June 25, 2011: Mariners 2, Marlins 4 (38-39)

Through 76 games, the 2011 Seattle Mariners did not have a good offense. Today, nothing changed. Surprising nobody, the Mariners hit poorly and scored two runs in an unexceptional performance. The offense was bad, and it was bad in a way that most everyone was already fully aware that it was capable of. Still, though, there’s reason to hope. Progress is being made. Prior to the game, the Mariners had scored 265 runs on the year. Afterwards, that total went up to 267. It’s a refreshingly positive trend, and I expect that number to keep increasing as the season continues.

Through 80 career starts, Jason Vargas was a mediocre pitcher. Today, in his 81st career start, nothing changed. Vargas was mediocre, pitching in such a way that no one could possibly hope to glean any new information from his performance. Unfortunately, mediocrity wasn’t good enough. The four runs that the opposing team scored while Vargas pitched turned out to be more than the two runs that Vargas’ eight teammates scored, leaving Vargas solely responsible for the loss. He’s gonna have a long, hard night ahead to think about what he did, and also what some other people who aren’t him did.

The loss puts the team’s record below .500, but they’ll get a chance to fix that, as another game will be played on Sunday night. If they win, they could advance their season total to 39 wins, but if they lose they’ll be stuck at only 38. It’s all or nothing, at least until Monday, and you can be sure that this time the Mariners will try just about as hard as they usually do.