Here we are nearing the end of May and the Seattle Mariners are beginning to resemble the team from last year. After an amazing start (for them) the Mariners have cooled off considerably, mostly because of their anemic offense. After beating the Oakland Athletics on May 3rd, Seattle was sitting atop the American League West at 15-10. Since then they are 4-12 and in 3rd place of the American League West.At the base of this team slump you will find some very silent bats. During the teams 15-10 opening to the season they were averaging about 4.5 runs scored a game. During this 4-12 slump they are down to averaging about 3.2 runs a game. During this stretch the Mariners have been held to 2 runs or fewer in a game 7 times (in 16 games, how can you win?). The team has been giving up about 5.7 runs a game in this same stretch, but don't blame it all on the pitchers, the guys in the field have committed 16 errors in the last 16 games. They are currently 28th out of 30 teams in fielding percentage while the pitchers are 12th out of 30 in team ERA.
Seattle is currently holding up a .253 team batting average which is good for 21st in the majors, oh and that on base percentage, .306, dead last. Even though Ken Griffey Jr. is batting only .238 he at least gets on base (.369 on base average) for the guys behind him not to drive in. The only guys who are really doing anything for them is Ichiro Suzuki of course (.317 average) and Russell Branyan (.305 average, 10 home runs and 20 RBI).
So in conclusion after hours of research the Mariners lineup is not good. Building for the future is what they are doing and I hope they continue.
If anyone has any requests for this column let us know. I don't discriminate, no matter the sport or the stat.
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