I guess some of you might want actual baseball to discuss. Or whatever it is you want to call what the Mariners are playing.
- The most disheartening thing about Ryan Rowland-Smith is that he isn't making any visible progress. He says he's "lost" as to what's going on, and I am too. I mean, it's obvious what the problems are - mediocre stuff, mediocre command - but it's unclear why he's been so much worse through the early going in 2010 than he was down the stretch in 2009. Maybe that's just it. Maybe he's the kind of guy who needs a lot of time to build himself up. But the lack of improvement just makes it hard to keep the faith. It is worth noting that RRS' fastball is down about a tick, but is that significant? And if it is, is it enough to explain everything that's been going on? I don't think it is. I think what we're seeing is one part bad luck and one part something real that nobody's yet figured out.
For those of you who want to make a change, I will point out that (A) RRS is out of options, (B) Ian Snell isn't very good, and (C) the best option in Tacoma has been Garrett Olson. Luke French has the shiny ERA, but his underlying performance hasn't been anything special. It'd be one thing if RRS were blocking someone with real upside. As is, one could argue that switching him out wouldn't actually accomplish anything. C'mon, Erik.
- Want to hear the most amazing stat of the season? Today's Mariner pitchers were RRS, Snell, Jesus Colome, and Sean White. The A's drew zero walks.
- The big hope was that Milton Bradley's return would force the M's to make a difficult decision with regard to their DH platoon. Now I can't help but feel like they're just going to go the easy way out and put Ryan Langerhans on the DL for his elbow thing. Which, hey, maybe it's legitimate, but it's still a buzzkill. It's a total buzzkill and it hasn't even happened yet. This team is so depressing that they're making me sad from the future.
- Mike Sweeney was out of the lineup with a back issue (surprise!). Sweeney can't play the field. Anywhere. He can't. And this was another of many instances in which he couldn't DH because of some ache or pain. The Mariners spent their offseason building one of the most versatile rosters I'd ever seen, and then in March they decided to bollocks everything up by adding a guy who is literally the least flexible player in baseball. Mike Sweeney is as versatile as a pincushion.
- How good was Ichiro's 2004? Ichiro's batted .354 so far in 2010. He's started every game. And he's on pace to fall short of his 2004 hit total by 23.
- The Mariners are so bad right now that, when Matt Tuiasosopo's fourth inning drive bounced out of Rajai Davis' glove and over the fence for a home run, Gio Gonzalez laughed. You know you're good when other fans hate you. You know you're bad when other fans like you. You know you're getting really low when the opposing pitcher - the pitcher you're facing in a game - gives up a silly home run to you, and smiles.
- Every day that Ken Griffey Jr. refuses to go away, he loses some of his fans. And I don't think he's gaining any new ones. At Griffey's peak, we can assume that, I dunno, 99% of the Mariner fan base loved him. Where is that percentage now? Where would that percentage be in 2015 in a hypothetical reality in which Griffey's still hanging on? Basically, how many Mariner fans will love Griffey forever? I'm trying so hard not to write means words, but Griffey is making it tough.
What's funny is that, the worse we get, the less incentive there is for the team to want Griffey to leave. Oh God. - The Mariners, at 14-24, are closer to the division lead than the Red Sox, and equidistant from a playoff position.
