It is time

Update July 24th.-- There is no excuse for the Mariner's pitching staff with today's game against the Toronto Blue Jays. Happ gave up 3 runs in the first inning, but the offense came back to score 6 runs going into the 8th inning, but then Rodney gave up a two run homer to tie the game and Smith gave up two more runs to lose the game.

Can anyone tell me why the team still has Fernando Rodney? He's blown more games recently than he did all of last year. All he had to do is hold the Blue Jays in the 6-4 lead the Mariners had and he threw a fast ball right down the center of the plate for a 2-run homer.

It's a WTF about McClendon. What is he doing or not doing to manage the team? There are no more excuses for this team. As one baseball analysist said, "If you're not over .500 August 1st, you're out of the playoffs. They can't get back to .500 by then with games like this, let alone in the playoffs.

This team has a lot on paper, but the fans are tired of all the "What if's", the talk about opportunities, almost always blown,  and the talk being positive about losing. There's no positive side of losing in baseball. This game showed it as the Blue Jays came back and won against an inept pitching staff.

All the offense and defense can't overcome bad pitching. They're in the bottom 3 in hitting but they have their games, just inconsistently. But their pitching, one of the best last year, is abysmal this year. All the early season talk is gone and reality is here.

So it's time Mariners decide. And it's time for the owner decide about the coaches. They're fighting for last place in the West and worst record in the American league. That's not a team the fans pay for, no matter how much the sports announcers spin it. You can't hide losing with words.

July 19th Post.-- I just watched the Mariners lose 2-1 in a game with the New York Yankees, losing when Fernando Rodney threw a fast ball right in the place the Yankee hitter parked it in the right field stands in the bottom of the eighth, and then two of the three batters in the top of the ninth struck out.

It's time the Mariners take a hard look at themselves and decide if they want to win or not, because they're not showing it to the fans. They're fighting for last place in hitting, they're in the middle of the stats for pitching and only the defense is worth talking about, being in the top ten.

It's time management of the Mariners took a hard look at Loyld McClendon as manager as he was lucky last year with a team that overachieved and now has a team that's vastly underachieving, fighting with Oakland for last place in the Western Division. And he's the one in charge.

It's time the whole team decided what kind of season they want and how they want to end it because they're now 8 games under .500 and losing more than they're winning since losing 7 straight games to go from .500 to one of the worst teams in the American league.

It's time they decided to play baseball and win, and if that takes change, then so be it. We didn't build Safeco Field for a consistently losing team, which is what they've been all season. It's time they got their act together for themselves if for nothing else than pride.

Or else they're looking at doing the same thing we'll be doing, watching the playoffs on TV. But they'll know they had their chance and blew it.