[jaa36]

AG: Welcome back to The Wheelhouse. I'm Aaron Goldsmith, and with me as always is Jerry Dipoto. Jerry, welcome.

JD: Thanks Aaron.

AG: Well, an eventful week. Let's start with the All-Star Game. Not the best performance by the American League!

JD: Yeah, the game was kind of a dud! I watched it for a bit, but then I turned it off and watched a rerun of Two and a Half Men instead.

AG: Really, Jerry?

JD: (laughs) It's an underrated show.

AG: Well, I'm grateful that your talent evaluation is stronger than your evaluation of television shows. Nonetheless- a 12-0 win for the National League. Not much happening for the Mariners in the game, Dee Gordon, Kyle Seager, or Edwin Diaz.

JD: Nope. Edwin got the crowd excited with a couple 100-mph fastballs, but otherwise, pretty uneventful.

AG: Jerry, I neglected to ask you last week. Did you ever make the All-Star team?

JD: Surprisingly, Aaron, I did not ever make a major league All-Star team. I did a few times in Little League, but not in the pros.

AG: Did you get up to anything else for the break?

JD: Mostly spent the time with the family. Worked the phones a little bit for some potential trades...

AG: Anything you can talk about?

JD: (laughs) No, sorry, Aaron. You're gonna have to hold your breath on this one.

AG: Fair enough. Well, then back to business for the second half. You opened against the White Sox, took two out of three.

JD: Yeah, and as I've said, we're always happy to win a series, no matter who we're playing.

AG: We saw a nice comeback win on Friday. Kyle Seager and Mitch Haniger hitting big home runs to help the M's along. And the bullpen really pitching well to bail out an early exit from James Paxton.

JD: Yeah, James got hit around a bit that day. As far as the bullpen, really quite an outing from Nick Vincent, who got five strikeouts and gave us two and two-thirds innings. Amazing what he can do with a 90-mph fastball.

AG: And the bullpen continued on in fine form the next day, with Edwin Diaz and James Pazos finishing up a strong start from Felix.

JD: Felix has been pretty strong lately, giving us consistently good outing that have kept us in the game. He's really done everything we could've asked of him this year.

AG: The Sunday game a bit of a letdown, as Mariner pitchers gave up 13 runs. But Robbie Cano keeps hitting, with his hitting streak up to 21 games.

JD: Yeah, Robbie has just remained locked in, even through the break. It's a travesty he didn't make the All-Star game, but Robbie will be the first to tell you, he's had plenty of opportunities to play in that game.

AG: Now, next week, two games agains the Giants, then a stretch of 20 consecutive games, starting with a trip to Anaheim on Friday. How does a team prepare for a stretch like that?

JD: It'll certainly test our stamina and our depth. We'll make sure to keep our guys fresh, rotate players in and out as needed, especially our pitchers. I think we'll be ready for it.

AG: OK- listener question time. How about this one, from Taylor in Seattle. Taylor's question is, what do I have to do to get more playing time?

JD: (laughs) Taylor, glad you're listening, buddy! A good way to kiss up to the boss. Listen, Taylor Motter could not be doing anything more than what he's doing. We're going to work him into the lineup against lefties a little more to spell Ben Gamel and Ichiro. It's a good problem to have, too many good players.

AG: All right, Jerry. Well, let's finish up for this week. Good luck to you, with the trade deadline approaching.

JD: Thanks Aaron.

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