The Pessimism and the Love

When the Mariners started playing better in May and June, it made baseball relevant in Seattle once again. Despite the fact that last year's version of atrocity stood only five and a half games back in early August, that squad never had a shot at it. They flirted with .500, but not much else. The division struggled along and the Mariners played nice until a 0-11 stretch to spell their annual doom.

This year the Mariners decided to make things interesting heading into the All-Star break. They took three out of four from the Athletics with Jason Kendall and were only one game back in the Wild Card race and two and a half out of the division lead. After splitting a four game series with powerhouse Detroit and taking two of three from Baltimore, the M's headed out to the land of Joe Carter home runs and Maple Leafs. After a series opening win against Toronto, somehow Josh Towers dominated the Seattle line up and the M's lost 1-0. But with Felix going against Doc Halladay, everything could be ok.

But it wasn't.

And it continued to not be ok.

Seven losses later, I was officially worried. Since I spend most of my time being completely pessimistic about this team, I expected the worse. Thank God the Jason Kendall-less A's are worse than the previous version. Three out of four again from the A's and a big series with the Angels. The series finale ended about 14 minutes ago and the M's took two of three to now stand only three games out of first place in the West and only one half game out of the Wild Card with a 59-47 record.

So everything is great again. Not so fast.

This team still worries me. They made a great decision in not trading a top prospect or even major league talent for mediocre relief pitchers such as Al Reyes, Octavio Dotel, or Dan Wheeler. Yet the could have used a starter like Jon Garland. No one knows if the White Sox would even trade him, but the M's need something.

The top three currently are ok. Felix Hernandez (7-6, 3.89 ERA) is pitching better and better with a 4-3 record and 3.44 ERA in his last ten starts. Yet if you look closer, there are some disturbing numbers. Against winning teams, Felix holds a 2-3 record and 5.04 ERA. That doesn't reflect an ace of the staff. He pitched pretty well tonight against the Angels and stood in line to win before a rare blown save by J.J. Putz.

Jarrod Washburn (8-7, 4.11 ERA) seems to look great one night and awful the next. He also struggles against top competition with a 1-4 record and 4.53 ERA against winning squads. With only two starts at seven or more innings in his past ten starts, you can only count on him for 5-6 innings per start.

Miguel Batista (11-7, 4.23 ERA) certainly stands out as the surprise of the staff. With his dominance of the Angels two games ago, he stands 4-4 with a 4.31 ERA against winning teams.

This trio concerns me in a potential playoff match up with the Tigers (Verlander, Bonderman, Rogers/Miller/Robertson), Red Sox (Beckett, Schilling, Dice-K), Yankees (Clemens, Pettite, Wang/Mussina), or Indians (Sabathia, Carmona, Byrd). The Mariners would not have an advantage in any match up.

Yet with a powerfully strong bullpen, the recent concern involves the offense. In the seven game losing streak Ichiro hit .233, Guillen hit .250, Sexson hit .230, Ibanez .167, Kenji Johjima .136, and Lopez .207. Awful. Going outside those seven games, the big time issue centers on Richie Sexson and Raul Ibanez.

Ichiro .347, 75 R, 30 SB
Vidro .306, 3 HR, 35 RBI
Guillen .282, 13 HR, 62 RBI
Beltre .274, 16 HR, 62 RBI
Ibanez .253, 6 HR, 61 RBI
Sexson .200, 17 HR, 54 RBI
Johjima .269, 11 HR, 39 RBI
Lopez .261, 8 HR, 49 RBI
Betancourt .281, 5 HR, 35 RBI

Would it be nice to get more power from Guillen and Beltre? Of course. Would it be great if Lopez and Betancourt could raise their averages a little? Yes. But look at Ibanez and Sexson and this doens't involve splits, OPS, or any other fancy baseball stats.

Ibanez has six homers and he sits in the middle of the line up. I never expect a long ball from him anymore. Sexson simply stinks. The homers mean nothing. In fact, the two homers in July simply don't do much. And Sexson has sucked all year. .145 in April, .232 in May, .235 in June, and .165 in July. Wow. What a joke. How bad is it when Seattle fans boo you? This isn't Boston or New York. You have to be absolutely atrocious to get booed in Seattle. I love it.

Raul's .184 July average to go with no homers also sucks. The answer to the issues? Adam Jones.

How long do we have to wait for this? Bring the man up.

Jones .309, 24 HR, 82 RBI, 73 R in AAA Tacoma.

And don't give me that he hasn't proven anything against Major League pitching. If that proved to be a valid argument, you would never bring anyone up. And under that premise, Big Sexy hasn't proven anything this year either.

Put Jones in left. Ibanez can DH some with Vidro. Broussard needs more playing time and Sexson needs to sit the bench. I asked for this at the All-Star break and the newspapers reported it would happen. Then it didn't. My theory involves Jason Ellison. I think they were going to release him and bring Jones up, but when J-Ell stood up for Ichiro and wanted to fight, they couldn't do it.

Now time is removed a little and no one remembers that Ellison exists, so it is time. The addition could mean playoffs where it will give me an opportunity to worry about pitching match ups. Otherwise I will be pissed off and upset when they don't make the playoffs and will be fully into Seahawks mode.

Get it done.