[jaa36]

AG: Welcome back to the latest edition of The Wheelhouse. I'm Aaron Goldsmith. He's Jerry Dipoto. Jerry, what a week for the Seattle Mariners!

JD: You said it, Aaron. I couldn't be happier with how the team is playing. They're winning games every way they know how. It's just been one clutch hit after another with this club.

AG: You took two out of three from the A's, stopping their nine-game winning streak. You then swept the first-place Minnesota Twins in your ballpark. All three of those wins were come-from-behind, walk-off victories. The team is now 32-20 overall. This is really a brand of Mariners baseball that we haven't seen for a long time.

JD: Like I've said before, we've tried to put the pieces in place for a club that can win a lot of games, and we're seeing that pay off this year. I wouldn't want to count the chickens before they hatch, though. We've still got a lot of work to do. Sure, we're 32-20, but we're still four games behind Houston, so there's still room for improvement.

AG: Nonetheless, it's really been exciting to be a part of it so far. One of the big stories this week was Dee Gordon coming up lame at second base on Wednesday. I don't know about you, but my heart stopped for a minute.

JD: Well, we always worry when we see something like that happen, and obviously speed is such a huge part of Dee's game. We took him out of the game as a precaution, and we were thinking about sitting him a few games, but you know Dee, he was absolutely relentless with Scotty and basically wrote his name in the lineup card the next few days.

AG: That decision clearly paid off, with him hitting two triples and then an opposite-field, two-run, game-tying home run in the bottom of the ninth yesterday.

JD: It sure did. You can get stuck thinking about Dee and his speed, but he's got a lot of other aspects to his game. On that one he just took the pitch down the foul line to the opposite field and came up big. I don't know that I really wanted him to push it too much with the two triples, but he's hard to stop. (laughs)

AG: You could see the effects of the injury though, with him being caught stealing twice on Friday. He's now got 41 steals on the year, and has been caught seven times. Any limits on him in the next week.

JD: We think the calf has fully recovered at this point. He should be good to go.

AG: Jean Segura another guy who's come up big again and again. He's now hitting .356 on the year, best in the American League. He was 4 for 4 on Friday with a home run. That gave him a twelve-game hitting streak, to go along with the nineteen-game streak earlier in the year. You must feel pretty good about that contract extension last year.

JD: We knew when we got Jean that we wanted him here for a long time. Having him, Robbie and Kyle locked up long term in the infield has really paid off. Jean's been terrific, just a hard worker from day one, and really at this point I think you would say is probably the toughest guy to get out in the league, which really helps us set the table for the heart of the lineup.

AG: Does he remind you of anyone from your playing days?

JD: If I had to give a name it would probably be Barry Larkin. Very similar approach, very similar bat-to-ball skills, with some speed and pop and a solid glove at shortstop.

AG: Not bad company to keep, a Hall of Famer. Well, Jerry, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out the excellent work from the bullpen. Five solid innings from Doug Fister in long relief. Four shutout innings from Mark Rzepcyzynski. Nine more strikeouts in four innings from Edwin Diaz. Just four earned runs in 23 innings pitched. A lot to like there.

JD: You bet. It's a really strong group, and Scott's done a terrific job bringing in guys in a position where they're likely to succeed. We're fortunate to have a deep group of guys we feel like we can count on.

AG: We could dive deep into any of these games this week. Let's take a look at the game on Saturday. Marco Gonzales really pitched a nice game, allowing just a run over six innings. Scott Servais took him out with just 65 pitches on his arm, with the score tied 1-1 after a Robinson Cano home run. Tell us about the decision-making there.

JD: It's always a balancing act. Obviously Marco's been excellent thus far, with an ERA under two after nine starts. I think a lot of his success is related to Scott not exposing him too late in games, so we can keep him fresh and ready for the next game.

AG: In this case, it may not have paid off, with Nick Vincent immediately giving up two hits and eventually allowing a sac fly to put the Twins ahead 2-1. Any second-guessing of the manager there?

JD: Absolutely not. It was the right call to bring in Nick there. And the rest of the way, it was smooth sailing with the bullpen.

AG: That's true. James Pazos struck out the only two guys he faced. Dan Altavilla got two quick outs. Then Dee Gordon tripled and scored, and with the score tied, it was Edwin Diaz time for the third game in a row.

JD: And Edwin did was Edwin does- give you blazing heat and a wipeout slider.

AG: Three outs later, it was Fernando Rodney time for the Twins. Mariner fans all too familiar with that experience.

JD: We've certainly seen Fernando when he's locked in, and Fernando when he's not locked in, and this was the latter version.

AG: Two walks and a single loaded the bases, and with two outs Jean Segura at the plate. Not Jean's best at-bat, but the results turned out just fine.

JD: It was a weird play. He put the bat to the ball as usual, and when you put it in play, stuff happens. In this case, he hit it right to Kennys Vargas, who somehow just dropped it on the way to first base. Should have been an easy out, and it wasn't. But those are some of the breaks you get when you're a winning team.

AG: So the Mariners now stay home for the next week with four games against Texas and then three against Tampa Bay. Any plans for the week?

JD: I'll be right here. You know my affinity for fried chicken- I'm going to a place called JuneBaby in the northeast part of town.

AG: I've heard good things. Get there early, right?

JD: Right. The plan is to show up for happy hour and be back at the ballpark by 7:10.

AG: I almost forgot- let's take an email question. Here we go- John in Kent. John asks, are you still mad about Shohei Ohtani?

JD: (laughs) Was I mad about Shohei Ohtani? Well, you know how that went. We put our best pitch forward. We really thought we were a good match. He ended up going in a different direction, and he's had a longstanding working relationship with Billy Eppler there. It was disappointing, but no hard feelings. Shohei's played well so far and we expect great things from him. Perhaps we'll see him in a Mariner uniform some time in the future.

AG: OK, Jerry. Well, that's about all the time we've got for today. Good luck to you with the rest of the homestand.

JD: Thanks Aaron.

AG: And we'll see you next week on The Wheelhouse.