Vive la France!
No, not because Emmanuel Macron was successfully re-elected as the president of France (because I know you all follow French politics). We are celebrating France because Ty France just won AL Player of the Week (he shared it with Miguel Cabrera, but we all know that was more of a lifetime achievement award).
France had 13 hits, including three home runs, and drove in 10 RBIs in six games last week. He had a .500 batting average and a 1.436 OPS. To put it simply, he raked. Especially against the Royals on Saturday when he had one of the best games of anybody so far this season when he notched five hits and drove in five runs.
The French Revolution may have started in 1789, but the France Revolution is starting now. He currently has the 12th-best odds to win AL MVP, better than former MVP winners Jose Abreu, Jose Altuve, and Giancarlo Stanton as well as proven superstars such as Alex Bregman, Carlos Correa, and Corey Seager.
The Mariners’ first baseman was certainly the main catalyst for their 5-1 week, which included a sweep of the Royals, but he was not the only player that performed well.
J.P. Crawford continued his hot streak to start the season. He hit .348 for the week and even added two home runs to go along with his seven RBIs. Eugenio Suarez had his best week as a Mariner, batting .364 and driving in five runs.
In another good sign for Seattle, Julio Rodriguez had a much better week than he did to open the season. Rodriguez got a hit in five of the six games, with two of those games being multi-hit games. He raised his batting average from .125 to .196, which isn’t necessarily great but it is an improvement. Rodriguez also stole four bases this week, bringing him to a perfect 6-6 on the year which makes him second leaguewide. This still may not be the level of play from the rookie that fans have wanted but he is getting better so hopefully, it is just a matter of time before he is playing up to his potential.
The Seattle pitching staff also deserves credit for the impressive week. The Mariners allowed just 17 earned runs in the six games they played, and only ten of those were allowed by starters.
Robbie Ray took the hill twice for the Ms, pitching 12 innings, going six innings each outing, with just nine hits and four earned runs. Logan Gilbert added to his stellar early-season production, going six-and-two-thirds innings without allowing a run and getting the win against the Rangers. He brought his ERA and WHIP for the season down to 0.54 and 0.84, respectively. Gilbert’s ERA makes him one of just two pitchers with a mark under one and puts him just 0.02 behind Miami’s Pablo Lopex for the league lead.
The highlight of the week for Seattle was the dramatic win to complete the sweep of Kansas City on Sunday. Despite giving up a 2-3 lead in the top of the ninth, the Mariners still came away victorious thanks to a Jesse Winker walk-off single. Winker was actually the hero twice in extra innings, first tying the game up at four apiece with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the tenth.
Winker hasn’t been off to the best start this season but he has still remained productive. He is batting just .154 with six RBIs and no home runs but has found other ways to impact the game. He has an AL-high 15 walks, which is enough to give him an admirable .338 on-base percentage. Winker also has an expected batting average of .292, which suggests that he is making good contact but just not getting any luck. Eventually, the luck will come for Winker, especially if he stays engaged by drawing walks and winning games like he did this week.
The Dime Press 