Tuesday, August 26, 2003
PRIORITY
Due to spending time with and helping my significant other move over the past couple days, I did not see either of the Sunday or Monday Mariners/Red Sox games. Thank God and thank you, Sara. I can't even tell you how much I would have been cursing at the television. Sara saved me a lot of stress over the past two days.
What was sick about Saturday was that before the Mariner game even started, the Blue Jays just rolled over and died and lost 17-2. WHAT THE HELL?? When did Oakland finally learn how to score runs? If this, or anywhere near this, keeps up for Oakland, the Mariners are dead. By the same token, if the Mariners losing streak gets much longer than the current six, then they're toast anyway. And I'll get to how the planets (and the Red Sox staff) aligned and Pedro got penciled in for Monday's start, essentially dooming the Mariners.
Think about this. All the Mariners really had to do was tread water. Everyone figured, oh, they could play crappy .500 ball the rest of the way out and they'll still win the division because Oakland doesn't have what it takes to make a run. Well, let's break down that last sentence. They're playing crappy, but now it's not anywhere NEAR .500. As for winning the division, they have to play ONE GAME better than Oakland the rest of the way (31 games; this Fairly Obvious fact brought to you by the Washington State Forests and Fish Law. Yes, that's a joke). Two months into the year, or even as recently as two to three weeks ago, any Mariner fan would have proudly put up their rotation against an Oakland rotation free of Mulder and with Hudson missing a start. Now...well, let's just say this is the first time in about three years that the rotation has collectively sucked as a whole. Seriously. The last time I can think of the Mariners sucking this bad as a whole is probably when they lost 8 straight in the dead of August (12th-20th, started when Niehaus and Co. decided to broadcast from the stands around the park for the first time) against the Indians (decent) and the friggin Tigers (still putrid back then, but swept the Mariners). They dropped a 1-5 homestand and then were swept at the Jake. That slide ended on August 22. The 2003 slide BEGAN on August 20. Yikes. As you all remember, the Mariners did happen to lose the division that year to the Oakland A's. Is there any dumbass left out there who's gonna use this argument (provided the Mariners win 90 games and miss the playoffs): Hey, the Mariners won 390 games the past four years; THAT'S SUCCESS? If law and order went out the window and our country was in a state of anarchy and chaos, I would punch anyone that said that. As a sidenote (and there better be a similar sidenote waiting in the wings this year), the 2000 team reeled off an 8-game winning streak (Sept 12-20, exactly a month after the losing streak), then lost three of four against Oakland at the Safe.
Oh yeah, and about the management...notice how they addressed the Mariners needs so well at the deadline: lefty reliever, third baseman, lefty bat off the bench. What did they get? Shortstop after Guillen busted his groin (immediate stopgap move there) and a righty closer to use in a setup role. Why did they need a righty reliever who it's becoming apparent that they have less and less confidence in?
I guess I can leave all this with a few things. One, the bullpen might have their arms fall off next week unless each guy in the rotation gets into the 7th or 8th. But I know, the chances of that happening are slim to none. But the starters getting deep is what needs to happen for the bullpen to get adequate rest. Second, I've said it here before and so has Jeremy; Soriano should never throw a pitch before the 7th inning coming out of the bullpen ever again. Third, Julio Mateo still rocks. Fourth, let me echo the sentiments of the almighty USS Mariner when I say that Mac and Mabry need to get the hell off this team. I don't care what the hell they did for this team and even though they got some hits in Saturday's game, they cost the Mariners a three-run swing thanks to an error and two boneheaded baserunning mistakes. Fifth, the trend was that the Mariners were beating the good teams and losing to the crappy ones; well, they just lost to the good teams; how good should we feel about the Mariners facing the crappy teams now? Sixth, if this team tries to hold on to the Wild Card, not only will I be sick, but if you don't think the Red Sox just got a huge boost of confidence, then you are out of your mind. Seventh, the Red Sox will probably succumb to a dose of Yankeeage come divisional play time and the Mariners have 6 against the A's in a 9-game span toward the end, and hopefully they aren't out of it by then, because that doesn't look so far out of the realm of possibility right now.
If we fans go through all this crap and get a World Series out of it, it'll all be worth it. If they don't, the fans who know any better won't let the Mariner brass get away with this. If the Mariners do get a WS out of this, it's sad that some people will actually try to justify Lincoln and Gillick's hackneyed method of maintaining and operating a baseball team. All I know is that Edgar deserves a WS ring, and the brass didn't do everything they could to give Edgar the best chance of getting one. Not even close. If the Mariners don't get Matt Stairs in the next 5 days...I don't have to tell you what I'll think. It's not like they even have to give up anything for this guy. And you know what trade would make me the happiest man in the world? Willie Bloomquist for Matt Stairs. I would love that immensely.
I have to say the last time the Mariners showed me anything to prove they belonged in the playoffs was the Yankee series, which was a mere 16-18 days ago. How quickly things change. Since then, these Mariners haven't shown me a damn thing to indicate that they even deserve to be a second place team. They've been crap.
Okay, almost 1am now and I gotta work at 8am tomorrow. More thoughts tomorrow after work when I dissect the game logs of these last two horrible games at Fenway. Seeya.
What was sick about Saturday was that before the Mariner game even started, the Blue Jays just rolled over and died and lost 17-2. WHAT THE HELL?? When did Oakland finally learn how to score runs? If this, or anywhere near this, keeps up for Oakland, the Mariners are dead. By the same token, if the Mariners losing streak gets much longer than the current six, then they're toast anyway. And I'll get to how the planets (and the Red Sox staff) aligned and Pedro got penciled in for Monday's start, essentially dooming the Mariners.
Think about this. All the Mariners really had to do was tread water. Everyone figured, oh, they could play crappy .500 ball the rest of the way out and they'll still win the division because Oakland doesn't have what it takes to make a run. Well, let's break down that last sentence. They're playing crappy, but now it's not anywhere NEAR .500. As for winning the division, they have to play ONE GAME better than Oakland the rest of the way (31 games; this Fairly Obvious fact brought to you by the Washington State Forests and Fish Law. Yes, that's a joke). Two months into the year, or even as recently as two to three weeks ago, any Mariner fan would have proudly put up their rotation against an Oakland rotation free of Mulder and with Hudson missing a start. Now...well, let's just say this is the first time in about three years that the rotation has collectively sucked as a whole. Seriously. The last time I can think of the Mariners sucking this bad as a whole is probably when they lost 8 straight in the dead of August (12th-20th, started when Niehaus and Co. decided to broadcast from the stands around the park for the first time) against the Indians (decent) and the friggin Tigers (still putrid back then, but swept the Mariners). They dropped a 1-5 homestand and then were swept at the Jake. That slide ended on August 22. The 2003 slide BEGAN on August 20. Yikes. As you all remember, the Mariners did happen to lose the division that year to the Oakland A's. Is there any dumbass left out there who's gonna use this argument (provided the Mariners win 90 games and miss the playoffs): Hey, the Mariners won 390 games the past four years; THAT'S SUCCESS? If law and order went out the window and our country was in a state of anarchy and chaos, I would punch anyone that said that. As a sidenote (and there better be a similar sidenote waiting in the wings this year), the 2000 team reeled off an 8-game winning streak (Sept 12-20, exactly a month after the losing streak), then lost three of four against Oakland at the Safe.
Oh yeah, and about the management...notice how they addressed the Mariners needs so well at the deadline: lefty reliever, third baseman, lefty bat off the bench. What did they get? Shortstop after Guillen busted his groin (immediate stopgap move there) and a righty closer to use in a setup role. Why did they need a righty reliever who it's becoming apparent that they have less and less confidence in?
I guess I can leave all this with a few things. One, the bullpen might have their arms fall off next week unless each guy in the rotation gets into the 7th or 8th. But I know, the chances of that happening are slim to none. But the starters getting deep is what needs to happen for the bullpen to get adequate rest. Second, I've said it here before and so has Jeremy; Soriano should never throw a pitch before the 7th inning coming out of the bullpen ever again. Third, Julio Mateo still rocks. Fourth, let me echo the sentiments of the almighty USS Mariner when I say that Mac and Mabry need to get the hell off this team. I don't care what the hell they did for this team and even though they got some hits in Saturday's game, they cost the Mariners a three-run swing thanks to an error and two boneheaded baserunning mistakes. Fifth, the trend was that the Mariners were beating the good teams and losing to the crappy ones; well, they just lost to the good teams; how good should we feel about the Mariners facing the crappy teams now? Sixth, if this team tries to hold on to the Wild Card, not only will I be sick, but if you don't think the Red Sox just got a huge boost of confidence, then you are out of your mind. Seventh, the Red Sox will probably succumb to a dose of Yankeeage come divisional play time and the Mariners have 6 against the A's in a 9-game span toward the end, and hopefully they aren't out of it by then, because that doesn't look so far out of the realm of possibility right now.
If we fans go through all this crap and get a World Series out of it, it'll all be worth it. If they don't, the fans who know any better won't let the Mariner brass get away with this. If the Mariners do get a WS out of this, it's sad that some people will actually try to justify Lincoln and Gillick's hackneyed method of maintaining and operating a baseball team. All I know is that Edgar deserves a WS ring, and the brass didn't do everything they could to give Edgar the best chance of getting one. Not even close. If the Mariners don't get Matt Stairs in the next 5 days...I don't have to tell you what I'll think. It's not like they even have to give up anything for this guy. And you know what trade would make me the happiest man in the world? Willie Bloomquist for Matt Stairs. I would love that immensely.
I have to say the last time the Mariners showed me anything to prove they belonged in the playoffs was the Yankee series, which was a mere 16-18 days ago. How quickly things change. Since then, these Mariners haven't shown me a damn thing to indicate that they even deserve to be a second place team. They've been crap.
Okay, almost 1am now and I gotta work at 8am tomorrow. More thoughts tomorrow after work when I dissect the game logs of these last two horrible games at Fenway. Seeya.
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