I like those types of questions that don't have anything to do with baseball. Send those in. Send in jokes. Just send in pure silliness if you want to. Just remember that it's a family show, so keep it appropriate in that regard, please. Coming up, are the Mariners planning on being more aggressive on the base paths next year? Better question, are the Mariners planning on being more aggressive on the base paths next year? Oh, that's the same question.

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and you'll get 20% off of your order. Also, if you buy one box, you can get a second box for the exact same price. Builtbar.com promo code locked on for 20% off your order. Now back to Locked on Mariners and your host, D.C. Lundberg. J.M. gets another spot on the show now since we have gone from two segments to three. Ladies and gentlemen, join Walking Baseball Encyclopedia Paul Francis Sullivan, also known as Sully, of course, every day on Locked-on MLB for a unique look at the majors, both present and past, featuring exciting guest interviews, routine check-ins from the Locked-on MLB network's team of local experts, and insightful analysis of the day's biggest stories. Locked on MLB is the biggest, the single best source, rather, for daily baseball talk.

Subscribe to it today wherever you get your podcasts. Ladies and gentlemen, while checking for Mariners News on the MLB app today, I found an article that was published today whose headline really caught my attention. It was titled Mariner's Revamp Base Running Strategies. If you've been a longtime listener to this program, you know how I feel. You know that I feel that base running is a lost art. And according to this article, the Ms started working with its position players on base running, namely more aggressive base running, pretty much as soon as they arrived in spring camp a week ago.

Their base running is being examined because of their records in games in which they scored four or more runs and in games in which they scored three or fewer runs. Last season, the Ms went 24 and 8 when they scored at least four runs, but went 3 and 25 when they failed to score 4 runs. And while those numbers should not come as a shock, the difference is still very staggering. One way to eke out a few more runs here and there is with good base running, and I'm not talking about necessarily stolen bases,

but good base running when the ball is in play. According to this article, the M's analytic department, who doesn't love a good analytic department, Well, anyways, they showed a team a presentation on Thursday, outlining what the club has in mind in terms of base running. This is a direct quote from the article written by Daniel Kramer. Quote, The Mariners believe they have the personnel capable of being more aggressive on the base paths,

and now they want to supplement that talent with more thorough information and strategy, end quote. Manager Scott Service said, quote, There's some low-hanging fruit that shows we can get better as a team, end quote. Low-hanging fruit, huh? I guess that means they're going to cherry-pick their opportunities. Never mind. More service quotage.

The biggest impact you can have on the bases is when you can pick up two bases, when you can go to first to third, or when you're scoring from second on a base hit, or you can score from first on a double. That's what really bumps you up as far as the numbers and the metrics base running wise, end quote. He went on to say that while so. and bases are, quote, fun. The emphasis was more on taking extra bases when the ball was in play.

I'm glad to see this team, or any team for that matter, put such an emphasis on base running. Dylan Moore said, quote, we're talking about it a lot in the spring how important base running is and the percentages of scoring runs when you take the extra base, end quote. Last year, the Ms were league average in scoring percentage 31%. More went on to say, quote, and when we were able to do those kinds of things with an athletic ball club, I think it'll be imperative this year for us in need in regards to scoring runs and winning ball games, end quote. Again, I'm very happy to hear that base running is being emphasized as much as it is in spring training. I'm looking forward to seeing what this team can do on the base paths, not only during the spring, but in the regular season as well.

Well, that'll do it for this one, gang. Our next show will be Wednesday. Joining me will be Gladys Kravitz, Wander McMooch, and a gravy boat. Don't forget to download rate and subscribe to this program. Please look for us on any podcasting up that you can happen to think of. Thank you for listening, gang. That is it. I hope you enjoyed today's show.

Boy, I'm glad the show's over because my mouth has stopped working. I'll talk to you next time, gang. This is Joey Martin for Lockdown Mariners, part of the Lockdown Podcast Net. working.