Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - One Inning Costs Flexen, But Mariners Can't Score Anyway

Episode Date: June 3, 2021

Chris Flexen was one poor inning away from tossing another very good game. But even with that bad inning, the Mariners couldn't scratch any runs across, so it made little difference in terms of a W or an L. D.C. talks about the game, and then dives into the offensive numbers of several Mariners hitters. Some are starting to come around, some aren't, and a couple have been pretty consistent all season. He then complains some recent defensive alignments, which had an excellent second baseman playing left field, and a mediocre corner infielder at second base. 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.

Today on Locked-on Mariners, while vacationing in Italy, I decide to soak up some local color by going to a vineyard to stomp grapes with my feet to make wine, and it doesn't go as planned. Welcome to Locked-on Mariners, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Here's your host, D.C. Lundberg. Thank you very much, Joey Martin. It is an absolutely beautiful afternoon here in the Greater Spokane area. Sky is clear, it's 90 degrees, and there's a gentle breeze cooling everything down a bit. I'm D.C. Lundberg, and I almost recorded the show in my backyard today since it's so nice. But I'm indoors in my nice air-conditioned studio, aka my bedroom, presenting this episode of Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, brought to you by the locker room.

Please remember to download, rate, and follow the show using whichever podcasting app, and that you personally care to use. Ask your smart device to play Locked-on Mariner's podcast or any program here on the Locked-on Podcast Network. Aside from one bad inning, it was a pretty good game last night. Everything went awry in the third. Four of the A's 10 hits came that inning,

five of their six runs, and the only base on balls that they drew. Take away that one inning, and you've got a pretty close one-to-nothing loss. While the pitching did its part for most of the ball game, almost all of the ball game, really, the offense once again did not. Jared Kelnick got the day off, he has been ice cold, we'll get into some numbers later on in the show. The Mariners had four base hits all game, two of them from Jack Mayfield.

Tom Murphy and Mitch Hanninger collected the other two. The Mariners drew two bases on balls, both of them Jake Fraley. Surprise, surprise. the Mariners did actually load up the bases in the fifth on two singles and a walk, but there were two outs by that point in the inning, and J.P. Crawford grounded out to end the inning. The one time they strung some hits and some walks together, they could not cash in. That's becoming a theme for this team, unfortunately. Sean Manaya goes the distance for Oakland, throwing 111 pitches. He struck out eight in addition

to allowing those four hits and two bases on balls. It was his second complete game shutout, of the season and the third of his career. His other complete game shutout this season was a seven-inning game, so it really doesn't count. But the first complete game shutout of his career was that no-hitter in 2018 against the Red Sox. And without that third inning, Chris Flexen's line would have looked a lot better. It would have looked really good, actually. Despite that disaster, he still went six innings.

Saving the bullpen allowed seven hits, five runs, one walk, pardon me, a homer, and he struck out three. Remember, all five of the runs he gave up, the one batter he walked, and four of those seven hits he allowed, all came in that third inning. He threw 98 pitches, which is a season high, but not a career high. Back in 2017, he threw 104 pitches in a six-inning start with the Mets. Flexen is now five and three, and a ZRA is now 470. He's had a somewhat inconsistent season.

He's had some really good starts. His last one against the Rangers was fantastic, but he's also had some clunkers. The game in San Diego springs to mind. Last night's game almost encapsulated his season because he had some very good innings and that one really bad one that cost him. Anthony Mosevic pitched two scoreless innings,

and Robert Dugger pitched the ninth inning giving up two runs, pardon me, two hits and one more run. Wait, wait, Robert Dugger? I thought he was optioned back to Tacoma on Tuesday to make room for Marco Gonzalez. Well, he was, but he's back and I'll explain why in B Block. It is more not good news. Mariners lose 6-0 to Oakland, win only one game of the three-game series, and they begin a four-game series in Anaheim tonight against the Angels.

We'll get into the pitching matchup at the tail end of today's program, but right now it's time for the trivia corner. Looking over the birthdays that we have today, there is something unusual about the two former players born on this date in 1960. Any idea what that might be? I'll tell you after this word from Rock Auto, which is a family business serving auto parts customers online for 20 years. Go to rock auto to shop for auto parts from hundreds of manufacturers. Whether it's for your classic or daily driver, get everything you need and a few easy clicks delivered directly to your door. The Rock Auto.com catalog is unique and remarkably easy to navigate.

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selection, reliably low prices, all the parts your car will ever need. Rock Auto.com Answer to the trivia question. The two players born June 3rd, 1960 are catcher Barry Lyons and utility

man Steve Lyons. And no, they're not twins. They're not even related. Steve Lyons is best known for the incident in Tiger Stadium in 1990, where upon reaching first base on a bunce single, dropped his pants. If you don't know what I'm talking about, it's on YouTube. Go look it up. Coming up, I dive into some numbers while you try to remain awake.

Welcome back to Lockdown Mariners. Here once again is your host, D.C. Lundberg. Yes, thank you, Joey Martin. I thought pretty seriously about moving my recording equipment to my backyard during the commercial break so I could record the rest of the show. outside and enjoy this beautiful weather. It's 90 degrees in Spokane, ladies and gentlemen, is not like 90 degrees in Seattle. You know the old phrase, it's not the heat, it's the humidity.

That's accurate. There's a huge difference. Even last night, the game time temperature at a Vista Stadium, we went to the Indians game last night, was 95 degrees, and even that was relatively comfortable. 95 degrees in Spokane, kind of like 80 degrees or so in Seattle, just because of the humidity difference. very dry over here, particularly this time of year, and that makes all the difference, ladies and gentlemen. And this is coming from a guy who hates hot weather. There is some more injury news,

unfortunately, and more unfortunately, it has to do with the pitching staff. Justin Dunn was placed on the 10-day injured list about an hour prior to last night's game with right shoulder inflammation. However, the team and Mr. Dunn are hoping that it's a minor issue. He felt discomfort while throwing a side session on Tuesday, and during a throwing session yesterday, called it off early because of that discomfort as a precaution. And the stint on the DL may also be a precaution from what I'm hearing. The team is hopeful that he'll be back once those 10 days are up.

As noted in the previous segment, Robert Dugger was recalled from AAA Tacoma to take Mr. Dunn's place on the roster, and he pitched the ninth inning last night. Dunn was due to pitch Friday night in Anaheim. The Mariners are more than likely going to utilize. another bullpen day to cover that game. Mr. Dugger is a candidate to start that one, as is Hector Santiago. The following information comes from an article on MLB.com by Daniel Kramer. Mr. Santiago, quote, was stretched out to 75 pitches by the time he was called up from

AAA Tacoma last week, end quote. Either one of those gentlemen could start the game, although the MLB app still lists done as the starter. I wanted to get into some Mariners' office. Offensive numbers again, which I touched on last week. I spent that time talking about some team statistics, but I want to talk about some individuals, and I'll start with Jared Kelnick, who got the night off yesterday. He's really been struggling, gang. He hasn't collected a base hit since May 25th, and in the seven intervening games, he struck out 11 times and 26 at bats. He's walked four times, though. He still has an idea of the strike zone. That's good, but a strikeout rate has gone way up. In his first 12 games, he's he had a batting average of 174 and had struck out nine times and 46 at bats.

That's 19.6% of the time and that's pretty well below Major League average. In his last seven games, that rate has gone into orbit. 42.3% in those seven games. That's Mike Zanino Territory Gang. And his batting average has plummeted to 111. Even with this, I'm not alarmed. He's young. This is his first taste of the major leagues.

As I said last week, there are many, many players who struggled at the outset of their career and who are now stars, who will be legends by the time they're finished. Chief among them is Mike Trout. I went over the numbers he put up to begin his career last week, so I'm not going to rehash them now. Evan White has not exactly lit the world on fire either this year or last. This is one of the things that's frustrating about a team in rebuild mode. Young players such as this need to take their lumps at the big league level, and that's happening to Mr. Kalnick right now. Taylor Tramel struggled to begin this season as well. This was his first season in the big leagues. He's played only two games since his recall when Kyle Lewis had to go back on the disabled list,

so it would be unfair to comment one way or the other about his production since coming back up. When Thai France stopped hitting, that's when the Mariners' offense really went into a tailspin. At that time they had Mitch Hanigur leading off and France hitting in the second spot behind him. And those two at the top of the lineup were both hitting and they were propelling the offense as no one else was doing very much other than J.P. Crawford who was setting up Manninger very nicely from the number nine spot. After France got hit by that pitch on April 28th, all three components of a slash line sank like a stone. Prior to that game, he was slashing 314, 406, 512. Including April 28th, until he went on the disabled list, he slashed 067, 192, 089,

and a season slash line fell to 229, 33, 366, an 85 point drop in batting average, and a 146 point drop in slugging. Since coming off the disabled list, though, he is slashing 342, 375, 421. Power numbers aren't back to where they were yet, but he's making consistent, solid contact again, and his season average is back up to 254. That's a 25-point gain in just 10 games. Take away that stretch between being hit by the pitch and his placement on the disabled list, and his season numbers vastly improve. his slash line would go to 323, 397, 484.

Rather similar to what he did prior to his DL stint. And it's no coincidence that the offense began to show signs of life once Mr. France came back. He, Manager, and Mr. Crawford, have been the most consistent hitters this season. After starting the season hitting 160 over his first seven games, Crawford is hitting 257 since that time, April 10th. He felt as if his swing had gotten too long, and he shortened up a swing kind of got back to basics as it were, and has been very consistent ever since. He's led off the previous couple of games with Mr. Kelnick moved out of the lead-off spot, and with Manninger remaining

in the number two hole where he's been since Kelnick was brought up from Tacoma. Manninger has probably been the most consistent hitter all season. He has failed to collect a base hit in only 15 of the 57 games he's played, and has failed. to get on base in only 10 games. For this season, he's slashing 264, 315, 542. His numbers all fell in May, along with the rest of the clubs. He lost 16 points on his batting average, going from 277 at the end of April to 261 to close out May.

From May 1st to May 8th, he only hit 154, but 276 the rest of the month, which is only one point off his April batting average. take out those seven games to open up May, and his season slash line goes up to 280, 327, 565. That one week where he wasn't doing much really hurt his numbers, and everyone goes through some sort of slump at some point in the season. And Manninger's week-long slump began very soon after France stopped hitting, and that led to a very poor month of May for the offense. Over his last seven games, Manninger is slashing 310, 310, 310, 3. 517. We're going to continue this in a minute or so, but first, if you have a question or a comment, please send it in to Locked-on Mariners at gmail.com, and I will address it on the air in a future

mailbag episode, probably a couple of weeks from now. Questions and comments on any subject are welcome and encouraged, does not need to be about the Mariners, does not need to be about baseball or sports at all. Coming up, how has Tom Murphy been doing lately? I don't know, he ghosted me. Stupid Tom Murphy. Now this word from Built Bar, the greatest protein bars in the history of protein. They're high in protein, obviously, but they're also high in fiber and low in sugar and calories. Best of all, they're high in deliciousness. Go to buildbar.com, and you can order their variety box to sample a little of everything.

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Action. Baseball season's in full swing and you can track the action at BetOnline. Get all the latest news, odds, and info for all your sporting needs, including Major League Baseball, the NBA, then the NHL, and all your UFC slash MMA action. Before the next pitch, head over to Bet Online on your laptop or mobile device and check out all the great sporting news, sign up bonuses and contest info. Don't sit on the sidelines anymore as this is your chance to get into the game as teams prep for their runs to the playoffs. Yes, in June. the website again or use your mobile device to sign up today and receive your 50% welcome bonus on your first deposit. Bet Online, your online sportsbook experts, promo code. Locked On. Now back to Locked on Mariners and your host, D.C. Lunger. Thank you. Once again, J.M. The end of that belt bar ad leaves little to the imagination of where I'm going after this show is over. Went to the Spokane Indians game last night to celebrate Shannon's birthday. They talked about on the show a little bit yesterday.

The mascot happened to walk by our section. I happened to tell the mascot that it was her birthday and had kind of a bit of fun with that. Also, every time the Spokane Indians score seven runs in any given game, everyone in the stadium is given a coupon for a free taco. And yes, the Spokane Indians scored seven runs last night. As a matter of fact, they scored their seventh run in the second inning. Also, our section was one of two sections chosen to receive coupons for a free burger every time the Indians hit a home run, and they hit two home runs last night, both of them in the first

inning where they scored five runs. What a fun game. Continuing, though, to look at some of the Mariners' offensive numbers, more from my own curiosity, but also for the sake of filling three segments, not going to lie, Tom Murphy really started off slowly. At its worst, his batting average was all the way down to 111. And now it's up to 175, and most of that improvement has been over the course of the last week and half or so. In his last 10 games, he is slashing 308, 367, 615. Eight of his hits have gone for extra bases, two doubles and two homers. And in those 10 games, his season slash line has improved from 130, 183, 312 to 175, 232, 388. He hit 184 overall in May, which was an improvement over April's 146 average.

I don't know if anyone struggled in the first half of May like Mr. Murphy did. In the seven games he played May 1st through May 15th, he slashed only 091-167-227. Since then, 273, 324, 606. Those are very similar to the numbers he posted in his great 2019 season. In fact, the batting average and on base percentage are identical to 2019. The slugging percentage is considerably higher, however. Murphy has seemingly put it together, which is more good news for the offense going forward. With Luis Torrens in Tacoma working out not only his offense, but his defense, I hope.

Jose Godoy is the second catcher on the roster, and he's hitting two. He is slashed 263, 333, 316, and the seven games that he's, he's played, and his defense is much better than Torenz's. Both Mr. Godoy and Mr. Murphy are solid defenders behind the plate. If Godoy continues to hit anywhere near what he's doing now, I wouldn't mind seeing this tandem for the rest of the season. Although that number 78 on Mr. Godoy's back does look a little weird. Looks like a spring training number.

Get him a real uniform number, ladies and gentlemen. I talked about Dylan Moore a bit previously, who was starting to heat up before he went on the D.L. Shedlong Jr. could be back soon, and he might be taking over second base once he's back. It's been a combination of Donovan Walton, Jack Mayfield, and Ty France at second base since Moore went on the DL. And while no one is going to confuse Mr. Walton with Rogers Hornsby at the plate, Sunshine Superman's 2021 numbers are above his career numbers aside from his on-base percentage, and he's collected his first Major League triple and home run.

After going hitless in his first two games with the Mariners, Mr. Mayfield has slashed 250, 286, 300 in the seven games since. With three of his five base hits coming in the last three games. Well, most of the hitters have started to come around, one who really still needs to get it going is Kyle Seeger. He's the only mariner who's played all 57 games thus far. And after slashing 250, 307, 471 in April, he has slashed 187-267 to 393 since.

His strikeout range in April was 24.0% while it's been 27.1% since then. 20 of the 33 runs batted in he's collected came in April, which is also sort of a reflection on just how poor the overall offense was in May, but Seeger wasn't hitting in May either. I'm not the manager, but he needs a day off. France can fill in at third for a day, so can Mayfield, so can Walton. In fact, they had Donovan Walton playing left field a couple games, while Ty Franch played second. The extent of Mr. Walton's experience in left field was taking fly balls in spring training.

So they had a minor league gold glove middle infielder playing left with basically no experience at that position. While Thai France was at second base, something is wrong with that picture. As valuable as Ty France is as a hitter, as a second baseman, he's a liability. He doesn't have the instincts of a middle infielder. His range is limited, and the way he turns a double play reminds me of Joey Cora, and that's not a good thing. He's stiff at second base. He's much better suited to first base, and he could probably get by at third two,

but I don't like him at second. Put him in left field instead of Walton. Sunshine Superman had almost zero experience in left field, so about as much as France. Plus Walton is an excellent second baseman, and left field is a position where you can hide a defensive liability. Enough of that, though. Tonight's pitching matchup is Justice Sheffield versus Griffin Canning.

Mr. Canning faced the Mariners on May 1st, went 5 in a third innings, gave up three hits, an unearned run, walked two and struck out nine. This will be his ninth start of the season and his 10th appearance. He has in season ERA of 540, and he's walked 4.1 per nine innings, with the Mariners' offense seemingly coming together, and aside from last night, of course, this could be a good game for the Mariners. Chef pitched against the Angels on May 2nd, where he went six innings, allowed only two hits, three walks, however, and struck out four.

He threw a season high 103 pitches that game. This will be Chef's 10th start, and he has a season ERA of 496, and a whip of 1.571. That's high. He's pitched better at home than on the road. So that might play into the Angels favor. Chef has a road ERA of 675 and a whip of 1.875 in those four road starts. That'll do it for this afternoon.

Game time tonight is 638. Yes, 638. Tomorrow afternoon I'll be speaking about this game and setting up the rest of the weekend series. Joining me will be Keith Partridge, Bowser, and a stack of pancakes with butterpicon syrup. Hmm. Please remember to download rate and follow Lockdown Mariners. Look for us in any podcasting app you can think of. Leave a rating and review of your podcasting app of choice so allows. I'm D.C. Lundberg. Enjoy the rest of you Thursday, ladies and gentlemen.

I'll be back with you tomorrow afternoon. Take care. Get all the sports news you need in under 20 minutes with the Locked On Today podcast. Host Peter Bukowski will keep you updated on the latest news in every major sport with Lockdons' team of local experts. Follow the Locked On Today podcast on the Odyssey app or wherever else you get your podcasts. This is Joey Martin speaking for Locked on Mariners, part of the Locked On Podcast Network.