Geoff, what was the announced attendance tonight? Looks like disgruntled Mariners fans finally started voting with their pocketbooks.

how does anyone with half a brain keep trotting out Washburn?

Another Cy Young pitcher shuts down the power stroking M's. WashBUM is sure a tough luck pitcher when it comes to run support. Excuse me this team Stinks!

When do the M's admit it's over?

.204 team batting avg. since May 20 for the ANGELS.. glad the Mariners get up emotionally and pounce early .. what a joke.

"Our guys are going to turn this thing around and Richie Sexson will be the player of the year," John McLaren - It must be nice to believe in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy.

But is John McLaren the sole believer in such fantasy spins, how about Bill Bavasi, Chuck Armstrong, and Howie Lincoln. Management without a clue.

Could lose a 100 games?

Oh Pul-leeze, no way they'll win 62..

"Santana was pretty good tonight blah Wash, blah, Lowe, blah, Green, blah, Lopez blah, blah, Richie's stance, blah, and so forth and so on. I can't stop crying my boys blah. By the way, I tuck it."

annouced attendance was 22,110.

There was no way there were really 22,110 in the seats, no way. They usually pad the attendance by 3 - 6 thou. I'd say 7 thou tonight. no honor, no truth, no game.

Bucky Jacobsen for manager!

Mac's postgame comments:

Re Washout's performance--"I thought Wash threw the ball pretty good."

Re the new and improved Suckson--"I like what I saw. He's got an open stance. He can see the ball better. He had a big base on balls. Something to build on."

I'd rather hear the comments made about Richie made about one of our young players instead. Why are we trying to reinvent the Sexy when he's already had his chance and is not part of our future?

Give me a team that I can instill hope. Hope for the future, hope the players continue to improve and get better as a team. Build a team of them, put them in, and let them play. Let me watch them improve through their mistakes.

Quit giving me players that are close to the edge of the abyiss, be it next month or next year, or maybe it was two months ago and nobody had the guts to say anything about it.

Prospect Insider has an amazing article about this, and how to build a team like this.

http://prospectinsider.com/2008/05/29/the-new-age-investment/

I woulder if Bavasi, Howie and Chuck, would even understand half of these concepts, much less agree with them or put them into motion.

All we can do now is root for a sea of green seats. That is all they understand.

mike blowers + "rally fries" = Mariners loss.

If the Mariners want the curse removed, blowers and his idiotic "rally fries" must permanently go --- and if either or both returns, then so does the curse for the rest of the year.

yankees spent $$$ digging up one of the three red sox jerseys buried at their new stadium (I guess they left the other two for PR stunts later on) and yet the Mariners insist on keeping blowers and his "rally fries" when the Mariners have rarely rallied all season long.

Do the Mariners really think the "rally fries" are helping the team? Or worth keeping around instead of trading them in for a winning season? "rally fries" haven't even helped to increase attendance either.

9 wins in a row by the Cubbies!

Lou's the man!

I was Born in Seattle, lived off and on growing up there, I graduated in Seattle and love the City to be honest even though now live outside of Los Angeles(job what can you do). I'm cursed to root for the Mariners, I've tried not to, but somehow I can't help it. I guess I'm like a crack addict but with baseball and the Mariners are my crack, I know their bad for me but I just can't kick the habit. I was able to watch them tonight because they were playing the Angels who I hate by the way and every Angel game is on here in LA. All I can say is that the Mariners are the most boring team I think I've seen play baseball in a very long time. I think I'd rather watch the Royals play then the Mariners to be honest or maybe even watch paint dry, it's a toss up. It seems that the hitters have no plan of attack or any Idea what their doing at the plate from at bat to at bat. Their hitting coach should get a raise! This team was so poorly put together that Bill Bavasi should be ashamed of him self and resign already. I know that's not going to happen though because I'm sure he's getting ready to trade Jeff Clement, Phillip Aumont and Jeremy Reed to Cincinnati for Ken Griffey Jr. Because at 38 years old Ken Griffey Jr. can resurrect the Mariners from 13 1/2 games back like it was 1995 all over again. Sarcasum at it's finest, it's the only thing that's keeping me going at this point. My only hope for this season now is that they figure out it's over and start testing the young players they have to see who can contribute next year.

Go Mariners!

Well rather than the sarcastic comments I usually put up, I want to discuss Washburn. Career numbers over a 5 year span give you a descent sample to draw some conclusions from. The sampling is from 2001 - 2007 where Washburn averaged atleast 25 games and 160+ innings. Looking back at Washburn's career stats, some numbers jump out right away:

His best year was the 18 - 6 season of '02 when the Angels won the pennant. This isnt too much of a surprise considering your team is playing well enough to win, the pitcher is generally the benefactor. What I was surprised to see was his second best season was 11 - 8. 3 games over .500 is nothing to write home about.

Washburn has not had a season where he has had better than a .500 record since 2004 with Anaheim. If his current pace continues, this will be the 4th consecutive losing season.

He signed a 4 year $37.5M contract with Bavasi in 2005 when his record was 11 - 8. How does a guy three games over .500 get a contract worth $9M and some change annually and put up numbers like this??? Granted hindsight is 20/20 so lets use the hindsight Bavasi had available at the time:

Throw out the '02 championship season and Washburn's numbers are 38 - 43. So does anyone else have a boss that hired you on a fat contract based on one year of fantastic work despite the evidence of 5 other years of average to sub par work? If so then I need to work at your job.

With all this said Geoff, can you tell me based on career stats alone, which seems like the worse deal? Silva in '08 or Washburn in '05?

And what is Bucky doing now?

It’s always darkest just before dawn…

No real worries, folks. Howard and Chuck will be back, as will Bill, meaning that the Ms will maintain some much-needed stability. No changes needed here. I can’t believe that some folks think this organization needs to add some measure of quantitative analysis – something akin to the Indians’ DiamondView perhaps - to the baseball side of the operation. Pathetic nerds!

I’m personally very happy – and I bet Geoff is too - that the Ms are determined to see that Vidro gets enough ABs so that his option vests. We need more veteran leadership of the variety that Turbo provides. Ah, Turbo, Carlos Silva, Jarrod “Don’t Blame My Mediocrity On Me, It’s Kenji’s Fault” Washburn. Veteran grit. Leadership. Our future.

Go Aquasox!

Hey Geoff do you know whats going on with Bucky Jacobsen these days?does he still play?

I was a bit too busy with that exciting hockey game to watch much of the M's tonight. During a break in the action I did manage to channel surf over to see JR ground out to end the game. And I saw the M's were wearing their home dark jerseys and it got me thinking. I'm surprised no one has brought this up before. The whole problem is the color of the jerseys. Let's start a movement. Bring back the teal! That's a color this team is playing like! Teal!

I am not blaming McLaren for the troubles of the team, but his cheerleading with Sexson cannot ring more hollow. He got a big base on balls? Can you imagine Lou having said that? All week he was playing coy as to why Sexson was not playing. How about this for a quote: "He walked once and hit a weak grounder inside the first base line. He didn't play in the last week because he hasn't been producing. We're going to get him back in there for a few games and see if he produces."

For anyone that defends Bavasi by saying that he was the one that built the Angels team that won the World Series, shouldn't he have some insights as to whom he should have stolen from them instead of Washburn & Spiezio? Give me a break! When are they going to fire the guy? It'd be interesting to get an opinion from some of the people in the Angels organization about Bavasi and why he was fired there.

I won't suggest making any trades or moves until Bavasi is fired! The guy is incompetent and he is incapable of thinking outside of the box!

It was a great effort tonight. You can see everyone is working hard. Richie's work with Pent is really paying off. He didn't have any strikeouts, and only hit into one double play. This is what I've been talking about. If the Angels had only scored two fewer runs, we would have been right there. Wash had a good effort too. I think he had only thrown about 70 pitches through the first 3 innings. He was hitting his spots, and keeping the hitters off balance...for the most part. I think Bavasi is pleased, and everyone is working hard. That's the most important thing.

Hey guys, at keast they played hard tonight! right?

I stopped watching the M's about a week ago, and, out here in Denver, I had to pay $160.00 for the privilege of seeing the games.

At this point, I will continue to boycott the televised games, and I certainly will not pay for the package next year. The players are responsible for the losses, but the front office is responsible for the players. This mess of a team is a slap in the face to those of us who pay and tune in. They do not deserve our time, attention or money. Big changes are necessary. Big changes will bring me (and a lot of other fans) back. And by big changes, I'm not talking players. That comes later.

Hey, maybe I'll become a Rockies fan! (oh wait...)

Teal - I'm Telling You

This is like watching a cheesy old B horror movie. It's not scary, it's not remotely entertaining, not even in a sadistic way, it's just pathetic. You know the kind I'm talking about. The kind without a plot, the final outcome is decidedly clear early on, and there is noone worth rooting for. Do you walk out, or do you suffer through it just to see how many people will get the axe before it's all over? In this case director Bavasi has managed to make one of the worst low-budget films of all-time on the budget and media hype of a blockbuster. What title would you give this disaster?

Schmginsky,

Since Field Of Dreams and Dumb and Dumber have all ready been used I think maybe Broke Bat Mountain part 2 the saga of Bill and John

Here's a sobering thought: They would have to go 95-9 the rest of the season to match their 2001 record. That wasn't that long ago. Throw the bums out!!!

vacancy

".204 team batting avg. since May 20 for the ANGELS.. glad the Mariners get up emotionally and pounce early .. what a joke."

You're right. Our offense has stunk for a while. Yet the Angels some how keep winning. They took two of three from the Tigers last week. And two of three from the great pitching Blue Jays. All four wins last week were walk-off wins too.

What this tells you is you don't need a great offense. Look at the A's. Right now the Angels are like the A's. Both teams win with great pitching and timely hitting. The Angels have an advantage over the A's this year though because we have one of the top defenses in the AL.

Corey Miller:

I'll tell you why they got Washburn. 1. He was willing to come here. Most players are probably somewhat clued in to the FO's idiocy and aren't willing to come here. 2. He doesn't get hurt. That's their philosophy . They think getting guy like Josh Beckett (even if he would come here, which he probably wouldn't) would be a bad idea because he has been prone to injuries. Theirs is a low risk low reward philosophy. That sort of plan can't be very good for confidence, hoping and wishing on a rabbits foot that the other teams players get hurt and then hey, the doors open for us!

"It's baffling. It's hard to believe this team would stick with a loser like me for so frickin long."

"There's not much for us to say, offensively," manager John McLaren said. "Santana throws so hard and he's got good secondary pitches. It made for a long day."

In response to Johnny McLaren:

Yes, Richie Sexson had a hit so Pentland had an effect and the Big gut is surely coming out of his funk. Johnny Mac, do you really believe your spin? I suppose you will tell us Santana is invincible, thanks for the positive, upbeat analysis, we are all so proud of your brilliant field management efforts - Nobody does it better. When this team comes around as you know they will, we will all praise you as a genius. The man who made Bavasi look good. Keep up the good work, rub that rabbits foot and hold on tight to your four leaf clover, our luck is bound to change 0 Hey Johnny?

When do managers like you ever get fired? Maybe Bill and Chuck will give you an extension, how great that would be for the Seattle fans. Go get em Johnny Mac, maybe you can spin them to death.

"Mariners' journeyman Cairo credits work ethic for continuing career," speaking of Miguel Cairo.

Yes Miguel, we all know how hard you worked to beat out that bum Sexson at first. But just maybe, you might thank Johnny Mac who has always believed in you and given you the chance to stay on this team when others - e. g., Norton - have been ceremonially given their walking papers. You gotta believe, hey Miguel? With you at first, we can't loose, time is a wasting without your stick in the lineup. That Johnny Mac sure knows how to evaluate talent and lets just keep Sexson because you never know when you need a $13 million stud to pinch hit.

"McLaren said that while Cairo will be losing playing time at first base with Sexson moving back into everyday status, he will look to get Cairo more opportunities elsewhere."

Johnny Mac your insight to the play of Miguel Cairo is just tge kind of brilliant insight that will save the 2008 season. Lets keep all our veterans happy, there is no reason to develop the farm system when we have such promising veterans ready to spring into action this year and their further development bodes well for 2009.

Go Mariners!

I Feel vindicated.I never thought signing a guy whos strikes out nearly 2oo times a year was a good investment.I hate those kind of hitters.SEXSON HASN`T CLICKED FOR ABOUT A YEAR AND A HALF BY THE WAY.sO WHY EXPECT ANYTHING ELSES BUT A 200 TO 250 HITTER OUT OF HIM.THAT IS UNFAIR TO THE POOR GUY CONSIDERING HIS TALENT AND RECORD.

What's really baffling is this year compared to last. Think about it. We had Weaver and Ramirez, Felix was out for a month plus and never pitched again like he did in the first two games. The dl for pitchers was a revolving door with Baek and Feieraband starting many games. Our offense was almost the same, also the bullpen. Actually, we had Chris Reitsma and Sean White out there. We won 88 games. How did we do that then? This season is balancing out last year when we should've gone to the playoffs. This is baseball karma.

I have nothing. '08 is finished and '09 does not look too promising. Don't understand keeping Sexson and Wash and still batting Vidro 3rd. We as fans only have the future to look forward to for this team, but we have no idea what it is we are supposed to expect. There isn't alot to get excited about in the farm for next year.

But, we do have Batista, Wash, and Silva eating money to look forward to.

Maybe we can look forward to the offseason to see what free agent(s) Bavasi cleverly overpays because we shouldn't have Sexson around next year to play whipping boy.

This team is a joke, the management is a joke, the ownership is near-sighted, and the fans are being played. The Mariners are now the laughing stock of the league. The only way to fix it as a fan is to stop going, watching, and buying merchandise. Not sure how people can afford it anyway these days. For me, the water level is rising and I am neck deep.

it is evidet now. wah's inability to locate the pitch where he want it to be is not joh's fault at all.

Joh is a smart and competent cathcer. He is not dumb.

not being on the same page?

come on!! you are pro.

get on the same page for god sake!

from GEOFF: "The types of spirited discussions here may not be for some of you, but the rest of you are continuing to log in here. We are now 300 percent higher in terms of page views than we were last May -- making us the paper's most read blog."

GEOFF, GEOFF, GEOFF
Is this to imply that you've taken a "Get Barry Bonds" type of logic to building the participation on your blog? In other words, the only thing that matters are the numbers you put up here and it doesn't matter how you generate those stats. The problem with your blog lately is NOT the spirited discussions--we've always had those. Your problem is in allowing posters to steal the identities of other posters. Your problem is in allowing a significant escalation in the type of vulgarity that the Seattle Times, as this city's leading newspaper, has never in its long history allowed... until now.

Of course, if you think that constant references to felatio, penises, and the regular use of gutter language help you drive up the popularity of this blog, then you are sacrificing QUALITY for QUANTITY. If you want to encourage the vulgar Adam impersonators and, as a result, lose engaging bloggers such as OregonGal, then YOU are making this choice.

This is not about censorship, as the worst offenders here will argue. Every one of them can make the same points without being uncivilized louts or identity thieves.

If you are not going to address this issue, then please remove your comment from the top of the blog--the cautionary note that you've had there for well over a year with its false promise of changes to come. It makes you look like a hypocrite:

"Help us maintain civil and mature comment threads by reporting inappropriate posts. Record the name of the commenter and the time and date of the offending comment and send us an e-mail. Thanks. Changes are coming in the months ahead to our comment functionality that will allow us to better-control the content."

Can someone explain to me if this seasons done, why the M's keep trotting out players who won't be here next year?

Is it that they want to be competitive losers and play hard while losing so that way even the casual consumer can still enjoy spending over $100 for crappy seats, food, and parking while taking their families out to enjoy a game where the hometown 9 lose?

Well here's hoping they don't take another college arm in the draft to turn him into a reliever, cause you know they already wasted that high pick on Morrow who will never get a look as a starter cause Batista and Washburn are so good, i mean the team's onlty 6-17 in the games these 2 start and it's not like together they make nearly $20million a year.

Isn't it great that a good chunk of players that Bavasi has acquired within the last 2-3 years have ended up not playing on a major league roster or no longer plays baseball in the MLB following their time with the M's.

-Eduardo Perez - No longer in Baseball
-Ben Broussard - In the Yankees minor league system
-Jeff Weaver - About to be dropped from the Brewers Minors
-Horacio Ramirez - In the KC minors
-Chris Reitsma - No longer in baseball
-Carl Everett - No longer in baseball
-Matt Lawton - No longer in Baseball
-Roberto Petagine - No longer in baseball
-John Parrish - Don't know what happened too
-Rick White - Who? What? Where? When? Why?
-Pokey Reese - Where is Pokey actually?

It didn't have an impact on the game, but I'm surprised nobody mentioned Yuni's LAZY throw to first on the attempted double play on Mathis in the 8th. He had plenty of time to set his feet, but just threw the ball in one motion when he didn't need to and short-hopped Sexson. I've always stuck up for Yuni and his talents but he is making far too many errors that shouldn't be errors. His mental focus and intensity is non-existent. And doesn't he have but four walks this year too?

Lastly, did everyone see Beltre's strikeout when he literally swung at a fastball over his head? What a joke. Every night we do something to embarrass ourselves. We are that bad. Very depressing. There is no end in sight. Even for a thiry year fan, it has now become easy to root for their failure because you know it is going to happen and you want it to be so bad for the owner to finally notice and make sweeping changes for the future. What will it take?

Go Rays and Go Lou and the Cubbies. BTW, Sherrill is only three saves behind the entire Mariners win total and K-Rod I believe is tied with the M's win total.

I second what scottM said.

More chances for Richie.

What?

byebye

"With Richie's new closed stance, he an see the ball better and soon he will be the most effective power bat in all of baseball."

HOW MUCH LONGER DO WE PUT UP WITH MAC'S GARBAGE ABOUT SEXSON, AND THIS LIFELESS, LISTLESS COLLECTION OF 'ATHLETES'?

GEOFF, GEOFF, GEOFF: The type of blogger should here should follow a Joe Friday fifties mystique and maintain civil, profane-less speech. My comments are superior and I have the right to say more than anyone else. But I like Adam and tolerate Mr. X, so I am not self-righteous and vain glorious. Given the power, I will clean up this blog and maintain civil and mature discourse.

Posts on this blog should be about QUALITY for QUANTITY, but I am the true censor, the only one qualified to make such decisions. We are losing quality bloggers, like that gal from Oregon who sucks up to every word that I say. YOU make the choice, all these new profane bloggers or old veterans who keep it civil and worship my every word.

This is not a campaign for censorship, as the worst offenders here must be censored for there own good. Every one of them can make the same posts while maintaining a standard id authorized by me and they will be better for it.

If you are going to address this issue, please permit me to rewrite the rules of free speech and decorum so that I can weed out the miscreants. You will then have a fine blog free of discontent and liberalism. Freedom of speech, first one wants it and then the whole blame world wants it. Revise your comment from the top of the blog -- the cautionary note should not be optional, we need control to protect the women and children from this kind of degeneracy. Police this web with Adam and Mr. X as guardians of its integrity, I will personally screen all bloggers and those crossing the line will be sent to reform school, otherwise you are a hypocrite.

"Help us maintain proper and conservative commentary threads on the pain of death by reporting miscreant posts. Such posts are identifiable by the new soft ware that is coming, but until then all posts must be cleared through the blog captain on duty. Record the criminals to ScottM including the time and date of the offending comment and send him an e-mail. He will send them a virus to bust their machine so that they can never post here again. A record of all inappropriate posts will be maintained by the paper and abusers will be sentenced to watch the Mariners throughout the rest of the season. Thanks. Charges are pending in the court system against such miscreants to protect our community from such speech and functionality that will allow us to better-control this space."

Teams often reflect their manager/coaches. Yikes!

At least Pentland did SOMETHING, where is the coaching on this team?

"Players manageres" apparently do not meddle in their payer's lives.

Has anyone tried to teach Yuni the game of baseball? Situational hitting? Taking pitches? Or is it that once they make the majors you can no longer say anything?

McLaren is the worst leader I have seen in a long, long time. He just wanders around hoping somehow a baseball team will emerge from the clubhouse. Pathetic.

To really put this team and where it is going in the proper perspective, one has only to look at the farm system. Folks, we are in deep trouble. The cupboard is bare and a depression has just begun. You ain’t seen nothing yet.

Will someone please sensor that idiot Scottm, what a moron! If you can't say it in three word its not worth saying.....and so on and so forth

I think Scottm and scottM should meet in a virtual MMA room and fight out their differences over the net...LOL.

Seriously if you are going to let what someone says here get under your skin you need a thicker skin. Anonimity adds a lot to the courage of one man or woman. And the display names here are part of the fun. How many Johnny Mac impersonators do we have here? Its all in fun. If you have something you really want to engage Geoff about, send him an email.

Anything that comes out of McLaren's mouth I don't listen to anymore. If yuo watch his press conferences after the game he is completely clueless.

" We were riding a hot streak with Cairo, so I stayed with the hot hand." Since when is 3-3 a hot streak. The guy is completely clueless.

The 3:06 am post is mine. I'm the only scottm who has ever posted here, until now. Glad I stirred up the malcontents to prove my point. No need to send GEOFF a private e-mail on this. His problem with his blog is a very public one.

Could have used Bucky J at 1st base