Fight, Fight, Fight

Fight. You can only hope that last nights bench clearing brawl means the Mariners have finally hit bottom. How much farther is left to go? The worst record in the AL, 8 games out of first in the division. 1 run in 32 innings. Shutout twice in a row by mediocre pitching. A team batting average of .131 over the last 8 games. Zero runs scored to support your top two starting pitchers. When does the 2009 season start?

I grew up with a lot of bad Mariner teams, teams in last place. But those were teams without Cy Young candidates like Eric Bedard and Felix Hernandez. Those were teams without Ichiro, Beltre, and Ibanez. That was an era before a stacked farm system and some of the best international scouting in the world. Last season was a fun season to watch because you saw a mediocre team scrapping it out every night to stay in contention through August. On paper, this is a better team than that one... but this one is no fun to watch, and I have serious doubts about being anywhere near second place even by August.

If the Mariners finally do break out of this offensive rut (offensive in both senses of the word), what do they need to do? Its hard enough to be eight games behind out of first, but when you've got to fight two good teams ahead of you in your division its even harder (Angels and A's are leading the AL west). To have a shot, from here on out the Mariners need to be playing .600 ball. Thats hard to do. Even if they pull that out, it doesn't mean they win. They need to play .600 ball, hope the Atheletics regress to the mean, and pray that the Angels will have a meltdown at some point because if the Angels stay on pace to win 92 games this season, it would take .620 ballclub to catch up. Thats a laughable idea right now, being the only two teams in all of baseball winning like that is Boston and Arizona. Two weeks ago I advocated signing Griffey... or anyone to bring some offensive power. They could get both Griffey and Bonds right now and still be fighting an incredible up hill battle.

I'll keep watching and hope a fools hope, but in my own little fandom its now the Cubs, Whitesox, and Twins who'll keep my attention with serious competition.