I Would Say

I would have said, as I did the last few years, that by June 1st you could stick a fork in the Seattle Mariners as they are done for the season, and will finish near the bottom with a losing record. Last year they surprised everyone almost making the one-game wildcard playoff game.

And this year they are supposed to be in the playoffs, even challenging for, if not being in, the lead of the western division of the American League. Well, so much for early season predictions as they have proven they can lose with better talented players than last year but underachieving for their career statistics.

They're currently in a seven game losing streak, going from .500 at 24 wins and 24 loses, to 31 loses. Robinson Cano said this was a team that could reel off a 10-game winning streak if they wanted, but he didn't say they could also reel off a 7-game losing streak with the same players.

Granted they've lost two of the starting pitchers, but they hitting is near the bottom, even with the addition of Nelson Cruz who's playing great, because the rest of the team isn't hitting their career numbers, and they're losing games by 1 or 2 runs, something good hitting overcomes.

So far they have to get their act turned around and start winning, and if they can't be at or over .500 by the all-star break, they have a deep hole to climb out and likely won't to make the playoffs. As they say, it's a long season, especially if you're losing, but they have to play better.

I attribute this to their manager. While you can argue managers don't change the win-loss stats, players do, managers set the tone for the team, and I thought they had a good one in Eric Wedge, with a proven record of winners, Lloyd McClendon doesn't and his style doesn't appear to encourage enthusiasm.

This is noted when the Mariners were in a 5-game losing streak recently and all he could say was, "It's ok. They'll get things turned around." So what's the excuse this time in a 7-game losing streak? The team is supposed to be winning and fighting for the division lead, not 4th place ahead of Oakland.

McClendon was kinda' lucky the team overachieved last year to come up one win short of the playoffs. This year expectations are the playoff, and I expect the owners should and will fire McClendon if the team doesn't have at least a winning record and maybe make the playoffs.

The fans deserve it, and yes managers are often scape-goats for team failures, but they have the makings of a good team, they're just not playing to the level they have and can, so how about it Mariners? Do what Cano said, win.