The Mariners were beaten 10-7 on a walk-off home run in the 10th inning on Friday night, leaving themselves in a real predicament heading into Saturday's Game 2.
About a decade ago, I got really into sports psychology and it really changed my whole way of thinking about sports - and about life.
One of the things that I realized through that time was that there's never "good or bad," in a game. There's always "good and bad." There's always something to look positively at.
The Seattle Mariners had a lot of good on Friday night. They came into a must-win game against their division rivals and immediately took a 2-0 lead. When they gave that lead up, they battled back to tie it at 5-5 in the eighth inning.
They got big performances from unlikely sources like Victor Robles, who had two huge RBIs, including one in the 10th inning. And Brock Rodden, who had two RBIs in his major league debut. Eduard Bazardo threw two magnificent innings in relief and Gabe Speier bounced back from a rough last outing to throw a brilliant one too.
The problem? It wasn't enough, as the M's suffered one of their most devastating losses of the season. Andres Munoz, who has been awesome for more than two months, surrendered the 10th inning lead because of a single to Isaac Paredes, two more ridiculous hits by Jose Altuve and Daulton Varsho, and a walk-off three run homer from Christian Walker. The Mariners lost 10-7.
Seattle Mariners pitcher Andrés Muñoz (75) gets a pitchers mound visit with Houston Astros shortstop Nick Allen (20) on third base in the tenth inning at Daikin Park. Thomas Shea-Imagn ImagesWhile Munoz fell victim to the BABIP Gods in the Altuve and Varsho at-bats, it doesn't really matter. The end result is one of the toughest losses of the season. The Mariners are back to nine games under .500 at 57-66, they are now six games back of the Astros in the division, and their playoff odds cratered to less than 25 percent.
The season is on life support, and if the M's want any chance to stay in the division race, it feels like the next two games in Houston are must-wins.
The problem? The M's are up against a wall in those two games. Why?
Well, Dan Wilson fired just about every arrow he could in the bullpen the last two days, and he's going to be left woefully thin on Saturday.
Eduard Bazardo threw a long inning in Thursday's 1-0 win against the Yankees, and then delivered two more on Friday. Is he available? And if he actually is, would he be effective after that?
Munoz threw an inning on Thursday, and then threw again in the ill-fated 10th inning on Friday. Same question for him.
That means that Wilson is left with starter Emerson Hancock, Gabe Speier, Jose Ferrer and Seranthony Dominguez as his trustworthy and mostly-rested arms. The wild card is that maybe Carlos Vargas will be with the team by Saturday, but that's unclear at this time. Is that enough?
We're about to find out. The season depends on it.
First pitch is 4:10 p.m. PT.
Of note
The newest edition of the 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast is out, featuring former Mariners broadcaster Dave Sims! You can listen here, you can watch in the YouTube player below.
