I'll be honest. I woke up on Wednesday still in awe of what we saw from the Seattle Mariners in Tuesday night's 2-1 loss against the Chicago White Sox at T-Mobile Park.

The pitching plan and execution were questionable, at best, and broke down as the Mariners surrendered two runs in the top of the ninth inning to lose the game. The offense was paltry, as the M's mustered just one run on one hit, failing to break the game open against subpar starter Anthony Kay, who gave them all kinds of chances to do so in the first two innings.

Frankly, the loss was embarrassing for a Mariners team with serious playoff aspirations, and it was so on multiple levels.

After I write this, I'm ready to move on and cleanse myself from this game, so let's dive in.

Hypocrisy is the quality I despise most in people, so I try to not be one. I will be up front and tell you that I liked the idea of piggybacking Luis Castillo and Bryce Miller - initially.

I thought it was fair to want to keep both pitchers stretched out for a bit longer in case a rotation member got injured. I thought it was fair to Castillo's resume of accomplishments - and his status in the clubhouse - to not just outright demote him to the bullpen.

I was on board with the piggyback, at least in a traditional sense, but the problem was that we didn't get the piggyback in the traditional sense.

I was under the impression all along that whoever started the game would throw four or five innings and be promptly removed for the other, no matter how they were doing.

In this case, I thought Bryce Miller would throw four or five innings, be taken out, leaving Luis Castillo for three or four innings and leaving the ninth inning open for Andres Munoz, should he be necessary as the team's closer. If he wasn't necessary, for whatever reason, then Castillo could get additional work in and raise his pitch count further.

Of course, Miller was allowed to throw into the sixth inning before being removed, with Jose Ferrer finishing the frame. Castillo threw innings seven and eight, starting the ninth before giving up two base runners and getting a strikeout. He threw more than 50 pitches, so the idea of keeping him stretched out largely checked out.

But the problem for the Mariners is the inconsistent messaging in how the gameplan was executed. I put the following out on "X."

I've landed here on last night, and I'm moving on from it:

A) If it were a TRUE piggyback. Then Bryce Miller should have thrown 4 or 5 and then just been done. Regardless of how he was doing. No-hitter or not. Take him out no matter what. Then bring Castillo in for the next 3 or 4. Leave yourself the ninth.

THAT is a true piggyback. By letting Bryce Miller start the game and pitch deep, you’ve left yourself open to “we’re watching the game and seeing what’s unfolding, and that’s most important,” and if you’re doing THAT, then Munoz should have started the 9th.

I still believe it was an organizational plan to get Luis Castillo his work in, and under plan A, he would have gotten that, without needing to start the ninth.

Get a win today.

The last part is key. I do feel like it was an organizational directive to get Castillo a substantial workload. Under my initial thoughts, he would have gotten that, while not needing to throw in the ninth inning of a 1-run game. Of course, the Mariners could have lost the game with Castillo throwing in the middle innings, which would have been tough too, but it was extra tough to see him lose it in the ninth with Munoz just throwing in the bullpen.

Was the organizational directive to "let Miller go as long as he was rolling, but then also get Castillo in for substantial time?" Or did Wilson buck the initial plan, which could have looked like I initially thought, and then keep a semblance of it by trying to backfill Castillo's workload?

We'll likely never know, but no matter what, it didn't work, and the Mariners are back to four games under .500 as a result.

They'll play the White Sox again on Wednesday at 1:10 p.m. PT.

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