PHOTO USA Today Sports Images The Seattle Mariners have never been to the World Series, but for decades they have led baseball in most creative television commercials.
There was Felix Hernandez taking the mound as his alter ego, Larry Bernandez, wearing glasses and mutton chops, in order to get a second turn in the rotation.
Or Hall of Fame designated hitter Edgar Martinez in a hardware store making a lamp out of a bat. “That’s a light bat,” Edgar exclaimed.
This year, center fielder Julio Rodriguez is seen milling around the clubhouse with a pink fly swatter, swinging aimlessly while hearing a persistent buzzing sound.
Suddenly, a hand appears from the corner of the screen and the fly is caught between thumb and forefinger. The camera pans back to show franchise legend Ichiro Suzuki. Ichiro crosses and claps his arms, much like Rodriguez does on the field after catching a ball, and says, “No-go zone, huh?”
At the end of the spot, Rodriguez sits at his locker with a handful of different colored fly swatters that Ichiro grabs and throws to the ground, again showing J-Rod his technique for catching a fly between his two fingers until the kid is able to copy the move.
The ad was intended to illustrate Rodriguez’s defense.
Inadvertently, that spot foreshadowed some batting difficulties this season, darting around the batter’s box as pitchers hit him high and hard with fastballs, then delivered a flurry of breaking pitches low and wide. Fly swatter or Victus Julio wood bat, the 2024 season is a swing and miss for Rodriguez.
It’s a testament to their pitching staff that the Mariners have spent the last two months in first place in the American League West, building a lead as large as 10 games, with their franchise cornerstone hitting just .247/.296/.632 with eight homers and 30 RBIs.
Until now.
Cracks began to form. Rodriguez went 6 for 55 with no extra-base hits or RBIs during a 13-game stretch in which the Mariners lost 10 times, their lead in the American League West division cut to two games over the six-time defending division champion Houston Astros.
“We need everybody to step up and contribute offensively. It’s not just one guy,” said Mariners manager Scott Servais, whose team is hitting an MLB-worst .216 batting average and is on pace to challenge the record for most strikeouts in a season. “But Julio is the main guy.”
Rodriguez’s swing is starting to heat up just in time for the Seattle Mariners. Photo source: Getty Images Rodriguez, a Silver Slugger Award winner in each of his first two seasons, has worked tirelessly in the batting cage with M’s hitting coach Jarret DeHart, Martinez and Osvaldo Diaz, his personal trainer whom the team recently hired from Tampa, Fla.
” We are close ” Diaz told the Seattle Times“The more eyes they have on the team, the better. I’ve been with Julio for four or five years now, before he was Rookie of the Year (in 2022). He trusts me a lot. I like where we’re headed. I feel confident.”
Diaz said the coaching staff has been working with J-Rod on his timing and balance and getting his legs more involved in his swing.
“Everybody has ups and downs,” Diaz said. “It all depends on how you finish.”
Rodriguez has always been slow to get going, but the season is already halfway over.
The marine layer of Puget Sound has faded. Mariners fans have begun to wonder if major league pitchers have figured out the darling of the last two Home Run Derbys, including last year at T-Mobile Park, and that’s all they can expect from No. 44.
Even though it is relatively late, Rodriguez still has time to come to the rescue.
They say summer in Seattle doesn’t start until July 4th.
In this case, there is hope for the M’s and Rodriguez.
On a holiday morning, Rodriguez hits 428-foot home run off Orioles ace Corbin Burnes — on an 0-2 count, no less — and doubled to spark a decisive five-run rally in the seventh inning in a 7-3 victory that snapped Seattle’s four-game losing streak.
“Sometimes you have to go through tough times to wake yourself up,” said Rodriguez, who deflected questions about what changes he made. “I was just out there competing. I wasn’t really thinking about my swing or what had happened the last couple months. You can’t change the past. The only thing you can control is the present moment. I started competing hard, that’s how I started playing this game.”
After his double, Rodriguez stole third base and jumped to his feet, screaming and clapping his hands as his pent-up frustration poured out.
“It was contagious,” said Mariners shortstop JP Crawford, who broke a 2-2 tie moments later with a three-run double. “It got me going, for sure. I think it got the whole team going. It got everybody going.”
“We ask a lot of him,” Servais added. “I just want him to be himself. He doesn’t have to carry the team. It’s normal to show your emotions. It’s normal to get upset when you don’t have a good game and that kind of thing. It’s normal. And I hope today will lighten things up for him.”
