Mariners Weekly

With the school year winding down, the Mariners enter the second third of the year seven games back in the American League West. The month of May was rough for the team, ending up with 11 wins to 18 losses, bringing their current record to 24-28 (including the loss to Baltimore on Monday). While the Mariners are playing far above their game from last year, there are still several things that they can improve upon.

The offense has drastically declined over the last month. After leading the American League in batting with runners in scoring position, the M's find themselves last in almost every category for the statistic. If they can find some way to remedy their woeful batting, then perhaps this team can be a contender come September.

The pitchers have the potential to be one of the best units out of any team. They have one of the best team ERAs in the Major Leagues, sitting sixth overall and second in the American League.

Erik Bedard leads the starting rotation with a 2.48 ERA and Félix Hernández leads the team with 72 strikeouts. Jarrod Washburn continues to get no love from his offense, as evident on Monday. He pitched for seven strong innings and gave up one run, but lost because of that single run. Chris Jakubauskas continues to be the most inconsistent starter, throwing a shutout one game and giving up six runs in three innings the next. With Ryan Rowland-Smith returning next week, he has been put back in the bullpen. Jakubauskas really thrived during his time in the bullpen earlier in the year, which is really where he belongs. With Carlos Silva on the disabled list, there have been two different starters throwing in his place. The first is Jason Vargas, who has been very good in his five starts, only giving up five runs in about 22 innings. The second starter, Garrett Olson, has been a decent stand-in as well, though if Rowland-Smith comes back strong I think Olson should stay in the bullpen.

All that aside, if you haven't noticed - or cared - yet, voting for the All-Star game has started a couple weeks ago. Two Mariners are in the running to start for their positions, and they are (drum roll…) Ichiro Suzuki and Ken Griffey Jr.! Ichiro is no surprise, starting the year strong after coming off the DL. If he gets the nomination, it will be his ninth appearance in the game. Griffey comes as a bit of a surprise, as his numbers aren't near what he was posting in his prime. Still, with his return to home and the possibility of this being his last year, it's nice to see all fans of baseball giving the future Hall of Famer a nod.

Two Mariners who I think are deserving to go, but won't because fan voting means the most popular Yankee or Red Sox player will go, are Jose Lopez and Russell Branyan. They are both two of the most consistent batters and the team leaders of RBIs with 26 and 23, respectively. Branyan is still second on the team in batting average, and leads in on-base percentage. These feats mean nothing, however, and while there may be some other players more worthy, all that the All-Star game has mostly been is a day of peace between the Yankee-Red Sox nations, for all baseball fans know that all other teams are merely stepping stones before these two epic franchises, and that the real World Series occurs every time these opponents meet.

Well, Mariners fans, I hope you've enjoyed my commentary as much as I have enjoyed staying up late each and every week pondering which facts to present to you. Hopefully the Mariners can at least stay competitive the entire year and keep things interesting… well, at least until the Seahawks start training camp at the end of July. Go M's!