The Seattle Mariners are in a familiar position. They aren’t hitting.
Haven’t we seen this movie before? As tweeted by Greg Johns of MLB.com:
#Mariners shutout for second straight night in Texas, this one 5-0. Maurer pitched well (2H, 2R in 6 2/3), but no offensive help.
— Greg Johns (@GregJohnsMLB) April 21, 2013
No offensive help. Shall we all utter an audible sigh?
When are the Mariners going to start hitting on a regular basis? The team is ranked 29th in the league with a .220 team average. Unfortunately, this is a familiar statistical position.
The Mariners have been here before.
Michael Morse started out so hot. So did Franklin Gutierrez. Morse has cooled off and is now hitting .230 for the season. Gutierrez is starting to struggle with injuries—again.
Audible sigh.
There are also the hitters that are really struggling:
Brendan Ryan: .152
Dustin Ackley: .153
Justin Smoak: .200
Jesus Montero: .217
The young core of hitters that was supposed to be the future of the Mariners is not necessarily coming together in 2013. Seattle is second in the league in one category: strikeouts.
Not exactly what the fans were hoping for this year.
Two straight games without a run. Only five runs in five games.
The Mariners have now scored the fewest runs in the American League West (58) and they are tied for the fewest in the American League with the Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox.
Only three teams in the National League has scored fewer runs than the Mariners. Not good.
The season is still very young, and the Mariners have not fallen too far behind in the division. However, this season could get away quickly if the M’s are unable to start swinging the bats.
As tweeted succinctly by Geoff Baker of The Seattle Times:
“Hey, dude, is it just me, or is this season starting to blow?” #Smoakamotive #Mariners twitter.com/gbakermariners…
— Geoff Baker (@gbakermariners) April 21, 2013
Indeed. Time to start hitting.
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