Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Status check on the Mariners

What I saw the last two days out of the Mariners is concerning. This is a good baseball team. However, it is a baseball team that has been winning games because they believe they are good. In fact, they believe they are better than they actually are and that is half the battle. Yet, today I thought I saw a team that doubted if they really were good enough to compete with the elite. A team that wonders if it really belongs as a playoff team. The M's have had an amazing ability to win close games this year. They won these games because they believed. If they have lost that belief they are about to become very average.

This is a scary scenario. The good news is if the Yankees falter and now jumps on the wild card lead in the next week, the Mariners can right themselves. On the other hand, if they fall out of the lead they may never regain the confidence to believe they should win.

2 comments:

Brian said...

Right on the money, Locke. The Angels had a swagger about them. A lot of that comes from Vlad and his complete domination of Mariner pitchers. Even with a 5 run lead the other night the Mariners did not keep the pressure on. They got tight and once they fell behind you pretty much knew there would not be a comeback.

Anonymous said...

I am so frustrated! The M's are SO DONE! With the schedule the way it is, the Angels just locked up the division. I don't think they can hang with the Yankees either. For the M's to make the post season, Felix had to evolve into a #1 starter (or even a good #2 or). It is obvious he is still to young and is still learning how to pitch. The starting rotation just isn't good enough to consistently win games. Any idea what starting pitcher they could go after in the offseason? I am already looking ahead to next year...

PS-

Put Raul Ibanez at 1st base, and let's see what we have in Adam Jones by playing him everyday in left field. What to do with Sexson? According to ESPN, Sexson didn't clear waivers, and the M's pulled him back. How about putting him on waivers again and letting a team claim him for good! They can have his .200 batting average and bloated salary!