Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - One Down, Two to Go

Episode Date: September 22, 2020

The Mariners took the first game of the most important series of the year. D.C. speaks about this first game of three vs. the Houston Astros. In the second half, he updates you on the rest of the divisional races in baseball, including the first [and so far only] team to win its division outright. 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. Lundberg. Well, that's a pretty good way to start the most important series of the year, wouldn't you say? Thank you very much for tuning in, ladies and gentlemen. I am D.C. Lundberg here at the helm of another episode of Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Remember to download, rate, and subscribe to this program on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher Radio or whichever podcasting app that you personally care to use.

Ask your smart device to play Locked-on Mariners podcast or Locked-on anything podcast. Locked-on, Team Name Here podcast. Any show here on the Locked-on podcast network. Follow us on Twitter at L-O-U-U-N-R-N-Berrins, and follow me on Twitter as well at D.C. underscore Lundberg, L-U-N-D-B-E-R-G, if you are indeed scoring at home. Yep, one down, two to go. Like I said, this was probably the most important series of the year the Mariners have played thus far.

They have a three-game series, or has started a three-game series yesterday, against the very team, against whom they are competing for the second spot in the American League West. And that is everybody's favorite team, the Houston Astros. Oh, yeah. Hey, they won. The Mariners won last night. Very good ballgame, as a matter of fact. It was a six-to-one final. And that 6-1 final really doesn't reflect how good of a pitched ball game this was.

We'll start with that and we'll start with both starting pitchers. First of all, Marco Gonzalez, again, absolutely stellar. Eight innings pitched for Marco, seven hits, no runs, only one walk and six strikeouts. Astros didn't score until the ninth inning off Joey Gerber. It was a double by Carlos Correa, who was driven in by, I believe, Redick on an RBS single. And that double that Correa hit was pretty well struck, but it also wasn't a horrible pitch. It was on the outside corner, but, you know, kind of belt high. So in any case, Gerber winds up pitching an inning giving up those two hits and that run.

And striking out one. The Astros, on the other hand, started Lance McCullors Jr., and he was almost just as fantastic as Marco Gonzalez. Six and two-thirds innings pitched for him. Only three hits. In fact, he didn't give up a hit until the sixth inning. Four runs, none of them earned. We'll get to that in a little bit. Two walks, seven strikeouts, and a home run.

Inoli Panidis pitches one-third of an inning, cleaning up the seventh inning for Mr. McCullors. And Brandon Belak pitched the final inning for the Astros, giving up three hits, two runs. Both of those were earned, a walk, and a strikeout. Again, Marys didn't get a hit until the sixth inning, and the seventh inning is when they really went off. And here's how that seventh inning broke down.

Kyle Lewis starts off with a walk. Okay. For pitch walk, by the way. The other half of the Kyle connection, Kyle Seeger, hits a ground ball to second basement Jose Al Tuvei. Should have been a double play, but Altuve booted it, and both runners are safe. Yay. Tai France promptly hits a double to score Kyle Lewis.

Kyle Seeger goes to third base. Marmaléjos struck out. Torrens struck out. And then Evan White laces one over the left field wall for a three-run home run to give the Mariners a four to nothing lead. McCullors is done at this point and Perides comes in to replace him and the one batter he faces, Tim Lopes pops out to the first basement. Again, all of those runs unearned because of the error.

And then the two runs the Mariners scored in the eighth inning were driven in both by Kyle Seeger on a single, Crawford and Dylan Moore scoring on that play and the run that the Astros scored in the ninth thing I mentioned it. It was an RBI single by Josh Redick to score Carlos Correa. So, one down, two to go. This is what we want to see. We want to see the Mariners beat, who they're directly in competition with for that second spot in the West.

The Mariners are now three games back of Houston for that second spot. Houston is at 27 and 27, Seattle at 24 and 30. But don't look now because the Los Angeles Angels are 25. 4 and 31, they're only 3.5 games behind the Astros for the second spot in that division. So I will say this now. If the Mariners spectacularly collapse, I hope that the Angels find a hot streak and are able to overtake the Astros, because I don't want to see the Astros in the playoffs. I don't know if anybody outside of Houston that doesn't, but obviously I'd like to see the Mariners sneak in there as messed up as this playoff format is. We're going to get to

some of the other contenders in the second half of this program. But first, the Mariners trivia question. As you probably know, the Astros started out as a National League team, and they moved to the American League. Their first year as an American League team was 2013. My question today is, when was the first time the Mariners played the Astros? Answer following this word from Indeed. Can the Guinness Book of World Records give 2020 world grand?

greatest delay of game. Oh, that's a knee-slapper. Somebody who obviously isn't a sports fan wrote that. In any case, even though sports had a break, your business didn't, unless you are permanently out of business, in which case, you know, I feel for you. But if you are still in business, you have to keep things moving. And that makes hiring that much more important. Indeed is here to help. Indeed.com is the number one job site in the world, because indeed gets you the best people fast. Unlike other job sites, Indeed gives you full control and payment flexibility over your hiring. You only pay for what you need.

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slash locked on MLB. Terms and conditions apply. Offer valid through September 30th. Answer to the Mariners trivia question. Astros used to be a national league team. Now they're an American league team. The question was when was the first time the Astros played the Mariners? Interleague play was instituted in 1997, but teams only played teams in the other league's divisional counterpart. For example, the American League West would only play National League West ball clubs until 2002, the fifth year of interleague play. when they started rotating the divisions, and the American League West played the National League Central.

The first time the Mariners played the Astros took place in Minutemade Park on June 21, 2002, an 8-0-0 victory for the Seattle Mariners. Jamie Moyer started the game for the Mariners with seven innings, struck out 11, not his modus operandi, but did very well here. Carlos Hernandez started for the Astros did pretty poorly. lasting only two innings. And get this, ladies and gentlemen,

in long relief pitching four innings of scoreless baseball, Nelson Cruz. No, not the same Nelson Cruz who would later play for the Mariners and get busted for performance-enhancing drugs, but there was a pitcher named Nelson Cruz who played six years in the majors as a pitcher, accumulating a 504 ERA in 204 gains.

He played for the 1997 White Sox, The Tigers in 1999 in 2000, the Astros in 2001 and 2, and finished up in 2003 with the Colorado Rockies. So there's some bonus trivia to go along with the trivia question. If you have a question or comment, please do send it over to Lockdown Mariners at gmail.com for consideration for the Friday mailbag segment. You may ask me about anything. Anything whatsoever, and I will use it on the show as long as it's not crass or lose. It has to be appropriate. Those are the only stipulations. And if it meets those stipulations, I will reply to it on this program. Locked-on Mariners at gmail.com once again is that address. More locked-on mariners following this from Rock Auto. With the ever-increasing numbers of makes and models, it is nigh impossible to stock all the parts that you need in a traditional chain storefront. Why endure often pointless or really intimidating questioning and went while the counterperson or

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Right, Locked On in their How Did You Hear About Us, Box, so they know that we sent you. Amazing selection, reliably low prices, all the parts your car will ever need. Rockato.com. Now back to Locked On Mariners and your host, D.C. Lundberg. Thank you very much. Joey Martin locked on Mariners about to set sail again in the second half. Now that that's come out of my mouth, that sounds really cheesy. A little later on in the second half, I'm going to kind of update on how the other division races are going. Because there are a lot of teams that have already clinched playoff berths,

and there is one division winner. Before I get to that, I want to finish some thoughts on Marco Gonzalez. Last night was his first win against the Houston Astros in his career. He had been 0 and 5 up to this point. In eight games, seven of them have been starts. He is not pitched well against the Houston Astros historically. Going into yesterday's ballgame, he had accumulated a 722 ERA against Houston in 33 and two-thirds innings pitched.

And he has a whip or had a whip because that number is going to go down of 1.901. That's a pretty horrible whip. He allowed almost two base runners per inning against Houston going into last night start. Again, that number is going to come down. He had just not pitched well against the Houston Astros historically. It was very good to see him turn in a great game at such a key time as well. This was a pivotal game because at this point, I kind of feel like the Mariners need to sweep the Astros to have any shot whatsoever. Last week, I said that they had to take two of three.

That was before they lost two of three to the Padres. and the Astros took two of three from the Diamondbacks. Different situation now. They pretty much have to take all three of these against the Astros. I think to have any shot just because the rest of the Astros schedule is so easy. Great to see the Mariners. I mean, the Maynors' offense really didn't do much until the seventh inning. But, you know, with the pitching performance like this,

you cannot let it go to waste. And I'm glad that the Mariners didn't. They supported Marco Gonzalez and got him the victory. Good on him. The other divisions, some of them, I don't want to say they're over, but the American League, five of the six teams have already clinched playoff berths, even if the divisions are still up for grabs. The one division winner that's been decided in the American League is the West, as a matter of fact,

and it's Oakland. Oakland has won the American League West. They currently have a 33 and 20 record. Houston is six and a half games behind Oakland, and there are not that many more games to play. So congratulations to the Oakland Athletics for winning the American League West in 2020. Houston, Seattle, and Los Angeles all battling for that second spot in the American League West. Advantage Houston because they do have an easy schedule, but maybe the Mariners or Angels can sneak in there. We shall see.

Time will tell. The American League East, the Yankees and Rays have both clinched playoff spots, but the division is still up for grabs. The Rays currently have a lead. They are 36 and 19, and they've won seven of their last 10 ball games. New York, on the other hand, are four and a half games behind. They have lost two in a row, but prior to that, won 10 in a row. And looking at their one loss record over the season, this is a very, very streaky team. They have a seven-game winning streak, but they also have a seven-game losing streak.

They also have a six-game winning streak and a five-game losing streak, and now this 10-game winning streak and two in a row, which isn't a streak. It's not a pattern yet. But still, they are an incredibly streaky team. Let's see how the East goes over the final week of the season. The season's going to end on Sunday. It seems like it just started, well, kind of because it did. Such a weird year.

The Central is a little bit more interesting. You've got the White Sox and Twins, both clinching playoff spots. The White Sox are 34 and 20, while the twins are 33 and 22. Just one and a half games behind those White Sox. Anything could happen in the last week. So that's the race there. And as of right at this exact moment, the two wildcard teams would be the Cleveland Indians and Toronto Blue Jays would catch the second wildcard spot for the eighth spot in the American League.

But in ninth place is the Seattle Mariners. They are a few games back of that last wildcard spot currently held by the Blue Jays. And then in the National League, National League is a lot more interesting. Only two teams have clinched playoff berths, and they're both in the West. The Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres are both heading to the postseason. The Dodgers are at 38 and 16, which is a 704 winning percentage, highest in Major League baseball. The Padres are four games behind them at 34 and 20. That's a 630 fielding percentage, which would actually be good. good enough to lead the American League West.

The Padres are good, ladies and gentlemen. They have also won seven of their last 10 ball games. The Cubs currently hold a lead in the National League Central. The Cardinals and Reds are both four and a half games behind, and the Brewers are five and a half games behind, despite being a game under 500. Atlanta leads the National League West at 32 and 22, pardon me. Miami is four games behind. The Miami Marlins are over 500.

A few years ago, my friends and I were joking that they could lose 120 ball games. I keep saying that this is such a weird season. This is just more proof positive of that, that the Marlins are in contention. They're overachieving. Nobody saw this coming. At least I don't think anybody saw this coming. Phillies are third and even 500, 27 and 27, five games behind. So the National League, playoffs.

situation is a little bit more interesting than the American League situation at this time. Although, like I said, the Mariners are in it. So for you listeners out there, it's very interesting. Anything can happen over the last week, and it might. We shall see. Mariner's certainly are not out of it. But again, I have to give the advantage to Houston just because their schedule is tougher than the Mariners. That'll do it for today, ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you again for listening. Join us tomorrow when I will be joined by Howard Borden, Marjorie, the Trashy, the trash heap and a spicy chicken sandwich. Remember to download rate and subscribe to this program on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, whichever podcasting up that might happen to spring to mind, look for us there. Follow us on Twitter at L.O. underscore Mariners. Follow me on Twitter as well at D.C. underscore Lundberg.

Thank you again for listening, ladies and gentlemen, not only to today's show, but our past shows as well. Whether you're a first-time listener or long-time listener, I appreciate you tuning in. Talk to you tomorrow. This is Joey Martin. Join us tomorrow for the next edition of Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network.