Mariner Magic - Refusing to Lose

So let’s be honest here. Who among us expected the Mariners in the first month of the season to go 13-9. I will stand at the front fo that line. There was no way I thought that would have been possible. This has been a pleasant surprise and I hope that they can continue this streak.

Let’s take a moment to talk about that for thought. Can they continue this streak? Well I would argue that they might very well be able to. First it’s obvious that the offense can be, and has been at times, awful. Let’s also agree that it cannot get much worse than it has been at its bleakest points this year. You have to assume that guys like Ichiro, Beltre, and Lopez will come around and hit for their normal averages. So that being said you have to expect the offense is going to get better, maybe it is only going to be marginally better, but better none the less. What this means I don't know. Maybe a run or two a game? Maybe less. But the fact is it will get better.

The pitching has really been nothing short of superb. Felix and Bedard have been lights out, Bedards start yesterday was not a great one but he gutted it out for 5 innings tried to go six but he just didn’t have his good stuff. But with those two at the top of the rotation you have streak starters and stoppers. The last part of our rotation is interesting; Silva is a great clubhouse guy but not a great starter. I realize the M's are stuck with him and his absurd contract so lets just hope that he can gut out 5-6 innings a start with 3-4 runs each time. That could result in a .500 record in his starts and I would take that. Washburn you just have to hope he can pitch like he has in the beginning of this season up to the trade deadline. Keep that rolling and lets get something decent for him at the deadline.

Jakubauskas is an interesting guy. He has been pretty solid, other than the bad Game against Tampa that Pete and I had the pleasure of freezing though along with Dozens of other fans. He keeps you in the game which is all you can ask for from a 5th starter. Ideally I would like him to replace Silva in the rotation with RWS comes back but all indications are that the battle is between Jakubauskas and RWS. It's unfortunate but true. Perhaps after the trade deadline we can get both these guys regular spots in the rotation.

The point of all this is that the rotation has kept you in ball games and as long as they can do that this team can win.

There was a post on Geoff Bakers blog the other day about the team defense metric. It was really interesting. This team leads the league in errors however that is not a good way to show how good this team D is. This team has the ability to get to more balls than anyone else in the league. The ground the outfield can cover is nothing short of insane. Beltre is such a good defensive 3rd basemen. The plays he makes on a regular basis are fantastic. It is going to be sad when the day comes that he is no longer a mariner, and I believe that day is coming.

The team is winning on its pitching and Defense which is exactly what Jack said he was building the team for. Pitching can be up and down but defense is a pretty stable commodity. The hopes of this season will rest on this Rotations ability to continue to keep this team in games. The offense will get better and the defense will continue to run everything that is hit down. All that rotation needs to do is keep it close and see more winning months.

Back to work now, I have rambled enough.

One last note a few years back mike and I did a post about which the mariners should go get. We both posted a young talent and stated why they mariners should go get him. I posted Zach Grienke, this kid really has put it all together. How great would he look along with Felix and Bedard……

Is it time to get excited for this team? I am admittedly one who jumps way ahead of things and gets overly pumped up about minor details. But am I way off base here? They are a grass field away from being 8-1 to start the year! 7-2 is freaking incredible considering what happened last year. This team is fun to watch again, and you can tell just from their demeanor that everyone on that bench is having a good time. I even saw a clip from last nights game where Griffey was sitting with Silva and Bedard and Bedard was not only smiling but laughing with teammates. I was shocked!

This has been a great beginning ride and I hope they can continue. There are things we could pick apart, like how Endy Chavez is not going to hit .400 for the season, Washburn is not going to have a sub 3 era and pitch deep into every ballgame. Our bullpen is not going to continue to get away with walking 2 batters an inning and get out of it like they did two nights ago.

But for now I say forget all that lets enjoy this! Baseball is back and its fun to watch again!

Is this really happening?

I was really prepared to write seriously about baseball this season. This could get silly in hurry.

Truth or Dare: if you had to make out with a male professional athlete, who would it be?

[Note: This T or D scenario may or may not have some foundation in fact come April. Stay tuned.]

I'm not surprised by the reaction to A-Rod (no I'm not going to link to any A-Rod stories because you know what the hell I'm talking about). Dave Cameron has developed a new metric for the absurd reactions of the media, and he's absolutely right. The sports media is what it is. Much like anything with the media nowadays, it's not about reporting the news, it's about being obnoxious. So, it's pretty much par for the course that this A-Rod thing would be the end of the world.

But, every time this steroids stuff gets brought up, I think about how baseball is treated differently. People proclaim that they're done with baseball. (By the way, google is great.) Or that football is America's new pasttime. Really? What about Shawne Merriman? Or entire Super Bowl teams? Or the great football dynasties? Why does football get a free pass?

I'll tell you why. Because baseball is better. People get up in arms over this because baseball is more interesting than football. Scandals like this are part of baseball's fabric. Baseball is interesting. The stadiums are all different. Guys like Jim Bottomley and Mark Whiten have major records. The championship clinching game takes three days. There are all sorts of interesting stats.

The NFL? Sure, it's okay. I love the Seahawks and watch every Sunday. But it's robotic, corporate, and antiseptic (no I don't really know what made choose antiseptic but something seems right about that word). And it's just not as interesting as baseball. (For what it's worth, this is also why I think college football is better than the NFL).

So when people say they are done with baseball, I say good. Go away. I'll still love the game because this is what is. It's not perfect. It's a screwy sport and I like it that way.

In other words...yay steroids!!

I'll keep this appropriately brief.

Football is over, and that is a good thing. That superbowl was not good for any Seattle fan. Lets hope that this year, 2009, will be better than 2008. It has to be right? Look at what went down in 08'

The mariners trade away their top offensive prospect in Adam Jones, a highly touted young arm in Chris Tillman and just to salt it up a bit more they toss in George Sherrill who ended up having a very solid season as the birds closer. Now I was for this trade when it happened. Bedard was a front end lefty starter who in this park I felt could really explode. That didn't really happen as we all know. I would like to think he just was hurt and that against the teams better judgment hid this injury for longer than he should have. I want to believe that, I need to. But the fact remains this guy is just a pain in the ass. I listen to a lot of his interviews and I just don't get how he can act the way he does. Listen up Eric your getting paid millions of dollars to play a game for a living. Giving interviews is PART OF THE DEAL. If you don't like it your more than welcome to come back to the real world and work a 9-5 job in front of a computer all day where you don't have to have conversations with random people about how your fastball felt today.

Sexson went even further into the tank and ended up being released. People really gave him a hard time and I was one of them. But he did have a few decent years here before he just "lost it". That happens to players and its sad to see it go, we here in Seattle have seen it however all too much.

Both Manager and GM were asked to leave. Bavasi made some bad moves, but hind sight is 20-20. I don't think there were many of us out there who were not ecstatic over the Sexson and Beltre Signings. I remember when mike and I met Bavasi at a steak house after a spring training game in which both beltre and sexson played. My exact words to him "You have made two life long M's fans so happy!"





Those signings where huge at the time. Mcleran is a nice guy and a great coach, I don't know if Manager fits him, but we gave it a shot and he just couldn't control the club house. Oh and lets not forget that they still ahve yet to sign Josh Fields, who by many accounts is Major League ready and we may have traded our closer......

Anyway as we all know the Mariners had a rough year, battling it out for the top pick which they had locked up until for whatever reason they decided to win like 3 of their last 4 games, yeah great job.

But this is all the past lets look to the Future.

Jack Zduriencik is awesome, I had no idea who he was when he was hired but man I love what he is doing. Stock piling young left handed arms that remain under team control for foreseeable future. Also revamping the defense, so far it would appear that not many balls are going to get down in that outfield and that will be a nice change.

My concern is where will the offense come from. I love the front half of our potential rotation in Felix, Bedard, and Morrow. I'd love it if Rowland-Smith made the 4th spot and let the two pieces of garbage, Washburn and Silva, battle it out for the 5th spot. How about Don Wakamatsu flips a coin each 5th day, heads Washburn starts tails Silva.

Anyway with the front half being so good its fair to say we could see a lot 4 run games or less from them. The challenge will be how will this team score more than 4 runs on any given night let alone a run at all? This needs to be addressed and I don't know how. In fact I don't see how this year. Good thing this is a re-building year.

I'll end with this, everyone hope and pray for Bedard. I want us all to will him to a dominating 1st half. Then if the mariners can dump him for 75 cents on the dollar of what they gave up.... Just remember who the Marlins got for Josh Beckett...........Hanley Ramirez. We can only dream though.

Just a few thoughts as we are only days away from Pitchers and Catchers reporting to camp!