Mariners News-Week 1 In Review

Hi baseball fans!  It was a good week for the Mariners, taking 3 out of 4 from the A's in both Tokyo and Oakland.  We've hopefully seen a preview of the season to come, so I will breakdown some things that were good, bad and ugly from the action so far.

THE GOOD:  The offense was stellar, especially in Oakland.   Both teams struggled in the Tokyo series but there were moments, such as Ackley's clutch HR in the 11th inning of the opener.  In the two games in Oakland, the Mariners piled up 15 runs on 26 hits.  Every Seattle starter had at least one hit in Saturday's game.  Chone Figgins seems at home in the leadoff role, with back-to-back three hit games.  If he continues to produce like that, it will make the past two seasons worth of awful play a distant memory.  Dustin Ackley, Saunders and Seager continue to look good at the plate and Ichiro is looking like Ichiro again!  From a pitching standpoint, Vargas was incredible in both starts.  I hope he can sustain that after the All-Star Break, because he seemed to run out of gas late last season.

THE BAD:  In the first two games in Tokyo, the Mariners were awful with runners in scoring position, and it seemed like a reprise of last season.  Bartolo Colon limited them to three hits in the 4-1 loss in game two of the series.  The bullpen has been disappointing so far, with only League seeming solid at this point.  Felix Hernandez pitched very well in the opener in Japan, but lost focus after the 4th Inning on Saturday, nearly blowing a 7-0 lead.  Without the Saunders HR in the top of the 7th, this is one that could have gotten away.  Hernandez was charged with 6 earned runs in 6-1/3 innings, but two of those six scored on the Cespedes 3-run HR off of Delabar in relief.

THE UGLY:  The Mariners gave up three HR's to Cuban rookie sensation Orlando Cespedes that went over 1300 combined feet.  Jason Vargas was lit up twice (one a 462-foot moon shot) while Steve Delabar served up the other.  Felix Hernandez currently owns a 1-0 record but an ERA of 8.63.

DEBUT TIME:  Rookie LHP Lucas Leutge (pronounced LOOT-gee) made his debut Saturday, striking out the only batter he faced.  Japanese rookie Munenori Kawasaki also made his ML debut on Saturday, going 1-4 with an RBI single and scored a run in the M's 6-run 4th inning.  Rookie RHP Hector Noesi makes his Mariners debut in Texas tonight, hoping to spoil the Major League debut of Japanese league star Hu Darvish.

NOTE:  I will likely post a weekly review on Mondays during the season.  I would welcome any feedback on my posts or what you would like to hear concerning the Seattle Mariners.