The Mariners seem to have come out of their slide, going 4/3 this weeks (4/2 when you take out Monday’s loss to Pedro, which I had accounted for when I did my last report). I think that sweeping the Orioles was a big thing for the boys to do, especially since we didn’t start playing well again until the bottom of the 9th inning in Friday’s game. We will face the Devil Rays and Orioles again this week, but this time we’ll be on the road. I still think we can win the division. The A’s can’t stay this hot (they’ve won 9 in a row, but I’m not expecting another 20-gamer like they had last year), and losing Mark Mulder will catch up to them sooner or later. They’re using John Halama in the open rotation spot, and I hope that Halama will do for the A’s what he usually did for the Mariners. If so, we’ll be in luck. The offense has been the biggest problem. Ichiro and Bret Boone are batting a combined .256 in the last 30 days. We cannot win without production from those two guys. In addition, the AL MVP race is wide open and both would be contenders if they can put together strong Septembers.
Mariner of the Week: This one is not really that hard. Jamie Moyer won both of his starts this week. He temporarily stopped the bleeding against the Devil Rays and then threw 7+ shutout innings against the Orioles. Moyer now has 17 wins and could tie or pass his career high of 20 set in 2001. I’m almost certain he’d be the oldest guy to win 20 games in a season. If the rotation goes normally, he’ll get five more starts. However, by following the rotation normally, he’d be scheduled to start the last game of the season against Oakland. In that case he’d be in a tough spot to turn around and start a playoff series. As a result, I expect they’ll skip him at some point so that he would be available for a game 1 or game 2 in the playoffs. Unless, of course, the final game of the season is meaningful for our postseason hopes. Anyway, it’s all very complicated and there are obviously a lot of variables that could change things. I really want him to win 20 this year, but it’s not a lock. Moyer’s stats for the week: 2-0, 14.2 innings, 3 earned runs (1.84), and 10 strikeouts.