Mariners

Well, with 12 games to go and losing the last 4 games in a row  the Seattle Mariners are 10 games under .500 with no realistic chance of ending the season at .500, but still their best record in a few years, like that means anything.

Well, the team owners, the manager and others will put a positive spin on it as "building to the future with great prospects for 2013." Like, "Yeah, right", the same words we've heard the last few years of losing seasons.

And will the team has played its hearts out, it simply wasn't up to the tasking of winning more games than they lose. It's that simple. The Oakland A's, the Tamap Bay Rays and the Baltimore Orioles have similar stats for hitting, pitching and defense, and all of those teams have good winning records, two headed for the playoffs.

That said, the fans can feel good as the team was supposed to have a worse record, but hey, there's 12 games left to prove the skeptics right they would finish 20 games under .500. But all said and done, there's a some obvious things the Mariners need to do.

First, stop keeping players who promise to hit but can't, and don't hit much over .200 when then get to the majors. It's the same with them from the beginning of the season and they haven't learned how to hit.

Second, keep the defense as much as possible. They're the best in baseball, don't mess with it unless you find a better player who can hit over .250 and preferably near .300 like Chones Figgins was supposed to do but never did.

Third, find a firstbaseman. Both Smoak and Carp are great defensively but both are some of the worst hitters on the team. They hit lots of homeruns, but I'd rather they hit for average and RBI's, and not into so many outs.

Fourth, find a catcher. The ones they have are good, but they're not Dan Wilson, the best the Mariners have ever had defensively and a decent hitter. Find someone close and they're worth the whole set you have now.

Fifth, find a young Ichiro, a lead off hitter and great defensive player. You score runs with the first two hitters in the lineup on base. Fill those spots and then find your number 3, 4 and 5 hitters who are equally decent. Not necessarily overpowering but consistent for average.

And lastly, fire the GM. He promised a team and hasn't delivered after these years of losing seasons. You can't blame the players when the GM didn't hire the best the team could have had to field a winning team.

Anyway, right now, I'm still and always will be a Mariners fan, but winning helps fill Safeco Field and gets viewers. Next year we want results than promises. We'll hope for now and wait for it, but we expect winning.