Game 10: Another no-good, rotten, terrible loss at Safeco

Hear that? That's the Mariners' ship sinking badly. Houston has won its second-straight game against Seattle, notching 16 hits against the M's in a 8-3 victory.

You've got to be kidding me guys. All you could muster against a team with a $20 million payroll is 6 hits? SIX?

And to add insult to injury, the Mariners drew the smallest crowd in Safeco history, as 10,493 people attended that abomination of a game. Oh well, it might get smaller then that this season because if the Mariners can't get hits off a team with a AAA ballclub payroll then good luck with the Rangers, Angels, Red Sox, Tigers and basically every other team in the league.

I know we're ten games in, but this is time to panic. The offense save for a few guys (dragon slayer Mike Morse) has been abysmal. The pitching after Felix and Iwakuma is bad. UGH.

Seattle (4-6) put Hernandez on the mound today against the Rangers.

It's time to start acting like this, M's fans...



And if you're looking to jump on another team's bandwagon, I hear the Red Sox are doing well.

Game 7 - Heartbreak in the 10th

Three days ago, the Mariners had a chance to win their second series of the season. That fell apart quickly against the White Sox, as Seattle dropped the next two games despite having the front-end of their pitching rotation. After blowing a Felix start, the M's dropped a second-straight 4-3 game despite another good start by Hisashi Iwakuma.

This season... at least the beginning... is quickly devolving into more of the same from the Mariners. Promising starts by talented pitchers squandered. An offense that could be a whole lot better.

All the runs in this game were scored by homers. Mike Morse now has 5 dingers on the year. The Mariners' offense was again underwhelming with 11 strikeouts and they're now 28th in the league in batting average. Chicago seems to just have Seattle's number - having gone 26-5 against them since 2010. The Mariners haven't won a series against the White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field since 2007.

We're seven games in but at 3-4, the Mariners will need to do some improving if they want to live up to that spring training hype.

The tenth inning walk-off homer was a dagger by the White Sox's Dayan Viciedo. Not exactly how you want to go into the home opener today against Houston - but then again its Houston.

Why you shouldn't freak that the Mariners didn't sign Josh Hamilton

Mariners fans are legitimately butt hurt about this whole Josh Hamilton thing, and I don't exactly get why. Can I ask anyone out there in baseball land if they've ever heard a fan say something like this:

‎"I'm really glad we dropped over $100 million in a long contract on one position baseball player with off the field problems. This has turned out so well for our team."

Nope. Never. Nadda. Signing one prized position player to a mega contract may feel like the right thing for a team with a struggling offense to do, but historically it's not really the best move. While the Yankees and Red Sox always make those signings and they always seem to be competitive -- there's a big difference between them and the Mariners.

The Red Sox and Yankees (the Angels too) can continue to make these big splash signings because they can afford for a couple of these contracts not to pan out. I can't tell you how much garbage is on the Red Sox roster or was on the roster last season. Anyone will tell you that the Yankees lineup is strong but also overpriced ( and aging). But they can afford to do those things, they're making lots and lots of money.

Sometimes it blows up in their faces. Sometimes it doesn't work. The point is though, they can reload quicker than Seattle if it blows up.

The Mariners have money but not a big pile like those bigger markets. They can make a free agent signing but it's going to be like when Texas signed A-Rod. One high-priced star with a bunch of nobodies. Team in hamstrung for years.

And that's not what Safeco needs right now. They keep losing and losing fans. They need a good team. Better to pick up three or four guys that can hit the ball well, not just put up stats like Josh Hamilton.

Seriously, get three guys that can hit .280 (which Hamilton didn't do last season) and you can do it for cheaper than $125 mil. Chances are that player won't be taking body shots at a bar anytime soon either.

Hand Hamilton a fatty contract, after he's already proven to have relapses and slump on several occasions should be a red flag. I don't get why this isn't a bigger deal for people. The guy had a bad second half of the 2012 season and he's got some tread on those tires after years of drug abuse. People talk about how expecting Pujols to have ten more great years is kind of stretching, how about a guy that's 31 and was a drug addict? Body breaks down if you don't treat it right even if you turn it around (which he has done).

And he's shown that off-the-field matters show up on the field. He blamed his slump on trying to quit chewing, which if it's true, means he doesn't quite have the mental concentration you would hope to have from somebody who's making 125 million.

A big free agent slugger is never what you need when building up the team and it's certainly not what the Mariners need. More offense? Yes, but not for that price tag.

High School Sports Feature: Swimmin' Sehome

The Sehome High School boys swimming team proved that Mariners are good in the water. They not only won the 2A State Swimming Championship, but did so in a dominating fashion.

Last Saturday, Sehome swimmers won eight of the 12 events in the meet. To show the dominance of the Mariners, their team score of 142 was more than double that of the second place team (Aberdeen at 62).

This was actually the third state title in swimming for Sehome. They won back-to-back titles in 1986 and 1987.

The team was lead by a pair of fish. Fish that is. The brother team of Austin and Justin Fish lead the 200 medley team, with Scott Carlyle and Evan Schmidt, to a time of 1:41.59. That set the meet record for the event.

Alex Thon soon followed suit by winning the 100 freestyle in 49.55 seconds. Sophomore Nick Hutchinson added another first by earning 334.90 points in the dive.

But the swimmer of the meet was Austin Fish (he actually shared the title of 2A Swimmer of the Meet with two others). Austin won three golds at the meet, the 200 relay, the 400 relay and 100 breaststroke. He almost added fourth in the 200 individual medley, but lost by half a second. Never the less three golds and a silver is an impressive feat for anyone. Let alone a sophomore.

We'll be seeing more of this kid for at least the next two years.

Baseball is here (and so are creepy mascots)

According to the Associated Press, Alex Rodriguez will make $28 million this season. The entire Florida Marlins 33 man roster and disabled list will make $21.8 million.

Read the article here.

Looks like George Steinbrenner is still trying to buy the World Series. Perhaps this is the reason most of the world hates the New York Yankees.

Or perhaps this is why.

In other baseball news, Chicago Cubs are threatening to put up screens so local rooftops can't see into the stadium.

Read the article here.

This just seems dumb to me. If I buy a building that is taller than the open-air stadium, I should be able to stand on my roof and look into it. Plus, I believe that giant nets would just be an eye-sore at the stadium.

"Wow, we built this open-air stadium, only to cover it in screen nets so the rich people in the skyscrapers next to us can't see the game."

In case you missed it, another dumb thing includes the fact that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are just the Rays this season. No, the Ray doesn't stand for sting ray. It stands for ray of sunshine. Do-Ra-Me-Fa-So-La-Te-Do. Doe, a deer, a female deer. Ray, a drop of golden sun,...

Yeah, tough mascot. 10 points to anybody that can tell me what the heck that thing is!

But in not so dumb news, the Seattle Mariners started the 2008 season on the right note with a 5-2 victory over the Texas Rangers last night.

Man, I just can't stop thinking about that Rays mascot! That's the stuff children's nightmares are made of!