Dr. Strange Runs (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love The Mariners' Offense)

Well, wasn't this an odd series for the Mariners... but what does it mean?

The Mariners outscored the best offense in baseball 33 runs to 15 and won the series 2-1. Now, I knew the M's were bound to score runs at some point, but I doubt anyone expected to see something like this out of this team. I mean, have you seen this lineup? Seriously, look at this lineup, this a miracle.



Does this mean that the M's have turned into a run scoring juggernaut overnight? Was there some sort of Hulk infused water in Texas that gave this offense super strength?

Now, now, let's be real M's fans about this and temper our expectations a bit. This offense is still not great by any means. However, this series does show that this team can take advantage of poor pitching, defensive errors, and lucky breaks, which is what major league players are expected to do.

Derek Holland had pretty much no control last night, so the Mariners could simply sit on the pitch they wanted. When they got their pitch, the M's hit Holland hard to the tune of 36.4% of Batted Balls being Line Drives and 45.5% of Batted Balls being Fly Balls (40.0%, if you include Home Runs).

With Holland struggling to get throught 2nd inning, the Rangers then hurriedly trotted out Yoshinori Tateyama who fair even worse. He generated only one swinging strike and took 44 pitches to get only two outs. He got one out escape the second, then struggled mightily in the third giving up 6 earned runs (two others were a result of an error that kicked off the M's rally).

So, why haven't the M's done something like this sooner?

Simply put, the M's aren't a great team offensively right now (but hopefully they will improve as the young players get more experience). Although with this series under their belts, their stats are going to look a hell of a lot more like a great team.

Wouldn't they be much more entertaining if they always did this?

Yes, yes they would. If you remember back (way back) to years like 2001 and the last few months of 1995, the Mariners performed a lot more like they did in this past series and were really fun to watch. Hell in '95 their tagline was "You Gotta Love These Guys!" See, you couldn't not love the Mariners that year.

One important takeaway from this series is a lesson in randomness in baseball. Any team can beat any other team in baseball on any given day. This is what makes baseball great. Any given day, the Mariners can bust out for 21 runs or a pitcher can throw a perfect game. This is what keeps us watching teams like the Mariners even when they struggle; there is a renewed sense of hope with every new game.

So, take a few moments today on this off day and revel in the Mariners' recent success. Let loose the reigns of cynicism and pessimism and watch some highlights from the last two games. Baseball is poetry in motion when it is played well and the Mariners' just penned some great prose this series.