Fishing For Contention: A Seattle Mariners Post

The last two years, the Seattle Mariners have been out of the race by about 8pm on Opening Day. The nice weather of June hits just in time for Safeco Field to act as a cheap tanning area, with music playing occasionally in the background and the occasional loudspeaker voice saying odd things like, "Now batting, Quinten McCracken..." By the 4th of July the only fireworks enjoyed at Safeco were the home runs hit off Gil Meche by the Red Sox or the Yankees. After the last two seasons, when someone asked how many games back the Mariners were in the AL West, they would not have been surprised to hear the answer, "All of them."

Being from the good side of Connecticut, and growing up a Red Sox fan, I could understand the woe the team was feeling, and was impressed by the number of fans that DID still go to the park, even if it was to see Roy Halladay pitch a one hitter. But I couldn't get into it. The Mariners of the last three years just didn't do it for me-- they didn't act like they loved baseball. They weren't exciting to watch as a whole, and there was no real energy that might have been converted into a winning streak. And then Felix Hernandez arrived.

At the end of last season, when Richie Sexson and Adrian Beltre were hitting about 1 percentage point per million of their contracts, 19 year old Felix Hernandez stepped in and electrified baseball. His stellar debut didn't help the Mariners back into contention, but it did ignite a feeling of possibility and excitement that Seattle didn't seem to have had in a long time. Which made this year possible.

Baseball goes in cycles, we know this. Look at the Tigers and what they've done, the Rangers and what they've done, or the Marlins and what they've done. And then there's the Royals...well, I can only assume that the Royals' cycle of failure and success is like the orbit of Pluto, so while it will happen, it's still a long way coming. This season, however, the Seattle Mariners are an exciting, young team that is fighting in the AL West. Felix Hernandez hasn't pitched as everyone had hoped, but at 20, that's alright. Young players have stepped up in the tradition of Felix. Willie Bloomquist, Jeremy Reed, Yuniesky Betancourt, Kenji Johjima, and second string All-Star Jose Lopez (J-Lo) have all sizzled on the field this year. Jose Lopez is 22 years old and leads the team in Runs and RBI's. Yuniesky Betancourt is going to be one heluva ballplayer, and has played stellar defense to accompany his hitting-- oh, and he's 18 for his last 40 as of today. Johjima has stepped up filled the catcher void which has plagued the Mariners since Dan Wilson stopped playing everyday. People have blamed him for Felix's problems, saying he can't call a major league game, but the same problems have plagued Felix when Renee Rivera is behind the plate-- not to mention other pitchers such as Gil Meche and the entire Mariner bullpen have been fantastic this year with Johjima catching them. The Mariners are playing exciting baseball-- they're playing like they love to play, and that's fun baseball to watch.

So what does this mean for the Mariners? For baseball? It means that it's July 28th and the Mariners are 3.5 games behind Oakland in the division and that's without Richie Sexson, Adrian Beltre, or Jarrod Washburn doing much of anything. Sure, they're in last place, and sure the AL West of this year has become the NL West of last year (first place is .520) but it's light-years ahead of where that decimal point was in the past. It means that there's another contender in the mix, that with a few new ingredients (say, Ben Broussard, Eduardo Perez, and the release of Carl-a-saurus Rex aka Carl Everett) and a few key hits or pitches, the Mariners could take down Oakland, the Angels, and the Rangers and give us a race worth watching in the west.

-Witz-