MLB Daily: Remembering Jackie Robinson, Seattle's Slow-ish Start, Jacoby Ellsbury's Premature Bat Flip

Greetings, MLB Daily presses onward and upward. We thank Jason Lisk for his pinch-hit double up the gap on Wednesday. 

Do over: Robinson Cano, as you can watch in the Vin Scully-voiced clip below, made a really terrible base-running decision in the Mariners 5-2 loss to the Dodgers during the annual Civil Rights Game. On the plus side for Seattle, free agent acquisition Nelson Cruz homered for the fifth straight game, so that’s good!

But a 3-6 start out of the gates isn’t quite what the Mariners expected. Hell, I bought into the hype and picked them to make the World Series. Nine games do not a season make and nobody in the AL West is off to a fast start — Oakland leads it at 5-5. Still, there are some worries with the Mariners.

One … if I knew Willie Bloomquist would be starting at first base on occasion, there is no way I’d pick them to go far into October, regardless of how awesome Felix Hernandez is every fifth day.

More concerning is the pitching. Lisk detailed Fernando Rodney’s issues yesterday. Yes, it’s only nine games but the Ms own the second-worst team ERA at 5.19. Look inside and this is likely due to two awful starts by 22-year-old mega-prospect Taijuan Walker, who’s allowed 14 runs in 7.1 innings. Save those numbers off and the Seattle team ERA drops to 3.96 — which would be 15th. That’s better than 29th, but pitching was supposedly going to carry Seattle.

Cano is batting .211 on the young season. Figure he turns it around and Seattle contends for its first playoff spot since 2011 either way.

Remembering Jackie: Admittedly, this tweet, which might have its heart in the right place is mostly inane and easily mockable on social media. That said MLB continues to do an excellent job each year to remember the legacy of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier on April 15, 1947. Although it doesn’t seem like much, every player wearing No. 42 (which is otherwise retired across baseball) is a significant gesture.

Baseball often can be criticized for leaning on its past too much or using nostalgia as a crutch, but remembering the legacy of Robinson is certainly worth it. Bud Selig did lots and lots of dumb stuff during his reign in charge of baseball, but making sure the sport honored Robinson is something he got right.

A-Rod milestone tracker: 656 career homers after last night’s shot at Camden Yards. Rodriguez is four away from tying Willie Mays for fourth all time.

Nope: Sorry, Jacoby … bat flips are for home runs that stay fair.

Odd/Even: Few baseball observers are going to feel bad for the Giants. When you win three World Series in the last five years, sympathy goes out the window. But look at the lineup the team trotted out there Tuesday night: Nori Aoki, Joe Panik, Angel Pagan, Brandon Belt, Gregor Blanco, Matt Duffy, Hector Sanchez and Brandon Crawford. Sure Bruce Bochy rested Buster Posey and Hunter Pence is hurt (and Pablo Sandoval and Matt Morse left in free agency) but you wonder … how did this team win a World Series?

As if we didn’t know, October is now and once again a total crapshoot.

All just a matter of trust: As sung by Billy Joel, whom I’d assume Jason Heyward and Adam Wainwright both listen to regularly.

Repeat viewing: Kevin Pillar’s catch at SkyDome last night has been everywhere, but it’s worth another look.

This & That: If you get tickets to the good seats at Chase Field you can wear other’s teams colors, just root for the D’backs. I guess. … Justin Verlander’s status remains up in the air after his throwing session was cut short on Wednesday. Verlander doesn’t seem to think it’s serious but here’s guessing he doesn’t pitch, as hoped, on Tuesday. … Arizona recalled Yasmany Tomas from Triple-A … to pinch hit? … The Royals finally lost, falling to the Twins. 161-1 is still in play for the fightin’ Neddards. (Copy/paste your witty retort to that sentence below, obviously.)

[Y2wk]