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Derek Holland went on the DL for Texas. Darvish is gonna have (and is having) his struggles. The Angels were flopping all over the field before the sort of 10 game hot-streak we're discounting for the Ms, had a catcher take a concussion DL trip after playing us, lost Weaver for a couple of weeks and who knows how effective he'll be when he gets back. Like you said, the Bo Sox are scuffling, and the Ms are starting to believe they can play.
And they're doing it on the road. Last year? 39-45 at home, 28-50 on the road. This year it's 9-13 at home and 17-20 on the road. Yes, we've played 15 more road games than home games, and played them at last year's home-game pace.
Take out some blown saves and they're better than .500 on the road. Pryor is an 800 lb gorilla in the back yard, and Wilhelmsen is taking to this closing thing nicely. A 100 mph fireman AND a 97 MPH closer with a deadly curve? Nice.
We had another 99 MPH fireman hanging out in the upper minors just waiting for a call, you say? Crazy! Not to mention some good/great starters.
I get it if we're not willing to make an 8 digit lapse in judgment like the Giants did with Lincecum. Wait a week and postpone all his arb money wins a year, plus their compounded effect on his salary from there out? The offense they needed to defend their title was wrapped up in his salary.
So there's a smart component to that. But we have multiple pitchers who need to go down, and Erasmo was already up this year to start his clock so we weren't worried about it then. He's got a 1.35 ERA in his last 2 starts, fully stretched out, with 15K against 2 BB. He's ready.
But we're not calling him back. Even our awesome new fireman can't put out all the fires Noesi and Beavan are starting, so why not see if another pitcher is less flammable? Why is staying safe the better plan?
The offense is finding some swagger (Kyle Seager's charge up that machine gun hill has been impressive, especially now that his comrades are taking up arms and following him) and the wild card hasn't gotten away from us. Is there a LOT of competition for it this year? Sure.
But that just means the peloton is within reach, and anybody can make a run once they join the pack with all the competitors in it. Climb that mountain, Mariners, put some legs into it. We've got plenty of stages left in this season to make it interesting, and you don't have to burn a redshirt on Hultzen as your only way to do it.
~G
(enough of a barrage of clashing sports imagery for ya there?)