Seattle Mariners Swept At Home On Felix Day, Nothing Is Sacred

Happy Felix Day! Was that your first thought upon waking up? It was my first thought upon waking up. The Seattle Mariners played at home today with Felix Hernandez on the mound, looking to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Arizona Diamondbacks. That… didn’t happen. In fact, it turned out to be as rotten of a Felix Day as we’d ever hope to suffer through.

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Four runs in the first. One more in the fourth, and two in the seventh. Twelve hits and a walk allowed. Two home runs – both off the bat of Welington Castillo, all while Jesus Sucre and Mark Trumbo combined to reach base once. Hey, at least that hit was a double by Sucre! That was one of the best moments of the game, which says it all.

Felix pitched quite poorly despite seven strikeouts, having trouble keeping the ball on (or near) the ground. He was smacked around – no other way to say it, really. And he wore the frustration all day. You could see it on his face or in his body language between pitches. He stunk, and he knew it. And nobody was less okay with it than King Felix himself.

The Diamondbacks are a crappy team having a fine season, whereas the Mariners are a *fine* team having a crappy season. These things happen. But if the Mariners had swept this series instead of, you know, being swept, they’d be less than five games out of the wild card game. They say they’re all important games during baseball season, and while that’s true, consider the magnitude and timing of this series.

Teams are trading right now, and the difference between buyers and sellers is really coming down to individual game results. There’s a lot going on in the baseball world, as teams are hurrying to identify their path. Doesn’t apply to the Mariners – they’re just sitting still, losing and losing and losing while refusing to make moves for the present or future.

Maybe they really think the best idea is to stand pat and let the rest of the season play out. For all I care that’s the right idea – does anyone want Jack Zduriencik making important decisions ever again? Hardly related to the sweep, but there’s this:

So you’ve got someone willing to trade you potentially useful pieces who aren’t far off from the majors. In exchange for a guy who will never be of any use to the Mariners because they destroyed him. And he said no. Cool.

The Mariners were swept by a bad team. The Mariners ARE a bad team, and the rejected Ackley-to-Yankees trade proposal is just another reminder that the Mariners didn’t have to be this way. They could have fired the front office at any point over these last few years. They’re sitting in their own waste right now. Gonna be a really un-fun trade deadline, you guys.