THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: It's early, but Mariners aren't trending well

The Mariners are treading water.

Not exactly life-threatening here in mid-May, but…

They’re slowly drifting further and further from shore.

In pure baseball terms, the M’s are 21-22, five games behind AL West-leading Texas — but a bit more ominously, they’re now three games back of Houston.

The World Series champion Astros, plagued by injuries and bad luck so far, haven’t even hit second gear.

Those standings aren’t particularly scary, as long as you assume that Texas isn’t actually the real deal (6.19 runs per game, second only to streaking Tampa Bay) and that this finally will be an off year for Houston (3.36 ERA, best in MLB).

The Mariners, meanwhile, are limping along with a .227 team batting average (29th, one point ahead of San Diego).

Numbers don’t mean everything, which Seattle proved a year ago by snapping a two-decade playoff drought despite an often-stagnant offense.

The Mariners did it by winning one-run games, basically, best in MLB for two straight years.

This time around, math wizards would suggest that Seattle’s 4-11 record in one-run games is simply a regression to the mean.

These struggles in tight games have come despite the Mariners bullpen leading the majors with a 2.77 ERA.

Weird, huh?

THIS IS going to sound a little bit odd, but the M’s have pitching issues — despite a team ERA of 3.55, which is tied for fourth in the majors with Atlanta, whom they are visiting this weekend.

Robbie Ray is out for the year.

Teams with any sort of decent offense tend to light up Marco Gonzales (6.10 ERA and a 1.59 WHIP), and ace Luis Castillo has fallen into some sort of a spring slump.

“La Piedra” started the year on fire, but suddenly — over a four-game stretch — he seems to have lost command of his considerable arsenal.

Consider these numbers …


First 5 starts: 4-1 team record, 1.52 ERA, 0 HR, .170/.214/.217 (.431 OPS) opposing slash line.

Past 4 starts: 0-4 team record, 5.73 ERA, 6 HR, .278/.323/.600 (.923 OPS) opposing slash line.

Three of those six home runs came in his last start, a 9-4 loss at Boston.

Castillo was rocked for four runs in the first inning, pitched like himself for three innings, and then things came apart in a three-run fifth.

Kolten Wong committed a critical error that prevented Castillo from getting out of one ugly inning.

It’s not always easy to dig into Castillo’s thoughts, since he chooses to be interviewed through a translator.

He did not address a unique coincidence, a very similar four-game ineffective stretch at the same time last year with Cincinnati.

He rebounded from that mini-slump to have a terrific season with the Reds and Mariners.

“I feel great,” Castillo said. “Not every night is the same.

“I feel like every time I go out, I try to give my 100 percent with what I have.

“But the most important thing right now is that I thank God that I'm healthy.”

Make of that what you will, but if the Mariners have any hope of moving upward, Castillo truly needs to be “La Piedra” (The Rock).

MEANWHILE, Seattle’s offense comes and goes.

The bad news is that, with each passing week, it looks more and more like baseball boss Jerry Dipoto did NOT manage to plug the holes that forced last year’s team to scuffle at times.

Wong has been a disaster at the plate and in the field, while Teoscar Hernandez has added some power — along with a ton of strikeouts.

In fact, Hernandez and Julio Rodriguez, who were considered to be a big part of the thunder in the Seattle lineup, have combined with fellow power bats Eugenio Suarez and Cal Raleigh for 26 homers and 76 RBI.

However, those four hitters have racked up 211 strikeouts while taking only 62 walks — and of those walks, Suarez accounts for 23.

J.P. Crawford, Jarred Kelenic and Ty France (along with Jose Caballero since he’s replaced Wong) have done a decent job of getting on base.

But the bombers like Julio (.211 average), Hernandez (.237), Suarez (.224) and Raleigh (.233) have not been able to get many key hits.

As a group, they’ve left a medium-sized village of runners stranded on base.

You get the feeling that Rodriguez is the key to all this frustration.

When he’s hitting, the Mariners all tend to get a charge of electricity.

So far, though …

Julio seems to swinging out of his shoes (often at pitches that aren’t near the strike zone) as he tries to lift the whole group with an 800-foot homer.

A year ago at this time, after struggling with umpires continually calling him out on bad pitches, Julio calmed down and began just putting his bat on the ball.

You know the result.

The whole ballclub felt it and took off.

Julio might not be able to do it by himself this time around, but …

It would sure help.

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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.”