Marinating

I used to complain when my team flailed ineptly at the plate that they were suffering from marinitis.  If only.

Here are the season OPSes of the Mariners’ starting (and finishing) nine at the close of their 2 – 1 win over the Astros Monday night:

• Gordon    .762
• Segura     .797
• Cano        .932
• Cruz         .985
• Seager     .856
• Haniger   .921
• Heredia   .887
• Motter     .820
• Freitas     .737

And this is without the Mighty Vogelbach (OPS .840).

If that’s marinitis, I want the Wolverines to marinate in it.

Canberra: W, 6 – (-1) (.231, .394, .500;  7.3 ip, 1 er) Now that’s what a championship team looks like.  Blake Snell had a great start (6.3 ip, 1 er), and Rhys Hoskins made 0 outs in 4 trips (3 walks and a double) to lead a robust offense. I don’t think the ‘Roos have ever looked this good.  I suppose pretty soon they’ll be coming around to see if they can get Porcello back.

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Kaline: W 1, L (-1);  2 – (-3).  (.364, .481, .636;  7.3 ip, 1 er) Wow!  Just like the Kangaroos, only better. James Paxton had a great outing against the Astros. He’d have shut them out had he pitched with more fire to George Springer to lead off the game (Springer homered for the only run Paxton surrendered). That just got Paxton mad, and he took it out on the rest of the lineup for 6 innings of high-90’s gas. A Kangaroo-Drive pennant race would be so fun to watch… assuming I can get close enough to see it.

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Haviland: DNP, 3 – (-1). (.261, .379, .478; 2 ip, 1 er). There’s a gap between the two front runners and the Dragons . But we have to remember, the Dragons were in 10th place two days ago. So their perch atop the pack in 3rd place today is very impressive. Kind of in the same class as Bryce Harper’s broken-bat home run yesterday.  Harper’s line is rounding into shape now for the season: .315, .487, .778. 8 homers, 21 walks, 11 strikeouts. Maybe the superstars are worth it…

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Pittsburgh: DNP, (-2) – 0. (.219, .257, .313;  no pitching).  … Although, maybe not. Superstar Jose Altuve went 0 for 4 yesterday. Lesser lights like Drew Robinson (1.167 OPS), Steven Piscotty (1.250 OPS), Tyler Austin (1.600 OPS) and especially Jurickson Profar (2.000 OPS) led the way.  Except after singling in his first AB, Profar was upended by Wolverine Mallex Smith at second base. Profar’s head hit the ground, and he’s being evaluated for a concussion. I assure you there was no intent to sabotage the Alleghenys on Mallex’s part. Profar is an honored ex-Wolverine. He never helped us on the field, but we cared for him tenderly for two years while he recovered from multiple injuries. We would like to see his luck change, to give him a chance at an MLB career.

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Brookland: L, 5 – 12. (.231, .375, .462; 4 ip, 7 er). Martin Perez got shelled for Texas, undoing a pretty good day at the plate. Miguel Andujar ( 2 doubles and a walk in 5 PA) continues to shove Tyler Wade down toward the end of the Yankee bench.

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Cottage: W, 6 – 3. (.333, .412, .467; 7 ip, 1 er) Another 7 ip, 1 er performance — the league’s third! This time Luis Severino did the job.  There was some nice hitting, too, just not very much of it: 17 plate appearances, led by Wilson Ramos’ 3 for 5 with a double.

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D.C.: L, 2 – 3. (.067, .222, .133; 8 ip, 1 er). So this is the frustrating half-great, half-awful performance that drives owners crazy.  Daniel Mengden turned in what might be the game of his career, providing all the Balk pitching. But only Scooter Gennett seemed to understand the significance of what Mendgen was doing. Gennett got the only hit of the evening for the Balk — a double — one of only three Balk walks.

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Portland:  DNP, 1 – (-1). (.167, .250, .157′ 6 IP, 2 ER) German Marquez continues to impress, even though he pitches for the Rockies. But the Rosebuds supported him offensively no better than the Rockies did.  If there are Kangaroo fans worried that trading away Jonathan Villar will come back to bite them, Monday was good news: Villar only went 1 for 5 with three K’s.

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Old Detroit: DNP, 0 – 0. (.304, .333, .348; 1 ip, 0 er)  Other than forcing Jurickson Profar to try to get through a Concur protocal, Mallex Smith had a red-letter 4 for 4 day, with a double thrown in.  On the other hand, 1 for 4 Carlos Gonzalez flew to deep left.  Ian Desmond tagged at second and tried to take third.  He got thrown out.  Desmond suffered no penalty for his lame baserunning. Cargo was charged with hitting into a double play.  That Wizard of Whidbey is at it again: he probably told Desmond to tag up just to sabotage…

… the 9th place Wolverines?  Nah. Not even I can believe the Wizard would waste energy paying any attention to such a pathetic team.  So it’s just my Woeverines marinating in a malevolent universe’s implacable malice.

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Flint Hill: DNP, (-1) – 0. (.167, .286, .222; 0 ip, 0 er).  Just not that much to talk about here.

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Peshastin: DNP, 0 – 0. (.300, .300, .600; no pitching).  Even less to talk about. Only three Pears showed up for work. Joey Gallo homered, Ozzie Albies went 2 for 3 , and Mitch Hanigar cooled off with an 0 for 3 day.