God I am so sick of Batista and his never-ending list of excuses.

A quick glance at the box score shows a glaring managerial error. Namely, the failure to let the pitchers hit. With a grand total of six singles in the game, the position players clearly need some help.

Well, I just got back from the game. Living in NY, I went to all 3 games, and I must say, they didnt play like the Mariners that I watched all year. Even tonight, they seemed to generate some offense, but the hole that Batista dug was too much.

It was pretty cool seeing all of the Mariners up close during batting practice. I got 3 baseballs: 1 is from Ryan Rowland-Smith, 1 was a foul ball that landed in the dream seats that I raced over to get, and 1 was courtesy of Ichiro =)

If anyone cares, www.mets.com/fanphotos has a picture of me and my aunt at the game last night. Go to Tuesday, June 24, 2008, then go to Gallery 48 and then go to picture #24. And yes, I am a kid!! LOL!!!

Halfway to a 100 losses! 28 and 50 projects to 56 and 100. That leaves them a 6 game cushion to make history.

Batista clearly has a highly developed martyr's complex.

Batista.... you suck. You're washed up.

Your back been bothering you all season then? What excuses do you have for all the other starts that you f'd up this season?

Gimme a break. Ban him to the bullpen forever and please only use him after all other options have been exhausted.

Dude, Frankie, good to meet cha............................Glad you enjoyed the games.

If batting is contagious, whining must be too.

This "I'm trying to pitch through the pain" is about as lame as Washburn's "hey, I knew I sucked, so I wanted to stay out there to save the bullpen".

When do we get to see RAD, RRS and Morrow in the rotation regularly...?

you're a good man Frankie. Represent!

Batista is done. I have to imagine they will look toward RRS going forward.

Frankie, I looked you up and there you are in person! Very cool that you and your aunt got to be there for Felix's GS! You must have been going nuts when he hit it!

interesting M's story in SI....

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/jon_heyman/06/25/heyman.mariners/index.html

I just don't understand what happened to Batista. Last year, he was great, this year, he showed signs of being good again like against the Angels but he's gone downhill from there. Maybe the DL would help him.

Frankie, I was living in the NYC area in the mid '80s when the Mets were great. I was there at Shea Stadium the night the crowd stormed the field when the Mets clinched the pennant in '86. Everyone grabbed sod for souvenirs. Problem was there were two weeks and several home games left in the season. The grounds crew did the best they could after the mess, and, the rest of the way, NYPD's finest ringed the Stadium with mounted policemen.

Anyway, congrats on the cool haul today. They have tall ledges in the Big Apple, so be careful. Anyway keep your angst in check until '09 when we both hope it will matter!!!

batista is a vagina

First of all, Mr. Stone, I think you've held up admirably, writing this own blog as well as doing your Other Job...regarding the game...during the first inning, my Parrot decided he wanted some attention, so I took him around the house, put an album on the stereo; he likes to "squawk to the music". When I got back to the game, the M's were behind 8-3 (long about the 5th inning, I guess). So perhaps tonight wasn't Richie's breakout night? It obviously wasn't Miguel's breakout night.

MESSAGE TO M'S MANAGEMENT: THIS TEAM WILL CONTINUE TO FLOUNDER IF YOU DON'T GET SOME CONSISTENT STARTING PITCHING AND GET IT SOON. Well, wait...this season's already been flushed...maybe we're all just hanging on in order to see how many games the M's will lose this season. Can you say "disarray"? I knew ya could.

No that sounds like a pansy continuing to make excuses for his inability to pitch. He did it last year when he got knocked around making spineless excuses like "He was tipping his pitches". The guy has always sucked.

Sounds like he is ripping Bedard! Haha. Hey if he really is in some pain at least he isn't trying to be a sally like Bedard who can't throw 6 innings without getting a side ache. Batista is sucking but he isn't a chump

Good job representing the M's in NY Frankie. Nice pic. Maybe we'll get to see one of you at a game in Seattle someday.

Hey Frankie, it's nice to meet you! Great pic and Mariner jersey! Congratulations on the baseballs (Ichiro, even). Lucky you attended one of the better M's series of the year, including Felix's grand slam.

Speaking of high ledges in NYC, I used to lean out the window of our eighth-floor apartment and wave to my mom and dad on the street below. They almost died of heart attacks, they say. Stay off the ledge. ;-)

Go Mariners!

All Right Frankie!! Way to rock the road grays in Flushing. I'm "amazed" at the revenue potential on the Met's fan photo program. Something like 1,600 photos for a Tuesday night game. And then the chance to turn each one of those photos into memorabilia for anywhere from 7 to 250 bucks each. Wow. Wilpon must absolutely print money on this thing. Is there a mob of Met's logo wearing paparazzi to generate the volume of photos?

It does sound like he is ripping Bedard. At least Bedard can pitch when he wants to.

Batista is really starting to annoy the crap out of me. I could cope with his digs if he was pitching well.

The day after McClaren was fired FSN asked for players thoughts on the matter. Most of the players were decent and fair. Batista's comment was that he was glad they wouldn't have to see McClaren cry anymore.

Well, I'll be glad when we don't have to hear Batista cry anymore. Fornicate him.

Sounds like the usual pastime of kicking Mariners or Mariners execs when they're down or underachieving is in full swing. Such pain, such vitriol.

Batista's not being a martyr. He's being rather factual. He's started, he's gone to the bullpen, he's been available, even while others have had start after start delayed or been left in Seattle.

Don't get me started on Bedard "being able to pitch when he wants to." He hasn't really lit it up, either, this season.

Batista had 16 wins last season. That hardly makes him a "vagina" and it hardly is an indication he's "always sucked".

But in this lost season, the "fans" will take any target for their "righteous vitriol", even if means a total lack of perspective and memory that has trouble recalling stuff that happened a season ago.

Yes, Batisita, we should have all of our starters pitching while they are injured. Not only will they not get better, or get better much more slowly - they'll be much more ineffective when they are pitching!

Seriously. If you're hurt, stop screwing up this team (well, we're already screwed) by trying to pitch through it. JJ Putz tried to do the same thing after he came off the DL, and it didn't work. He just got hurt again, and was ineffective while he was pitching.

So, in summary, screw off Batista. Go play some more french horn with Kenny G or whatever.

7hourlinedrive -- While Batisita obviously pitched better last year, the 16 wins was pretty flukey. He still gave up a lot of hits, and a lot of runs -- wins are not the only important stat when it comes to pitchers. Some of those wins came in relief, as well.

Last year he was like a slightly better version of Jarrod Washburn. This year, he's a slightly worse version of a Jarrod Washburn having his worst season ever (Actually, Wash has been pitching well his last few starts... maybe we can convince another GM to take him).

That being said, meh, if he can remember how to throw his fastballs for strikes, stick him in long relief.

The only thing Batista can help the team do these days is get the number one pick in '09 and attain that magical 100 loss plateau. He is done. Do not let him come back next year, we will already have the over 6 ERA starter slot filled by Silva, unfortunately.

Heyman didn't say anything groundbreaking in that article. I'm sure he'll get ripped for stating the obvious. It is a good example of what happens when you let a player run the team though.

The only thing I keep wondering is how the heck are we going to unbury ourselves from all of these rediculous lame contracts that BB saddled us with?!?

Considering the M's tendency to continue playing overpaid, underachieveing players (think big sexy), would anyone really be surprised if Batista, Silva, Washburn, and Joh are not only Mariners a yr from now, but on the roster making regular starts for their 8-12 million a yr and ERA of 6 - or BA of .220?!?

Given how unlikely it is that any team will take these stiffs, either the M's are going to have to eat a whole lot of salary or just keep playing them - always waiting for the possible break-out! Either way, we're screwed. And if you were Felix, or a big FA like Teixeria, how likely are you to sign with a last place team, with last place talent, buried under dead contracts for the next two years?

At least he's man enough to admit he's not pitching well and doesn't run off to Mom and Dad when he hurts. Yeah he has sucked all year, but he tries to pitch through it. Obviously he can't so he shouldn't, but I commend him for throwing the pansy Bedard under the bus.

Over a year later, I'm still reeling from the shock of this team signing Batista to anything more than a 2 year deal. At the time, a 36 year old journeyman pitcher who hadn't won more than 11 games in a season and they threw what, 4 years at him? Incomprehensible.

I don't care if he did win 16 games last year because he'll never touch those numbers again. 36 year old ballplayers don't get better; they only get worse. If the M's are fortunate enough to unload him, they'll almost certainly be paying him to play elsewhere which of course, is the undeniable hallmark of a poor personnel decision.

Nice, Miguel....you single handedly lose two games i a week, one in relief and one as a starter.

Now you try to wiggle off the hook by pointing fingers at your teammate(s).

All the talk this year about "leadership in the clubhouse" or needing a tough field manager? This is where we need it: tell Batista to he's part of a team and to keep his criticism of teammates in the clubhouse. And if he's hurt, say so. Pitching as he does now only guarantees defeat.

I am little surprised that Bedard would be coming back Sunday. RA has definitely earned another start and if the idea is to keep as many of the starters pitching on 5 days then starting Sunday would be RA, then Bedard, Felix, Wash, Silva.

I hope they do put Batista on the DL until he is 100% healthy and then do at least 2 rehab starts to prove he can really pitch. If he can't well then some tough decisions would need to be made.

7hourlinedrive - You got it. Batista isn't whining. The exact opposite. He's a gamer. Beltre's numbers are down this year because he's playing through pain in his hand. Last year Ibanez' numbers were down because he's playing through pain.

You bloggers complain about how lame Bedard is for taking himself out of games when he gets tired. He doesn't play through pain, he's not a gamer. Fine. But when you do "push through" your performance is bound to suffer.

So either you put Bedard on a pedestal and say all prima donnas should only perform when they are 100% healthy, or you admire the gladiator mentality to play every inning to help the team, even if they aren't at top performance. You can't condone both Bedard and Batista.

Personally, I'll take the gamers like Batista, Beltre and Ibanez any day. To me the honus of responsibility belongs to trainer Rick Griffin to take guys out when injuries are affecting their performance too much. Batista needs a trip to the DL to rest and he'll be a fine #4 pitcher when he returns.

I am basically a malcontent so I can relate to Batista's situation. He did give us quality pitching last year and I remember he volunteered to pitch in relief when our bullpen was depleted as well. He is dismal this year, but with all the babies on this team and a FO that wears rose colored glasses my attitude would head south as well. Batista is probably washed up as a major league pitcher, but the blame goes squarely back to Bill Bavasi and Chuck Armstrong.

The GM lists
According to a personal letter sent to a season ticket holder from Howard Lincoln,USS Mariner is saying that the Mariners are looking at:
Paul DePodesta
Chris Antonetti
David Forst
Kim Ng

Jason Stark on KJR said the Mariners candidates are:
Brian Cashman
Theo Epstein
Pat Gillick
Jed Hoyer
Brian Woolfork

Peter Gammons of ESPN said the M's candidates are:
Rick Hahn
Jed Hoyer
Ben Cherington
Peter Woodfork
Mike Hill
Jerry DiPoto
Tony LaCava
Mike Chernoff
Kevin Towers
Brian Cashman

The injury thing is really bothering me right now. It seems like a convenient excuse for both players and coaches. If the player is injured and struggling, put them on the DL. This means Batista this year, Ibanez last year, Vidro both years, Sexson(?) both years. When performance is hampered enough, the player needs to sit down. If the injury isn't enough to hamper performance but performance is way down (Vidro, Sexson, Batista), perhaps the player is close to being finished. There are exceptions, for example when there simply isn't a adequite backup available. If Vidro is really injured, put him on the DL to get healthy, and give him a bunch of rehab starts in the minors. If Batista is really injured, do the same thing. But leave the "injured" excuse at the door.

i wonder how these guys would fair in the military (civilian myself)
...SICK, LAME and LAZY. I swear our salaries to idiots like Batista are tied to, or related to the sub-prime mortgage crisis.

Batista is not a gamer when if you;ve read his countless comments over the past years, this guy always has an excuse for why he failed in a game.

Batista has always sucked, yeah he had 15 wins last year as a starter, but he also had 11 losses and how many times did he get 8 inning or more, 0 times, how many CG, 0 times, how many quality starts where he went more than 6 innings , what 6 or 7 times. This guy is getting paid $24 million over 3 years and is what a marginal number 5 guy. Yeah that's a great pitcher. Give me a break, it's ridiculous to try and argue Batista was good cause of the amount of wins he had last year. If that logic applies then Paul Abbott could be included in the argument for his success when he won 17 games or James Baldwin.

Batista is worthless.

It took Joba Chamberlain 5 starts over less than a month to transition from 8th inning setup man to pitching a 114-pitch shutout over 6 2/3, and the Yankees did it while theoretically in a penant race. Why aren't the M's doing this with Morrow and RRS in the midst of a lost season? Can't they call up someone from Tacoma to pitch an inning of relief here and there, not to mention move Batista to the pen while the young guns are getting stretched out?


Can they at least do it after the break if JJ is healthy?

scrapiron -

Interesting lists. We all know what I think of Ng, DePodesta, Forst, and Antonetti, so lets look at Stark and Gammons' lists.

...Jason Stark must really be on something. Theo Epstein? Really? There's no chance we can lure him away from Boston. The Red Sox have a non-meddlesome ownership group and board of directors. We, on the other hand, have Howard Lincoln and Chuck Armstrong.

There's no way Pat Gillick comes back either. Not with the way Armstrong and Lincoln tied his hands the last time he was here.

Cashman, maybe. Hoyer I can see. Not sure about Woollfork, though.

Let's take a look at Gammon's list...

Rick Hahn - I sure hope not. The entire White Sox front office is a pretty sad group.

Jed Hoyer - If Epstein isn't leaving for a while, I could see Hoyer leaving for a market like Seattle. Large payroll, somewhat nice media.

Ben Cherington - Another saberhead from the Epstein hierarchy. All I really know about him is that he was co-GM with Jed Hoyer during the period Epstein was absent from the club.

Peter Woodfork - Harvard grad and currently overseeing the 40 man roster of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Another statistical analysis candidate.

Mike Hill - GM of the Florida Marlins. Honestly, I don't know too much about the Florida roster construction methodology and ideals.

Jerry DiPoto - Former MLB reliever, currently director of scouting for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Doesn't appear to have much managerial experience on an executive level. However, he is part of a program that acknowledges and uses sabermetrics.

Tony LaCava - Don't have much information about him. He's the director of player personnel for the Toronto Blue Jays, which have been a rather dysfunctional group since JP Ricciardi took over. I don't know how much blame rests on LaCava's shoulders, but as a candidate I'm not too keen on him. Should be noted he, too, seems to be of a sabermetric background.

Mike Chernoff - Director of Baseball Operations, Cleveland. Chernoff is yet another product of a sabermetric-inclined front office, working with and reporting directly to Mark Shapiro and Chris Antonetti. If we get a GM from the Cleveland organization, I would much prefer Antonetti.

Kevin Towers - GM of the San Diego Padres. I'm not going to lie, he's perhaps my favorite "realistic" candidate. If the Mariners can secure permission to talk to him, they should take Towers very seriously. He's the perfect mix of statistical analysis and traditional evaluation to keep Lincoln and Armstrong pleased.

Brian Cashman - We all know Cashman's story. I'm not hyped on him, really. In fact, I hope the club doesn't take a hard look at him at all. A 250 million dollar payroll does a lot of things to mask mistakes a GM makes. Remember some of the pitching FA and trade blunders he's made? Carl Povano and Kevin Brown were some of the most ill-advised roster moves in recent memory. Cashman isn't going to have 250 million to work with here, so his mistakes are going to be much more obvious.

Interesting lists. A surprising amount of candidates that are associated with sabermetric-oriented front offices. Perhaps Armstrong and Lincoln really do mean it when they say a complete philosophy change is on the table.

I am so sick of the Mariners and have given up on them so long ago. I was slightly encouraged when Mac and bavasi were fired and hoped that more would follow but alas, none have. Let's bring up the boys from Fresno State. All of them. Have the Mariners sit on the bench and watch these college boys show them how to pitch, hit and run and most importantly, how to win ball games, even when no one else thought you could. Congrats to Fresno State. What an exciting series.

Al- I wouldn't say Batista "has always sucked." But I do agree with you when you say, "Batista is not a gamer when if you;ve read his countless comments over the past years, this guy always has an excuse for why he failed in a game."

That struck me last year as well. Instead of saying, "I just didn't have it going today," he would suddenly name some bodily injury that he'd never mentioned before and use that as an excuse. And that's why I said he has a well-developed martyr's complex. Some of you want to call him a gamer? How does a guy pitching with an injury and going on to lose a game because of it help his team? NOT.
That's called stupidity.

Nope - He is pretty much always sucked.

Sivla and Batista for how many more years?

"Ongoing command problems"? How about, "He sucks and isn't getting the breaks that he got last year". Him and Vidro. It took a year, but these two are finally turning into what we all knew they would. And we're on the hook for one more year with Batista.

He is NOT the same pitcher as last year!! He is
short-arming every pitch compaired to last year.
Even pitches that should jam a hitter are being hit for HR's. Top speed 91-92 vs 95-96 last year when he needed to. Why not put him on the DL???
Or release him already--We need to move on!!
SOMETHING IS WRONG!!

Simple..let him go now. Next question?