Welcome to False Hope. Population: Seattle Mariners.

I think it was inevitable, the Mariners getting on a mild hot streak, as they just simply aren't a 100-loss team without some severe extenuating circumstances. Really, if you compare the 2004 and 2008 rosters, it's pretty obvious which team is better (if still flawed), and which team is complete garbage.

The concern has to be that the junta in charge of the Mariners, Lincoln and Armstrong, does what they inevitably do and commits another fundamental attribution error regarding the nature of the 2008 Mariners, thinking that installing Pelekoudas and Riggleman made this team into a contender. I'd have to say that given the past history at work here, this is a definite possibility. It's very easy to live in a certain river in Egypt when you're writing $110 million dollars in payroll checks, and not so easy to reject your ways of thinking when you think "hey, we built a 116 win team this way" (completely missing the fact of that 116 win team having a great accumulation of talent), especially since Pelekoudas is likely to be quite comfortable in an organization he's worked in for almost 30 years (and vice versa).

Let's hope that El Jefes Lincoln and Armstrong DO decide to blow it up, and come this offseason, we're looking at a roster minus the Washburns and with the extra flexibility for a "new-look" GM who's comfortable with advanced analysis. Because God Help Us All if all tanking 2008 gets us is More of the Same.