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AG: Welcome back to The Wheelhouse. I'm Aaron Goldsmith, and back with me after another month is Jerry Dipoto. Jerry, how are things?

JD: Well- they could be better, I guess. We've lost six games in a row!

AG: That's true. Kind of a rough end to what had been a pretty good May, and a pretty good season overall. Even with all the losing recently, the M's are still in first place in the AL West at 30-23. What's been going on with the team lately?

JD: Well, I think more than anything, we've got a really tired team right now. We're in the middle of a stretch of 20 games in a row without a day off. And to make matters worse, we played consecutive 12-inning games against the Indians right at the beginning of that stretch.

AG: It's led to an incredible 27 pitchers making an appearance for your club already this season, as you've had to constantly sending guys down to the minors to bring up fresh arms. Let me hit you with some names here: Nathan Bannister, Bobby Wahl, Gerson Moreno, Framber Valdez, Max Fried, Tyler Thornburg, James Farris. Be honest. How many of those guys had you heard of before the season started?

JD: Um- maybe a few of them? Isn't a Framber Valdez something you can get at Starbucks?

AG: Remarkably, though, the M's have put together the best bullpen ERA in the league at 2.86. How does that happen?

JD: Well, obviously you've got to give the lion's share of the credit to the back end of the bullpen. Edwin Diaz has been spectacular as usual, with a 1.88 ERA in 38 1/3 innings, and Juan Nicasio has been even better, at 1.32 and with 54 strikeouts and just five walks in 34 innings. Not to mention Jake Diekman, who's had a 0.72 ERA in 25 innings, taking over for Mark Rzepczynski from last year.

AG: Another guy who's really exceeded expectations this year is Erasmo Ramirez, with a 2.77 ERA in 52 innings, and a 38 to 8 strikeout to walk ratio. A real turnaround from last year, when he had a 5.06 ERA.

JD: You said it. Even during last year, you could tell that Erasmo had the ability and the raw stuff to succeed, and this year he's just strung together a lot of good innings. It's been a nice turnaround for him.

AG: Now on the other hand, one guy who really put it together last year was Marco Gonzales, but he's off to a poor start this year, with a 6.16 ERA. Is his spot in the rotation in jeopardy?

JD: We really believe in Marco, and we think he's more like the guy you saw last year than the guy you've seen so far this year. But at the same time, eventually you've got to show it on the field, and we really have a pretty good stable of guys in Tacoma who have a similar profile to Marco in Blake Snell and the Maxes, Fried and Povse, so it's possible one of them could get a longer look if Marco continues to struggle.

AG: Let's talk for a minute about Tim Beckham. What a year for a guy who really is only a part-time player at this point!

JD: Right. We signed Tim with the idea that he would be a backup infielder, and get some starts at second base against left-handed pitchers. Well, he's jumped out of the gate with just an incredible start, and has really earned more playing time, managing to lead our team with 11 home runs in just 104 at-bats, not to mention a .327 average. He's been an incredible addition, and it's wonderful to see him putting together a season like this where he's truly reached his potential.

AG: And another storyline we're following this year is Dee Gordon's quest to break the single-season stolen base record. I've gotta say, I didn't think it would be possible for him to exceed the 117 he had last year. But here we are with just two months down, and he's already halfway to the record of 130, with 65 steals and caught just four times.

JD: I don't know what to tell you other than that every time he's on base, he gets the green light. He's had a couple of times this year when he's stolen bases even when there's a pitchout. He's just a thrill to watch, all around, and he's picked up left field really well for us this year.

AG: Now on the other hand, what's going on at first base? Ryon Healy was sent down because, let's face it, he was terrible, hitting .157. His replacement, Casey Gillaspie, was just as bad at .161. Mike Ford has filled in a lot at DH when Nelson Cruz was on the shelf, and he's been nothing special either? What does a GM like Jerry Dipoto do about that?

JD: Well, usually I would make a trade, but I don't have much money, and I'm not sure if I want to bring Justin Smoak back, because he'll probably become terrible as soon as he puts on a Mariner uniform again. So, we'll see how the summer plays out.

AG: Ominous words, Jerry. Well, on a more positive note, how about extending Felix Hernandez for three more years at $9 million a year!

JD: Yeah, I felt good about that. Obviously it's wonderful to be able to keep a guy like Felix in Seattle for the next few years, and we hope he'll end up playing his whole career with the Mariner organization. After a couple of injury-filled years, he's actually proven to be a durable, mid-rotation pitcher this season and last, and while we can't get seven innings a start out of him like we used to, we can get five pretty good ones, and that's a valuable commodity in the league today. I'm thrilled to have him around after this season.

AG: Well Jerry, let's take a question from one of our listeners. This comes from Dave in Ballard. Dave's question for you today is about the Mariners' overall roster-construction philosophy, and he's wondering, if you've ended up needing 27 pitchers this year, wouldn't it make more sense to have a bullpen of eight guys rather than seven?

JD: Yeah, that's a fair point. Obviously with this stretch we would have been better off that way. And to be honest, I think that a random bullpen arm might have hit better than Healy or Gillaspie. I think in principle, Scott and I like having four guys on the bench, because it gives us the option to pinch-hit against a tough left-hander or bring in a pinch runner. And that's been the difference in a few games this year. On the other hand, if you're relying on some random triple-A arm that you have literally never heard of like Nathan Bannister- apologies to Mr. and Mrs. Bannister- that's probably not good either, and we might not have needed to do that if we had started off this stretch with eight guys in the pen. Anyway, mistakes were made, and I'll probably just keep doing what I'm doing until someone makes me stop.

AG: Sounds about right, Jerry. Well, you finish up your series against Detroit, and then it's out to Houston and Oakland. How are you going to turn this sinking ship around?

JD: Well, usually playing the Tigers is a good solution. Hopefully we'll be able to shorten games like we were doing earlier in the season, getting out to a lead and then letting our bullpen finish things off. We know we've got to win the intradivision games.

AG: OK, Jerry. Well, thank you again for being with us, and we'll see you next month on The Wheelhouse.

JD: Thanks Aaron.