THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Blame M's recent woes on bullpen, injuries

Is the Mariners’ playoff quest gone for another year?

Dead and buried before June 1?

Well, if you like your glass half full, there are 117 games left to play in the 2022 season.

If you see the glass half empty, hey, Seattle somehow occupies last place in the pretty ordinary American League West, possessing an unsightly record of 18-27.

That number looks even worse when you consider that the Mariners started this go-for-the-postseason campaign at 11-6.

Doesn’t that feel like decades ago?

The Mariners shot out of the starting blocks like the exciting, successful team most fans expected, especially after seeing a less-talented group battle its way to 90 wins a year ago.

So, what happened?

And can it be fixed?

I hate to open this peek inside this analysis with some even worse news, but it’s pretty hard to avoid.

Manager Scott Servais mentioned Wednesday, after a dreary 4-2 loss to Oakland, that things had to change, and quickly.

IT’S NO fun announcing that the Mariners must attempt their surge upward toward first-place Houston, which is 11 games away, not when …

The Astros are visiting T-Mobile Park tonight for the first of three games.

The listed starters: Justin Verlander (6-1, 1.22 ERA) for Houston, opposing Chris Flexen (1-6, 4.98).

Yikes!

It really does feel like ancient history when the Mariners took two out of three against the Astros during the first week of the season.

The current reality is more like that three-game trip to Houston at the start of May, when the M’s were shut out twice and were headed for the hat trick.

They scored a couple of consolation runs in a 7-2 loss, basically because Verlander was given the last couple of innings off.

So, yeah, this month has been dreadful.

The M’s are 7-21 since their pleasant start (what we’ll call “the good old days”), and given the talent that was added to the roster during the off season, it fair to ask how this can be happening.

There has been some grousing that Mariners boss Jerry Dipoto didn’t make a big enough splash in the free agent market, although he did land Cy Young winner Robbie Ray – who has a 4-5 record with a 4.75 ERA.

Ray is still a gunslinger, having struck out 68 batters in 60 2/3 innings.

Unfortunately (and you’re going to see a trend here), Robbie has been touched for 10 home runs already — including the two that handed Oakland the win on Wednesday.

DID WE say trend?

Seattle has given up a whopping 61 homers in 45 games, and I’ll save you peeking at Google.

Yes, it’s the worst record in MLB, in terms of keeping batted balls inside the stadium.

All those home runs, matter of fact, lead me to the two glaring problems that have derailed the Mariners so far this season.

The first is the bullpen, which had the fifth-best ERA in all of baseball last year — and routinely came up with gutty performances as Seattle won 33 one-run games.

Of that terrific group, only Paul Sewald is still pitching lights out.

Some relievers have regressed terribly — Drew Steckenrider, Anthony Misiewicz, Andres Munoz and (perhaps just temporarily) Diego Castillo.

Here’s a stat: Matt Festa and Yohan Ramirez have combined to pitch 22 1/3 inning out of the bullpen, and surrendered eight home runs.

Another stat: The only reliever on the current active roster who has NOT given up a long ball is newcomer Penn Murfee.

Sheesh!

HAVING reeled off all these terrible numbers (Seattle is 19th in runs scored and 24th in ERA across Major League Baseball), I would still suggest there has been a more damaging culprit involved in this wretched start.

Injuries.

It’s not like there are a dozen guys on the injured list — there are just a handful, but they are so, SO critical to the success of this ballclub.

Mitch Haniger (high ankle sprain) is out until at least July after playing just nine games, and it’s almost impossible to replace 39 homers and 100 RBIs in the middle of your lineup.

Tom Murphy (dislocated shoulder) may not return for a while, and he’s not only the No. 1 catcher, but had gotten off to a great start — hitting .303 with an .894 OPS.

The bullpen is missing THREE of its studs, as well.

Casey Sadler (shoulder surgery) is out of the year after rolling up a streak of no runs allowed in his last 27 appearances last year.

IS THERE any potential good news from the sick bay?

Maybe.

Eric Swanson (tender shoulder) could be back before too long, and Servais will run him out there quickly — since Swanson had an ERA of 1.29 over 14 innings with an astounding 21 strikeouts and just a single walk.

Ken Giles (finger tendon) was signed to be this team’s closer, and looked great coming off Tommy John surgery — but then somehow injured his finger playing catch at the end of spring training, and his return is uncertain.

Look, I understand.

Every team has injuries, but that’s a lot of hurt at critical positions.

It’s almost the entire bullpen.

Still, there’s hope.

Lots of guys are playing well, and some (Jesse Winker, Jarred Kelenic) surely will get better.

The problem is …

The turnaround has to happen soon.

Like, knocking around Verlander, right?

Email: [email protected]

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press three times each week. He also writes Zags Tracker, a commentary on Gonzaga basketball which is published monthly during the offseason, and weekly beginning in October.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”