Mariners settle in for the long haul, lose 4-1

winter has come in summer

For no particular reason, I have the revolutionary war on the brain right now. And while it would perhaps be more topical to compare this evening’s Mariners loss to the hit broadway musical 1776 about the signing of the Declaration of Independence, I’ve already done that. Instead, I’m going to do what I usually do and list the ways the Mariners lost in excruciating detail and then try to put a positive spin on things. But first, some history.

As the winter of 1777-1778 approached, George Washington’s continental army was in a bad state. During the Battle of Brandywine in September, the British army had managed to steal supplies from the revolutionaries. On the edge of starvation, the American army was on the verge of mutiny and defeat. The victories of Princeton and Trenton last year were a distant memory. The Continental Army needed a safe place to winter, ideally close to the provisional capital in Philadelphia. Washington and his officers selected a flat area on the eastern side of Mount Joy along the Schuylkill River. The place was called Valley Forge.

As the All-Star break of 2024 approaches, the Seattle Mariners are in a bad state. During the previous road trip, the Mariners went on a 3-6 skid, and as of tonight are on a 4 losing streak. On the edge of losing the division lead, the Mariners are on the verge of a total mid-season collapse. The victories of early June seem a distant memory. They need a safe place to start winning ball games. Servais and his staff need to find somewhere or some way to start putting it together.

They did not put it together tonight. Starting pitcher Logan Gilbert put a slight damper on his All-Star game bid. His command was spotty in the first inning, especially against number three hitter Ryan O’Hearn - who worked a walk off of LoGi. The second inning was a little bit of bounce back, as he dialed in his cutter, slider, and curve to strikeout Santander and Jordan Westburg.

But the wheels started to wobble in the top of the third inning when, with one out, Ramón Urías took a very close fastball on the outside edge to work a walk. Gilbert looked like he was gonna get himself out of it when he struck out Gunnar Henderson next, but a long battle of attrition, much like Brandywine, with Adley Rutschman ended in another walk. Ryan O’Hearn stepped back into the box, and this time he was looking to do damage.

Just- and I mean just - out of the reach of Julio. Game of inches. After that heartbreaker, Ryan Mountcastle checked in with a base hit of his own to stretch the Baltimore lead to 3. Still eligible for a quality start for Logan, but seemingly insurmountable for the Mariners as of late.

Logan, as it turned out, would not get his quality start when, in the 5th inning, he gave up a solo homer to who else but Ryan O’Hearn. I won’t reproduce it here, but suffice to say that it was a bomb to right that left the park in about 0.03 seconds. 4-0 O’s, and a long game ahead.

The Mariners finally got themselves a run in the 6th inning when they chased starter Dean Kremer and got to face Keegan Akin. It was Cal Raleigh who managed to get a hold of a slider that got too much of the plate and blasted it out for his team-leading 15th homer of the year. Right handed, of course.

But that was the only run the Mariners could push across, and unlike last night they never really threatened. They went down in order in the 9th inning with the game ending on a Julio pop out in foul territory.

Valley Forge turned out to have a shockingly apt name, as it was there the Continental Army were forged into a real fighting force. Due to the efforts of immigrants and advisors like Baron Von Steuben, the farmboys and militia who built their winter cabins in October emerged in June as a real army. Steuben himself had a little trouble getting through to the men, once remarking “In Europe, you say to your soldier, “Do this” and he does it. But I am obliged to say to the American, “This is why you ought to do this,” and only then does he do it.”

But his efforts were worth it, for when the Americans faced Sir Henry Clinton’s redcoats on an open field at Monmouth, they fought them to a draw and inflicted twice as many casualties as they received. From that point on, the Continental Army had become a genuine threat. And just three years later, they vanquished the last real British army in the Battle of Yorktown.

The Mariners need this stretch to be their Valley Forge. They need these losses to galvanize them. They need the creeping specter of Houston to energize them. They need to recognize what they are doing wrong and learn how to counter it. They need a Von Steuben who can explain to them not simply what to do but why they ought to do it. Brent Brown was not the man for the job, but that doesn’t mean that he isn’t out there. They start a three game set against the Astros on the 19th. The best case scenario now is that series becomes their Monmouth. They need to emerge from this skid as a real, hardened team ready to take the fight to Houston and Texas.

It’s been done before, and it can be done again.