SEATTLE \u2014 Mitch Garver is a bit player in this raging, Mr. Rager Mariners act.\n<\/p>\n
Garver is the 34-year-old veteran back-up catcher to MVP candidate Cal Raleigh. He is a part-time designated hitter. He\u2019s started just two of Seattle\u2019s seven playoff games so far.\n<\/p>\n
Yet he has a leading role in the Mariners\u2019 clubhouse right now.\n<\/p>\n
Since their return home early Tuesday from winning both games in Toronto to take a stunning, 2-0 lead in the American League Championship Series, and into Wednesday before the Mariners host the Blue Jays in Game 3 at T-Mobile Park, Garver has had the floor.\n<\/p>\n
Unlike any of the 25 other Mariners players, Garver has been here before. Exactly here.\n<\/p>\n
He was a starter on the 2023 Texas Rangers. They took a two-games-to-none lead in the ALCS by doing what his current team just did, winning the first two games of the league championship on the road, at Houston.<\/p>\n
They cruised back home to Arlington for Games 3, 4 and 5. Then the Astros beat the Rangers three straight times on Texas\u2019 home field to go from down 0-2 to up 3-2 in the best-of-seven series.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cSo the big point of emphasis is going to be, continue to do the little things,\u201d Garver said in the visiting clubhouse at Toronto\u2019s Rogers Centre Monday night after Seattle\u2019s 10-3 blowout win in Game 2. \u201cTry to score every inning. Keep the gas down.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy plan is to talk to them about it shortly here, yeah. Keep the gas down all the way through \u2026 Don\u2019t get complacent.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd win ballgames, like we have been.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Those Rangers Garver played for two seasons ago rebounded to win Games 6 and 7 in Houston to reach and win the World Series.<\/p>\n
The Mariners enter Wednesday\u2019s game in prime position to not follow Garver\u2019s previous team in this ALCS. Two wins in any of the next three games at the yard in SoDo will send Seattle and the Pacific Northwest\u2019s fans starving for it into the 48-year-old franchise\u2019s first World Series.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, obviously it\u2019s a very advantageous position. We\u2019re excited about that,\u201d Mariners manager Dan Wilson told reporters Tuesday back at T-Mobile Park on a series off day.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cBut there\u2019s work to do here. \u2026That\u2019s kind of how we\u2019ve done this all along. We go back to work.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
The manager didn\u2019t have to talk to his players Tuesday about not thinking ahead to a possible World Series.\n<\/p>\n
They were already talking that way Monday on their way out of Canada following Game 2.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cNah, not even thinking about that right now,\u201d Raleigh said. \u201cJust, I\u2019m glad we got the win (Monday). We move on, and we take it into Seattle.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know we\u2019ve still got a lot of work to do.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
George Kirby\u2019s rested\n<\/p>\n
The Mariners\u2019 work resumes Wednesday with George Kirby. He gets the ball on regular, four days rest, to begin Game 3 against Toronto\u2019s Shane Bieber.\n<\/p>\n
Kirby started Game 5 of the Mariners\u2019 AL Division Series against Detroit. His five innings allowing one run on three hits with no walks and six strikeouts was barely a footnote. That\u2019s because the Mariners won an epic, 15-inning thriller on one of new Mr. October Jorge Polanco\u2019s clutch hits that got them to this league championship.<\/p>\n
Kirby also made that start Friday on normal rest. He started the previous Saturday, Oct. 4 in Game 1 of the ALDS (five innings pitched, six hits, two runs, one walk, eight strikeouts).\n<\/p>\n
He\u2019s the only member of the Mariners\u2019 regular starting rotation who has stayed on normal turns so far this postseason that has had Bryan Woo out injured, Logan Gilbert and Luis Castillo pitch out of the bullpen in Game 5 of the ALDS and Bryce Miller start and win Sunday\u2019s ALCS Game 1 in Toronto on three days\u2019 rest.\n<\/p>\n
Castillo will start Game 4 Thursday against the Blue Jays. If Toronto wins one of the next two games, Woo is in line to start Game 5 on Friday afternoon at T-Mobile Park. Woo hasn\u2019t pitched since Sept. 24 because of pectoral inflammation. He threw a bullpen session in Toronto.\n<\/p>\n
He echoed Raleigh and Wilson in the clubhouse consensus that they remain a long way from winning this series and reaching the World Series.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI think everybody knows that we still have a job to do. This series is long from over,\u201d Woo said Tuesday back in Seattle. \u201cSo we got to come in and be ready to go (Wednesday) and not try to change what we\u2019ve been doing.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI think, as great as it is to come back home, don\u2019t try to change anything because we\u2019re at home or in front of our own fans or whatever it is. Just kind of keep playing the baseball that we\u2019ve been playing, which has been great, complementary, simple baseball.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s where we\u2019re at.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Kirby is excited to have Woo back, whether that\u2019s in this ALCS \u2014 or in that next series no Mariner is talking about.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, one, having Bryan back is going to be awesome. He\u2019s been feeling good,\u201d Kirby said.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, just to be in front of the home crowd again is honestly huge for us. Everyone gets super excited being back home, the crowd energizes us, and yeah, we\u2019re definitely looking forward to those two games at home, for sure.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cOne, it\u2019s a great pitcher\u2019s ballpark. But two, yeah, the crowd is really awesome. Every moment, every big pitch, they\u2019re always behind you. Just as a player, that kind of just gives you a lot of confidence.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt kind of eases your mind a little bit that everyone is here cheering for you, supporting you.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Loose, bonded Mariners\n<\/p>\n
The Mariners were noticeably loose before, during and after their two games in Toronto. It was as if they\u2019d been here to the league championship series every year, not for the first time in 24 years.<\/p>\n
Before Game 2 utility infielder and outfielder Miles Mastrobuoni again took infield practice on the Rogers Centre field wearing the Mariners basketball jersey with shortstop J.P. Crawford\u2019s number and name on it the team gave away to fans at a home game this summer.\n<\/p>\n
Manager Dan Wilson walked around with a glove, joking with his players, strolling through the infield and outfield catching and throwing an occasional ball.\n<\/p>\n
During the game, the visiting dugout looked like a carnival. Julio Rodriguez, as the game\u2019s third batter, slammed a three-run home run. As the line drive soared over the left-field wall a few feet inside the foul pole, Rodriguez turned to that dugout. His teammates were jumping up and down. Some were spilling themselves over the dugout railing, like kids on a playground jungle gym.\n<\/p>\n
When he got inside after crossing home plate, Rodriguez paraded comically through the dugout with the team\u2019s celebration trident for such a long time it appeared he might bring it into center field with him to play defense with it in the bottom of the inning.\n<\/p>\n
Eduard Bazardo relieved ineffective starter Logan Gilbert in the fourth inning of Game 2, with the score tied at 3 and the game at its highest intensity. Then he pitched two shut-down innings, allowing only a ground-ball single.\n<\/p>\n
When he stranded a Toronto runner at second base to end the fifth, keep Seattle in front 6-3 and keep Rogers Centre hushed, his teammates swarmed Bazardo in the Mariners dugout.\n<\/p>\n
Wilson hugged the right-hander. Rodriguez hugged him, twice.\n<\/p>\n
Then the superstar showed Bazardo an elaborate hand-shake celebration. It ended with Rodriguez pantomiming a cowboy lasso rope toss and a body turn like a dance move. Bazardo and Rodriguez laughed.\n<\/p>\n
This togetherness hasn\u2019t been a byproduct of winning. The Mariners have talked about how uniquely close they are on and off the field, including in July when they were seven games back in the division.\n<\/p>\n
It\u2019s coming in mighty handy now in the most pressurized games of the season, and of most of these Mariners\u2019 lives.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, it\u2019s huge,\u201d Kirby said. \u201cYou\u2019re able just to just \u2026 take away all that selfishness or ego, and you\u2019re just battling for each other. At that point nothing really matters. Being able to be super close with everyone and have good relationships, it\u2019s easier to perform and just kind of enjoy being on the baseball field.\u201d<\/p>\n
Garver is in his ninth major-league season, playing for his third team. He won that World Series with the Rangers two autumns ago. He thinks the closeness of these Mariners is why they are two wins from what seemed impossible for so many decades of baseball in Seattle.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re ecstatic,\u201d Garver said, over the blaring music, including Kid Cudi\u2019s \u201cMr. Rager\u201d that\u2019s become the team\u2019s clubhouse anthem this postseason. \u201cWe\u2019re playing really good baseball. And everybody\u2019s pulling for each other.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s nine guys helping each other out.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can tell, everybody\u2019s pulling for each other. Everybody\u2019s doing their job. That\u2019s what leads to wins.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEATTLE \u2014 Mitch Garver is a bit player in this raging, Mr. Rager Mariners act. Garver is the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6829,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151],"class_list":["post-6828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arlington","tag-arlington","tag-arlington-headlines","tag-arlington-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}