Seattle Insomniac
Sports Musings and Commentary–With a Great Northwest Slant
Archive for June, 2007
June 13, 2007 at 12:08 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
If you had told me back in the second week of April that this team was going to be three games back of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Azusa, Cucamonga and all points east in the AL West, or one game back of Cleveland and Detroit for the AL Wild Card spot (with a cumulative record of 35-26 and a winning percentage of .574), I’d have told you that you were slightly crazy, or worse.
They haven’t been 9 games over .500 almost since Hector was a pup, and they are currently the only team with a 9-1 split in their last ten games. Ichiro had a league leading 24 game hitting streak and, when it was broken, Yuni Betancourt took over and made it to 20 games before his streak, too, was broken.
Locally it has been suggested that JJ Putz should be given one of two very descriptive nicknames: either simply "Over" or "The Undertaker" because, when you see him coming into the game you know that it is over and the burying is about to begin. He was suffering from flu like symptoms last night, but still came in at the bottom of the 13th inning to get his 19th consecutive save. And the rest of the bullpen is pretty much the same (I wish I could say the same about the starting rotation, but, thank the Lord, they have had the bullpen to save them here lately).
As they should, they have been beating up on the "bottom feeders," but they’ve also beaten Cleveland and San Diego in the past seven days–teams that have legitimate post-season hopes this year. What looked like sheer misery on all of the players’ faces the first few weeks into the season has been transformed into confidence and looking like they are finally having fun playing the game, after three abysmal seasons preceding this one.
Ichiro even laughed out loud last night when Jose Vidro did a little hop and clap on home plate when Michael Barrett dropped the ball that should have put him out, rather than putting the M’s ahead for good in the top of the 13th.
I still have my moments of wanting to turn off the TV and just let the TiVO record the game for later consumption when things are getting a little ugly, but it seems that I just have to come back and peek, only to find that "late inning lightning" has struck again and they are winning once more.
I’m not silly enough to say out loud, in public, that I think they are going to make it deep into the post-season this year, but I certainly have hope that the rebuilding process is finally working, and they will be there sooner than later. (Of course, if any of y’all’s teams have a quality starting pitcher that they would like to trade for the stretch, tell ‘em to get into contact with the M’s, looks like they might be buyers this year after all, rather than fire sale artists).
15 Comments
Original post by sleeplessinseattle’s blog
June 6, 2007 at 7:24 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
A response to Cleveland’s suffering second-worst on our list
I "dunno"–is it really worse in Cleveland than it is here? At least the Indians made it to the World Series not all that long ago (and, of course, guess who was their manager when they did–yep, one in the same, the Human (B)rain Delay–the current manager of the M’s).
I wasn’t here for Heathcliff Slocumb, so he really is not a persistent nightmare for me, but the 2001 ALCS surely was and is. How on earth can you tie the record for the most games ever won in one season, then lose the championship series in such a stupid manner (Oh, wait, ever since then, the Evil Empire version 1.0 has been doing the same thing, haven’t they? Well, then, maybe the curse of 116 rubbed off on them that year).
And the author of this piece forgot a few things….the Huskies’ fall from football grace; the oh-so-close trip to the Sweet Sixteen a couple of years ago; the new ownership of the Sonics turning their backs on the city mere days before/after getting the second overall draft pick in the NBA lottery (yeah, yeah, I know that they really turned their backs on the city the day they bought the team, but they only just made it official this week); the rumor of the M’s being bought by Pat Gillick and friends/associates. I’m sure there is more, I’m just too depressed to think about it right now, is all.
It’s like…did you notice that every time you get up just a little tiny spark of hope and start to nurture it into bigger brilliance someone comes along and blows it out? That’s pretty much what it’s like to be a sports fan in Seattle right now.
Maybe it would be better to live in someplace like, say, Las Cruces NM (yes, I AM talking to you, sir) where you don’t have a team of your own, so you can be a fan of a team or teams somewhere else (like, maybe, Pittsburgh, or something).
Meh, I’m going to go up on the roof and watch the raindrops fall, and the new building that is cutting off my view of the Puget Sound get even taller as I am sitting there…….Sorry, Cleveland.
2 Comments
Original post by sleeplessinseattle’s blog
June 3, 2007 at 10:05 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
In his column in this morning’s Boston Globe, Nick Cafardo says that he has been told by baseball insiders that the Mariners are on the block, with the likely purchaser a group headed by (former Mariners and current Phillies) GM Pat Gillick, seen below.
Mariners Chairman Howard Lincoln immediately responded that this was “nonsense,” according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
In a way, this sounds to me kind of like the pronouncement of public support that GM’s make with regard to field managers just before they fire them. “Yeah, John Doe is absolutely our manager of the present and future.” Within a week of that being printed and filmed by the media, Mr. Doe is out and looking for work. (That’s certainly how it worked for Bob Melvin, who even had his contract extended just before being shown the door after his second season as M’s manager).
There was also some mild speculation of this nature in the local papers abuot a month ago when Nintendo America announced that it was moving part of its sales force out of its Seattle headquarters–wondering if they were going to move more (or all) of their operations out of the area and, if they did so, would they want to continue to own a baseball team in a city in which they were no longer headquartered.
Hmmmm. Another case of “methinks he doth protest too much?” Connections to the Sonics fleeing the city because of no public support for their new arena plan? Lincoln, Armstrong and their partners tired of being the target of public ire for the teams three plus losing seasons? Mr. Yamauchi no longer interested in owning the team if Ichiro walks at the end of the season? All of the above, some of the above, or none of the above?
GM Bill Bavasi was soundly (and loudly, and for quite some time) booed when introduced at Edgar Martinez’ Mariners’ HOF induction yesterday evening. There are more and more fans coming to the ballpark dressed as empty seats as the team’s losing ways continue. The bottom line, while certainly not in dire straits as of yet, is not as rosy as it was in 2001-2003, and the bottom line has been Lincoln and company’s announced primary concern.
If, indeed, this is less nonsense than Mr. Lincoln pronounces it to be, why on earth Pat Gillick? Did he not make enough of a mess of the team and its farm system when he was here before? Whyever would he want to come back here when he is busily doing the same thing to the Phillies right now that he did to the Jays, the O’s and the M’s before?
I doubt that Paul Allen wants a baseball team, since he already has a football team and an NBA team to occupy his time and money. Mark Cuban did want a baseball team, but he wanted the Cubbies and was shot down on that deal, and now he wants to join in a new NFL challenging football league. But there are a lot of Microsoft and dot com millionaires in this area. Surely some of them are baseball fans and probably know the game better than some (or most) of the present ownership group. (Is Bill Gates a baseball fan, does anyone know???)
If Mr. Lincoln’s “nonsene” pronouncement is just a delaying tactic until a sale is announced, I hope that the current group has better sense than Howard Schultz does, and sells to a local group that is committed to keeping the team in town; committed to IMPROVING the team; and who understands that Safeco Field is state of the art, and in just fine shape, thank you very much, not to mention well on the way to being paid for.
This is NOT a sign I want to see hanging on the doors of Safeco Field, either in regard to the team or the vast majority of the players (now, I am more than perfectly willing to see it applied to Jeff Weaver, and maybe even Horacio Ramirez–unless they switch him to just a sixth pitcher to pitch at home only (where he excels) and not on the road (where he does NOT).