Mariners Game #117 Preview: 8/9/24, NYM at SEA

The Mets travel to Seattle to finish up the Mariners’ long homestand

The Mariners salvaged a game out of their series with Detroit, but it took Mitch Haniger making some Mariners history to avoid a sweep as the offense continues to scuffle. The Mariners face a test with another NL East team rolling in to T-Mobile Park; this time, the red-hot Mets, featuring former Mariners closer Edwin Díaz.

Lineups:

The Mariners go with a righty-heavy lineup with the Mets throwing lefty José Quintana. Okay but like...Luke Raley was 50% of the team’s offense over the last two games. Ride the hot hand, regardless of handedness, in my humblest opinion.

And now for the time-honored tradition of light-heartedly roasting the other team’s lineup card. I wasn’t around for the Detroit series, which mostly commits the graphic design crime of Too Many Fonts but is otherwise fine if not a little boring. The Mets are of course over the top with an animated lineup card, which is to be expected from New York, a city that insists on its own importance more than anywhere. I like the player animation and the spinning Mets logo but am less enthused about the orange flames licking the edges of the card. Feels sinister. Also the gently undulating “lineup” in the background is just too busy. This is better than average, though. I give it a 60 on the 20-80 scouting scale. I will reserve my other complaints about the Mets baseball ops department for their game notes, and whoever wrote them and included a mid-tier Modest Mouse song while totally ignoring the existence of literal Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Heart.

Game information:

Today’s game is a later start, 7:10 PT. Tomorrow it’s back to 6:40, and then don’t forget the weird later start time on Sunday for Sunday Night Baseball.

TV: ROOT Sports NW with Aaron Goldsmith and Mike Blowers

Radio: 710 AM Seattle Sports with Dave Sims and Gary Hill Jr.

Today in Mariners history:

• 1986: Making his MLB debut, Mickey Brantley tripled in his first ML at bat off John Candeleria. His son Michael would go on to torment the Mariners as a member of the Astros.
• 1988: Alvin Davis became the Mariners all-time home run leader with his 106^th career home run off of California’s Mike Witt. Davis would finish his Mariners career with 160 homers, seventh-best in franchise history (he was surpassed by Nelson Cruz with 163).
• 2010: The 43-70 Mariners dismiss manager Don Wakamatsu and several other team personnel. They are replaced by interim manager Daren Brown, head coach of the Tacoma Rainers, Roger Hansen as the bench coach, and Carl Willis as pitching coach.
• 2022: The Mariners win 1-0 over the Yankees in 13 innings. Mariners starter Luis Castillo tossed 8.0 shutout innings in his T-Mobile Park debut, while the Mariners bullpen tossed 5.0 innings of hitless relief. Luis Torrens plated the winning run with a pinch-hit, walk-off single in the bottom of the 13^th. Torrens is back in the building tonight as a member of the Mets.