Mariners Weekly

As May is beginning, the Mariners are really looking like a playoff caliber team. Unfortunately, there's a lot of baseball still to be played. The pitching remains the strong point of the ballclub with an ERA of 3.60 as of Monday, good enough for first in the American League and still third in the Major League following the St. Louis Cardinals (3.57) and Pittsburg Pirates (3.44). The top three starters - Felix Hernandez, Eric Bedard and Jarrod Washburn - have a combined 9-2 record. Carlos Silva and Chris Jakubauskas still make me squirm.

Silva regressed after earning his first win in forever, giving up six runs in 3.1 innings his last outing, but the offense managed to come back and win it in the ninth. Jakubauskas threw a beautiful game against the Chicago White Sox, only giving up two runs and two hits. However, the offense couldn't help him out, only scoring a single run. Pouring salt in the wound, during the second game of the double header, the M's scored nine runs to the White Sox's one. The next game, Jakubauskas got in a couple jams, but managed only to give up four runs in 4.1 innings (better than usual). This time, however, the offense fought back.

Behind 3-4 in the bottom of the ninth Sunday versus the Oakland Athletics, Kenji Johjima hit his first home run of the season. Tying the game at four-all and taking the game into extra innings, the bullpen (mainly Miguel Batista) threw for three scoreless innings. However, when errors gave the A's three runs in the top of the 13th, the chances of a comeback win looked bleak, especially if you're used to the same Mariners as I am. However, these Mariners are not those of old. A rally ensued at the bottom of the 13th, as the Mariners produced three runs of their own to keep the game going. Two innings later, the M's scored the winning run on a bases loaded single by Lopez (who happened to have the game winning hit two nights prior versus the A's as well). This "never say die" attitude has me excited to see what the rest of the season, and hopefully postseason, has in store.

As good as the M's have been playing lately, many sports reporters doubt whether the Mariners are really competitors. I've even heard one reporter claim that the AL West is the weakest division in baseball. The main reason this bugs me is that I've heard this gibberish before: Every year the Seattle Seahawks won the NFC West, they were considered non-contenders because it was the weakest division in football. Even when they managed to finish the regular season with a 13-3 record, it didn't mean anything. That's OK though because the 'Hawks managed to make it to the Super Bowl that year. In fact, they have won at least one playoff game each year, and they've won the division these past five years.

Going back to the Mariners, now that they're on top, they play in a weak division?

Give me a break. OK, the AL West might not be the cream of the crop right now, but it was never a weak division when the Angels were on top. In fact, I've seen a power ranking where the Angels were ranked higher than the Mariners, and the Mariners beat them four out of six times! There is the argument that the Angels have players on the Disabled List, but guess what? So do the Mariners. So did the Seahawks. If you don't have the depth, you aren't going to win, so you shouldn't be "better" than the other team. But what do I know? I'm just another one of those stupid Seattle sports fans who lives in southern Canadia and knows nothing about sports. I only became a fan when the Mariners won 116 games and the Seahawks made it to the Super Bowl. I also only know how to whine about losing and could only dream about my team winning a championship.

End sarcasm. I might be a stupid Seattle fan, but I've been one since I knew what sports were, and will be one until I die. Hopefully one of my teams will pull out a championship before I go though! Until next week, go M's!