Wait... are the Mariners GOOD?

Did you notice what happened today?

The Mariners beat the Phillies in a series.
They took 2 out of 3 from the best team in the baseball.
The won a series against a team that everyone (including yours truly) think are going to win the whole damn thing.

Yeah, every team has a bad series against a bad team.
But guess what?

The Mariners are tied with the first place Rangers in the loss column.
Did you know that?
I didn't.

And do you know what tomorrow is? Late June.

The Mariners are 44% of the way through their season. If the Mariners hang around in July and the Rangers have their usual bad August (even last year they had a losing August) then the Mariners could actually be contenders.

How the hell did THAT happen?

Glance at their Baseball Reference page.
Ichiro is having a mediocre season. Chone Figgins and Franklin Gutierrez have stats that are embarrassing.

Milton Bradley had 115 plate appearances.

Sure Justin Smoak has some pop and someone named Greg Halman has been hitting.

Felix Hernandez is having an OK year, but not a Cy Young type season. Brandon League went through a stretch where he looked like he should be scrapped.

There is nothing about this team that strikes me as above average.
Yet here we are. They are contending.

Sure it has a lot to do with the fact that being 3 games above .500 is good enough for first place. And maybe people like me overrated the Angels and others overrated the A's.

And maybe the Mariners are following true to a recent pattern.

2007 they had an unexpected solid season when they won 88 games.
That was followed in 2008 with a 101 loss season.
Then in 2009 they had an unexpected 85 win season.
And last year? Another disastrous 101 loss year.

So maybe it makes sense.

I'll need whatever I can get to make sense of the Mariners contending.

The Mariners aren't GOOD are they?

They were supposed to stink going into this year.
And frankly a quick peak at their stats on Baseball Reference isn't pretty.

Even Ichiro's stats look mortal.

Yet here we sit in June with the Mariners only a game out of first in the loss column.
Justin Smoak's bat is starting to live up to its name.
Adam Kennedy is giving the team some pop.

And Jason Vargas (Jason VARGAS?) threw a complete game shutout.

Are we living in a world where Seattle AND Cleveland might be good again?

OK, maybe I'm getting carried away. I still think the Angels are going to win the division and the Mariners might just be having a nice middle third of the season.

Either way, I wish they'd go back to the Trident hat.

The only players I am POSITIVE are clean of steroids

Over the last few years, I think we all have our guard up regarding players getting caught doing PEDS.

If I heard anyone did them, I’d probably shrug and say “Yeah… I thought so.”

At this point there are only three players that I can think of that would stun me if they got caught with ‘roids.

Mariano Rivera would stun me.





Derek Jeter would stun me. (And remember this is coming from a Red Sox fan.)





Ichiro would stun me.






And Julio Lugo would stun me… mainly because he’s skinny and he sucks.

Wait, the Mariners are good again? When did THAT happen?

I was going to write a blog post about the Cardinals and Cubs need for a new third baseman during the stretch run. So I was poking around teams that were out of contention trying to find a good third baseman for these two teams to fight over.

I thought Adrian Beltre! He’s talented if inconsistent. Put him in a LaRussa team to hit behind Pujols and the Cardinals could go on a roll!

Put him in Wrigley and they might have another legit power threat.

And all of this is under the assumption that the Mariners would be sellers.

The Mariners are 2 ½ games out of first place.

Did you know that? I didn’t!

And the Rangers are wilting in the heat and the Angels are right on their heels but still not the same solid 100 win team they were last year.

When the hell did this happen? Was I so focused on the Red Sox and Yankees, and fascinated by the Phillies and Mets inability to win, and the Marlins ups and downs and the Pirates having ANOTHER losing season, and the A’s making my predictions look like mud and the Giants making my dad look happy and the Dodgers somehow getting better WITHOUT Manny and the Nats being historically terrible except during the Yankee series… that I missed the Mariners surge?

The Mariners can taste first place and they have Ken Griffey Jr AND Ichiro Suzuki on the same team!

I may have missed the evolution of this, but consider the staff at Sully Baseball gazing towards the Northwest. Something truly cool can be transpiring this year… and hopefully it ISN’T another Angels division title.

Ugh

Hey Sox fans... remember when I told you to bottle the good feeling from the two sweeps of the Yankees and winning 15 out of 19 games?

I implied there would be a stretch of teeth grinding games coming soon.

GUESS WHAT???

After going to the Angels game on Wednesday and celebrating my birthday on Thursday, I decided to go to bed before the Red Sox/Mariners game was over.

When I went to sleep, they were winning 4-0.

I woke up this morning, cooked breakfast for my kids and checked the score.

5-4 Mariners?
2 Homers by Ichiro?

ANOTHER LESTER LOSS????

I almost did a scrambled egg spit take.

So let us review the last four games:

Wakefield can't hold a 4-0 lead on Wednesday.
Ortiz strands the population of Sturgis, SD on base on Thursday.
Lester can't be trusted with a 4-0 lead on Friday.

HOO-RAY!!!!

I hate to do it, but I need to update the tally board.

DODGED A BULLET GAMES - 5

April 17 - 10-8 win against Orioles. (Overcame 7-0 deficit.)

April 24 - 5-4 win against Yankees. (Bay homers off of Rivera in 9th to tie it.)

April 25 - 16-11 win against Yankees. (Overcame 6-0 deficit.)

April 29 - 6-5 win at Cleveland. (Overcame 5-0 deficit.)

May 12 - 4-3 win at Anaheim. (Down 3-1 in the 8th.)

TEETH GRINDER GAMES - 3

April 14 - 6-5 loss at Oakland. (Sox blow early 3-0 lead. Lose in 12)

April 28 - 9-8 loss at Cleveland. (Sox blow early 5-1 lead. Lopez drops 3rd out.)
May 14 - 5-4 loss at Anaheim. (Ortiz goes 0-7 stranding 12 runners.)
May 15 - 5-4 loss at Seattle. (Red Sox blow their second 4-0 lead in three days.)

It's down to +1. We need to start dodging some bullets!

I just thought of another way to humiliate Alex Rodriguez

Thinking of ways to humiliate Alex Rodriguez IS the national past time, isn't it?

I thought of another scenario that could be rubbed in A-Rod's face.

The Angels are falling apart with a dismantled pitching staff and a lineup that doesn't inspire confidence.

The A's are not taking off the way I thought they would and the Rangers are destined to be an all hit no pitch mess.

And the Mariners could sneak in and win a very winnable division.

And how cool would that be for Seattle fans if they got their underrated misery was quenched with a World Series title featuring BOTH Ichiro and Junior.

It could get even cooler if the Mariners trade for Randy Johnson.

Why didn't anyone think of that? They are already doing a Junior good bye tour... why couldn't the Mariners also have brought back the unit to win #300 in Seattle instead of with the Giants.

But either way, Ichiro and Junior leading Seattle to the promised land would be poetic for the Mariners franchise... and yet because I am somewhat sadistic think it would also reflect on A-Rod who couldn't lead the Mariners anywhere.

I'm not proud that I think that way. I also don't think I am alone.

Oakland is going to regret this game

The A's are doing everything in their power to make my picking them to win the whole Kit and the Kaboodle look bad.

Today's 15 inning marathon is the latest loss... one where they had leads in the 9th and a 3 run lead in the 13th and were 1 strike from victory...

And they found wonderful ways to blow it.

Rajai Davis had possibly the worst jump a center fielder ever had on the game winning hit and two things became clear:

1. The A's can grind their teeth all they want after this game... but they need to go on a winning streak or they'll be kicking themselves on a lost opportunity this year.

and

2. The Mariners have my attention. With the Angels bullpen a wreck and their lineup not exactly intimidating, the Rangers are... well... the Rangers and the A's can't get out of their own way... the Mariners could indeed be for real.

I know it's early, but it isn't THAT early.