THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Lots of questions as Kirby gets roughed up again

It’s not a fun question, but I’ve gotta ask. 

What happens if George Kirby gets hammered AGAIN in his third big-league start? 

You know, there’s actually a second part to that question: Have the Mariners hurt themselves (and a star pitcher) by rushing his reclamation project? 

We tend to give this franchise the benefit of the doubt when it comes to pitching. 

They’ve gotten so many things right. 

They’ve developed an army of pitchers — in MLB and with prospects still rising — that would make most teams drool. 

Here’s another question: What was the rush to get Kirby back into the rotation? 

He was hurt early in spring training, rehabbed until mid-May, and then threw 10 innings across three starts for Tacoma. 

He was terrible. 

George sounded thrilled, like it was great “just to get the work in.” 

OK, fair enough. 

With no spring to build up his strength and get his otherworldly command firing according to his will, Kirby obviously needed innings. 

IN FACT, it looks right now as though George needed more innings than he’s thrown. 

He rejoined the Mariners rotation last week in Houston, and was all over the place as Seattle absorbed a 9-2 thumping. 

As television play-by-play man Aaron Goldsmith put it: “Is this really George Kirby?” 

Nope. 

Not quite. 

And there was more coming. 

On Wednesday night, Kirby stood out at T-Mobile Park for five innings, got utterly walloped by the Nationals (three booming homers, six runs), and the Mariners took their worst beating of the season to the tune of 9-0. 

Talk about a bad look: Kirby got battered on the same evening that his understudy, Logan Evans, was shipped down I-5 to Tacoma. 

Evans was fresh off the Mariners’ best start of the season, going eight breezy innings in a 9-1 win over Washington the previous night. 

Overall, Evans logged six starts for Seattle, and went 3-1 with a nice 2.83 ERA and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 25-10 over 35 innings. 

An unfortunate truth: Evans got the job done, but he was a 12th-round draft choice who doesn’t throw in the high 90s like the rest of the Mariners starters. 

Manager Dan Wilson’s goodbye message wasn’t all about how Logan would be back, either. 

Wilson, the walking cliché, described the conversation this way: “It’s always tough, especially after he has pitched so well and gave us so many strong innings and strong performances.  

“Always a tough thing to do that. But as we talked to him, I hope he’s garnered a lot of confidence from what he has done here and all the success that he had.” 

Translation: Somebody may show up who wants to trade for you. 

The optics looked even worse when the Mariners announced that Evans was being demoted to make room, not for Kirby, but to accommodate reliever Jackson Kowar. 

Then came Kirby’s pinata imitation against the Nats, who were thrilled to take their whacks. 

Yes, I know it’s still May (barely) and it’s far too early to panic. 

IT IS, right? 

Although, looking back to our original question, you have to wonder what happens if Kirby continues to struggle. 

You don’t want to be blown out once every week, letting George get his work in while allowing the Astros to take a serious hold atop the AL West.

For his part, Kirby insisted after the Washington fiasco that he could feel his mojo coming around. 

“I’m confident the more and more I keep pitching that a lot of this stuff’s going to, you know, start to hash out a little bit,” Kirby said.  

“I’ll start to hit spots more, get back into counts.” 

Yep, that would be good. 

Kirby, as you know, can throw hard but doesn’t rely on velocity to get hitters out. 

He needs to have his pristine command. 

Common sense suggests that Kirby’s diamond-cutter pitch location might take some time and work. 

So, are the Mariners willing to let him get knocked around in this regular-season “spring training,” and for how long? 

I’m guessing the club thought George was ready to go out and thread needles after just 10 blah innings at Tacoma. 

What now? 

I suppose everyone will hold their breath during Kirby’s next start. 

All is not lost, gang. 

At least Kowar pitched a scoreless inning. 

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Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press three times each week, normally Tuesday, Wednesday and 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.”