Just when you thought the Seattle Mariners might have found a glimmer of hope in the never-ending crapfest known as “The Last Decade Of Baseball In Seattle” “Their Entire History (Except For Those Four Seasons They Actually Made The Playoffs)”, they put together a stink bomb of a series that quashed any notion that they might be righting the ship.
The Mariners entered a four-game weekend stand with the Cleveland Indians at 20-21, and promptly found themselves leaving with just as many wins, after an epic meltdown Monday afternoon.
Let’s start with the ninth inning, which saw the Mariners clinging to a 7-6 lead with two outs and runners at first and third. Now, remember what we learned during a recent Houston Astros game: anything can happen in this situation (and especially if an AL West bottom-feeder is involved). An epic, Astros-esque blunder by closer Tom Wilhelmsen — sorry, no embedding at this time — allowed Jason Kipnis to score the tying run, sending the game to extra innings.
Not to be outdone by Wilhelmsen, reliever Charlie Furbush, who was staked an 8-7 lead thanks to Justin Smoak’s solo home run in the top of the 10th, put two on and served up a walk-off long ball to Yan Gomes — his second home run of the game, and second walk-off for the Indians in the series. Ouch.
Monday’s debacle leaves the Mariners at 20-25 at the 45-game mark. You know what their record was last year at the 45-game mark? You guessed it: 20-25. Incredibly, they took an even greater nosedive, eventually bottoming out at 15 games under .500 by the All-Star break. Of course, we’re not saying they’ll follow the same path this season, but if mind-boggling stats like these remain consistent, it’s going to be another rough ride at Safeco Field. Good thing nobody is watching:
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[MLB]
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