Seattle Mariners

I posted my view of the Seattle Mariners this season earlier this month, and it seems nothing has changed. Wait, it has. They're now 8 games under .500, losing today (6/26) to the Los Angeles Angels on a passed ball in the bottom of the 10th inning, scoring the man from third.

I still contend they have the makings of a winning team to make the playoffs, but they don't seem to be doing that and now are fighting the Oakland A's for the last place in the division. Really. They're last in the both leagues in hitting, near average in fielding and only good in pitching.

So what's the problem with them? Good question the manager should be asking himself and getting the team to playing better and winning, but this may be a place where the best alternative is what you already have, meaning there's not better choices available and you have to go with the team and manager you have.

After all, will the management of the Mariners realize McClendon wasn't the best choice for manager when they selected him after Eric Wedge quit in a dispute with the General Manager (GM) over player decisions. And sure enough the GM repeated the same practice this year of geting players at the end of their careers who don't perform.

Ever since the Mariners hired Zdurienick as GM they've never finished higher than 3rd in the division, and they're on their 4th manager under his management. Kinda' makes you wonder why the owners and team president hasn't thought of why they still have him as GM. He promises but never fulfills.

And that's the sad reality of it. Mariner fans deserve better from this team but not winning. There's no two ways to say, they find ways to lose games. So, while it's too early to say, "Stick a fork in them.", just yet, and the rule is that if they're not better by the All-Star break, they're in trouble and not better by August 1st, they're done.

As one sports writer wrote, they're just a two-week wining streak from being competitive contending for the playoffs, but not if they don't get better. How long can the Seattle sports writers and game announcers keep putting a positive spin on a team that's losing?

How many times do they have to keep saying, "If...", as if the tean would suddenly starting winning? The fans are waiting Mariners. The ball's in your glove now. We can hope, but how long does it take? Or maybe it's time the team, including the executives, to rethink who's running the team?