Another cold, wet loss and Guti to be re-evaluated

Things aren’t getting any easier for the Mariners who fell 6-5 to the Royals at a cold, windy and rainy Kaufman Stadium.

Erik Bedard continues to try and return to form after nearly a year and a half of not pitching in games. I think we were all surprised that Eric Wedge sent him out for the fifth inning after throwing 83 pitches and giving up 5 runs in the first four innings. No kid gloves with Eric Wedge. He felt that Bedard still had pitches in him and that he could get something out of that inning. Bedard was happy to go back out.

“It’s important,” he said. “You have got to get the pitch count and be able to throw at least 100 pitches. Every start has been progress. I actually felt good. I know the score didn’t show that but I had good velocity on the fast ball and I threw some good breaking balls.”

Velocity had been a concern. Since his last Arizona start his fastball had been clocking in at the 88-90mph range. Bedard needs to see 92 and there was quite a bit more of that tonight. As for throwing some good breaking balls, that he did. Now he needs to do that consistently.

As for the offense, a dismal showing in the first seven innings as Luke Hochevar 1 hit them. He threw well but I don’t know if you can call 56 strikes in 100 pitches lights out. I asked Eric Wedge about this.

“He threw well but I know what you are talking about. What you can’t do is get passive up there. We want guys to be aggressive with their mindset have the discipline to get into hitters counts but ultimately a couple of things are happening. When we get pitches to hit we can’t miss them. I think that one of the things that is happening is either we are a tad past at times in taking pitches we should take hacks at and when we do take hacks at them we are not squaring them up and rifling the ball all over the place like we need to be doing.”

Adam Kennedy who found himself back in the order today this time said that while it was good to see guys with the right approach late in the game, that is not enough.

“It’s really disappointing,” said Kennedy. “He threw the ball well, but we are better than one hit through seven innings. It is good to keep grinding it out and having good at bats but it would be nice to do that throughout the game.”

“Everybody wants to come through for the next guy,” he continued “And sometimes you step out of your zone to do that. It will fall back into place it is not going to be like that all year, you know that. You hoped it would happen today.”

Ultimately it comes down to a mindset when a team is in a struggle like it is now according to the skipper.

“You’ve got to look it straight in the eye and keep plowin keep grinding,” Wedge said. “You cant get caught up in yesterday, in what the hell happened here last year, you have got to focus on today and be prepared for tomorrow.”

One other piece of news to come out tonight, and it is disappointing. Franklin Gutierrez who was scheduled to get three at bats at High Desert tonight was a scratch from the lineup because he was not feeling well.

“We had hopes of him going out there and playing. As we speak we are in the process of re-evaluating and seeing where we go from here,” said Wedge.