Despite Series Split, There Was A LOT to Like From the Seattle Mariners' First Four Games

0:00Mariners are two and two after their first four games of the season and we're going to give you our biggest takeaways from the weekend Colby in it You are Lockdown Mariners your daily Seattle Mariners podcast part of the Lockdown podcast network your team every day Ahoy sailors and his Monday March 30th, 2026. My name is Tate Gonzalez and I'm joined as always by my co's Colby Pat Now today we're going to try something new. I'm sure if I'll stick this year, but we're going to try something new And if you don't like it blame Colby it was his idea But instead of Milbag Monday, we're going to give you our biggest takeaways from the last three games that we weren't able to talk about on the show So we'll give you our takeaways from the lineup the pitching staff Everything else from Friday, Saturday and Sundays games against the Guardians And then tomorrow we'll open up the mailbag and answer some of your questions So the Mariners go two and one over the last three games They win on Friday by score of five to one. They lose an extra is on Saturday by score of six to five and then last night on Sunday night baseball

1:08They shut out the Guardians eight to nothing We'll have a lot to talk about from that game once we get into the pitching side of things But we're going to start with our takeaways from the Mariners lineup Where do you want to start here Colby? I mean, I think we probably start with the elephant in the room Which is the production or lack thereof of your three best hitters and You know whether or not that's I mean, it's certainly not a good thing, but there are some positive takeaways from some of their recent at bats and all that so Yeah, I think I think we have any conversation about the Mariners offense has to start with Julio Cal and Josh and Despite the struggles of those three guys Mostly struggles, you know, there were some some moments here and there Cal got a few walks Julio obviously had the the heroic moment on on Saturday night, but despite the overall struggles of those guys There actually is kind of a positive takeaway from that and that's not the Mariners scored what 22 combined runs

2:12I believe against a pretty good guardians pitching staff in spite of those struggles In you know late March in Seattle You know cold and marine layer You know filled Team mobile park and and honestly yesterday could have been 12 runs fifth or 13 runs or whatever if not for that marine layer. So Yeah, I mean the the three guys that you would expect to be in the middle of it They were largely non factors and they still put up 22 against again I think you know, not an elite pitching staff or anything like that, but Gavin Williams Good pitcher Tanner Bobby's a good pitcher You know can'tio had a really good run last year as a starter And then you know slates of counties kind of their Emerson Hancock. It's kind of you know Maybe he maybe he breaks through maybe not. He's kind of a number five, but whatever You got him out of the game before the fifth and and so yeah, I mean They you found a way to score a runoff of Kate Smith to force the game into extras and all that so I mean

3:16Yeah, I think there are a lot of positives and and You know I think you can acknowledge that there are positives. You can also acknowledge that Josh and in Cal and Julio weren't good Without you know having that become a referendum on their season or if this is going to be the new thing or blah blah blah because obviously It's not Yeah saying those guys aren't weren't good Doesn't mean that you think they're not going to be good or that you're panicking it's just acknowledging the simple fact Those three guys were your three worst hitters this weekend And you were still able to score 22 runs and you were still able To I mean and I'll honestly you probably should have gone for no To start the year, but some situational baseball and then things like that we'll probably talk about later preventing from doing it And obviously again Julio Cal Josh they had opportunities to help you win the two games you lost and they didn't come through That'll happen But what's not going to happen is those three guys combining to have you know An oh 91 batting average for the entire season so yeah, yeah, that that's not good

4:20It's very long, but you know, we should acknowledge that they were not good like can we just agree on they were not good Yeah, yeah Absolutely, and I mean you know, we talked about it after opening day you know when when Cal and Julio specifically combined for what six strikeouts and the seven At bats eight played appearances in total like you probably not going to win many games when that happens But you know again for the most part over the weekend Cal Julio and Josh were non factors and despite that you still came away from the series with two wins So that's a pretty big deal and a big reason for that chorus I mean, there's a lot of reasons for that But I think we have to start with the right field situation Luke Rayleigh dom can zone and victor rubles all had very good weekends Luke Rayleigh with three homers in the first three games Four hits or hits in all four games rather dominant can zone with two homers on opening day Victor rubles with a two for three night on Saturday So the right field situation which we had a lot of questions about off to a really nice start So it's like somebody's a burn in Donovan suppress a person over there, but sure we'll start

5:26We will get to have this Kind of MVP of the American League right now Will it last that might be Luke Rayleigh, honestly I chased a lotter Maybe just live with a little bit less center field defense. So your left field defense remains elite I just you know something to keep in mind, but um Yeah, I think Obviously, you know, you wanted to see especially Luke you wanted to seem get off to a hot star because You know, you you banked a fair amount of this on on Luke, you know, his problems last year being the injuries and I think you and I both backed back Backed him up on that we were fine with that assumption and so far it looks like that was the case um Looks like Luke's taken maybe a step back defensively Uh, now it's only four games, but uh Some rough moments that you know some plays that Luke makes

6:27In 2024 that he didn't make and then that's not injury related, but maybe lack of wraps. I don't know But yeah, we'll see that gets better, but yeah, he crushed some baseballs He's a legitimate threat every time he comes to the plate. Is he gonna strike out some? Yeah, of course he is Is he gonna drop some absolute bombs though? Yeah, can he come up with a big hit every now and then too? Yeah, can he run Does he run the base is really well? Yeah, can he lay down a bot? He should never have to, but yes, he can So yeah, it's Ryan Bliss can't we'll get to that later, but uh Anyways, yeah, Luke's Luke is kind of one of those X factories a swing player Uh for this season and for him to get off to the start that he did is is really impressive Uh, and it's big and and you know, unfortunately, he's probably gonna find the bench for the next couple days at least to start the game Um, but uh, yeah, it's nice to see him get off to a nice start Especially since you remember in 2024 he was as terrible for the first like month and a half Uh, to the point where there were some whispers out here. I think it's just going to the FM like what it is

7:29But anyways, nice thing to get off to a hot start and then yeah can zone, you know Couple of bombs in opening day the rest of his at bats Pretty dumb can zone like some really terrible swings some really hard hit balls, but you know overall I think Dom is is starting to settle into who he's going to be which is You know streaky and probably a good weeks week on stretch or like this guy can't hit like period The swings are ugly. He's chasing like he run he's running like You know, he's got both legs tied together like I Just kind of it's not a pretty uh baseball player when you watch Tom can zone, but Results are the results. So uh, we'll see how that goes and then yeah, even Victor Robles I mean granted it was a blue double, but whatever He also had a hard hit ball. He did he did he looked good Uh, which is great because he he was terrible in the cactus league this year And he's gonna get a couple starts here uh, well, we think he's gonna get a couple starts here against some pretty good lefties Particularly max freed. So we'll see how that goes

8:31And speaking of speaking of him real quick, you know a thing that we learned here is uh for now It seems like that's a true platoon him and and Luke Rayleigh on right field Sure, although I would also like him to be used as a fourth outfielder in that like hey we're up by three It's the eighth inning Let's get Victor Robles in the outfield to play some defense for us uh for either Randy or Luke Because he's better than both of those guys But yeah, it does appear to be a appear platoon really the only part of that That forehead and monster for two positions that didn't really contribute was rest sniper and he only got two at bat The entire series so and there were both pretty good played appearances I think right like he saw like 13 pitches combined he just popped up a couple pitches So yeah, you know, not not bad at bats mighty stretch. Just didn't get a hit You know, again, he only got two at bats, but he'll he'll get his line share Here in the next two days. This is why you pay the guy Which did to do what you know? You know perform in these moments and it's kind of suck and you're like oh you have to hit lefties

9:31And it's like yeah, but the lefties I'm facing are freed and crochet and scooble and framber, but That's the gig man. So we'll see how he does We also did learn that or at least for the first start that The plan is for rest sniper to be the lead off hitter against left-handed Pitching so that is something that we also learned so Yeah, the right field platoon slash dh platoon those four guys Have to like what you saw from all four of them Even Even rest sniper who didn't have a hit, but he still had 1314 pitch I think 13 or 14 pitches and I think both at bats were three ball counts I might be wrong on that. I know the first one was for sure Yeah, so Yeah, the the big questions of platoons So far so good Yeah, so yeah, we got to talk about the man with the 304 wrc plus through the first four games of the year slasher 429 556 929

10:33Not not that good, but we will we will get to call in a second because he also had a really nice series But yeah, Brennan Donovan in his first four games in a Seattle mariner's uniform is already worth half a win Been as good as advertised so far and then some honestly and You know my my call from about a week ago of him setting a career high and in homers looking good so far And he's also, you know, had a couple of stolen base attempts as well How did that go successful? Yeah, the other the other one not so much He he's on pace to go 81 home runs and 40 steals so like I mean 80 40 season my my agenda is going strong so far Not your talk about my first two flag players care at the weekend And then finally cool young goes one for three last night Also has a walk last night Had some big hits over the course of the weekend. Obviously the

11:35The Homer on Friday So seeing some of that pop that we saw in the spring carry over into the regular season early on that's nice to see I had the double to down the left field line to set up Julio's heroic moment on Saturday and fortunately that doesn't get paid off with the win But still that was a really nice site to see Very jp Crawford ask that double from koi young Something that I feel like we've seen from jp quite a few times and in some clutch moments like that. So yeah You know all the guys that were really like propping up leading into the season all kind of had a moment or two Over the course of the series Yeah, Cole also made some really nice plays defensively the throwing still looks very unnatural almost which is I just don't get it like Even though the great play made against Ramirez it kind of looks like you like Shot put it the ball over to first instead of making a good strong throw it I don't know what's going on there But the range certainly looks better than it did last year as well. And yeah the the home run the double

12:36You know, he's doing exactly what you would want your your 22 year old, you know Basically rookie second baseman to do at the bottom of your order find a way to contribute every game If you know, maybe go over three, but you make a nice defensive play or or you at least Make the opponent throw you know 18 pitches to get you out three times or whatever you find a way to contribute You just find a way to keep your head above water Knowing that Cole young is fully capable of going on these long stretches where he's you know an all-star caliber second baseman And you know, he's getting to velocity better which last year was the problem He couldn't really hit the fastball all that well Well, the home run was off of a fastball the double was off of a fastball So yeah, I mean again, there's gonna be ups and downs for Cole just like there is for every player But especially so for a 22 year old, but he's found a way to contribute and just about every game So far from the bottom of the order Which is which is great and exactly what you need is especially when you know waiting to get JP back and and Kind of get your middle infield and you know that'll allow Cole to maybe not face some of the tough lefties that are coming up because then Revas

13:40Could play second and you can kind of help him out that way. So yeah I think Cole finding ways to contribute finding ways to get some big hits early in the season I think that's a good thing for so we're gonna talk about the Pitching set of things for the mayors over the last three games and just a moment But first reminder this episode of the lockdown mayors podcast is brought to you by turbo tax and the space needle It's tax time but for a lot of us the old way of doing taxes is a lot Trying to book an appointment. That's not the most convenient sitting in a waiting room with a stack of papers Emailing back and forth and wondering if they really get your situation But this year you're getting a major upgrade into what turbo tax now has in-person locations nationwide You can meet face-to-face with a real tax expert and your documents get uploaded straight to your turbo tax app on the spot And just like that you're done your turbo tax expert works to get you every dollar you deserve Well, you get real-time notifications as you go about your day It's the relief of walking in and meeting a real person and walking out knowing your taxes are being handled right

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15:50And you're listening to the locked on mayor's podcast for the locked on podcast network your team every day Thank you so much for making us your first listen for all things mariners And also thank you for making locked on the number one sports podcast network Baseball is finally back and to celebrate. I'm giving you a full month of the everyday club for free Get a locked on mariners dot supercast dot com. That's right me personally. I'm giving it to you You got to use the promo code finally F-I-N-A-L-L-Y Go unlock every episode add free and get access to our private list or group chat Tap the link in the description and use the promo code finally To claim your free month Took you long enough tie We're also finally At the championship round of our top 50 mariners moments tournament So who's moving on do we have to do anything about the Ballot stuffy and and all that stuff from last week No, we didn't despite the best efforts of one individual

16:51Uh, it ended up not mattering. It skewed the results enough to give us a couple blowouts But one of them was already going to be a blowout the double beats Geno's grand slam About once you remove if you remove the 70 Uh, ballots, which I mean we wouldn't remove all of them because blah blah blah But we didn't remove any of them just for the record Uh, because it didn't end up mattering uh Again, the numbers are just a little bit off The final tally is the uh double Double one 67.6 to 32.4 But if you remove the ballot stuff in then it's closer to 75 25 Which honestly still pretty decent showing for geno's grand slam against the double so And then the second match up here uh cow versus phelix This one Went the opposite direction in terms of the ballot stuffing But uh as it turns out with the 70 votes 67.3% uh picked the drought ender over phelix's

17:53Perfect game if you remove the 70 or whatever the ballot stuffing then this one is 60 40 give or take So still a cow win, but uh much Much closer by the end of the day both of the rightful You know winners so to speak advance and so we get our classic one versus two matchup We get the double versus cows drought ender And you guys can vote on that using the description now below, but also We're putting the pull out on twitter as well so Yep, it'll You just you know click you can vote on the twitter, but so you can vote twice You can vote in this one and the twitter poll and we will combine them up and see what happens I have a hunch we won't have to combine them because the double will win because people can't get enough at the 1995 Seattle mariner's Like get a lot of but i don't i don't know i don't know because again our demographics Younger, but yeah, so so we got so we got the quintessential Mariner moment for og mariner fans versus the quintessential mariner moment for the new wave of of mariner fans

18:55and i feel like More so our demographic here at lockdown is the new wave of mariner fans, so We'll see you have the moment that you have the two moments that ended two You know droughts one the first one 19 years the second one Well the double didn't end the drought, but you know what i mean uh You know and then cowardly's drought ender of 20 what was it 21 years? So Yeah, we have a couple of really huge hits here from a couple of you know The most important players in the franchises history. So we'll see how it goes I just think the double to me is going to run away because of the nostalgia and it's just all that blah blah blah but whatever 95 hype 95 propaganda still live strong So we'll just roll with that and hey edger like i'm not going to complain too much that edger wins because edger is The most important mariner at least to mariner's fans in the franchises history So i mean that's that's why you're at is c pat 11 specifically

19:59So So i wore number 11 from the day i started playing baseball until the day i Was retired by you know People who actually i couldn't pay to play baseball for anymore. So there you go Taylor Williams probably Yeah, although he didn't pitch against us. We just got Or you know what beat the old-fashioned way, but uh, yeah, and then he got you uh then he got you matte brush So it was worth it. Yeah, I mean Probably rather a played for a state title at safe co-field, but you know, whatever sure fine matte brushes Good consolation prize. I suppose shadow told tea willy Mm-hmm All right, didn't think we would talk about Taylor Williams on the show, but uh, you know You never know what you're going to get here at the lockdown maris podcast Speaking of maris pitching but current maris pitching that is uh, let's talk about the uh the maris starting rotation because um I don't really want to talk about the bullpen Personally, I know we have to segment of takeaways for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know we have to to a

21:04Some degree, but I don't really want to talk about them. I want to talk about the rotation though We'll start just in order of how these guys started George Kirby six strong innings on Friday night Just one arm run on two hits six strikeouts two walks for him. I just five heart hit balls Really nice start after you know Logan was only able to go five and a third on on opening day And that ultimately led to the maris winning five to one on on Friday. So what did you think about Kirby's first start? You know, we talked about him avoiding the you know the blow-up start out of the gate Which has happened to him the last couple of years Yeah Really good start from George. He You know kind of it could have been a lot worse. It could have been better. He really struggled in the fifth inning Just lost command and control thankfully Uh, we saw the worst send or the worst base whatever in the history of baseball Did you see that it went viral? It good it showed them Because Reese Hoskins is either the biggest idiot in the history of the world or the guardians third base coaches

22:08Because I'm not too convinced that Randy couldn't have run down Hoskins from shallow left field To throw him out there with you know chased a lotter who's apparently all world on deck with the bases loaded At the time, I believe that was a three three nothing game too. So Um might have been three to one at that point, but Anyway, yeah You know George able to escape unscathed But if he didn't have the the bouts with control issues there then he might have been able to give you a seventh inning You know this early in the year that would have been Incredible, but as it is, you know six innings really strong ball Just again just really the one inning where he wasn't in control But the other five he was just dominating an increased control, which you know kind of a common theme for this weekend Mostly Dominating pitch starting pitching from the Mariners and my plus or minus one or two hitters Here and there, but yeah, George look great fastball look great Saw some knuckle curves out of him It'll be interesting to see like what kind of the primary second area is is the slider is the curve

23:09We know that he's not necessarily shelved the split, but he's going to the change up now instead of the split So yeah, it was really nice return now we should point out with all of these Pictures Cleveland's lineup is not exactly a joke or not right like it It's not the best lineup in the world. It's not super scary, but there's still you know some dudes in it including future Hall of Famer Jose Ramirez MVP candidate And obviously DeLotter was red hot and man Zardo hit what 25 home runs last year and re-Sauskins can hit 20 So there's some power. There's some some dangerous spots, but it's not like an elite lineup or anything It's not like the lineup we're about to see come into town But it's it's fine, but it's not scary or anything like that So we shouldn't you know caveat all these starts with with that simple fact But George looked really good and Cleveland's a team that you know we talked about can be a bit of a good or bad matchup for him Kind of depending on how sharp George is because they can drive up pitch counts And George did a really nice job again just that fifth inning just kind of you know

24:12Mard his his outing just a little bit, but aside from that He was very very good The plan against the scarding's lineup was pretty clear from this mayors pitching staff a lot of four simmers A lot of four simmers from George tons of four simmers from Brian Wu as well on Saturday He threw 59 four simmers only 10 sinkers and that was his or two simmers However, you want to classify it and that was his second most use pitch Usually we see a better mix of four simmers and two simmers from from Brian But this was strictly just here's my four simmer trying hit it and for the most part the guardians didn't Unfortunately, though towards the end of Brian's start, which was going incredibly well You know, he gives up a couple of hits with two outs and the guardians are able to not things up at two a piece and the the game kind of flips on its head from that point forward Stop walking the nine hitter Yeah, why is Brian rocio the only like the only guy the only team that that guy can hit is the saddle mariders Yeah, even last night even last night like Emerson was able to get him out

25:16But I think at least one of the bats like rocio saw like eight pitches or something like that dude cannot hit But for some reason you can't get him out. It is it is insane But hardly a new thing for the Mariners. So I guess he's just the new David Fletcher Martín Maldonado what sure sure Insert Eric Ivar Insert player name here, but yeah anyways. Yeah, we was great. He was cruising and then Just that walk you know that walk to the nine hitter and he was able to get the next couple guys out But just can't give up free passes to bad hitters You know, and that's that's what Brian did and it's unfortunate that it really unraveled on him And then Ramirez got him the Mariners actually did a really nice job handling Jose Ramirez in this series It's just the few times he actually got a hit they were kind of back breaking hit so Just you know, I think he only had two hits this entire series. It's just both of them happen to be massive RBI You know extra bass hit so and then obviously minzardo ties it on like the blooper like Darn like what are you gonna do, but don't walk guys

26:19Just don't walk guys, especially you soft hitting number nine short stops like I don't understand that But whatever Ryan was great again just one inning kind of mart is overall start But still great and he was able to go six as well So again back-to-back guys going six innings Really helped the bullpen a little bit unfortunately Hey, you know Yeah, yeah, it wasn't very good. So yeah But yeah to start also not necessarily put in the best position to succeed, but We'll talk about that in just a minute Danny boy, but yeah anyways Yeah, we was very good and like you said, there's really not much to break down from a start because it was just here's my fastball hit it And it turns out for the most part they couldn't Yeah, which you know, it's hardly new from wew, but yeah, it was it wasn't a 50-50 split with the fastballs like it normally is it was just Forseemers for seemer for seemer Uh, you know, it wasn't even his best for seemer. He's only 95. He wasn't 97 98 like, you know, the can't be so

27:24Uh, yeah, I mean very clearly there was a game plan here to pitch at the top of the zone To this lineup with uh With fastballs whatever the game plan was against a lotter was was not a good one stop there on that dude sliders in the middle of the play, but Other than that. Yeah, Brian was was great And honestly probably had the best start of the weekend until it you know Somebody body snatched Emerson Hancock and replaced him with prime Felix or something. I don't know So Yeah, we've saved the best for last as we've long said here On the lockdown Aaron's podcast Emerson Hancock just needed an opportunity and he would just run with it right Always said that you especially Colby Go read my writings on Emerson Hancock from 2020 when I said he would be like better than Logan Gilbert and better than George Kirby like It's out there, man Like I said those things and I've never wavered So there is a Lot ton pack here from Emerson Hancock start. So he goes six engines

28:27Yeah, yeah, so it's a we'll try and speed it up, but uh Emerson Hancock goes six engines No runs No hits Also very fastball heavy and that was That wasn't necessarily the star of the show though it did lead to most of his strikeouts The sweeper was discussing though last night, but the fastball still eight Even has the velodip so he so he comes out. He's 95 plus And then it goes down to about 94 to 96 in the second inning and then the third inning It's more like 92 93 and that's kind of where he mostly sat and then he was able to pull 94 out of thin air a couple of times for A couple of strikeout pitches as well, which was surprising because again It was like we saw even a couple of 91s later on into the start and then boom all of a sudden 94 would show up when he needed a strikeout So it was a really weird start from the fastball perspective I think really the most underrated element of his start last night though was the the command was awesome

29:30Like he was hitting really all of his spots And it felt like when he missed he wasn't putting the ball in danger I can't think of many high danger pitches of at all Maybe through the command was plus with the four seemer the slider sweeper whatever Yeah Didn't quite have that backdoor Yeah, the back yeah, the backdoor sweeper. Yeah, didn't he missed on a couple of them But but at least when he missed but at least when he missed off the plate right so Yeah, he just didn't he didn't hit the corner. So that's Overall, I mean, listen to this Only this is from Mariners PR last night only two pitch only two pitchers of Mariners history have recorded outings of six plus and ins pitched zero hits and nine plus strikeouts and obviously the nine plus strikeouts for for Emerson Hancock class I heard the nine strikeouts for Emerson Hancock last night um a career high from So it was Hancock last night and the Felix's perfect game. That's it. That's the end of the list None of the balls that were put in play against Hancock left the infield

30:33last night Everything was a strikeout a pop-up or a ground out. We've seen him do this before We've seen him do it in Boston. We've seen him do it against the Padres. He's not against Cleveland a couple of times The strikeouts are new though. We haven't seen nine before and the sweeper is new very new As is the arm angles. So I'm very interested to watch and pitch now like I think these are legitimate changes That could again, it's not just like oh, I added a sweeper and he said that last year. It's like yeah, but it sucked But now he's dropped the arm angle significantly. He's refined the sweeper And he's getting fastball value of the nine strikeouts seven of them came on the fastball yesterday All right, we will talk about some of the other things that we learned that we haven't gotten to just yet over the course of the weekend And just a moment but first reminder this episode of Lockdown Maris podcasts is brought to you by Robinhood One of sports retrated like markets now you can put your sports IQ to work in real time with Robinhood prediction markets It's not you against the house. It's you participating in a live market

31:36You can buy or sell your positions live all game long Use your sports knowledge in the moments that matter Robinhood prediction markets changes the game It's people moving the action. So when momentum shifts you can move with it I always do the game, but never had a dynamic way to apply that knowledge Now I can actually take part live in a market powered by people You're no longer just a spectator play by play you decide Trade every play with Robinhood now available across the US Download the Robinhood app now to begin futures include swaps trading involves significant risks And it's not appropriate for everyone event contracts are offered by Robinhood derivatives LLC a registered futures commission merchant and swap firm And your listening to the Lockdown Maris podcast per the Lockdown podcast and work your team every day As always if you want to hear from me and colby of a moron help support the show We have a patreon. It's called control the zone and on there we talk mirror and see hawks all like it's stuff for more information Go to patreon.com forward slash control the zone link in the description of this episode

32:38So what else do we need to talk about today colby? I mean You kind of can't not talk about Dan Wilson. Unfortunately. I'd love to not talk about him ever But he seems What's the word Determined to make himself the biggest story every time the mariners lose, but You know Let's just say there were several questionable decisions and not all of them were even both unrelated. How about that? So yeah, yeah, yeah so the mayors have lost twice this season as you know And in both of those losses Dan Wilson's bullpen management has been a topic of discussion Yeah, we'll say that now As we said after opening day I wouldn't say that it was the the biggest issue coming out of

33:39Opening day and Saturday's games, but it was certainly did not have certainly did not help We'll put it that way. Yeah, certainly did not help Um So yeah, so there's the the not going to spire thing Which that to me is way more ridiculous than anything that happened on opening day Yeah, okay Yeah Leave him bizarro in to face Stephen Kwan After he's just walked to guys and he's thrown in that one what 22 pitches including losing roquia want to know to count and then throw him for straight balls Right again After this is him throwing 22 pitches after going after pitching on Friday So this is his first back to back of the year and then and then Stephen and then Stephen Kwan splits I posted them right after that that happened. Let me see if I can quickly Bring them up, but like his yeah his splits against lefties and varieties in 2025 So versus lefties in 2025 Stephen Kwan hit 246 302 81 against a right easy hit 284 345 419

34:46And you got Maybe the best Luffy left left left handed reliever and baseball warming up Certainly for left on left at bats. He's one of the the very best. So yeah Yeah And then of course he doesn't go to him and bizarro you know Kwan does what he does. He puts something in place softly And it works out Yeah, it's it's not like It's not like bizarro like really like Biff that in the moment, you know It was the two walks that Kwan Kwan was just able Kwan was just able to find grass in that situation and maybe the same thing, you know, happens against spire The other significantly lower of that. Yeah. Yeah, so So yeah, so that decision sucks You know, they were able to overcome that and send things to extras and then you know the The bullpen Like the bullpen has been

35:47An issue To a degree through the first four games No, I feel like it's getting a little bit overblown because like the the Andreas Munoz Of it all Specifically what happened on Saturday I mean like Donovan air mills that throw in a in the right field and Um, well, not necessarily air mill, but you know, he threw it into right field It would have been better if he did air mill, it was there than that even, but yeah, and then you know Munoz doesn't make a bad pitch. I mean, it's a fastball outside of the strike zone You know on the outside corner of the strike zone and chased a lot or just makes an insane swing You know to put it into aggers. So It's like it's been a little bit of a problem, but also it's all it's been kind of overblown And then you know, there's the Dan of it all and he hasn't really put these guys on the best position to succeed either And so that's been fresh. I would just say like the whole like bullpen Aspect of this club so far through the four first four games. That includes Dan's hand in all of it has been frustrating to say the least

36:51Yeah, just he's not putting his guys in a position where they're most likely to succeed As is always the case whenever you put a your closer in in a tie game There's always the moron who's like, oh, they should never pitch in a tie game Just remember what you're saying by that is when the mariners do not have the lead after the bottom of the eighth inning at home You never use your closer like that's what you're saying when you say never use a closer in a tie game Because that's the only time the closer could pitch. There's no safe. No safe can be had So just to nip that in the bud of the many transgressions of Dan Wilson as bullpen management Going to Munoz in the 10th is not one of them not even remotely close. So that's the correct call Yeah, but you know having like Amina pitching one run games twice now Sounds like they probably would have gone with Vargas if he was healthy in both of those situations Yeah, so we got more so we got more context on that so that kind of diminished my issues with with that my my bigger issue though if you remember on opening day was

37:53Letting spire face Ramirez more so than it was yeah, you know having like Amina and again a situation where you have another guy seemingly warmed up for that particular situation and then you you don't go to on the end Both times they were ready to go Yeah, standing there waiting looking into the field and I get in the call am I not and Then you know trying to squeeze that extra out out of his bullpen This is one of the few things that you know Was really bugging me about Scott's service and then his last year or two as he managed was always trying to get that one extra out out of The guy who was clearly cooked. Yeah, he's not in a couple times. He's not played the match-ups well And of course the whole thing on on Friday or Saturday gets magnified when they do go to gave spire to face a little lefty After the game is essentially over and and he gets him out on three pitches Like yep, of course he did of course and then That's it three pitches gave stun like For a game that you hope is going to actress and by the way and this is to get to my biggest transgression of the week How he handled

38:55brine bliss Was a travesty and just the the lead-off spot in general like I'm fine with him going to Canzone over ref sider in the fourth. Yeah, you're going for the kill shot. Yeah, like that's that's that's fine Like to me that was a no-brainer But to be fair I wouldn't have had a huge problem if they had just left rough sider in but can zone the other can zone there totally makes sense No problem with that, but then but then you go to bliss after Canzone has won at bat after his turn through the order comes back around and the guardians put a lefty in there and look canzone I know historically not good against lofties, but last year was actually pretty good against lofties And at the very least I'm more willing to take that shot on him and keep him in the game for when he eventually might face a righty Maybe his next turn through the order then then for the then for the sake of you know having brine bliss and in the game for his first two at bats since You know his six games or whatever and in triple A right and then yeah, and then a year ago in the majors, right

40:01Like so my issue as a whole like I thought there was an opportunity there with the lofty on the mound in cantillo Start the game for bliss to play on Saturday and I was a little um I just found that curious Because again like I said like if you're going to put You know when when we talked about the opening day roster like if you were going to put Ryan bliss on this roster Given how little he played last year You should probably play him a fair amount like it just it doesn't It feels like a disservice to him and to yourself as a club To bring this guy up and let him essentially waste away on the bench after he hardly played last year when he needs reps Uh, when you have guys like Will Wilson and you know Patrick Wisdom and Connor Joe who you don't care You don't care about yeah, you don't care and so I do wonder and we we did speculate about this when we had that discussion Maybe the mayor is also just don't care about Ryan blissing for

41:04Maybe but it's still a massive disservice to the guy First of all, you should let canzone try and hit against the lefty because you know the odds that he gets another at bat In that game we're very good and you know he's getting another at bat in that game It's probably going to be against Kate Smith So I wanted I wanted to see Ryan bliss play How he wound up playing on Saturday that was not at all what I was talking about No Again the whole thing is just disjointed my biggest problem would go into Ryan bliss Instead of you know Mitch Garber who was your primary dh against lefties last year If you're going to pinch it for canzone do it with Garber A guy who's actually taken major league at bats in the last calendar year A guy who might actually run into one a guy who's probably going to give you a higher quality at bat Then Ryan bliss in his first major league at bat in over a year And to make matters even worse though Is you say you have a short bullpen You've already burned the few leverage guys that you have available that day Then the ninth inning when Cole young hits a double to lead off the inning you ask Ryan bliss

42:09To lay down a sacrifice punt Against one of the best strikeout pitchers in baseball To try and force Cal Raleigh who hasn't touched a baseball yet this year. Oh for seven was seven strikeouts at that point To put the ball in play against Kate Smith. That was your master plan. You were playing for extra innings When your bullpen was you know Entatters apparently and you're still playing for extras instead of playing for the win So not only did you see yourself when you took canzone out of the game Knowing that he was probably going to get another at bat later in the game against the righty more than likely Because it was going to be the eighth or the ninth inning. He was going to get another at bat. He could have won you that game So you're yourself there and then you just decide you're going to give up one of your valuable last three outs By asking Ryan bliss Hey, we don't know. Bliss is good at it. Based on what we saw he's not stabbing at the ball like Did not look comfortable trying to punt at all. Which again, it's also Kate Smith. Yeah

43:12Yeah That's the point though Like it's Kate Smith you're asking Ryan bliss to get a punt down against one of the five best closures in baseball In his second at bat in a calendar year Because you took out your left-handed Hitting platoon guy who actually hit lefties totally fine last year It's three innings before because you didn't want to give him one single at bat against the left-handed pitcher It doesn't make sense. He butchered that thing from the moment he took canzone out of that game If you're going to pinch hit for for canzone against the lefty It should be for Mitch Garber It absolutely should not Ryan bliss Like you very clearly don't trust Ryan bliss because you didn't start him in the game against the lefty Obviously, that's the case. So why are you giving him an at bat against the lefty in high leverage situations Right or Dominic canzone could have gotten three at bats in high leverage situations on Saturday Instead, he got one because Dan Wilson just overmanaged And Stephen's about bullied him into making a poor substitution

44:12And that is a problem and that's not the last time we'll have this problem And on top of all that he doubled down by asking Ryan bliss to punt instead of letting him swing away And that to me is way worse than anything he did with the bullpen because with the bullpen We just don't know Maybe brash wasn't available yesterday or whatever maybe for error wasn't available like we don't know Obviously, we learned that on Thursday. Vargas wasn't even available Because he was hurt With the bunting stuff and the pinch hitting opportunities. We know We know And when you look at those things forget hindsight Ryan bliss gets the bump down. It's still a stupid decision So it's just the same thing over and over and over again He's not getting better at it and Dan Wilson is now managed well over 200 games in the big leagues including 12 playoff games And he's still making the same mistake over and over and over again And that is terrifying for a team that has everything it needs

45:12Maybe some middle relief would be nice, but in theory has everything they need To go to the world series and maybe win it this year your manager is still making rookie mistakes again and again and again And he's still getting bullied by smarter managers To make these stupid decisions late in the game It's a problem So wrapping things up on a on a more positive note JP rejoining the club a couple of days ago And he's set to go out on a rehab assignment soon Into coma. So starting to believe Yeah, it shouldn't be too much longer before we see JP back with the with the club, which is nice And you know Leo Revaus has done a really nice job holding it down in the meantime He's had a lot of competitive, you know, at bats played appearances as we expected from him He drove in the first run of the night last night for the mayors So yeah, been really impressed with Revaus Who just you know continues to come through when the mayors need him to Yep, and I'll throw this in there at the end because we just went in entire episode without talking about him

46:16You know, I'll start a really nice series Who Randy or Rosarina? So there you go So Yeah, we went in an entire offensive segment never mentioned Randy's name. He's like the second best hitter on the team right now So There you go But yeah, mostly overall four games frustrating four games Certainly at times some minor things to kind of be like it didn't love that the bullpen mostly. Yeah, yeah But overall, I think just almost entirely positive for what is Kind of a mediocre result. I think what we saw and how they got there I think should be mostly encouraging for mariner fans and it's all four games So when one last thing I would throw up Cole Welcox made his mariner's debut and he looked good He's got some stuff man. He's got some stuff. That's for sure. All right Well, that's going to do it for a show. Thank you so much for joining us here on the lock-down maris podcast Probably the lock-down podcast that work your team every day once again If you never miss an episode it's time to make it official join the lock-down every day or club and get ad free audio access

47:22To our members only discord and more I'll build for our most aloe fans for Colby Pat node I'm titan gazales to be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at hello underscore maris You can follow me at titan gazales and colby at CPAT 11 the CPAT 11 we're also on blue sky You can follow me at tdg colby at mlb colby in the show at lock-down mariner's you can also find us on Instagram and tick-tock at Lock-down mariner's have yourself a beautiful baseball day. We'll see you next time peace You