Sunday, May 07, 2006

Not such a good 20

During the Mariners historical run in 2001, there were a few times during the season when I looked at their record and said "Wow." I don't remember most of those records, but one that sticks out for me is 20-4. I don't know what it was about that record, but that was just incredible to me. Maybe it was the first time I started to think about the pace they were on. But, I think it was that number 20. Something about the number 20 has always intrigued me. Barry Sanders was my favorite football player for a long time, and I think a big part of it was because he wore the number 20. It's like, you know, double the first double digit number. And with that record, 4 just looked so small next to it.

Something tells me I'm not going to be remembering the most recent 20 in Mariners history. That 20 would be today's loss. Number 20 on the season. To go with 13 wins. Oy. Another good start from Washburn is negated by the ineptitude of the nine men who swing bats. I guess I'll take solace in the fact that, somehow, despite all the crappy baseball they've played, the Mariners are still only 4.5 games out of first place. That's with Tampa Bay coming up next, and then two intra-divisional series in a row. So, anything's still possible. (Although, this isn't your father's Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Or, I guess, more like your older sibling's. More than likely your father's Tampa Bay Devil Rays are yours too. Unless of course you're under the age of 8. Which you probably aren't because if you're 8 you don't bother yourself with stupid things like this blog that is dedicated to a hapless baseball team. If you are 8 or younger, let me give you some advice-do not decidate yourself to any one team. Be the biggest frontrunner of all time. Root for whatever team is winning, always. It will save you all sorts of pain and suffering.)

In other news, Guardado is trying to make himself useful by mentoring Putz. Maybe since the M's are going with a closer by committee approach, they should do a mentor by committee thing too. You know, have a different mentor for each young arm in the bullpen. Play the matchups too. Maybe have the fiery (how the hell do you spell firey by the way?!?!!) Guardado work with a low-key guy. Or the grumpy Moyer work with a real eager, young puppy like guy. Wow, am I reaching for material or what? Go Mariners!

WARNING: This next item will put you in an excellent mood for 4 minutes and 15 seconds. Then you'll take a 13-second emotional trip from the highest of high to the lowest of low as you realize how far removed the Mariners are from these types of moments. But, if you think it's worth it, check out this youtube clip that highlights the M's-Yankees series from '95.

That is all. Keep hope alive! Or, invite a time machine that will make it football season.

7 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:42 PM

    I should have heeded your WARNING---that 1995 ALDS STILL makes my eyes water and the biggest smile cpome across my face as Junior scores----and I've seen it a million times and still get the same reaction !!!!..but boys and girls ( I can use hat since I am older than 8 years old !), moments like that are never replicated..they only happen once and everything after pales by comparison..I mean,how can a team like the Red Sox ever top coming back from 3 games to none and beat teh Yankees in 2004's ALCS...same wiht the 1995 Mariners..that was our coming of age.now we need to get to the World Series..and to do that we need pitching and hitting....these last 2 ballgames have been great fro m teh mound staff's perspective..when was our last home run ???...doesn't Beltre ahve more stolenn bases than HR's...this is very frustrating--I'm going to the next 2 games and I expect 2 wins over your and my Tampa Bay Devil Rays

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  2. eric karabell's latest fantasy baseball blog was on players whose stats are being affected by facing an inordinately high or low percentage of lefty pitchers. it's mildly interesting, but the takeaway is that he either coined a phrase, or brought deserved attention to an acronym that i hadn't heard before: LOOGY, or lefty-one-out-guy.

    how great is that? i think that mariner magic's next contribution to the mariners, and really to the world, would be to cause LOOGY to become a widely used term of art. as in: "now that guardado isn't closing, he would be a great big LOOGY to rely on late in close games."

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  3. oh, and this was a great post, mike.

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  4. oooh, or how about: "i bet hargrove was glad he had that LOOGY to throw out there at giambi with the bases loaded."

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  5. I've actually heard LOOGY before. But, since you are so loyal to the Magic chris, I will make sure to use it more often.

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  6. Looks like Putz is going to get most of the chances at closing games for a while. He's off to a good start this year, so why not. I trust Putz, Sherrill and Soriano more than I trust Guardado at this point in time, and evidently Hargrove does too.

    I'd expect us to take two out of three from Tampa, provided we can get some hits... off of Casey Fossum and Doug Waechter in the first two games, we had better! Scott Kazmir is pitching pretty well so far this season, and we don't hit lefties much at all.

    Just the same, a few 2-1 or 3-1 home series and .500 on the road and we're going to stay in the AL West race for a while. None of the other three teams looks like championship material either, at least not yet.

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  7. Anonymous2:34 PM

    Joel is AL Player of he Week....a miracle that a pitcher from a team that really is not very good can be Player of Wekk--if he continues ,Joel may have become our motivation for 2006 plus our #1 starter
    ..I still marvel at your post Mike...terific insight..

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