All-Star Break

Well, the baseball season has hit the just over halfway mark with the break for the annual all-star game next Tuesday, and I just watched the Mariners lose 2-1 in 13 innings to the Oakland A's, the team with the worst team hitting average in baseball.

But then the Mariners can't say too much, they have the second worst team hitting average in baseball. On top of that, they don't have one player hitting over .270 average, not even Ichiro this year. And that's not all, they're now the worst team in the American league, 15 games below .500 and only better than 4 national league teams, who all are 20 or more games below .500.

There is some good news. They have one of the best defensive teams in baseball and a decent pitching team (about average). But that's all the good news, because believe it or not, they don't have any better players on their triple-A team, the Tacoma Rainiers who are in last place in their division 13 games below .500.

Yeah, really, that bad, and it can only get worse in the second half of the season, easily on pace to lose 90 games for another season, for 4 of the last 5 seasons and 6 of the last 9 seasons. This is the team each year the owners and General Manager calls "building for the future."

Well, they're right if the future is fielding one of the worst teams in the American league with no real hitting threats, only one real pitching threat who doesn't get run support to win, and a good defensive team who can't hit let alone win. And they're right if them keep the same GM who supposedly makes great trades and finds good prospects to field the team we're supposedly to love and rout for.

Really? This will be the 3rd of the 4th losing season under the current GM. Yeah. Why hasn't he been fired or replaced? All we hear from him are hype and promises. And we've been through numerous managers over the years, all of whom eventually get fired. For what?

Well the current manager, Eric Wedge, is finally getting the point across, it's the players. They're paid enoumous salaries to play baseball. They're professionals and they're playing worse than their own triple-A team. Even the announcers and the fans like me can see what they're doing wrong.

Eric Wedge is right. There's nothing that can be done. Only the players have to start being professional players. They play hard, especially defensively, but they can't hit. It's that simple and it's that obvious even to fans. And unless they change, the season is done and will be burnt by Labor Day.

How about it Mariners? Any hope more than words? We'll see but I don't see anything positive when they have nothing to trade by the July 31st trade deadline except Ichiro, and judging from the vision of the GM, I doubt he'd know who to trade for except more of the same quality triple-A level players who are"good prospects."

The same words we've heard from him for several years now. It's started a long season and it will end one too.