Will we see a return of the August Mariners?

The Mariners lost a game, a series and a weekend, but there are still games to be played and a ship to be righted a bit. For all of the good feelings heading into the series against Oakland, there are now even more questions and with 14 games left to play, there’s little time to find the answers.

On the positive side, they still have an excellent chance to make the postseason. On the negative side, they will now need help as the games against the direct competition are over. The A’s arrived in Seattle reeling, having lost 21 of their previous 30 games. A team meeting, return of a closer and two wins over a rival with one coming against the one pitcher in all of baseball they least enjoy facing may have set them on a bit of a different path. The Mariners need to get back on theirs.

While this is the same team – plus some additions who should help if used correctly – that caught the attention of the national media and all of a sudden became everyone’s favorite to be a threat down the stretch, they aren’t hitting like that team. After putting up 4.55 runs per game in August, the Mariners are averaging just 3.07 in September.

There are reasons to believe this could change quickly. Robinson Cano suffered a kind of mini-slump from late August to the start of the Oakland series but appears to be coming out of that with home runs in back-to-back games for the the first time as a Mariner. Kyle Seager had a career-high five-game hitless streak during the homestand and that is bound to turn quickly as well. Dustin Ackley should be back soon, although the condition most likely will linger until he has time that simply isn’t available now to rest it.

With Ackley out for two games of the series against Oakland, we saw a few different lineups. While manager Lloyd McClendon has been masterful in using his full 25-man roster this season and utilizing it to the best of its ability – I believe this is one of the biggest reasons why this team has had the success it has had – the Sunday lineup was a head-scratcher for me. While day-to-day lineup dissection and criticism is my absolute least favorite thing in the game, this one was different. For days I had been curious to see what lineup McClendon would put up against Jon Lester with my thinking being that there was a good chance that on Sunday the Mariners would be facing the pitcher they would face in the one-game playoff if they grabbed a wild-card spot. It would be a dress rehearsal of sorts.

I wasn’t at the park Sunday morning as I had the morning off to attend an important family event but I was perplexed when I heard the lineup of Jackson, Denorfia, Cano, Morales, Hart (in left field!) Seager, Smoak, Taylor, Sucre announced on the pregame show. Is this the lineup McClendon would take into a one-game playoff against Lester? I get the matchup thing (although lefties are hitting him a bit better this year) but this team has had something close to an established lineup for some time. Don’t you largely go with the team that got you there at the end? Smoak hasn’t seen big-league pitching in two months. Is Sucre going to catch Felix against Lester in a wild-card game? If not, why didn’t Zunino get a look at him?

To be fair, Hart and Taylor were in the lineup that got two runs off Lester and went on to win 2-1 in Oakland earlier this month. Ackley was not in the lineup but most likely would be in a postseason lineup if healthy, so that already would make things look better. Just a curious lineup Sunday. One that I think strayed too far from the lineups that have been a part of the success this year.

Two final and obvious areas of concern are Kendrys Morales and to a much lesser extent Fernando Rodney. Morales has had 346 plate appearances this year and is not what he was last year, plain and simple. He has had three spring trainings worth of at-bats and we are not seeing it. If you want to use him then it might be time to start picking your spots with him. He has had some success from the right side. Perhaps it is time to find a platoon partner for him and move him down in the order.

Lastly, Rodney. It makes no sense to me how a tie game would be any different than a save situation. The game is on the line in both cases and you have no room for error.

I understand and agree with the popular philosophy in baseball of using a closer in tie games at home so the closer, usually the best pitcher in the bullpen, gets used. It would not be a good feeling to lose a game with your best available arm on the bench. That said, Rodney struggles in tie games. In the 10 tie games Rodney has pitched in this year, batters have hit .370 with an .870 OPS against him. His career numbers in tie games are excellent but we are not seeing that this year.

The situation may not even come up again with just three home games remaining but if it does, that might be a good day for Rodney to get a little rest.

After a tough weekend I leave you with a little bit of good news: While the Mariners trail Kansas City by one game in the fight for the final wild-card spot, that one game in the loss column is just three outs from being recorded. The Royals still have a suspended game they must finish and in that game that will be made up Sept. 22. They trail the Indians 4-2 in the 10th inning.

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