Mariner fans, the gig is up, your bullpen sucks

FSN jinxed last night's game by flashing the "the Seattle Mariners have the third best bullpen ERA in the American League" graphic.

Well now they're sixth in the league thanks to a 10-6 loss to the LA Angels of Anaheim.

Sure, Jarod Washburn gave up a three-run double to Tori Hunter in a five-run fifth inning, but the bullpen - which has been a roller coaster so far this year - didn't make anything better. Don't try to trump up a team's strengths in areas that are actually its weakness.

And I understand stats are stats in baseball but don't tell me for a second that the Mariners have the third best bullpen in the league. Not even close, people knew coming into this season that (a) all Seattle has was right-handers that could throw nothing but fastballs and (b) Brandon Morrow was going to be the closer.

We'll he's unreliable at best as a closer and everyone else in the bullpen could be trusted as much as a timeshare salesman. Your 2009 Seattle Mariners!

JustSON the Numbers: Tim Lincecum vs. Brandon Morrow

You gotta love Bill Bavasi if you are a Mariners fan. I'm going to break down the careers so far of pitchers Brandon Morrow, who the Mariners selected with the 5th overall selection in the 2006 MLB draft, and Tim Lincecum, who the San Francisco Giants took with the 10th overall pick in the same draft.

It is believed that the deciding factor on why the Mariners decided on Morrow (grew up in California and played college ball for the California Golden Bears) over Lincecum (who attended high school in Renton, Washington and played for the Washington Huskies) was because of how small Lincecum is. Morrow is the size of your average pitcher at 6'3" and about 200 pounds while Lincecum is much smaller at 5'11" and 170 pounds, so it was assumed that Lincecum was more at risk for injury.

The injury theory has so far proven to be incorrect as Lincecum has never been on the disabled list in the major leagues and Morrow missed two weeks of spring training in 2008 and was then put on the disabled list on May 2, 2009 with bicep tendinitis. Also Morrow is a Type 1 diabetic, which even he acknowledged was a factor in his decision to move out of his role as a starting pitcher and move into the bullpen because it is easier for him to balance his blood sugar.

Both pitchers made their debuts in the 2007 season and have both had success. Lincecum has amassed 28 wins with 11 losses and a career 3.17 ERA in 65 total appearances (64 of them starts). He has also struck out 473 batters in a combined 417 2/3 innings. In 2008 Lincecum was selected to the All-Star Game but was unable to participate because of flu-like symptoms. He went on to win the 2008 National League Cy Young Award. Lincecum is one of only two Giants to win a Cy Young, the other was Mike McCormick in 1967.

Brandon Morrow holds a career record of 6 wins and 10 losses with 16 saves (5 blown saves) and a 3.90 ERA. He has appeared in 114 games (5 of them were as a starter) and has 150 strikeouts over 136 innings. In Morrow's first career major league start against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on September 5, 2008 he pitched 7 2/3 innings of no hit baseball before eventually winning the game 3-1.

Now both pitchers are still only 24 years old so they have long careers ahead of them but from where I am sitting I would much rather have Tim Lincecum suiting up every 5th day for the Mariners. Not only because of his statistics, lack of injury history and the fact that he is a starting pitcher which at this time the Mariners are in sore need of. I'd also like to see him with Seattle because this is where he grew up and played college baseball, now what Mariner fan out there wouldn't be excited to root on a local product?

Who knows though, maybe Morrow turns into a dominant closer and goes on to many years of success for Seattle and maybe Lincecum turns into a 4th or 5th starter. Only time will tell, but so far it appears the Giants got a steal.

If anyone has any requests for this column let us know. I don't discriminate, no matter the sport or the stat.

Good God! Is that Felix Hernandez's music?

Felix Hernandez and I are the same age. The only difference between us is he can pitch seven scoreless innings and allow only four hits whereas I can finish a Meat Lover's Skillet at Sherry's in about three minutes.

We're now 16 games in of the "The Improbable Dream" and the Mariners keep winning games. Coming off a drubbing to the Tampa Bay Rays last night - Hernandez manned up today, scratch that, he put the Mariners on his jock and carried them to victory.

Seattle committed three errors, THREE, and a team that in renowned for manufacturing runs out of nothing could not cross home plate.

Brandon Morrow, despite looking like he was losing control of his bowel functions out on the mound, picked up his fifth save of the season. If I were a Mariners fan, I can't decide if I would be terrified to death that Morrow had the ball in tight situations or confident. You just don't know what you'll get with him.

By the way, keep winning M's, by all means beat every team in the AL East you can except for the Red Sox.