I'm a little late on this post, so I apologize. There's also not much to say about the game last night. Was I surprised Bedard struggled? No. And I don't really mind this loss. It's not a bad thing to lose to a team that is legitimately better. Yes, the Mariners have a chance to win every time Felix pitches, but Bedard is not there yet. Maybe by the end of the season we can expect Bedard to win when he steps on the mount, but last night was not. However, there were some positives I saw that I will take the time to mention.
First, as much as Bedard did struggle, his curveball looked fantastic at times. Considering this was his first official start in two years, I thought he looked great. He fought through five innings, which is really all anybody could ask of him. If he can start locating his fastball the way he could five years ago, the Bedard the Mariner's spent their farm system on could find his way back as an elite pitcher. That might take him all season to do though.
Second, Bradley and Smoak both had a good night at the plate. Bradley and Smoak both need to gave good years this year, and it's been good to see them both get off on the right foot. If Bradley wants to have a job next year, getting a decent paycheck (for a pro baseball player), or a contract longer than a year or an invitation to spring training, he needs to have a good year offensively without making any headlines. So far so good. Smoak on the other hand, just needs some confidence. He struggled in the majors last year when he came over after the Cliff Lee trade. But after being sent down to AAA he regained his confidence and found success. He's doing well so far this year, if he can keep it up and have a good offensive season the Mariners might finally have their first basement of the future.
Third, and lastly, Cust needs to step it up. He's faced two lefties in the past two games, so his poor performance so far this year might caused by that in part. However, a clean-up hitter batting .154 isn't going to have a job for very long.
The rest of the Mariners are have decent seasons so far behind the plate. Ichiro is Ichiro. Figgins' batting average has dipped lately, but I don't think he's off to the same kind of state he had last year. He looks comfortable behind the plate, has had good at-bats, and has hit the ball hard so far. He just needs to stay away from hitting the double-play ball. Ryan is also struggling, as is Langerhans. I'm not worried at all about Langerhans, since he'll sitting on the bench as soon as Guiti comes back. And we knew Ryan couldn't swing the bat when the Mariner's sign him. He's also switching over from the National League, which means it could take him a few months to get used to American League pitching. Personally, I don't expect him to be much of an asset offensively at all. However, he does need his batting average to be higher than Cliff Lee's by the end of the season. Jack Wilson is an abnormality. He'll cool off eventually.
That's all for now. Lineups should be up in a few hours.
First, as much as Bedard did struggle, his curveball looked fantastic at times. Considering this was his first official start in two years, I thought he looked great. He fought through five innings, which is really all anybody could ask of him. If he can start locating his fastball the way he could five years ago, the Bedard the Mariner's spent their farm system on could find his way back as an elite pitcher. That might take him all season to do though.
Second, Bradley and Smoak both had a good night at the plate. Bradley and Smoak both need to gave good years this year, and it's been good to see them both get off on the right foot. If Bradley wants to have a job next year, getting a decent paycheck (for a pro baseball player), or a contract longer than a year or an invitation to spring training, he needs to have a good year offensively without making any headlines. So far so good. Smoak on the other hand, just needs some confidence. He struggled in the majors last year when he came over after the Cliff Lee trade. But after being sent down to AAA he regained his confidence and found success. He's doing well so far this year, if he can keep it up and have a good offensive season the Mariners might finally have their first basement of the future.
Third, and lastly, Cust needs to step it up. He's faced two lefties in the past two games, so his poor performance so far this year might caused by that in part. However, a clean-up hitter batting .154 isn't going to have a job for very long.
The rest of the Mariners are have decent seasons so far behind the plate. Ichiro is Ichiro. Figgins' batting average has dipped lately, but I don't think he's off to the same kind of state he had last year. He looks comfortable behind the plate, has had good at-bats, and has hit the ball hard so far. He just needs to stay away from hitting the double-play ball. Ryan is also struggling, as is Langerhans. I'm not worried at all about Langerhans, since he'll sitting on the bench as soon as Guiti comes back. And we knew Ryan couldn't swing the bat when the Mariner's sign him. He's also switching over from the National League, which means it could take him a few months to get used to American League pitching. Personally, I don't expect him to be much of an asset offensively at all. However, he does need his batting average to be higher than Cliff Lee's by the end of the season. Jack Wilson is an abnormality. He'll cool off eventually.
That's all for now. Lineups should be up in a few hours.
No comments:
Post a Comment