Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Scott Servais Almost Gives the Game Away

Episode Date: July 17, 2021

Chris Flexen was terrific. The Mariner offense was great. And Scott Servais was very close to screwing the whole thing up. D.C. talks about tonight's game in a very rare overnight edition of Locked On Mariners. David Fletcher is one player who seems to step up his game just a bit when facing the M's, and he now has a 25-game hitting streak. D.C. talks about Mr. Fletcher, and the plethora of high scores across Major League Baseball on Friday. He ends the show with an important, but unhappy announcement regarding the future of Locked On Mariners. 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.

Tonight on Locked, wait a minute, tonight? On Locked on Mariner's? Yep, we're doing a late night show. Welcome to Locked on Mariners, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Here's your host, D.C. Lundberg. It's all in the name of producing the required number of shows I need to for the month so I can get paid. Thank you very much, Joey Martin, and hello to those of you, night owls out there in podcast land. Welcome to the special late night edition of Locked on Mariners, part of the...

Locked-on Podcast Network, brought to you by the Spotify Green Room. Please remember to download and follow this program using whichever podcasting app 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. We were going to do a regular afternoon show today with Taylor Blake Ward, but none of us were feeling very well this morning. I was a bit worse for wear than he was. so I no show was recorded and I went back to sleep. However, I've already taken two days off this month, so it's in my best interests to get something on the air tonight,

even though it's well past midnight already when this is published, beginning recording at 12.05 a.m. Technically on Saturday, but this is still Friday's episode. This way I do have a game to recap, though, a Mariner win, but a rather frustrating one. Chris Flexen was brilliant. The Mariner offense chased Andrew Heaney after, four innings. So what made this a frustrating win? Scott Service. There was no reason to pull Mr. Flexion after seven innings. He'd only thrown 79 pitches, and he retired the Angels in short order and the seventh only needing 11 pitches to do so. There's no reason to remove a starter who's

thrown so few pitches when he seemingly hasn't lost that much, if anything. Generally, when you will remove a pitcher who's cruising like that, it comes back to bite you, and bad things happen, and the Ms were dangerously close to losing this ball game as a result. First of all, we'll talk about the good things that happened. Chris Flexen, again, spectacular, seven innings, six scattered hits, one run. It was a Max Stasi solo home run. Only two strikeouts, that doesn't bother me at all, because he was in the strike zone pretty much all night, and he was letting his defense do its thing.

Plus, the more hitters a pitcher strikes out, generally the more pitches that he will need to throw. And again, Mr. Flexen only needed to throw 79 of them tonight. He only walked one, and he was erased on a double play. You could not have asked for much more from Mr. Flexen. Service simply pulled him way too early. And again, when you take a pitcher out for no reason too early like that, it will generally come back to hurt you. The first man out of the pen was Anthony Masevich,

and he allowed a run within the first three batters he faced. Shocking. David Fletcher led off the eighth against him with the single, was wild pitched to second, and then came home on a Jared Walsh single. How predictable. And the ninth was very nearly a disaster. Kendall Graven was brought in,

even though it was not a safe situation. Adam Eaton, yes, the same Adam Eaton, who was released by the White Sox a few days ago, hit a one-out single. Pinch hitter Luis Rehnheifo grounded to Dylan Moore, whose throat a second to try to force Mr. Eaton was off the mark. No outs were recorded and Eaton winds up at third, well, Mr. Renhifo winds up at second.

Following a keen Wong strikeout, David Fletcher, Mariner Killer David Fletcher, hit a hot shot grounder to Kyle Seeger who couldn't handle it. The ball deflected to J.P. Crawford. Eaton scores. Renhifo moves along to third. And Fletcher ended up at second. The play was scored a single, and an error on Crawford.

I heard this play on the radio, so I didn't see it. I can't comment on what Crawford did after the ball came his way to justify the error. In any case, the incomparable show, Hey, Otani was next with the tying run, and he singled home both Renhifo and Fletcher to bring the score to six to five. That brought up Jared Walsh, who was representing the winning run with Otani Son, the tying run at first base. And Mr. Walsh would not face Mr. Graveman. Scott's service took him out of the ballgame,

and with as badly as service was managing the last part of the game, I halfway expected to hear Raphael Montero come in from the bullpen, but he did not. The reliable Paul Seawald came in instead. Mr. Walsh singled against Seawald, moving Otani Son to third base, bringing the tying run 90 feet away from scoring. Phil Goslin was next,

and Mr. Seawald. got him to fly out to Mitch Hanager, ending the ball game, but man, it was way too close for comfort. Chris Flexen absolutely deserved to win this one, and the W was almost ripped from his grasp. Offensively, the Mariners had a nice day, too. 12 hits, six runs. Manninger went three for five with a home run and three runs scored. He hit a two-run ding-dong in the seventh, which proved to be crucial. Without those two runs, the Angels would have won five to four.

He really saved service his ass with one swing of the bat. Ty Frans with two for three and was hit by another pitch. Kyle Seeger had a nice day, two-for-four with a two-run home run. Dylan Moore went two-for-four. No bases on balls for the Mariners offense, though, which is unusual. And again, they chased Andrew Heaney after four innings. He also threw 79 pitches, as did Mr. Flexson, obviously in much fewer innings. Angels did walk only once.

They also collected 12 hits. as the Mariners did, half of the hits the Angels collected were had in the eighth and ninth innings against the Mariners' bullpen. This game should not have been as close as it was. Had the Angels come back to win it, I would have put the blame squarely on Scott's services shoulders. I've said it before today, I'll say it again. When you take a pitcher out of a ballgame, when he's still cruising, and he hasn't thrown a lot of pitches, bad things usually happen. I was getting flashbacks to the game a few years ago where James, Paxton was yanked too early, the game where he struck out 16 batters.

There was no reason to take him out, and the bullpen came in and gave it away. Service should have learned his lesson with that one. Obviously, he did not. This modern style of managing makes absolutely no sense. Chris Flexson, again, deserved to win this ballgame, and I'm glad he did. But Scott Service deserved to lose this ballgame. We're now at the trivia corner, and David Fletcher, who just rakes against C. Seattle pitching. Collected three hits tonight and now has a 25 game hitting streak that is tied for the second longest hitting streak in Angel's history.

I'll tell you about the man with whom he is tied and the man who holds the Angels record. After this word from Bilt Bar and it's time once again to play, guess the language. Buell Bar is the biggest protein-tichinka on the market. They have a viscickevine and vlakeny and niskyy obsaccharucus sugar and calories. But the best of everything is, that they're very obsacly

any ideas, gang? If you guessed that today's language was Slovak, you are absolutely wrong. Today's language was Czech, and it

said, Bilt Bar is the greatest protein bar on the market. They're high in protein and fiber and low in sugar and calories.

But best of all, they are high in deliciousness. Or at least I hope that's what it said. Go to buildbar.com to place in order to try them for yourself.

If you use promo code locked 15 at checkout, checkout, because today's language was check. You'll get 15% of your order. Builtbar.com promo code locked 15 for 15% off your order. Beltbar, the Uncola. David Fletcher's current 25-game hitting streak matches the second longest hitting streak in Angels history, which belongs to Hall of Famer Rod Carru.

who hit in 25 straight games in 1982. The longest hitting streak in Angels history is Garrett Anderson, who hit in 28 games in succession in 1998. I'm actually going to talk more about these two streaks and David Fletcher's here in just a little bit. Coming up, what's up with the San Diego Padres? Their experiment of filling the team's coy pond with Mountain Dew predictably ended in tragedy. Now back to Lockdown Mariners.

Here once again is your host, D.C. Lundberg. Thank you very much, Joey Martin. The following segment of Locked on Mariners is brought to you by the David Fletcher Admirations Society. We're going to talk about him a little bit after I tell you about the two hitting streaks. He has a 25-game hit-in-streeks, second longest in Angels history. Rod Carew also had a 25-game hitting streak back in 1982, which began on May 23, 1982, in Tiger Stadium. It was a three-for-five day for Mr. Carew that day, and the streak was snapped on June 22nd against the Texas Rangers. The previous day, he had a one-for-five game against Texas.

That was June 21st. During that 25-game hitting streak, Mr. Carew hit 414, with an on-base percentage of 459 and a slugging percentage of 495. It's an on OPS, pardon me, of 954. He hit six doubles and a triple in those 25 games among the 41 hits he recorded. No home runs. He walked nine times and only struck out six times. Garrett Anderson again holds the Angels record for longest hitting streak. It began on June 28, 1998, with a two-for-five day in San Diego and an 11 to 3 Angels victory over the Padres.

The last day of the streak was July 31st. That means that in the month of July in 1998, there was not one game where Garrett Anderson failed to get a hit. He went out one for four against the Boston Red Sox in Anaheim for the final day of that streak. And the streak was stopped the next day by Pedro Martinez, Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez, in an 11 to 3 victory for the Red Sox in Anaheim. Garrett Anderson hit 405 during his 28-game hitting streak on base of 435. He slugged 629, however, for an OPS over 1,000 at 1065. He had 15 doubles, one triple, and three home runs among the 47 hits he collected in that 25 game hitting streak.

David Fletcher's current hitting streak, and again, it's still in progress, began on June 13th in Arizona, a two-for-three day against the Diamondbacks and a 10-3 Angels victory. I feel bad for the Diamondbacks. They're really reeling. 25 games in a row thus far for Mr. Fletcher, during which he has a batting average of 447, and on-base percentage of 462, and a slugging average of 602.

Some of it is on the strength of the two home runs he hit in Seattle in the last series. He also has 10 doubles, no triples, so 12 extra-based hits among the 46 hits that he has during his current 25 game hitting streak. Three for five tonight against the Mariners. Previous game before the midseason to break July 11th was a four for five day against the Mariners. Those two games alone, my goodness, seven hits, ten at bats, a home run, a double, five runs batted in. The Mariners just cannot seem to get this guy out.

His career slash line against the Mariners is 313, 357, 490. Half of his career home runs have come against the Mariners in just 50 games. Six of the 12 career home runs he's hit. He has 13 doubles and two triples against the Mariners. These numbers, by the way, do include tonight's ball game. He also has 40, his highest batting average against teams against whom he's played more than 25 games. Is the Oakland Athletics, who have given up a 347 batting average to Mr. Fletcher, 43 games against the athletics.

He also has a 314 average against the White Sox. in 18 games. But he kills the Mariners, seemingly almost kills the athletics, slugging percentage not as high, only one home run, 10 doubles, however, against the Oakland Athletics. David Fletcher is so underappreciated, especially since he's on a team that has maybe the two biggest stars in baseball, Shohei Otani and Mike Trout, and also Jared Walsh, an up-and-coming star who may have already arrived, not to mention Anthony Rendon over there at third base. Mr. Fletcher gets lost in the shuffle, and it's a shame. I love the way he plays. He's going to get the bat on the ball. He'll slap it over the infield. He's not going to strike out very much.

He's going to run the bases, make things happen there. He's a pest, and I think it's really fun to watch those pest-type hitters drive pitchers crazy. Because look at him. He's a little guy, and you wouldn't think that he's a threat. And power-wise, he's not, but he doesn't need to be. He's a table setter. He'll get on base, put pressure on the pitcher with the threat of a stolen base, put pressure on the defense when the ball is in play. He's a great guy to have at the top of the lineup to get things going for the hitters behind him. And defensively, he's very versatile. He's been at second base pretty much almost exclusively this year, but the Angels have played him at third base in the past quite a bit, and he came up as a shortstop. But his arm plays better at

second base, and he can also play the outfield. He's played, I know, left, and right field. I'm not sure about center. Defensively, he profiles out very similarly to Dylan Moore or telegram Sam Haggurty. Those types of players are an asset to a team for their versatility alone. And Mr. Fletcher brings a lot more to the table than just versatility. He does not get enough credit. And he never will, considering that there's such an emphasis on power hitting right now. But David Fletcher is a very important piece of the Los Angeles Angels.

Without him at the top of the lineup, there would be a lot fewer RBI opportunities for the stars studded meat of the order that follows him. If you have a question or comment, please do send it over to Lockdown Mariners at gmail.com. Questions and comments on any subject are highly encouraged, probably doing a mailbag episode on Tuesday. I have to talk to John Miller to see if he is available. But if he is, we will be doing one on Tuesday. Coming up, a very important announcement regarding the future of this program. But first, a word from bet online, the fastest and easiest way to bet on all your sports action. The script is still telling me that baseball season is in full swing, and you can track the action at bet online.

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Head to the website or use your mobile device today to sign up and receive your 50% welcome bonus on your first deposit. Bet Online, your online sportsbook experts promo code locked on. Now back to Lockdown Mariners. Here once again is your host, D.C. Lundberg. Thank you very much, J.M. D.C. Lundberg here with a super rare late-night edition of Blocked on Mariners. I mentioned yesterday that I thought I'd eaten something funny that really didn't agree with me, so I rested most of the day and published the show in evening. I woke up today with the same feelings this morning after getting very little sleep.

My intended guest also was not feeling like himself, so I originally decided just to take the day off. But I changed my mind a little while ago and decided to do an overnight episode, as it were. If I were to have missed today's show, then I wouldn't be able to miss any more shows the rest of the month because of how our pay is structured. And the Mariners have a few off days upcoming. Plus, I have friends coming into town next weekend, so I might want to take a day off late next weekend. Doing a show now affords me that opportunity. As I mentioned in the T's at the end of B block, I do have an announcement about some changes that'll be coming to the show here in a couple weeks.

I'll speak about those briefly before we wrap up for the day. But first, there were a lot of high scores across baseball today. I tallied them up, and there were 165 runs scored among the 15 games. You can do the math to see what the average number of runs per team was. That number is skewed by one game, which we'll get to in a little bit. But the Mariners 6 to 5 scores, a little above average. Kansas City scored nine runs against the Orioles today. Brewers won 116 in Cincinnati.

Marlon shut out the Phillies in Philadelphia, second game of a doubleheader. 7-0, that's a 7-inning game. Blue Jays beat the Rangers 10-2 in Buffalo. More on the Blue Jays a little bit later. 7-6 final in Atlanta were the raise 1 in 10 innings. Astros scored 7 runs today. Cardinals, pardon me, Giants, scored seven runs against the Cardinals today.

Dodgers scored 10 runs against the Rockies today. And of course, the Pista resistance, The Padres hung 24 runs against the Washington Nationals. Who scored eight runs themselves, generally when you score eight runs in a ballgame, you expect to win, and you certainly do not expect to be outscored by a three-to-one ratio. But my goodness, the Padres scored three runs on the top of the first. Nationals came right back to tie the ballgame in the bottom of the first. But then the Padres let loose with seven in the second,

one run apiece on the third, fourth, and fifth. Six runs in the sixth. They didn't score in the seventh. Man, they're just a bunch of bumps, aren't they? They come back for four runs in the eighth and another run in the ninth. Nationals score one run, pardon me, three runs in the first, one in the fourth, and four in the sixth for their eight runs. Nationals also committed three errors.

So I don't know how many of those runs that the Padres scored were unearned. I'm looking at that now. Three of them were unearned. So 21 earned runs for the Padres, 24 runs total. My goodness gracious. Trent Grisham went 2 for 3. Fernando Tatis Jr. went 1 for 3, with 3 runs scored. He was pinch hit 4.

And only played about half of the ball game. Tony Fom went 4 for 6 with 5 runs scored. Eric Hosmer, 3 for 4 with 2 runs scored. Will Myers, 6 for 3 for 6 with 3 runs scored. Victor Carrotini, 1 for 5 with 2 runs scored. And of course, Jake Croninworth, four for five, with one run scored and four runs batted in. Will Myers, by the way, had seven runs batted in. And then second baseman Jake Croninworth went four for five with four runs batted in and a run scored.

And he, ladies and gentlemen, hit for the cycle today. Really coming out of the shoot in the second half, very strong with the third cycle in San Diego Pondry's history. Holy Toledo. What more can you say about this? I don't really know, but exciting things happening in San Diego. They're third of the National League West, but the Giants are... Nobody expected the Giants to be 58 and 32 and have the best record in baseball. The Dodgers are only two games behind, 57 and 35, and the Padres are six games back of the Giants at 54 and 40.

The Blue Jays have some exciting news as well, as they will finally be allowed to return home. at the end of the month. They will play their first home game in Toronto on July 30th of this year, their first game since September 2019 in, well, in Sky. It's not called Skydome anymore. I'm not going to say the name of it now. But their first game in Toronto since September 2019 will be coming up on July 30th. Speaking of July 30th, ladies and gentlemen, I mentioned that there were some changes coming to the show. July 30th will be my final episode of Locked-on Mariners. I've had to make the difficult decision to leave the show. I'll speak more about that on my final show,

but it really more or less came down to economics, I'm afraid. I'm sorry to see it end, but circumstances and priorities change, and this is not a change I'm real happy about, but unfortunately it's a necessary one. I do not know who will be taking over for me, and I'm not sure anyone will know who will be taking over for me or learn that in the next couple of weeks. If a successor is named in the interim,

I will surely tell you about him or her in a couple weeks. But I'll finish out the month here before fading off into the sunset, as it were, so we still have a couple weeks more together. On Monday's show, I will recap the next two games in Anaheim. My guests next week will include Samantha Stevens, Donald Duck, and a Roach Motel. Please remember to download and follow Locked-on Mariners. Look for us on any podcasting app you can think of.

Leave a rating and review of your podcasting app of choice so allows, and remember to check out the other shows here on the Locked On Podcast Network. I'm D.C. Lundberg, two weeks to go, ladies and gentlemen. The Mariners have 11 more games before I leave, and I hope that they win at least eight of them. I'll say that right now. I hope they go at least eight and three over the next two weeks, keeping my fingers crossed. Have a great weekend, ladies and gentlemen. I'll talk to you on Monday.

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 Locked On's team of local experts. Follow the Locked On Today podcast on the Odyssey app or wherever you get podcasts. This is Joey Martin for Lockdown Mariners, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network.