It’s been a while

So I’ve been watching the baseball playoffs and there have been some very competitive and interesting games that have been played so far.

For anyone that has watched a lot of games throughout the season, you no doubt have noticed that during the playoffs, the team’s managers have had a short leash with their starters and will use their bullpen relievers as early as the third inning in some cases.

Even Dodgers Pitcher Clayton Kershaw came out of Sunday night’s game before he pitched five complete innings.

Every game is important and no manager wants to get down three or four runs against a tough starter. So the bullpens are being tested early and often which really burdens the relief pitchers.

But the managers are counting on that off day that takes place every two or three days to rest these pitching arms so for them they are willing to take those chances.

Seattle Manager Scott Servais was tested this year because of all of the injuries to the Mariner starters. Too bad the Mariners didn’t make the playoffs again this year because Servais had a lot of experience going to the bullpen early in games hoping those guys and the offense could keep the game close.

Unfortunately too many youthful starters were pitching Major League games a year or two sooner than they were ready to.

There were a few highlights to the season but there were also quite a few forget me moments that made things difficult for the M’s. They worked so hard getting back into the wild card race and then lose games against very winnable teams.

They had plenty of losing streaks but never very many winning streaks of over five games and if you plan to make the playoffs you better win series and go on winning streaks.

There is some good talent on the team but even some of the good hitters that are relied on to knock in runs were on the injured reserve list for 10 days or longer.

You can lose players for a while and when they come back they can help the team as soon as their timing comes back and they can work themselves into good shape.

I can tell you that a team that wins consistently has their best players in the lineup on a daily basis. Teams that have a history of losing typically lose a lot of players throughout the season with injuries or tweaks that keeps a starter on the bench for a couple of days. If a team can win games when injuries happen it usually means that the team has good depth or good pitching or both.

Was it frustrating watching the Mariners this year? Oh, yeah.

They would get an early lead in the game but leave a runner or to on in scoring position when the final out was made. I’m not sure I saw very many if any five run innings this year. There were several two and three run innings but there were also a lot of base running mistakes that stopped rallies in their tracks.

I’m not sure who is to blame for those miscues besides the runners but those kinds of things shouldn’t happen at the big league level.

Mariners fans can only hope that these youngsters can figure it out before the start of spring training in Peoria, Arizona next February. It all starts with the knowledge of the other team’s defenders. Did the outfielder get to the baseball; does he have a strong throwing arm; is he going to hit the cutoff man or is the ball going to third base or home plate?

We’ve all seen rookie mistakes but we’ve seen a lot miscues from seasoned veterans in game 120 out of a 162 game schedule. Even though these high paid athletes are professionals they are also human and I’m sure they think they can make it to the next base before the ball arrives.

On more than one occasion I have changed channels because watching the game was frustrating. I have that option. What if you are a coach or manager or even an announcer? I guess that’s why they pay these guys big money to sit through a three-hour boondoggle and try to make it interesting.

It’s been a long while since the Seattle Mariners have made the playoffs but hopefully the streak will soon come to an end. If the starting pitching comes back to something close to what it was supposed to be and they can stay healthy who knows?

Maybe the Mariners are destined for the playoffs sooner than later. I hope it is sooner. I’m not getting any younger!