Snell finished, Mariners reverting back to 80s farmclub?

Ian Snell got handed an early 2-0 in the first inning  against the first place Texas Rangers and then went on to pitch himself and the Mariners into a 8-2 hole before being pulled in the second. The Rangers went on to win this one 12-2 as the Mariners sank to 9 games back in the AL West with no relief in sight. We did get to see Luke French for five innings tonight, and though he gave up 4 runs he was nowhere near as painful to watch as the former Pirate Ian Snell. The Rangers finished the night with 15 hits including a couple of home runs against a team that has lost its way.

   Outside of the” Paper Boy” Josh Wilson who had a couple of hits, the Mariners lineup was futile. It was absurd to have to listen to Mike Blowers and Dave Sims once again give a running tally every inning on the Rangers pitch-count as if at some magic moment the score disappears and the only thing that matters is how many pitches are thrown by the opposing teams starter. To his credit Dave Niehaus reminded everyone that the Texas Rangers philosophy does not adhere to this pitch-count magic like the Mariners. This of course falls into one of those “Belief System” things that seem so important to Don Wakamatsu and apparently the hired hands at FSN. I’m sick of it, how about sending our guys up to the plate with a quick briefing on what to expect then giving them the green light to swing at the first pitch if it is a meatball?

   Somehow this “Belief System” stuff has gotten so strong that the Mariners field operations generals not only believe their own BS  but they think the other teams will believe it too. So for instance if our guys get told to make the pitcher throw a lot of pitches so we can magically win, then the opposing team won’t swing at first pitch strikes and blast the ball all over the park because we do it the right way….NOT. As Ian Snell proved tonight you can give-up 8 runs on less than 45 pitches in no time at all!

   Anyway this year is starting to look like the 80′s in the Kingdome with Gormon Thomas, Rey Quinones, Spike Owen, Mickey Brantley, Bob” Sarge” Kearney etc. Only back then we had not tasted victory yet and thus we were ok with being the farm club for the rest of the Major Leagues. It was part of our “Belief System” so to speak that we sucked, but at least we could watch other good teams come to town. This year we had all the hype, so much in fact that I decided to go to Spring training, learn all this blogging technical stuff and start an Expansion Blog!  And now we still have over 100 games to go and our ship is marooned in futility with the only real excitement revolving around who we get for Cliff Lee!

    Well Hiroshi Yamauchi if you happen to be reading this blog {it’s possible!} could you please take a trip over here and see for yourself what is happening. Don’t rely on that fork-tongued Howard Lincoln or that shifty Chuck  Armstrong as they don’t know anything about baseball unless it has to do with bobble-head promos. Mr. Yamauchi I know you transferred  ownership to NOA a few years back, and you are getting old, but you are our last shot….. could you possibly see fit to fire a few people and maybe pull out a little of your cash and buy us a few new players that want to win? I’m going to sign out for now as I can sense this post is deteriorating fast and I need to brush-up on my soccer lingo before the World Cup so I don’t sound like an angry, ignorant American when I meet Mr. Yamauchi for a power lunch in Ballard……http://jeffsmariners.com