Monday, May 12, 2008
BAKER'S DOZEN
I don't know how formatted this will be compared to any earlier output, but here goes.
-- The Mariners lost tonight on a game-ending blast by Ramon Vazquez, who merely put the barrel on a Brandon Morrow fastball. How I wish he had three pitches and could be a starter (sigh). Anyway, when I used to do the game posts after every game, the race against the decade was included near the end of the post (along with the gameballs and goats). Here is that race...
Yr W-L pct GB
2001 31-9 .775 --
2002 28-12 .700 3
2003 25-15 .625 6
2000 22-18 .550 9
2007 19-21 .475 12
2006 17-23 .425 14
2005 16-24 .400 15
2008 15-25 .375 16
2004 14-26 .350 17
-- Streaks. The Mariners have had single-game win streaks (not really streaks) six times, two-game winning streaks three times, and one three-game winning streak. Conversely, the Mariners have had three one-gamers (not counting the current one), two two-game losing streaks, one three-gamer, one four-gamer, and two five-game losing streaks. They've lost six of their last seven, 11 of 12, 12 of 15, and 15 of 19. Related to the last of the previous sentence, they've lost 15 of 19 games since they last won conseuctive games. That was way back when they were 11-10, one game above .500, and that may prove to be the high-water mark of the season.
-- The worst way to read the pseudo-decade standings is that the current Mariners are only one game better than the 2004 team, which is not good. This 2008 team had pretty high expectations placed upon it, maybe not necessarily from the fans en masse, but definitely by the front office, who in turn wanted us to believe the expectations were high. I didn't expect the 2004 team to be anywhere near as good as the 2003 team, and I didn't think they'd make the playoffs, but no one expected it to be that horrible. I expected the current team to have roughly the same record or slightly worse than they had last year, of course not seeing it go quite this bad in this case either. Still, before the season I didn't expect them to make the playoffs, and I definitely don't now. While Geoff Baker may not buy the argument by haters of the Bedard trade (the Mariners making the move like they were one-piece-away), my take on that trade was that it was the kind of move a division winner makes to get to the World Series and possibly win it rather than a trade a middling team makes to get into the playoffs. I can't help but think "they traded how much to only probably get how far?"
-- During the Mariners' latest dash of hitting futility (which makes it hilarious that they scored a dozen runs tonight and still lost), they were completely and utterly unwatchable. I think I watched or listened to every game of the 2006 season, and even then there weren't times where I just said, "aw, screw it, I'm not watching the game today," or got sick of a game and turned it off. When the Mariners had that series at Yankee Stadium a couple weekends ago, I seriously turned off those games. I mean, they were brutally bad. At least during a hilariously bad game I can still laugh, but these were worse. Couple any of this with the Geoff Baker-endorsed trailing-by-two-runs stat (the Mariners finally won on their 20th try!), and you pretty much gave up hope anyway. So usually I'd pull up the Mariners in my browser and pray like hell something good happens. At the point of futility the Mariners found themselves, I was willing to settle for anything to make me want to give a crap about the team again. That's when Richie Sexson charged the mound, threw his helmet at the back of Kason Gabbard, then tackled him. Sure, such a thing doesn't work as well as it would in hockey, but I was absolutely tired of seeing/hearing/reading this team having no fight or emotion in them whatsoever. I felt like between last season's Canucks and the Mariners so far, I'd been had since neither team played with fire or heart or emotion, etc. At least the Mariners didn't have a playoff spot within their reach. The Canucks lost seven of eight down the stretch to fall out of the playoff picture. Imagine if every night was a must-win and your team didn't come through. If I did a little more thinking, I'd run some hockey/baseball comparison -- for the Canucks, Tom Larscheid always says your best players have to be your best players. In other words, if Alex Burrows and Ryan Kesler are your best players while your captain and $6 million man is held off the scoresheet for six or seven straight games, there's a problem. In baseball (hunch), I think your best players just have to be your most consistent players. This is probably just me spouting gibberish, but in baseball you can't double-shift your guy in the lineup, so the thinking is a bit different, I think. I'm rusty here, work with me.
Back in the day, I would never end a post so I could watch some random Discovery Channel show, but here I am cutting it so I can watch Verminators. Oh yes.
-- The Mariners lost tonight on a game-ending blast by Ramon Vazquez, who merely put the barrel on a Brandon Morrow fastball. How I wish he had three pitches and could be a starter (sigh). Anyway, when I used to do the game posts after every game, the race against the decade was included near the end of the post (along with the gameballs and goats). Here is that race...
Yr W-L pct GB
2001 31-9 .775 --
2002 28-12 .700 3
2003 25-15 .625 6
2000 22-18 .550 9
2007 19-21 .475 12
2006 17-23 .425 14
2005 16-24 .400 15
2008 15-25 .375 16
2004 14-26 .350 17
-- Streaks. The Mariners have had single-game win streaks (not really streaks) six times, two-game winning streaks three times, and one three-game winning streak. Conversely, the Mariners have had three one-gamers (not counting the current one), two two-game losing streaks, one three-gamer, one four-gamer, and two five-game losing streaks. They've lost six of their last seven, 11 of 12, 12 of 15, and 15 of 19. Related to the last of the previous sentence, they've lost 15 of 19 games since they last won conseuctive games. That was way back when they were 11-10, one game above .500, and that may prove to be the high-water mark of the season.
-- The worst way to read the pseudo-decade standings is that the current Mariners are only one game better than the 2004 team, which is not good. This 2008 team had pretty high expectations placed upon it, maybe not necessarily from the fans en masse, but definitely by the front office, who in turn wanted us to believe the expectations were high. I didn't expect the 2004 team to be anywhere near as good as the 2003 team, and I didn't think they'd make the playoffs, but no one expected it to be that horrible. I expected the current team to have roughly the same record or slightly worse than they had last year, of course not seeing it go quite this bad in this case either. Still, before the season I didn't expect them to make the playoffs, and I definitely don't now. While Geoff Baker may not buy the argument by haters of the Bedard trade (the Mariners making the move like they were one-piece-away), my take on that trade was that it was the kind of move a division winner makes to get to the World Series and possibly win it rather than a trade a middling team makes to get into the playoffs. I can't help but think "they traded how much to only probably get how far?"
-- During the Mariners' latest dash of hitting futility (which makes it hilarious that they scored a dozen runs tonight and still lost), they were completely and utterly unwatchable. I think I watched or listened to every game of the 2006 season, and even then there weren't times where I just said, "aw, screw it, I'm not watching the game today," or got sick of a game and turned it off. When the Mariners had that series at Yankee Stadium a couple weekends ago, I seriously turned off those games. I mean, they were brutally bad. At least during a hilariously bad game I can still laugh, but these were worse. Couple any of this with the Geoff Baker-endorsed trailing-by-two-runs stat (the Mariners finally won on their 20th try!), and you pretty much gave up hope anyway. So usually I'd pull up the Mariners in my browser and pray like hell something good happens. At the point of futility the Mariners found themselves, I was willing to settle for anything to make me want to give a crap about the team again. That's when Richie Sexson charged the mound, threw his helmet at the back of Kason Gabbard, then tackled him. Sure, such a thing doesn't work as well as it would in hockey, but I was absolutely tired of seeing/hearing/reading this team having no fight or emotion in them whatsoever. I felt like between last season's Canucks and the Mariners so far, I'd been had since neither team played with fire or heart or emotion, etc. At least the Mariners didn't have a playoff spot within their reach. The Canucks lost seven of eight down the stretch to fall out of the playoff picture. Imagine if every night was a must-win and your team didn't come through. If I did a little more thinking, I'd run some hockey/baseball comparison -- for the Canucks, Tom Larscheid always says your best players have to be your best players. In other words, if Alex Burrows and Ryan Kesler are your best players while your captain and $6 million man is held off the scoresheet for six or seven straight games, there's a problem. In baseball (hunch), I think your best players just have to be your most consistent players. This is probably just me spouting gibberish, but in baseball you can't double-shift your guy in the lineup, so the thinking is a bit different, I think. I'm rusty here, work with me.
Back in the day, I would never end a post so I could watch some random Discovery Channel show, but here I am cutting it so I can watch Verminators. Oh yes.
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Wednesday, April 23, 2008
OVER NOW
So this is how it ends. Sure, there were people out there who thought Shaun Alexander would tail off after getting the big contract, but did anyone think the decline would be quite this precipitous? The guy that won the MVP for the 2005 season is right now looking for work going into the 2008 season. Quite something, really. One comparison I like to make is that Markus Naslund has been on the decline for the last four seasons with the Canucks. The West Coast Express line (Morrison/Naslund/Bertuzzi) saw its peak in 2002-03, and Naslund went off with a 104-point season. Since then, it's been 84, 79, 60, and 55, all while wearing the captain's "C." If it weren't for the rumors that the Canucks are about to hire Naslund's agent as the GM, I would say he would get run out of Vancouver. The point is that Naslund's been falling for the last four years, but the Canucks and their fans might still be stuck with him (though it might run the coach out of town).
I can't help but think about when Shaun Alexander landed on the cover of Madden '07 and got injured pretty early on the following season. At that point, Jeremy became a full believer in the Madden Curse.
I can't help but think Alexander's going to have a 1000-yard season for someone else, but there was no more room for the Seahawks to wait. I'm still kind of surprised they didn't wait until June 1st, but whatever.
This should make for a slightly more fun draft weekend, I guess...
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Saturday, April 19, 2008
MARZ ATTACKS
My favorite memory of former Mariner catcher John Marzano is depicted above. In a Yankees/Mariners game at the Kingdome, Paul O'Neill was at the plate and chirped at the umpire. Marzano took exception to said chirping, and then a skirmish ensued. With that, Marzano wasn't just Dan Wilson's backup catcher, he had cemented himself in the hearts of Mariner fans throughout the Northwest. The fact that he hit .287 in 39 games for the AL West-winning 1997 team didn't hurt either.
John Robert Marzano unexpectedly left us today at the much-too-young age of 45, but his memory will live on with Mariner fans, not to mention all his friends, family, etc., in his native Philadelphia. To give an extra Mariner perspective to this, Jamie Moyer, also from the Philadephia area, was born about three months before Marzano.
Marzano, probably the awesomest backup catcher in the Dan Wilson era, will be missed.
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Sunday, October 14, 2007
SAINTS/SEAHAWKS RECAP
Okay, so the Seahawks lost at home to a winless team to drop to .500 at 3-3? I'm not sure I expect them to win next week at home against a winless team of Saint Louis Rams.
Until they show me they can compete like they're capable...
Go Canucks Go!
Seriously, it's become a "wake me when the Seahawks show something becoming of a team that can go somewhere in the playoffs" thing. Hell, they might have to worry about merely making the playoffs at this pace.
I'll track the Seahawks, sure, but more of my eggs are in the Canuck basket right now. Just brutal.
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SAINTS AT SEAHAWKS, 10.14.07
New Orleans SAINTS at Seattle SEAHAWKS, 5:15p (NBC)
Well, it's a Sunday nighter.
I guess the creepy thing is that this would really suck if the Seahawks lost to an 0-4 team of Saints. That would drop the Seahawks to .500, and that would be terrible. What would be even worse? Next week, the Seahawks host an 0-6 team of Rams. It would be doomsday for the Seahawks if somehow they found a way to lose the next two games, both at home.
Really, though, they should take care of business. I didn't expect them to walk out of Pittsburgh last Sunday with a win, but I didn't expect an all-out nothingfest out of the team either. Somewhere in these next two weeks, which should both be wins, the Seahawks need to find their running game. If they don't do it now, I don't know when they'll do it. More importantly, the Seahawks need to get a running game going because now Deion Branch is out in addition to DJ Hackett.
I miss DJ Hackett. I miss a running game too.
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Monday, October 08, 2007
THIRTY-EIGHT
An undrafted free agent.
Fifteen seasons in a Seahawk uniform.
The embodiment of stability for the Seahawks.
Mack Strong, the ultimate team player, retired on Monday due to a herniated disc that pinched the spinal cord a bit.
With this, Leonard Weaver gets the starting fullback job, but it's a sudden end to a great career. An entire generation of Seahawk fans have seen only number 38 as the lead blocker for their team.
Happy trails, Mack Strong.
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Sunday, October 07, 2007
SEAHAWKS AT STEELERS, 10.7.07
Seattle SEAHAWKS at Pittsburgh STEELERS, 10a (Fox)
Obviously, if something closer to the defense that showed up last Sunday in San Francisco is present in this game, the Seahawks win. If something closer to what shows up in Arizona is what appears for Seattle today, then that's bad. Good for the Seahawks today is that Casey Hampton and Troy Polamalu are out.
Hopefully it's a win and the Seahawks are 4-1. That'd be great.
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Sunday, September 30, 2007
SEAHAWKS AT 49ERS, 9.30.07
Seattle SEAHAWKS at San Francisco 49ERS, 1p (Fox)
The 2-1 Seahawks that should be 3-0 have their biggest game of the year to date today -- a divisional game on the road. They need this win. If the Seahawks know what's good for them, they'll jump ahead early and make the 49ers put the game into Alex Smith's hands. Then again, when was the last time the Seahawks ever made it easy? They had the game in Arizona on Josh Brown's foot and were well within his field-goal range when the botched handoff happened.
Basically, the closer the Seahawks get to playing a full game of football, the better. Also, 3-1 looks a lot better than 2-2, especially if the two losses were within the division.
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