But are these immense struggles, the basic death pall that overtakes every non-contender (though not usually this early), really that out of the blue? Are the fans' broken hearts, with salt poured in after the "contender" title was bestowed, justified? The Mariners' 2008 PECOTA win prediction was a paltry 79-83, after all. With Felix and Bedard. A nine-game dropoff from the previous season. (For those interested, Seattle's win prediction had dropped to 76-86 following an 8-4 thumping at the hand of the Chicago White Sox on Saturday.) Perhaps some of the fans put too much stock in McLaren's claim that "Richie [will] have a big year for us" — assuming he meant smacking dingers, not Kason Gabbard with his helmet — or expected J.J. Putz' numbers not to balloon to ridiculous proportions (6.43 ERA and 2.24 WHIP as of Sunday).

The all-knowing Mariners blog U.S.S. Mariner made a very astute, quasi-damning observation last Tuesday: "This will sound overly dramatic, but it's simply a realistic assessment of where this team stands - the Mariners have exactly five games to save the 2008 season. If they don't perform well between now and Sunday, the rest of the year will simply be playing for second place, because the hole will be too large to overcome." And how have the Mariners performed in those five games since? Four drubbings from Texas and Chicago, a 24-inning scoreless streak, and a Saturday defeat that saw the M's go down 8-1 before rallying to bring the score within a grand salami of tying the contest. The stretch also saw president Chuck Armstrong claim that "this is the worst schedule ever" — clearly he hasn't heard of the New Orleans Hornets circa 2005-06 — and a record-low crowd turnout to see the Rangers bend the Mariners over 10-1 on Tuesday.

Awful. Atrocious. Abominable. Too many synonyms to name.

Fortunately, Ken Griffey Jr. seems to be on the market, and expressing interest in returning to Seattle in the immediate future. But knowing the way Bavasi et al. operate, I'm sure it won't be long before we see a different lefty slugger don the Seattle threads. And the day Barry Bonds becomes a Mariner is the day that will be darkest for us all.