The Mariners' Darkest Days - Page 3

As May’s opponents whacked apart the Mariners, the team’s widespread weaknesses came to light: the young bullpen had been exposed to brain- and arm-curdling radiation (or the hitters had seen them just a few too many times), the starters — namely $9.85 million man Jarrod Washburn and his 5-plus ERA — decided to take it easy, and the hitters enjoyed displaying their best Richie Sexson imitations, with Johjima, Jose Vidro, and the entire Mariners bench garnering early-season rewards (while Ichiro — Ichiro! — finished a close second).

A brief reprieve came when Brad Wilkerson and Greg Norton were designated for assignment, but the M’s young replacements so far have proved equally abysmal. As of Saturday, young right fielder Wladmir Balentin had logged just nine hits in 38 at-bats — although he had brought in seven RBIs — and Clement owned the dubious honor of being the only regular with a slugging percentage under the Mendoza Line. Furthermore, Clement plugged up the DH spot — why is less-power-than-my-dead-grandma Vidro still on the team? — which prevented finally removing Raul Ibanez and his enlightening defense from the field of play.

The offensive drought that the mires the Mariners has reached grandiose proportions as we enter the middle of the month. A 24-inning scoreless streak, including 14 against the decrepit arms of Jose Contreras and Sidney Ponson, was broken only when Contreras gifted the M’s a run-scoring wild pitch. It wasn’t until the bottom of the ninth that a Mariner crossed the plate on his own accord as Balentin displayed a glimpse of his possible power on a solo shot into the night.

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).

Article Author: Casey Michel

Casey Michel is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer from Kazakhstan.

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