- Felix was terrible. His velocity was okay and he was missing some bats, but his location was all over the place and he couldn't keep the ball down in the zone where he wanted. I think his back's still bothering him. Wak thinks his back is fine, but his mechanics were off. Shannon thinks he may have lost his swagger. I don't know what the proper explanation might be, but while you can kind of shake it off when Felix is bad once, it's alarming when Felix is bad twice. Something's clearly not right.
- We are the reason that Ryan Budde has a future. Which is fitting, since we're also the reason Jeff Mathis has a job.
- With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Ken Griffey Jr. broke up Jered Weaver's no-hit bid with a groundball single to right. Griffey ruins everything. If we have to watch a team suck, it might as well be historic.
- In the bottom of the second, the camera cut from a shot of Griffey batting to a shot of the Hit It Here Cafe, which is like cutting from a shot of Matt Hasselbeck to a shot of something 25 yards downfield.
- The M's are 11-18, and are losers of seven in a row. Many of the people closest to the team are expressing concerns about the clubhouse. Wasn't this the sort of thing leaders like Griffey and Mike Sweeney were supposed to prevent? Remember what happened the last time this organization tried to manufacture its chemistry? It comes from winning. It comes from winning. If Griffey and Sweeney can't keep things together, then they literally serve no purpose. It's not like they're producing or drawing many fans.
- In case you think I'm trying to pin too much on our designated hitters, then let me say that a bunch of other people have sucked too. It must be awkward for Franklin Gutierrez when Wak addresses all the position players. He'll tell them that they're all failing as a group and have to work to get better together, but Guti knows the truth.
Wakamatsu: Guys.
Wakamatsu: We've scored 31 runs in 13 games since Chicago. I'm not happy with any of you. I'm not happy with any one of you.
Wakamatsu: When I write out the lineup card every day, I look it up and down, and I'm disappointed in every single name.
Gutierrez (in his head): Except me.
Gutierrez: Except me.
Wakamatsu:
Wakamatsu: Beg pardon?
Gutierrez:
Wakamatsu:
:everybody turns:
Gutierrez:
Wakamatsu: Are you playing dead?
Gutierrez (in his head): dammit brain - Not that it matters, on account of we lost 8-0, but in the top of the first, Rob Johnson blew another play at the plate when he couldn't handle a strong Ichiro throw on a sac fly. They say that catchers develop slower than anybody else. I get that Johnson hasn't been catching as long as most backstops his age. It shows. Rob Johnson, right now, is nothing short of terrible.
- The only kudos of the day go to Michael Saunders, who, in the sixth inning, turned an 0-2 count into a walk, and, in the eighth inning, turned an 0-2 count into a 2-2 count and a line drive double. The fact that Saunders fell behind 0-2 in all three of his plate appearances, of course, is bad, but two of three times he battled back, which is impressive. A year ago, he fell behind 0-2 24 times, and went 5-24 with a triple and zero walks.
I want Saunders to succeed so badly. Lefty? Walks? Gap power? Defense? Speed? Homegrown? Personality? Hockey fan? Saunders is a wonderful overall package, and he comes with enough flaws to keep him likable.
- 37,602 fans. 30,000 Griffey bobbleheads. 7,602 Mariners fans just had the most pointless Friday night they'll ever have.
- Why do bobblehead nights draw so well, anyway? Are there really that many collectors? I think it has something to do with the bobblehead's mass. When you're giving something away, the more it weighs, the more people will like it. It doesn't really matter what it is. More weight means more bang for the buck. Keep your eyes peeled for giveaways featuring Mariner-branded cinder blocks, and Mariners-branded five pound bags of brown rice.
- Here's your obligatory reminder that yada yada yada we're still only 4.5 out. Every game is but a single game, even when it feels like a thousand. The thing about a losing streak like this is that it feels like it should cost us more than 3.5 games in the standings, but it hasn't. Baseball's kind of a miracle like that.
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