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Geoff Baker covers the Mariners for The Seattle Times. He provides daily coverage of the team throughout spring training, and during the season.

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August 21, 2008 5:27 PM

Tale of the tape

Posted by Geoff Baker

Jim Riggleman and company hit the field for batting practice this afternoon, ahead of what should be a fine tilt between two baseball lightweights. You really have to reach back into the annals of baseball history to find two teams underperforming as badly as the Mariners and Oakland Athletics getting to square-off at the height of their misery like this. Let's take a look at some key figures to see how they stack up on the putrid scale:

TALE OF THE TAPE

Post ASG Record: A's (6-25); M's (9-22)...advantage A's

Most five-game losing streaks: A's (2); M's (5)...advantage M's

Worst losing streak: A's (10 games); M's (7 games)...advantage A's

Best free-agent: A's (Frank Thomas .233/.342/.379); M's (Miguel Cairo .242/.321/.302)...advantage M's

Suzuki home run factor: A's (Kurt Suzuki -- 7); M's (Ichiro Suzuki -- 5)...advantage M's

Worst August pitching: A's (4-15, 5.72 ERA); M's (5-13, 7.28 ERA)...advantage M's

Pitchers' home runs allowed/strikeouts ratio: A's (0.12); M's (0.15)...advantage M's

Best front office attribute: A's (GM Billy Beane); M's (fired GM Bill Bavasi)...advantage M's

Most devastating trade: A's (dealing away Rich Harden); M's (dealing for Erik Bedard)...advantage M's

Worst shortstop: A's (Bobby Crosby .246/.303/.368); M's (Yuniesky Betancourt .266/.282/.368)...advantage M's

Worst hitter: A's (Daric Barton .205 avg./.601 OPS); M's (Kenji Johjima .215 avg./.571 OPS)...advantage M's

And there you have it, the Mariners win this one in a walk, by a 9-2 score. Oakland may be pretenders to the all-worst AL team crown, but the M's pretty much have this race locked down. A very unscientific study to say the least, but it works for me.