SEATTLE MARINERS

Mariners shut out once again

Jul 15, 2012, 10:28 PM | Updated: Jul 16, 2012, 11:05 am

By Shannon Drayer

There really is not a lot to say after the Mariners’ 4-0 loss to the Rangers, their 11th shutout loss of the season.

Eric Wedge continues to hang in there, standing behind his young players, particularly in his conviction that they will hit.

“Hopefully they derive confidence from me, the coaches and each other,” he said. “That’s the way it has to be. I am firm in my beliefs, we have a lot of guys here, speaking in particular about the position players, that are going to be solid big-leaguers for quite a few years, but they’re going through growing pains.”

His calm demeanor following these losses is due in most part to having been there before and his belief that going in the opposite direction will not benefit the club. It is hard to hear about “good at-bats” and “solid contact” in the wake of yet another game with no results on the scoreboard, but ultimately these words in the postgame press conferences aren’t for us. We may want the ranting and raving, but Wedge is going to put forward the tone that he feels is best for the guys in the clubhouse.

“You have moments of frustration,” he admitted, “but ultimately the belief never changes. It’s not just blind faith. There are real reasons to believe these young men are going to be much more consistent offensively.”

One indicator of performance that is a positive that he pointed to was the defense. Guys aren’t taking their offensive struggles to the field and for the most part they have been playing clean baseball. Not just good defense but doing the right thing in the field. We aren’t seeing the mistakes we saw early on. This is a good defensive team capable of playing smart baseball in the field. Plenty of run-saving going on, just not run-scoring.

For that, we continue to wait.

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