THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: If this is 'Mariners baseball,' M's need a little more help

For the sake of a teaching moment …

Please ignore the Mariners’ games over the past two days.

There’s a point we should consider about their very blah season so far, and we’ll see it by looking at the game Tuesday in San Diego.

Seattle won it 4-1, and did so with a very particular formula.

Logan Gilbert pitched seven neat innings, allowing three hits and just one run.

Andres Munoz and Paul Sewald closed it out with a scoreless inning apiece.

It was a tight 2-1 game until Teoscar Hernandez launched a solo home run in the sixth (No. 10), and Julio Rodriguez rocked his 11th in the eighth to open up some breathing room.

The aftermath …

Both club vice president Jerry Dipoto and manager Scott Servais have described games like this as “Mariners baseball.”

This is Servais’ explanation: “Our best games are low-scoring because our pitching is generally so good, and we get a home run or a double when we need it.”

If the season were playing out the way Servais just mapped it, Tuesday’s win would have left Seattle with a far better record than 30-30.

Unfortunately, there are some flaws in that Mariners’ strategy – at least with the players on this current roster.

IT’S FINE to smile because Julio is on pace to hit 30 home runs, with Hernandez and Jarred Kelenic at 27 apiece.

(Not so good: Cal Raleigh has just eight homers, and surprisingly, Eugenio Suarez is sitting on only six — with those two key hitters stuck on batting averages of .216 and .210, respectively.)

Beyond the numbers and pace for the season, there is a major problem with WHEN the Mariners deliver those big flies — and even more of an issue of how they manage their at-bats.

This is a team that puts its pitchers under immense pressure, because the whole group struggles to hit with men on base.

Furthermore …

They struggle to get on base in the first place, meaning that a lot of those home runs come in useless situations.

The two solo shots on Tuesday meant a lot because Gilbert was really dealing, but you can’t ask a pitching staff to hold the opposition to just one run every night.

It’s nice when it happens, but you won’t make a living that way.

You certainly aren’t going to reach 90-plus wins, which means missing the playoffs.

Consider the math problem here …

Hernandez had struck out 82 times (through Tuesday), more than anyone in MLB.

In fact, as astounding as it seems, four Mariners grace the top 10 on that whiff list — if “grace” is the appropriate word.

Kelenic is fifth on the strikeout chart, Eugenio Suarez tied for sixth, and Rodriguez 10th.

As a four-man gang in the middle of the lineup, that’s 303 strikeouts to go along with 74 walks — and 29 of those free passes belong to Suarez.

I don’t want to insult your intelligence by stating the obvious, but nevertheless …

In a 60-game span, those four hitters used up 303 plate appearances without putting the ball in play.

Common sense suggests that more good things can happen when you actually hit the ball, and make the defense do something with it.

Or, failing that …

At least ignore a lot of those bad pitches, and run up your walk total.

Atlanta’s Matt Olson is second on the strikeout list with 80, but he has 17 homers, 43 RBI (Suarez tops the Mariners with 35) and he’s walked 44 times.

Those are strikeouts you can accept.

LONGTIME Orioles manager Earl Weaver used to say that his strategy for winning was great pitching and three-run homers.

For the record, Weaver’s teams won a lot.

I suppose the Mariners brain trust would tell you that this team can win with much the same formula that Earl Weaver loved so much.

But there’s a problem.

They rarely hit THREE-RUN homers, because there aren’t enough guys to drive in (the only on-base percentage over .350 belongs to Jose Caballero at .387), and when there are, well …

Guys just swing from their heels — at pitches in the dirt, at passing butterflies, at anything in the same zip code.

Way, way too many of those 303 strikeouts (just from four players) have come with runners on base and a game in doubt.

That’s how you manage to tack 30 losses on to your 30 wins.

I’m not saying home runs are a bad idea.

I AM saying that piling up monstrous strikeout totals, just trying for long balls when a tidy single might fetch home two runs, isn’t a winning plan.

Here’s a short version of this sermon …

More Mariners need to put wood on the ball.

And do it more often.

Email: [email protected]

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press four times each week, normally Tuesday through Friday unless, you know, stuff happens.

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