Mariners Take the Tigers off the Endangered Species List

The Mariners just keep on giving. They give until it hurts and lately it has been hurting a lot. Taking their generosity on the road, the Mariners have engaged in a tour of their fellow bottom feeders. Their first stop was Detroit, home of the stupid, giant plastic tiger. The team that dwells under that tiger has not fared so well this season. After bloating its payroll to NY/Boston proportions all they have to show for it is last place in the AL Central. This proves two things, baseball, like the rest of the country, is not recession proof and Leyland works better with a small budget. Still, the Mariners made these guys look like shades of the ’06 season.
With only three players flirting with 300, Ichiro, Lopez and Ibanez, the Mariners aren’t going to win too many games with their bats. Ichiro may drop in a base hit, steal second and advance to third when the nervous pitcher uncorks one over the catchers’ head, but when he is left for dead at third, it is all for naught. McLaren can continue to toss his line ups into a blender, but it all comes out the same. A weak hitter is a weak hitter no matter where he bats in the order.
As for pitching, Felix and Silva are the only two who can be considered to have a good outing. Bedard has yet to have the starts to prove he is the Ace. We can write it off to the injuries, but time is running out. We are at the quarter mark of the season. That is when people start guessing which manager is next to feel the ax. Leyland was a candidate, but the Mariners pulled him off the block. Whether they threw Johnny Mac in his place is another question.
Once you go beyond the starters, you get to the bullpen. In the Mariners case, the bullpen usually appears around the 4th or 5th inning. Lately it has been in the form of Baek; does he have the crappiest job in baseball? After him it’s the usual suspects surrendering base on balls in between base hits. These days J.J. has joined Sasquatch as a Northwest Urban Myth.
Before playing the Mariners, Tigers batters looked anemic. Renteria was considered over paid and under achieving. After game 1, when he almost hit for the cycle, he was almost as popular as the town’s NHL and NBA franchises. Even the likeable Sheffield turned Tigers fans frowns upside down when he pulverized Batista and Dickey in game 3. Using Batista in a get away game start is questionable since he always has an inning that lasts so long they risk missing their flight and, face it, there is at team at the end of the destination waiting to get fat off Mariners pitching.
When the hitters and pitchers aren’t doing their utmost to further another team’s cause, you can count on the sieve like defense to cough up a few runs. Lopez may be one of the better Mariners with a bat, but he is scary in the field and Reed proved in game 3 he can be as short of the fence defensively as he can offensively. Toss in Balentien acting as if every ball that dropped into right field in game 3 was made of plutonium and it is obvious that the Mariners bleed opposing team runs.
As the team plummets, McLaren continues to fiddle and not all of it is positive. He admitted that he started Burke behind the plate for game 2 because Washburn is more comfortable with him as catcher. Washburn lasted 2.1 innings and gave up 9 runs. Kenji is a good catcher and after struggling at the plate in the early part of the season, screwing with his head regarding his defense is a questionable call. If Bedard, already accorded Ace status, wants a private catcher, so be it. But Washburn, he doesn’t even rate an engraved name plate over his locker.
In case Tigers fan go crazy and imagine three champion ship teams, they aren’t out of the woods yet. Their pitching struggled, but was helped by the inopportune Mariners bats.
Having been swept more than a barber shop floor, the Mariners are off the New York to breathe life into a deflating Yankees team. The highlight may well be Dave Niehaus’ induction into the Hall of Fame.
One last thing, Magglio Ordonez has two children, a son, Magglio, and a daughter, Maglianna.
Vote for Beltre.
Make Edgar the Hitting Coach and put him in the Hall of Fame.