Streaking M's

The Mariners are good. Somehow, someway they are good.

Six games over .500 after winning three out of four games, the M’s head to Detroit to play three games and they don’t face Justin Verlander or Edwin Jackson. Awesome.

Seattle won six out of the last eight games and sits only four games out of first place. The success is thanks to a few key players.

Felix Hernandez

10-3 with a 2.51 ERA (2^nd in the ERA) and 129 strikeouts (4^th in AL). His ten wins are

2^nd in the AL and over his past ten starts he is 6-0 with a 1.30 ERA. He is Cy Young worthy.

Jarrod Washburn

What happened here? He is 7-6 with a 2.87 ERA (5^th in the AL). His win-loss record is a reflection of run support rather than anything else. He has won three straight starts. Washburn has gone at least six innings in 16 out of 18 starts this year. That is insane. His July ERA is 1.82 in four starts.

Franklin Gutierrez

All of a sudden the best player ever (in my opinion) is the best player ever. Gutierrez is hitting .295 with 12 homers and 42 RBI. His OPS is .815 and his on base percentage is .355. Compare with the immortal Adam Jones (an All-Star by the way) who is hitting .305 with 13 homers and 50 RBI. His OPS is .841 and on base percentage is .359. Damn it we could have both of them. No! I won’t talk about that.

Frankie G is on fire right now. He hit .304 in June with four homers and 9 RBI. He is hitting .375 in July with 5 homers and 14 RBI. Not to mention his UZR of 14.3 which is #1 in the major leagues, meaning he is the best fielder in all of baseball.

Rob Johnson

I know, what? After Kenji Johjima essentially cemented himself on the bench with the mix of horrible pitch calling and passed balls, Rob Johnson earned himself some playing time again. Pitchers love him. And now everyone should. He is hitting .303 in July with six RBI. This is huge considering the lack of production from the line up in general, but specifically the bottom of the order.

Will this continue? For all four of these guys….probably not. Felix can do it and will win the Cy Young if he does. The other three seem unlikely. But who would have believed the M’s would be six games over at this point?

Enjoy it. Don’t debate if they can keep it up, just enjoy it.