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SERIESFLOW

On Friday, the Mariners were 21-and-13, up a full +8.0 games on the pesky rodent Angels, and were again winning mechanically by a lopsided 5-1 score.  But Nate Karns' chest was wheezing like a blast furnace, and the Angels nicked him for a couple of soft runs.  (Or, as Dr. D would prefer to put it, they nicked his RELIEVERS for a couple of soft runs.  Grrrrr.)

The score was still a comfortable 6-3 going into the late innings, and the Angels were headed for a comfortable -11.0 deficit in the standings come Monday.

Joel Peralta picked exactly that moment to remember that he was elderly.  Angels' third-stringers like Cron, Giovatella, and Marte committed acts of violence against him that would have had Rougned Odor covering his mouth in horror.

SSI had sagely warned, going into the series, that Steve Cishek was both overrated and that he was being alarmingly overused.  (That is not the same thing as saying that he should not be closer.)  The four separate walks and singles that the Angels achieved against Cishek were, scientifically speaking, "discrete events".  Had any one of them not occurred, the Mariners would have been 22-13 and the Angels would be about -11 games back right now.  But when Steve Cishek cannot hit his spots, you are going to see 3-to-7 discrete events.  Per inning.

....

Saturday, the M's had their gloves up in front of their faces, but their footwork was Jose Bautista-drunken monkey.  The M's came out of their corner and landed an Adam Lind left hook to the bleachers, but the Angels stepped right back down the centerline for a Cell-type flurry of uppercuts for a 6-2 score.  

Admittedly, the M's marshalled the raw fighting spirit to slug through to a 7-6 advantage going into the 15th round.  However, Steve Cishek had gone from "overtired" to "laughable."  If Dr. D had had the choice, he'd have suffered less in watching the willowy Cishek take on a Kimbo Slice street fight.  No such luck; Cishek had to pitch.  So [descriptive text redacted for decency]

.....

Sunday, the M's assumed the fetal position that ballclubs are usually wont to assume, when enemy lineups have performed this kind of wet work on their bullpens.

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THERE'S A BALLGAME TOMORROW, er, TODAY

Let's say we count 1776 as the first game played by the Late Great Planet America and 2016 as their 162nd game, no playoffs.  Which, obviously, it will be, in one direction or another come this November.  :- )  :: counts on fingers ::  That leaves 240 year-games, right at 150% the number of games played by the Seattle Mariners in each season since 2002.  (If you're keeping track, the Mariners have played >162 games in a season 4 times in 40 seasons.)

So today at Balmer is game 38, equivalent in U.S. Historical terms to --- > year 7; May 17th in baseball would equate to the year 1833 A.D in American history.   Our baseball season timeline, in proportion, leaves us asking what was the state of affairs in 1833?   Did the Republic have time enough yet?  Sure it did:

• Andrew Jackson was President
• It had been 30 years since the Louisiana Purchase (you can Google it, O.S.U. students)
• It would be 30 years until the U.S. Civil War (you can Google that too, O.S.U. students)
• The San Francisco Gold Rush was still 16 years in the future (as is the next rush for 49ers' football tickets)
• Lewis and Clark were recently done exploring the NW, so Washington wouldn't be admitted as a state for over 50 years

Chill, bro's.

In 1833 (or game 38) the revolver was not yet invented, and men were not created equal.  Similarly, Jerry DiPoto is a few games short of a 5-shot gatling that could put him on equal footing with the other playoff teams.  

In 1833, Casey at the Bat wouldn't be invented for 50 years, and James Paxton won't be around to strike out any of those egomaniacs for another month or two either.  

The M's have already weathered one 5-game losing streak just fine.  Make sure your rollercoaster shoulder bar has clicked three times; it might be a week or ten days until the M's sort out their 'pen and shake off the Angels hangover.  But they've got a good team; they're not as fragile as earlier teams that could have been snuffed by two straight blown saves.

Enjoy,

Dr D