“Speaking of pitchers, the guy below doesn’t have any issues with back stiffness. Too bad you can’t rewind to two months ago, huh? By the way, Cha-Seung Baek (the uniformed guy in the picture below) told me the team’s explanation to him the night he was designated for assignment was that he’d gone back-to-back nights and a fresh arm was needed. Kind of what we’d figured all along, but that’s a tough pill to swallow. You groom a guy, see him have some success in the majors, then lose him because you need a long reliever every second night. Oh well. Baek starts tomorrow against his former team.” –Geoff Baker, The Mariner Blog

Hear that?  That’s the sound of Mariner fans hitting their heads against walls, tables, pretty much anything within reach.  Could we at least get a GM who isn’t so bad at roster construction that he has to cut a prospect to add another releaver?  Sheesh.

“I’m beyond those kind of motions. I’ve surpassed those emotions,” he said. “I don’t even know if I’m to a point where I can tell if that’s how I feel.” -Ichiro on if he feels disapointed by the play of his teammates.

If only the Mariners were as good at playing baseball as Ichiro is at giving mind blowing quotes after games:

“”Playing on this team and seeing what’s happening around me, I feel that something is beginning to fall apart,” Suzuki said through a translator. “But, if I was not in the situation and I was objectively watching what had happened to this team in the past week, I would probably be drinking a lot of beers and brewing it.”

What kind of beer?”Usually I enjoy Japanese beer, but given the situation, if I was objectively watching the game, I wouldn’t care if it was Japanese beer, American beer or beer from Papua New Guinea,” he said.”

Awesome.

George Sherrill 3.18era, 6 saves, 4k

Adam Jones .278, 1hr, 3 rbi

vs.

Erik Bedard 3.10, 1-0, 10k, 15 day DL

Brad Wilkerson .152, 0hr, 4rbi

Mike Morse .222, 0hr, 0rbi, 15 day DL

Obviously this is a trade that is going to be judged over the next 5 years or so, but to this point, the Mariners traded away depth they are now sorely missing for a sore hip and two trips to theDL.  If I’m Bavasi, I’m praying for Bedard’s hip because he’s pinned his Mariner future on this trade.

I keep forgetting to post a link to this blog post by Geoff Baker. It’s basically his debate with the Mariners’ fan base about why they seem so pessimistic about the team. My favorite part is where they conclude it is because the Seattle fans are the smartest in baseball. 

I might post more thoughts about it later, but its an interesting read either way. It explains a lot about the fan frustration with a team that has on paper been getting better and better the last two years.

Sounds like someone’s been updating Wikipedia after reading the USS Mariner blog. . .

“Bavasi views the trade [for Eric Bedard] as beneficial, due to his oversight of the prospects’ potential and his misunderstanding that Bedard will likel seek a contract elsewhere after the minimum 2 years of being bound to the team. Ironically, should this trade go down, Bavasi will be heralded by uninformed fans, including Howard Lincoln. This will buy him at most two more years as GM, in which the Mariners will be in fringe contention, until he will be placed in the “hot seat” again, quite likely along with Howard Lincoln.”

So Barry Bonds is now just one home run away from being in sole possession of the all time home run crown in professional baseball. He his is 755th home run tonight to tie himself with Hank Aaron. On his way around the bases he was met with a mix of cheers and boos. Bud Selig just stood up and watched but didn’t do anything else. I think Barry will wait until he is back in San Fransisco to really make a push to break the record. All in all I think its turning out better than I feared, I mean, the sky didn’t come crashing down and we are all still here so apparently the world will go on. I still think that Bonds will only hold the record for the next ten years or so before A-Rod or someone else breaks it, fortunately.

Adam Jones was finally called up by the Mariners the other day and has now played in two games. He didn’t start tonight but came in as a pinch runner and stole second base in the bottom of the 9th to put himself in scoring position. The Mariners have to play him at least in a right/left platoon with Ibanez if not more than that even. Maybe he is still a little behind the ball in his offensive development and a little rough around the edges but as the guys over on the USS Mariner blog point out the defensive upgrade he provides over Ibanez more than makes up for any difference offensively.  And by now the Mariners have to admit that Ibanez is not going to turn things around.  They, thank heavens, finally appear to have given up on Sexon and have been benching him in favor of Ben Brussard, who has been raking this year.  I think if Bavasi by some horrible miracle is still around next year he has got to jettison Vidro and Sexon in the off season.  I wouldn’t mind keeping Guillen around in right field because I think he provides a steady, capable, run producing bat for the middle of the lineup and he seems to have his temper problems finally under control, not to mention the fact that at $9 million for next year he is rather reasonably priced.

All in all I think it is shaping up to be an exciting final two months for the Mariners, which is a nice change from the last few years.  They are just one game back in the wild card standings and look to have a shot at sneaking into the playoffs.  They are getting good attendance at games again and have looked like a legitimate team more than pretenders in the second half.  There are still some glaring deficiencies on the team, like a big middle of the order bat and a legitimate top of the rotation starter to go along with Felix.  It’s doubtful that either of those will be filled during the year though.  I think this is more of a preview of things to come than a team that will make a serious push this year.  I think if Bavasi made better acquisitions last off season then we would be in much better shape (say like going after Chuck James instead of Horacio ‘freaking’ Ramirez and the $8+ million he sunk into the black-hole that is the career of Jeff Weaver).  Anyway, I’ll definitely enjoy the remainder of this season and it should be exciting going forward toward next year and a return to true respectability.

There are a couple of great articles out in the last few days about Ichiro here and here. They are about how Ichiro says some of the strangest things and keeps most people in the dark about his personal life. He really is a strange, strange dude but as some commenter’s on one of the article says, who cares, he knows how to play. Anyway, my favorite Ichiro quote is still the one about Cleveland.

From Larry Stone, via the USS Mariner Blog. . .

The Mariners were clearly not thrilled with the detour before opening a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday.

“To tell the truth, I’m not excited to go to Cleveland, but we have to,” Ichiro said through an interpreter. “If I ever saw myself saying I’m excited going to Cleveland, I’d punch myself in the face, because I’m lying.”

Seriously, the Mariners and the city of Cleveland just can’t seem to get along this year!

Peter Jackson eat your heart out! The true king has arrived and his name is El Rey Felix! I ran home from work when I saw in the third inning Felix had a no hitter going with just a walk. He has officially reached must watch status. He is a whole nother level of dominance. I’ve never seen opposing players look so discouraged when facing a pitcher. Between his first start and this one, every batter leaves the field for the dugout just shaking their head. David Ortiz even told ESPN that Felix is impossible to hit. If the Mariners can score enough runs to keep the other four starters in the games they pitch, they really do have a shot. I still think Bavasi is about as bright as my pinky toe but it looks like in spite of himself we may end up with a team that has a shot of winning the division finally. I still don’t like Vidro at DH and we have huge gaps in the back end of the rotation and in the bullpen but it looks like we finally have that ace we have been missing. Even with the years of Moyer as the ace winning 20 games twice, the Mariners haven’t had someone like King Felix since Randy Johnson and Mr Snappy. Anyway, I’m off to bed but I wanted to give props to King Felix the Magnificent!