Game 4 - Another vintage Mariner loss

Okay, so now we're four games into the season and have figured out a few things about the Mariners...

1. The Mike Morse kid is a hard-swinging, Jesus-looking, power package that M's fans are going to swoon over all season. Seriously, keep your girlfriend at home when you go to Safeco - don't want them getting any mini-crushes on a guy that can hit the ball a mile while you strike out during a game of wiffleball. Morse has 4 home runs in 4 games, the only other Mariner to do that was Ken Griffey Jr. in 1997. So yeah, he's had a good start to the season. The home runs themselves have been awesome shots that travel further than some used cars. I also watched him grind out a 13-pitch at-bat before striking out today. That's still impressive.

2. The Mariners offense isn't terrible. Sure they scored 2 runs today in a rather deflating 8-2 setback against Oakland, but notched out 8 hits against one of the best pitching staffs in the American League. They definitely have more pop and can score several different ways. Don't look for those heartbreaking 2-0, 1-0 losses that have plagued the M's in previous years. It does need to improve, however.

3. In the last two losses, the starting pitching hasn't been great and apparently the Mariners can't recover from that. It was Brandon Maurer's first career start after a good spring training and he went 6 innings, gave up 8 hits and six runs. While that's nothing great, Seattle should still be in those games where the starting pitcher gives up a few runs. Why? Because not everybody can be Felix and Iwakuma. You're going to have games where you're going to have to score 7-8 runs. That's why the Mariners offense needs to improve.

The Mariners have scored 13 runs in four games and anytime Oakland has been able to get any sort of offense going, they were saddled with a loss. Seattle has shown, however, they can win the close low-scoring games. The backend of the rotation just hasn't delivered.

Now Seattle (2-2) has a three-game series against the Chicago White Sox, who have been run challenged so far. They're batting just .235 as a team and have scored just 6 runs in 3 games. Blake Beavan will take the mound tomorrow after posting a 4.37 ERA last season. Jose Quintana will pitch for Chicago, he has a 3.76 ERA.

( here's some White Sox gear, just in case you're interested)