It's Tempting To Just Say "Okay, I Give Up"

It really is. That was a devastating loss. To be in the midst of this kind of skid, to have the lead three separate times against the division leader, and then to blow it in the 11th with our nominal best reliever on the mound...that's a jarring way to lose. Regardless of whether or not the Mariners deserved to be ahead towards the end, they were, and Morrow fell apart. Not helping matters was that Hamilton probably should've been called out on that curveball that flew through the top of the zone, but Morrow still didn't pitch well, and we can't even complain about the umpires that much when we got what looked like a generous call at first base on Wlad's grounder preceding the Johjima home run. Once again this team just didn't take advantage of its opportunities to come away with the game, and the Rangers aren't exactly the sort of ballclub with whom you want to play victory chicken.

This was the kind of loss that makes you think it's only going to get worse before it gets better. The kind of loss that a lot of people tend to proclaim as a probable turning point. It's not just fans. Sportswriters do it too. They see a team lose like this and decide that the outcome probably destroyed the team's confidence, and that the players will need a lot of time to work through the trauma. It's an easy argument to buy into. Usually, when people have really bad things happen to them, they struggle to cope.

But then, on the other side of the coin, wasn't it just a little while ago that the Mariners won that "statement game" over Oakland to go to 15-10? Wasn't that game supposed to be a turning point? The Mariners are 1-8 since Lopez's walk-off blooper. A year ago they won an early statement game against the Angels and proceeded to lose 14 of their next 18 games. In 2007 the M's took a big game against the Yankees in September, then lost six of seven. 2006 had the infamous Rockies game, after which we lost 10 of 12. Wins in "statement games" haven't had any kind of carryover effect in the past, so there's little reason to believe that a tough loss will, either. You'll remember that the Putz/Vazquez game in 2007 was followed by six wins in eight games.

Basically, I'm not buying that "statement games" exist as positives or negatives. At least, not in a way that has any significant lasting effect. There are obviously big wins and crushing losses, but pending further study I don't think history will reveal many cases where a team followed either a huge win or a crippling defeat with more of the same. I feel like baseball really is just about the next day's pitcher and the next day's lineup.

So with that in mind, I don't think we ought to treat this as the day the Mariners died. They lost a game. It just happened to be an important game; an important game against a division rival in which we had the lead in the final inning. While I don't think the team is going to use this as a launchpad for a massive losing streak, then, it still dealt us a significant blow. These aren't the sorts of games the Mariners can afford to throw away. If they intend on staying in the race, they need to get going immediately, and today was a comically exaggerated step in the wrong direction.

There's still time. The Mariners didn't die today. But their organs are failing.

To make you feel better, here's Yuni looking bemused after Ronny Cedeno ran down a pop fly in left field.