The M\u2019s put together a 3-4 opening homestand. If it feels like a familiar place for the club, that\u2019s because it is. It\u2019s the sixth time in the past seven seasons Seattle has started 3-4.<\/p>\n
With the Mariners hitting the road for series against AL West rivals Los Angeles and Texas, Seattle Sports\u2019 Brock and Salk on Thursday shared what they learned from the first homestand.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
T-Mobile won\u2019t be problem for Donovan<\/p>\n
New third baseman Brendan Donovan certainly didn\u2019t disappoint at the plate in his regular season action in front of his new home crowd.<\/p>\n
Donovan hit two homers, including a leadoff homer in the season opener, two doubles and led the team with 10 hits.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Brendan Donovan\u2019s gonna be just fine at T-Mobile. I mean, that was my one question. Sometimes starts to a season are totally irrelevant, but for a new guy to the Mariners coming here in chilly weather in March and starting his Mariner career by killing it at home, that is absolutely relevant to me because we know how new players at this park can fare,\u201d co-host Mike Salk<\/a> said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd if he had a bunch of balls that hung up or (were) marine-layered or whatever it is, and then he starts trying to overcompensate or change his swing, we\u2019ve just seen how it gets in people\u2019s head when they show up here for the first time after an entire career somewhere else. He was on base in every single game. I think that\u2019s great news.\u201d<\/p>\n Co-host Brock Huard<\/a> was hesitant to draw too much from the short sample size, but he couldn\u2019t deny Donovan looked like a good fit for pitcher friendly T-Mobile Park.<\/p>\n \u201cI think if you were to pick the kind of just approach and style and swing and spray and everything else to counteract the challenges of T-Mobile in April and May, he\u2019d look a lot like Brendan Donovan,\u201d Huard said.<\/p>\n Offense should be fine<\/p>\n The Mariners\u2019 opening homestand featured some highs and lows at the plate.<\/p>\n They scored at least four runs in all four games against Cleveland, including an eight-run performance in the series finale. But they mustered just five runs over their three games against the Yankees, which included being shutout for the first time.<\/p>\n Additionally, Seattle received major contributions from the bottom half of its lineup with strong homestands from Luke Raley, Cole Young and Dominic Canzone. But sluggers Julio Rodr\u00edguez, Cal Raleigh and Josh Naylor struggled while going a combined 7 for 78 at the plate.<\/p>\n Salk ultimately felt good about the offense despite up-and-down results.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel pretty good about their ability to score runs. I really do. I know that it didn\u2019t look that way necessarily during the seven-game (homestand), but you did face tough pitching, you did it in awfully cold weather and you essentially scored runs without your three biggest stars doing anything,\u201d he said. \u201cI mean, those three guys all had a lousy week and your offense was still good enough to survive. And by the way, those three stars, I know there\u2019s a lot of negativity around it today and you can certainly point to all the bad numbers that the three of them had for the week, but it was just a week and those three guys do have a track record that tells me they\u2019re going to be OK.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI was really impressed with Luke Raley\u2019s series, with Dominic Canzone\u2019s series,\u201d Salk added. \u201cSome of those X-factor guys, even Victor Robles, there was some really nice things you saw outside of the stars.\u201d<\/p>\n Huard sees a group that will still be rather dependent on hitting home runs.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen they don\u2019t hit any (like) in these three games against the Yankees, it\u2019s gonna be hard to win a series,\u201d Huard said. \u201cI know that\u2019s baseball in general and at large, but I think for this crew with Josh and Cal and Julio and the guys in the middle there that we talk about, they gotta do damage.\u201d<\/p>\n Concerns<\/p>\n Salk came away from the homestand with three things he found a little concerning that he will be keeping an eye on moving forward.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a little concerned about, as we said, the defense at third,\u201d he said. \u201cLittle concerned about this lineup against left-handers, I think there\u2019s something to watch for there. We were worried about it heading into the year and I still find myself worried about it now\u2026 I just think depth-wise\u2026 I am a little nervous about where that bullpen is at.\u201d<\/p>\n Hear the full conversation at this link<\/a> or in the audio player in this story. Listen to Brock and Salk weekdays form 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.\u00a0<\/p>\n More on the Seattle Mariners<\/p>\n \u2022 Seattle Mariners change schedule to avoid overlap with Seahawks opener<\/a>
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\u2022 Will Emerson contract impact other potential Seattle Mariners extensions?<\/a><\/p>\n
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