Mariners Continue Surge, Angels Continue Fall

Teams in the American League might want to begin taking some notice of the surging Seattle Mariners. The Mariners continue to dominant August in the big leagues with their victory on Monday over the Los Angeles Angels 3-2.

With its win on Monday, Seattle has now won 9 of its past 10 games overall. The American League West club is 11-3 thus far in August.

However, the Angels are just the opposite, the team is heading quickly in the opposite direction. With this loss, the club has lost 11 straight games.

During the Monday game, the usual players were once again in the headlines for the Mariners. Felix Hernandez pitched an impressive game allowing on two earned runs across 6 2/3 innings. He has trouble at times with his command as he walked four, but was able to keep the Angels quiet with 8 strikeouts.

According to Elias Sports Bureau, Hernandez, who is 30, became the third pitcher to debut for a team and win 150 games with that same team prior to his 31st birthday, since 1969.

Hernandez on the season is now 7-4 with an ERA of 3.34 and 88 strikeouts.

The other two on that list are Dwight Gooden who did that with the New York Mets and Rogers Clemens with the Boston Red Sox.

The victory moved Seattle only two games behind the second and final wildcard spot in the American League. During the team’s recent run of great play, Seattle has managed to move up in the wildcard race by three games since the beginning of August.

Seattle is now just 5 ½ games back of the first place Texas Rangers in the AL West. Seattle is 63-54 overall having won three straight and 9 of 10.

The Mariners are getting their power from Nelson Cruz who leads the team in home runs with 30. He also leads the team in on-base percentage at .370.

Robinson Cano leads the Mariners in batting average at .291 and hits on the season with 138. Kyle Seager leads the team in RBIs with 77.

The trio of Cruz, Cano and Seager has combined for 385 hits, 78 home runs, 225 RBIs and 209 runs scored.

If Seattle keeps up this pace, not only do the teams battling for a wildcard need to worry, but the Rangers must worry about the Mariners racing by them and into first place in the AL West as there is still a month and a half remaining in the regular season.