The Slaughter at Camden Yards

Four games, four losses.  I guess the Orioles are a real baseball team after all.

Of course, we all miss J.J. as the closer.  Yes, the M’s bullpen had a 10.57 ERA in 7.2 innings of the four game series against the Orioles, while the starting pitching racked up a 3.96 ERA.  But that’s only half the story.

The other half is that the M’s hit a miserable .203 over the past four games, and despite hitting seven home runs, it resulted in little production as the M’s were not able to get on base.  Scoring 14 runs over four games- while also walking 14 times- isn’t going to lead to very much wins.

Oh well, I guess the M’s felt obliged to let their old friend George Sherrill rack up three saves against them.

So there is a breakdown in two key parts of the M’s game plan: the bullpen, which was a strength from last year when J.J. asserted himself as the best closer in the league, and the offense, which we all knew was going to struggle to push across runs.

The road trip continues with a mid-week series at Tampa Bay, where the Rays have just finished playing the Yankees tough, and where the Mariners played an intense series last year.  The Rays are no longer the laughing stock of the league.  With a scary offensive line-up, and a rotation stocked with solid pitching (lacking the Cy Young candidate Scott Kazmir currently due to arm troubles) this series is not going to be a push-over.  The M’s might be lucky to scratch out a game, but a sweep on Tampa Bay’s end is also likely.

At least the M’s have Bedard and his a 10-3 career record against Tampa Bay to turn to to put an end to this slide.  Also going for the M’s is that Matt Garza- who has allowed 10 runs in nine innings against the M’s- is taking the hill for the Rays.  Of course, seeing how the Mariners’ offense folded against the likes of Steve Trachsel and Daniel Cabrera, that means absolutely nothing.

I guess the M’s felt that they had to defer to the Angels, despite their shortage of pitching, as they are the defending AL West champions.  And probably forever will be.