Mariners make valiant last stand, fall to Rockies anyway 9-10

someday we will return to liberate Salt River Fields

Like every other Zoomer with an internet connection, for the past couple weeks I’ve been obsessed with the new video game Helldivers 2. Spiritual successor to Starship Troopers (the film, not the book), the game puts players in the shoes of a soldier of an authoritarian regime called “Super Earth,” which farms aliens for oil and uses sentient robots for forced labor.

The game was initially too popular on release, and so many people wanted to play that the game’s servers filled up and many people were left staring at a menu waiting to get in.

Now that the server problems are fixed, the game itself is great fun. I know that the particular satire of the game may not be to everyone’s taste, but I enjoy teaming up with my friends to play as an expendable soldier and work together to overcome incredible odds. The frequent failures make the victories that much sweeter.

[ULTRA SMOOTH SEGUE]

And working together and being expendable is exactly what spring training is all about. Knowing that you only have a couple PAs or just an inning or two per game means that, for players on the fringe, every game is a can’t-miss opportunity to impress and overcome odds to make it to the major league roster. If not at the start of the season, then at least to show enough flash to make it there by September.

For Bryan Woo, this spring, and the first month of the regular season, is an opportunity to prove he deserves to be the fifth starter. Last year’s struggles may have been unlucky for him (ERA 80 points higher than xERA), but he is still probably the first pitcher that would be replaced should someone like Emerson Hancock start setting the world on fire.

Unfortunately, his showing today was shaky. He struggled to induce a swing-and-miss, only getting 3 whiffs on his 40 pitches. His first inning was particularly rough, as across 22 pitches he gave up 5 hits, including a 116mph double(!), and allowed 3 runs to cross. Jarod Bayless was brought in to finish the 1st and just barely avoided a grand slam.

Woo was able to return to the game in the second, and his struggles continued as he gave up a monster home run to lefty Ryan McMahon. Lefties have been Woo’s bugbear, and he’s going to have to find a way to put an end to that narrative. Unless he wants the managed democratic government of Super Earth to send him to a freedom camp.

Offensively, the Mariners managed to turn things around on the Rockies in the 3rd inning. Taylor Trammell, speed demon that he is, sprinted his way into the Rockies’ outpost by following up an infield single by stealing second and making it to third on a wild pitch. He scored the Mariners’ first run as Nick Solak sent a baseball right back where it came from at 100 mph. Colorado pitcher John Curtiss managed to get a glove on it, but it just deflected, allowing Solak to reach first and Taylor to score. RBI singles by Jorge Polanco and Ty France brought Seattle within one until Josh Rojas stepped to the plate. And like a helldiver calling in a strafing run, he did damage.

But, in the fourth, like the Automatons calling in reinforcements, the Rockies answered back with a sac fly off of Jhonathan Diaz, who looked shaky in his second inning of work.

The fifth inning is when, like the “elite” but expendable helldivers, the starting Mariners began to be replaced. But their replacements put a quick stop to what could have been a big inning for the Rockies. The standouts were Harry Ford and Jonatan Clase.

The pair of them combined to make all three outs in the inning, but it wasn’t quite enough as the Rockies broke the tie off a Bradley Zimmer solo shot that went sailing over the head of Kaden Polcovich.

Josh Rojas led off the next inning, knowing that his time in the game was about to come to an end. Like a desperate Super Earth soldier, after a long 11 pitch battle he followed up his earlier strafing run with an airstrike.

That 500kg bomb tied up the game, and kept the Rockies and Mariners trading blow for blow. But sketchy innings from Ty Buttrey in the 6th, Holden laws in the 7th, and Raúl Alcantara in the 8th brought the Rockies up to 10 runs, the second time this spring the Mariners have given up 10, and the 5th time they’ve given up at least 8. This was game 7. Spring training and all that, but these are still usually high scoring games compared to other teams. I’m not raising the alarm here or anything. Just noting.

The M’s did manage to make the game seem close, first by Matt Scheffler scoring on a wild pitch in the 8th, and then by Matt skonking a baseball over the fence in the ninth. Not a bad showing at all for an NRI.

Alas, it wasn’t quite enough, with Cole Tucker hitting a ball 101 mph, but right to the right fielder, ending the game. Like helldivers dying while waiting for the extraction shuttle, it was close. But not close enough.

Today, I was most impressed by Josh Rojas. In his 40 in 40, I wrote that he is starting to look like a left-handed recreation of Eugenio Suarez. The Seattle hitting staff has transformed him into a new hitter, getting him to pull the ball in the air instead of spray it around the field. That trend seems to have continued into the spring, with both his hits being pulled, and the Mariners are all the better for it. Should Rojas continue to stay hot, he may become my new beloved.

So the Mariners lost today. But don’t be too disheartened. Many future M’s showed promise, both at the plate and in the field. And besides, like I said at the start: failure makes the victories sweeter.