The Seattle Mariners were pummeled 22-0 by the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night, marking the worst loss in franchise history.

It was an embarrassing final score for a team that is still on the fringes of a playoff race, and it's one that had the Mariners' social media sphere talking afterwards about the need for wholesale changes.

After a night to sleep on it, let's break down some of what happened, and where criticism is fair - and foul.

By the way, these are not in order of importance, they are just observations and talking points.

When playing the best team in baseball, you have to be able to take advantages of all chances that you get. The Mariners had a chance in the top of the first inning, but weren't able to capitalize.

Brendan Donovan led off the game with a double, but was stranded at third base after a Randy Arozarena strikeout, a Dominic Canzone ground out and a Julio Rodriguez strikeout. Both Arozarena and Rodriguez struck out looking.

The Mariners offense was better through three games in Houston, but the failure to produce here, with the middle of the order up, was disappointing.

Do the Mariners win if they take a 1-0 lead? Maybe not, but they don't get beat 22-0 either.

The ABS system is new to everyone, and some people are clearly more comfortable with it than others. Rodriguez took a 3-1 pitch in the first inning that was clearly ball four, but it was called a strike, and led to his strikeout.

Of course, things are easier to decode on television than they are in real time, but Rodriguez has challenged only four pitches this entire season, according to Baseball Savant. So far, 290 players have challenged more pitches than Rodriguez.

By the way, really good players like Brice Turang and Jackson Merrill have also challenged only four times, so it's not the end of the world if you don't challenge, but it certainly would help Rodriguez to be a little more aggressive on that front.

The Mariners made multiple mistakes in the bottom of the first inning to fall behind 1-0. Bryce Miller hung too many splitters and gave up too much hard contact.

Victor Robles seemed to play a single into a double by either falling, or unnecessarily sliding, to get to a ball in right field, and then Cal Raleigh was unable to hold onto a tag play at home plate.

Of course, it looked like Raleigh had the ball intentionally knocked from his glove, and that's a play that should be reviewable.

It wasn't, and it set the Mariners off down a poor path right from the start.

Trailing 1-0, the Mariners had runners at first and second with two outs in the top of the fifth. Victor Robles had walked and Brock Rodden had singled. Donovan was up, coming off a 4-for-14 weekend (and his first inning double), and the M's elected a double steal.

Rodden was thrown out at second and the threat was over.

Considering it was a double steal, it's highly unlikely anyone went on their own. Was this the call of Dan Wilson? Was this the call of the third base coach? Either way, there's being aggressive, and being reckless, and this seemed to fall into the latter category.

It was a head-scratching move at the time, when the game was still well within reach.

In the top of the fifth inning, Miller got the first out before allowing a single and a walk. Eventually, David Hamilton and Turang stole second and third base, putting runners there with just one out. Jackson Chourio hit a single to make it 2-0 Milwaukee with still one out. Jake Bauers then walked and William Contreras hit a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0.

With two on and two out, Wilson elected to stay with Miller to face Christian Yelich, who hit a three-run homer to make it 6-0.

Admittedly, I went back-and-forth on social media with some M's fans about this decision, initially defending the decision to stay with Miller rather than go to lefty Josh Simpson.

However, I missed the part where Jose Ferrer was also up and throwing. If Ferrer was throwing, and ready, then he could have come in for Yelich, hopefully retired him, kept the game close, and then still been ready for Wednesday.

When I thought it was just a Miller vs. Simpson decision, it was easy for me to stick with Miller. That's on me.

We know that Wilson has confidence in his guys, we know that the shorthanded bullpen likely wants to be protected for the next day, but if Ferrer was already up, bringing him in makes sense.

Wilson's bullpen management continues to be questioned, and this was another case of it.

Trailing by a million in the bottom of the eighth, Rodriguez threw the ball into the crowd in centerfield on out No. 2 instead of No. 3. It was an embarrassing moment that had social media buzzing about "lack of accountability" and Dan Wilson's "bad culture that tolerates mediocrity."

I will push back on that:

1) Rodriguez has played 108 games in center field this year and has never once forgotten how many outs there were. Even if you think Wilson is a bad manager with a bad clubhouse, Rodriguez has always overcome it in this regard. This isn't Wilson's fault. This is Rodriguez's fault. It's a poor mistake, but it's his alone. 

And it does happen. It happens to good teams too. Just this season, Cleveland Guardians outfielder Cooper Ingle forgot how many outs there were. Steven Vogt is regarded as a good manager. Players do make mistakes. Not every single thing is Dan Wilson's fault.

Rodriguez made a mistake. I trust it won't happen again.

By the way: In the NFL, the offensive coordinator has a headset in the quarterbacks helmet that reminds him of "down, distance and timeouts." That doesn't happen in baseball. The manager isn't required to tell his team how many outs there are.

2) The bigger question seems to be about the M's and the "little things," that have eluded them most of the season. I wrote about those "little things," just last week. I know they are being coached, and I know they are being preached, so why are they not being done? Is it the players themselves? Is it the messaging from coaching or staff? Something else?

It's fair to wonder about any or all of those things, because it's been a consistent issue.

The Houston Astros lost on Tuesday, so the Mariners didn't drop a game at all in the American League West standings. They are still 4.0 games back, same as they were before.

Losing 22-0 or 1-0 doesn't matter, a loss is a loss, and the Mariners have a chance to come out on Wednesday and get a win.

They just showed us in Houston that they can rebound from a bad loss and succeed. Can they dig deep enough to do it again?

We'll find out.

And by the way, if you're saying this 22-0 loss is indicative that the Mariners have "quit," then I just simply present to you the evidence from this past weekend. They had fight and grit two days ago, but they've quit today? I don't buy it.