At the break....

Up until I was 17, my best and favorite subject in school was math. I owned math. It was never hard, it was fun, and it all made sense. But then came my senior year in high school. That's when I met AP Calculus. I had done well in math every year and assumed it would continue. In fact, I figured my major in college would have something to do with math. And for the first month or so of that class, things remained the same. I remember understanding limits really well and I'm pretty sure I got an A on the first test. But then things abruptly changed. We had to write a paper in math. The rest of the semester when something like C on that paper, and nothing above a D on anything else. My final grade for that semester was a D. For the first time in my life I had to drop a class because it was too hard for me. Sure, senioritis had something to do with it, but I was really just in over my head.

I'm hoping the second half of the 2007 baseball season isn't to the Seattle Mariners what AP Calculus was to me. They've had a great first half, and every time I think they've come back to reality, they've proved me wrong. Two and a half out in the West, and a game and half back in the Wild Card. I think they can stay in it, but I also thought I could handle AP Calculus.

Let's check in on what I said at the beginning of the season:

3 REASONS FOR HOPE

1. The King-Well, he's been amazing, injured, and inconsistent. But, thanks to the power of blogging, he has looked much better lately. The M's are going to need him to be an ace in the second half.

2.Infield Defense-
Did I really say that?

3.A pretty solid lineup
The M's third in the AL in batting average, sixth in OBP, eighth in runs scored, eigthe in SLG, tenth in HR, LAST in walks, and LAST in strikeouts. Hmmm. Looking at that, the M's offense hasn't been all that impressive.


3 REASONS YOU'LL BE COUNTING THE DAYS UNTIL FOOTBALL SEASON

1. The gruesome foursome. Eh, not bad I guess. Weaver was atrocious but has turned in around. Batista has his moments. But they still need another pitcher if they are going to stay in this.

2. Mike Hargrove and Bill Bavasi. Mike Hargrove quit. That was weird. Bill Bavasi-well Jose Vidro as "DH" hasn't really worked. The pitchers have been okay. But, I'll judge Bavasi based on what he does at the deadline.

3. Jose. I'm fine with Guillen and Lopez, but Vidro has to go.


So, now what? I don't think the Mariners are good enough as they are right now to keep up with Boston, Anaheim, Detroit, and Cleveland. So, some changes need to happen. I'd like to hear what the loyal 4 readers have to say about that.

Check out Dave Cameron's suggestions. They mkae some sense and can all be done without bringing anyone in from the outside.

Aw.....

Crap.

From the M's official site:

Ryan Feierabend couldn't get comfortable against the Royals

Feierabend (L, 1-3) 1.1 IP, 8 H, 10 R, 10 ER, 2 BB, 0 SO, 2 HR

Ya think?

Let the Buerhle rumblings begin...

Okay, maybe not technically begin. I'm sure it's been brought up before. But, Dave at USSMariner has brought up the Mark Buehrle trade talk. And I'm pretty sure I agree with him. Buerhle had a rough year in 2006, and I was thinking he may be on the decline, but, as Dave points out, he's bounced back this year. Maybe he's playing for contract and will regress again next year, but whatever-the M's probably won't re-sign him anyway.

By the way, does re-sign need to have a hyphen? I think so, because otherwise it becomes resign. Mike Hargrove resigned from his position as Mariners manager. Will the Mariners re-sign Ichiro? AAAAAAAANYWAY....

The most important point that Dave makes is this:

The Mariners wouldn’t be trading a package of prospects for three months of Mark Buehrle. The Mariners would be trading a package of prospects for three months of Mark Buehrle and another package of prospects.

If you're worried about giving up prospects for half a season from one guy, the draft pick compensation from those lost prospects should make you feel a little better. And the fact is, you never know what you're going to get out of prospects. I was pretty excited about the Freddy Garcia trade when it went down, but it's turned out to be a complete flop. The M's won't trade Adam Jones, so I say go for it.

Plus, I just made a trade to get Buerhle on my fantasy team, so making him a Mariner would give me double reason to root for the guy.

Thoughts on Buerhle from the 4 loyal Magic readers?

Alright, Alright

I'll post already. The M's keep winning, telling me I need to write about them. The blog has been pretty slow as I was moving from here to here I realize the only people still reading this blog are the administrators, my parents, and hopefully snave, but there's too much to talk about.

When a team has three crapbag seasons in a row, and comes into the season with Jeff Weaver and Horacio Ramirez as anchors of the rotation, it's hard to be optimistic. And then when a team is winning games but Jeff Weaver has a quadruple digit ERA, Felix Hernandez is hurt/struggling it's more of a "okay, when are they going to lose 6 games in a row?"

But, when they bounce back from that, win a couple series, sweep the new evil empire (sorry Dad), and keep going strong even when the opposing pitcher is eleventy billion times better than ours, it starts feeling like we have a good baseball team on our hands.

I made it pretty clear that I wasn't overly optimistic about this team coming into the year. And, even though the M's kept winning, I was still skeptical. Weaver was awful, Felix couldn't pitch anymore, the bullpen was being worn thin, Sexson and Ibanez were doing nothing, etc. But, the recent winning ways have shown me some things that have me pretty excited about the rest of this season:

1. JJ Putz is the best closer in baseball. By far.

2. There are no holes on offense. Ichiro is the only superstar, but every one else in the lineup can contribute. And that includes the bench players. That's the kind of team that stays in the hunt through September.

3. Jeff Weaver and Miguel Batista can pitch. Sort of. They are the kind of pitchers you hope to get 6 solid innings out of, keep you in the game, and let the offense and bullpen win it for you. They've shown that lately, and I hope it keeps up.

4. Mike Hargrove can make a good decision or two. He's managed the bullpen very well this year. He uses Putz in high-leverage situations instead of saving him only for save situations. I'm still not a big fan of his, but this is an optimistic post.


Sure, there are concerns. Felix is pitching like a 21-year old, Putz's arm may fall off, and the rotation still needs help. But I'll stick with being excited for now. I'm hoping they can win today against Toronto, then take or split the series with KC and Oakland, then get rested up for the big series against Detroit after the break.

Let's go M's!!!!!