Dynasties and developmental curves: Mariners defeat upstart A’s, 8-1

Mariners break out the bats, break down A’s pitching, cruise to 8-1 win

In 1991, with the high-stakes drama of the 1986 NLCS well behind them and franchise stars like Nolan Ryan moved on, the Houston Astros were mired in mediocrity and entering a rebuilding phase. They were buoyed by the emergence of a rookie they’d acquired in a trade deadline deal with the Red Sox, moving pitcher Larry Anderson for a first base prospect named Jeff Bagwell, who would go on to win NL ROY. Right and left field were manned by a pair of 22- and 23-year-olds, respectively, in Karl Rhodes and Luis Gonzalez, with 26-year-old Steve Finley sandwiched between them. Behind the dish was the veteran of the group, 25-year-old Craig Biggio, who had just earned the everyday starting job. Another young prospect, catcher Scott Servais, was promoted to back up Biggio behind the dish.

That 1991 Astros team didn’t do particularly well, finishing 32 games under .500, but by 1992 had worked their way up to a .500 finish; by 1999 they had finished first or second in the division in each of the previous six years.

It feels a little like that description could apply to the Seattle Mariners: a team of young up-and-comers, including a Rookie of the Year igniting the offense and a stalwart young catcher producing on both sides of the plate. But if you squint some, it could also apply to the surprising 2024 A’s, propped up by young slugger Brett Rooker and good-hitter-for-a-catcher Shea Langeliers, along with resurgent on-base threat (and ex-Mariner) Abraham Toro and a pair of two of the brightest young relievers in the game in Lucas Erceg and the dominant Mason Miller. The surprising A’s have been off to a solid, if somewhat 1991 Astros-era start, sitting comfortably at third place in the AL West over the surprising (derogatory) Astros and perpetually-doomed Angels.

Tonight, the Mariners demonstrated they are a bit further along in their developmental curve, pounding the A’s for eight gorgeous runs in front of 39,743 fans packed in to celebrate Cal Raleigh’s Dump Yard and Funko Pop night (shout out to those of you Dumpers wearing full safety gear, hard helmets, fluorescent vests, etc. There was some real day-to-night glamor on display).

The keystone of this Mariners’ rebuild has been their pitching, and Bryan Woo demonstrated what he brings to that group in his first start this season after being on the IL with right elbow inflammation. Woo went 4.1 innings, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out three before being lifted with arm tightness.

Woo leaned heavily on his four-seam/sinker combo, as one would expect, but he also showcased some growth in his secondary offerings. He threw nine changeups and got two called strikes (one for a strikeout) and three swings on the pitch, with two going for easy groundouts—and both to lefties, which is even more encouraging, although Woo said he visualizes the pitch as being a weapon he can use to both righties and lefties to generate more ground ball outs. “It’s a pitch that I’ve kind of wanted to throw more. I’ve liked where the action and the command has been at lately, especially like this spring and coming into this year.”

He also threw his slider and sweeper, with the regular slider having more success than the sweeper; probably the most important slider he threw all night was the 13th pitch of an at-bat against Seth Brown in the first when he finally retired the righty looking. After that lengthy first inning, where Brown alone accounted for half of Woo’s 26 pitches, he seemed to be zipping along until hitting that snag in the fifth inning after retiring Soderstrom on a soft pop out to Luis Urías. Gameday has the two pitches of that at-bat labeled as sliders, but they were actually fastballs clocking in around 88 mph, which is what prompted the immediate response/concern from Cal Raleigh and the training staff. Postgame, Servais said Woo tightened up during the long bottom of the fourth, something that was especially challenging rhythm-wise with it being his first outing of the season. Woo admitted to being a little amped up to be back in front of the T-Mobile crowd—a large one tonight—and said although he was lobbying to stay in, he recognizes it’s a marathon not a sprint, and there was no need to push past any discomfort. Both he and Servais say he’s on track to make his next start.

Meanwhile, the Mariners offense got to work on old friend Paul Blackburn, going down quietly—albeit with some long counts—the first time through the order, but coming to life in the fourth. Finally the Mariners were able to make a three-ball count turn into something, with Mitch Haniger and Cal Raleigh opening the inning with back-to-back walks. A Mitch Garver strikeout briefly raised the specter of a NOBLETIGER, but that kitty was promptly defanged when Luke La Nuke Raley slingshotted a fastball that missed clearing the wall by inches. Ty France, who has read all your tweets, followed with a double of his own to make it 3-0, and then Dylan Moore got his manicured mitts on a slider that he yanked just to the left of Edgar’s Cantina but just to the right of the on-theme City Connect Yellow foul pole for a 5-0 lead.

The Mariners kept the pressure on in the fifth, with Haniger and Raleigh teaming up again for back-to-back singles; Garver then walked to load the bases. This time the NOBLETIGER roared up more threateningly, when Raley grounded out and France got punched out on a perfect pitch, but once again, it was DMo to the rescue:

But wait! There’s Mo DMo, as he also singled in the seventh, scoring Raley, who had walked, to make it 8-0. That’s a career-high five RBI for DMo and also a very strong argument that, J.P. or no J.P., Moore deserves an everyday spot in this lineup. Modestly, postgame DMo didn’t credit his success this season to increased playing time, but talked about how he feels like he’s taken what he’s learned emotionally and on the field and put that into being a more complete player over his six years here. When did DMo get six years here? Also, what a testament to his versatility and utility that he’s found a way to stay off Jerry Dipoto’s Carousel of Trades for six seasons.

Also, I can’t find a place to put this, but Josh Rojas had two hits tonight. They wound up not doing much, because Julio after him struck out three times, but it felt like they deserved note. He also stole a base and made a superb defensive play at second.

Pregame Servais said “I’m going to play Rojas at every position”; he said he was joking but ... maybe not.

This recap also can’t be complete without giving many flowers to the bullpen, who covered excellently for Woo. The first bouquet goes to Trent Thornton, who was pressed into duty when Woo was lifted and worked around a little trouble (with the aforementioned help from Rojas) to post 1.1 scoreless innings. Kirby Snead, the 1,000th Mariner, followed with 1.1 scoreless of his own, including three strikeouts against his former team, which must hae felt nice. Cody Bolton worked around a walk for a scoreless inning of his own and Austin Voth, in mop-up duty in the ninth, gave up the lone run to Oakland but capped the damage there, although not without a couple of wobbles.

Pregame, ruminating on his time with the upstart Astros team, Servais said it was enjoyable because the team just let all the young players play, and everyone learned an incredible amount just from trying things out at the big-league level with other guys in the same boat night after night.

“It can be fun because there are no expectations, you just go out and play, but you’re learning a ton because you’re getting the opportunity to play at the major-league level. And you do ride the roller coaster a little bit more when you’re a young player...you know, if you’re going bad, it’s like, how much rope are they gonna give me? But if you’re going good, it’s like, I want a five year contract. So I have been part of that.”

“It can be a lot of fun, but I have to be honest, I like the expectations better than the non-expectations. The expectation that you should get to the playoffs with the team you have, and that’s where we’re at.”

A mid-90s Astros dynasty is a lot to expect. But while the A’s are the charming ingenue upstarts of the AL West, the Mariners have, theoretically, positioned themselves to be a team of expectations. Now they just have to keep delivering.