Monday, April 26, 2004
UNLOCKED
I'm listening to David Locke vent on KJR at this little piece of the Finnigan article today...
A shakeup or major changes now would be looked on as panic, and we're not panicked," Melvin said. "We have guys we count on, we have to rely on our guys and expect them to fill their roles."
And those who might expect Melvin to erupt can think again. While he chewed his players out in a previous closed-door meeting, he won't take his frustration out on umpires as Piniella did on occasion.
He stayed in the dugout Saturday when Willie Bloomquist was called out on a bang-bang play at second.
"I thought he was out," Melvin said. "No one in the dugout even blinked, so I'm not going to go out and just vent.
"I'm not going to manufacture an incident, go out and scream. I'm in a tough position from the guy (Piniella) who preceded me. When you follow someone who is the way he is, there are expectations, especially after his success.
"But I don't believe you can be someone you're not."
Basically how Locke responded can be summed up in two thoughts --
>> Melvin, your team SUCKS. You BETTER be panicking.
>> SHUT UP. There's nothing you can do about the manager that was there before you, so SHUT UP. This is a loser's mentality if there ever was one.
Then Locke later brought up how Ichiro is off right now, and where he goes, the team goes. Locke then said that if Ichiro keeps putting up "Kenny Lofton- or Tony Womack-type" numbers, then Ichiro's 4-year $44M contract he signed in December may be one of the worst contracts in Mariner history. While I'm not sure if I'd go quite that far, I will say that we were definitely complaining about the dollar amount last December. I'll end this paragraph by saying that I wish Miguel Tejada was Japanese.
Locke also made some casual observations in the Seattle area. He said he came up to a group of guys and asked how the Mariners did, though he already knew. They chuckled at the Mariners' losing, something Locke found "bizarre." He said he's seen situations with a bad team where the fans are angry or frustrated with how their team is doing, but he's never seen something where people chuckle and laugh at the misdoings of the team, as if in a "I told you so" or "serves 'em right" kind of reaction. Quite frankly, I'm not going to lie to you, but I was laughing deliriously when Adrian Gonzalez' home run (the third of the three straight) sailed off his bat, and I was yelling "GO GO GO!!!" once Kevin Mench collected his final hit, hoping it would go into the gap. Why? I guess I really hated the offseason. I guess I'm just finally fed up to the point where I don't even care what happens anymore. In some ways, it's a win-win situation, because if the Mariners win, great, but if they lose, then HAHA!! It's kind of sick to know I can root for the team and still pull for everything to blow up in the faces of Bill Bavasi and Howard Lincoln.
Locke also put out these numbers...
>> If the Mariners played 93-win baseball (percentage-wise) the rest of the way, they will win 82 games
>> If the Mariners played 100-win baseball the rest of the way, they will win 88
Ah, yes, it's Monday night...
...and the Colorado Avalanche are DEAD. It was unjust in the first place that they got past the first round against a Dallas team that basically laid down for them when Vancouver lost a hard-fought series against a gritty Calgary team. Say goodbye to the 2003-2004 Colorado Avalanche. Damn, the Sharks look good.
Monday night continues...
A shakeup or major changes now would be looked on as panic, and we're not panicked," Melvin said. "We have guys we count on, we have to rely on our guys and expect them to fill their roles."
And those who might expect Melvin to erupt can think again. While he chewed his players out in a previous closed-door meeting, he won't take his frustration out on umpires as Piniella did on occasion.
He stayed in the dugout Saturday when Willie Bloomquist was called out on a bang-bang play at second.
"I thought he was out," Melvin said. "No one in the dugout even blinked, so I'm not going to go out and just vent.
"I'm not going to manufacture an incident, go out and scream. I'm in a tough position from the guy (Piniella) who preceded me. When you follow someone who is the way he is, there are expectations, especially after his success.
"But I don't believe you can be someone you're not."
Basically how Locke responded can be summed up in two thoughts --
>> Melvin, your team SUCKS. You BETTER be panicking.
>> SHUT UP. There's nothing you can do about the manager that was there before you, so SHUT UP. This is a loser's mentality if there ever was one.
Then Locke later brought up how Ichiro is off right now, and where he goes, the team goes. Locke then said that if Ichiro keeps putting up "Kenny Lofton- or Tony Womack-type" numbers, then Ichiro's 4-year $44M contract he signed in December may be one of the worst contracts in Mariner history. While I'm not sure if I'd go quite that far, I will say that we were definitely complaining about the dollar amount last December. I'll end this paragraph by saying that I wish Miguel Tejada was Japanese.
Locke also made some casual observations in the Seattle area. He said he came up to a group of guys and asked how the Mariners did, though he already knew. They chuckled at the Mariners' losing, something Locke found "bizarre." He said he's seen situations with a bad team where the fans are angry or frustrated with how their team is doing, but he's never seen something where people chuckle and laugh at the misdoings of the team, as if in a "I told you so" or "serves 'em right" kind of reaction. Quite frankly, I'm not going to lie to you, but I was laughing deliriously when Adrian Gonzalez' home run (the third of the three straight) sailed off his bat, and I was yelling "GO GO GO!!!" once Kevin Mench collected his final hit, hoping it would go into the gap. Why? I guess I really hated the offseason. I guess I'm just finally fed up to the point where I don't even care what happens anymore. In some ways, it's a win-win situation, because if the Mariners win, great, but if they lose, then HAHA!! It's kind of sick to know I can root for the team and still pull for everything to blow up in the faces of Bill Bavasi and Howard Lincoln.
Locke also put out these numbers...
>> If the Mariners played 93-win baseball (percentage-wise) the rest of the way, they will win 82 games
>> If the Mariners played 100-win baseball the rest of the way, they will win 88
Ah, yes, it's Monday night...
...and the Colorado Avalanche are DEAD. It was unjust in the first place that they got past the first round against a Dallas team that basically laid down for them when Vancouver lost a hard-fought series against a gritty Calgary team. Say goodbye to the 2003-2004 Colorado Avalanche. Damn, the Sharks look good.
Monday night continues...
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