Felix Hernandez... Almost a no-hitter

After getting their asses kicked by the Boston Red Sox yesterday (am I the only one, but do you despise the Red Sox as much as I do now that they've won a World Series? The pity trip is over, and unless they're playing the Yankees, I do not want to see them win), the Seattle Mariners and Felix Hernandez decided to show the Sox hitting what true pitching really is...

Felix Hernandez pitched a no-hitter into the eighth inning, when finally his streak was snapped. Personally, I would trade Hernandez for blowing it like that. I mean, how can you have only a few more outs to go and blow it like that? This guy really doesn't have winning spirit.

Anyway, Felix thus far has pitched seventeen scoreless innings and has proven that he can be the ace of the Mariners. Too bad that the rest of the Mariners' pitching staff ranges from off-and-on (Washburn) to downright awful (everyone else), and our hitters aren't exactly blazing up a storm.

Still, props to Felix - at least we'll win one fifth of our games this year.

Fire Bill Bavasi - The beginning of baseball season

The Seattle Mariners, along with the rest of the MLB, kick into high gear next week, and while I am and always will be a loyal fan, I am preparing for the worst: a fourth place finish once again in the AL West, and perhaps the loss of one of the greatest players in the game: Ichiro Suzuki.

Several years ago, when the Mariners were off-and-on again in regards to the playoffs, I criticized Alex Rodriguez (and still do) for abandoning his loyal fans to go to a crappy Texas Rangers team for a shit load of money. Why leave a good team for a bad team just for more money you're not going to use?

Anyway, the point of my story is that I cannot blame Ichiro for leaving, if he does at the end of this season. Why stay with a team that sucks, when your dream, like any other baseball player's dream, is to play in and win the World Series? And yes, you should stick it through the bad years like Ichiro has, but when your management shows no sign of doing anything to help the team, what's worth waiting around for? Bill Bavasi, general manager of the Mariners, like the general managers before him, has failed to make a big trade once again. We're stuck with the same team that could do well if everyone has career years, but with exception to 2001, that doesn't happen. I like Beltre and Sexson and some of the other guys, but in a season where Bavasi really needed to make the big deals to keep people interested in the Mariners and to give us even a long shot at winning the division, he purchased B-grade players that are lackluster at best. Fire him now, and let's move on to the next crappy Mariners general manager!

In a Yahoo! sports prediction I read today, the Mariners were of course rated at the bottom of the division, but the prediction also included staff picks of who would be the first to be hired. Guess what? Bavasi, and Mariners manager Mike Hargrove, were both on the list!