Football Season

[BayAreaMadSkill]

Has it started yet?

[Sweezo]

What a frustrating team to follow. After starting out the season so flat, they slowly inch towards .500 by putting together several good series against quality opponents. And in six games, that progress is suddenly gone. I'd be surprised if the roster we saw today is the same roster we see at the Ms' next game.

[BayAreaMadSkill]

I'd be surprised if the roster we saw today is the same roster we see at the Ms' next game.

Well, Montero just got sent down. And apparently, he's linked to performance enhancing products.

Well, maybe he needs better deer antler because it's resulted in a .208 average and a weak throwing arm.

Good move though. Montero added nothing to our club.

[TTown]

ackley sent down, nick franklin promoted.

[TTown]

frankling with two HRs today.

[Sweezo]

frankling with two HRs today.

I've been waiting desperately for this to happen. A sign--anything--to give me reason to believe one of our prospects might live up to his billing. Granted, it's only one game. Jesus Montero and Jose Cruz, Jr. both accomplished several feats early in their careers. But it was still pretty exciting.

It's amazing to think that this kid put 35 pounds on over the offseason as he still looks like a smaller guy. And yet he's 6'1 and nearly 200 lbs. I think it's that damned oversized helmet...

[TTown]

any non-felix or kuma start is like a root canal.

[BayAreaMadSkill]

I was in Las Vegas over the weekend. Thank God. I was able to completely not pay attention to a 10-0 loss and ANOTHER blown save by the Bartender.

Wanted to quickly touch on the Franklin homers; Saw the highlights, and is it just me, or did those NOT look like homers off the bat? I'm saying that I was very surprised by his power because the guy looks like he weighs about 140 lbs soaking wet.

Nice win tonight. Didn't watch it but damn Raul, he's been one of the more productive home run hitters in the league. And Morales is ofcourse awesome.

Still; Meh. We are way too inconsistent for me to follow every night.

[Sweezo]

Still; Meh. We are way too inconsistent for me to follow every night.

Inconsistency I can live with if the inconsistency has a point. Young players will struggle while finding their way but at least they might be building towards something. But what are we building towards? Let's look at last night's starting lineup...

Endy Chavez: 35 years old
Jason Bay: 34 years old
Kyle Seager: 25 years old
Kendrys Morales: 29 years old
Raul Ibanez: 41 years old
Nick Franklin: 22 years old
Michael Saunders: 26 years old
Jesus Sucre: 25 years old
Brendan Ryan: 31 years old

We're relying on a lot of old guys to carry us right now. Guti's rehab has been shut down or extended. Wedge made some comments about Guti needing to prove he can play everyday before coming back. I don't know what that means...but are they extending his stay in AAA because they don't want to make a decision about parting with a player like Chavez? I like what he offers but he's 35 years old and has zero ability to get on base unless he gets a basehit.

How about that starting rotation?

Felix Hernandez: 27 years old
Hisashi Iwakuma: 32 years old
Joe Saunders: 31 years old
Aaron Harang: 35 years old
Jeremy Bonderman: 30 years old

This season reeks of the last gasp of a dying regime seeking to hold on to power.

[TTown]

that's precisely my problem with the team. outside of seager, not a single damn one of our 'young' core has done a thing. what are we building towards?

speaking of building, what does everyone think of the draft? dj peterson? austin wilson? tyler o'neill?

my knee-jerk reaction is that they went after power (potential), which i don't oppose at all, but then the pessimist in me thinks they'll all have a couple good years in the minors and then our 'teaching' will erode any once-promising attributes by the time they hit The Show. talk me off the ledge, people!

[TTown]

zunino gets his first career start tonight. first member of the draft class of 2012 to get called up.

[BayAreaMadSkill]

Bonderman has given up 3 hits and has only thrown 89 pitches. It's only logical to keep him in to finish the game, correct?

NOPE! NOT ACCORDING TO ERIC WEDGE! LETS GO TO OUR BUMBLING IDIOT OF A CLOSER!

Is it cause Wedge thought the bullpen needed work after Harang just threw a complete game? WOW.

I hate Wedge. He is awful. And the Bartender should have been traded early in the year when he was still relevant.

[TTown]

6/3 saunders 6.1 ip / 1 er (W)
6/4 hernandez 7.1 ip / 4 er (W)
6/5 iwakuma 8 ip / 0 er (L)
6/6 harang 2.1 ip / 6 er (L)
6/7 bonderman 6 ip / 1 er (W)
6/8 saunders 6.1 ip / 3 er (L)
6/9 hernandez 9 ip / 1 er (L)
6/10 iwakuma 7 ip / 0 er (W)
6/11 harang 9 ip / 0 er (W)
6/12 bonderman 8 ip / 0 er (L)
6/13 off
6/14 saunders 7 ip / 1 er (W)
6/15 hernandez 7 ip / 0 er (W)

outside of a start against the yankees where aaron harang threw up all over himself, the starting pitching has actually been pretty dynamite in june. in fact, with starts like that, it's kind of a bummer the m's are only 7-5 over their last 12. they've collected series wins against the chisox, astros, and now the a's, but the everyday line-up is still a mess and the bullpen remains shaky.

seattle is 31-38. as mentioned, they've won 3 of their last 4 series. they've picked themselves up after a really rough slide, but for long can you trust joe saunders, aaron harang, jeremy bonderman?? it'll be interesting to see how close to .500 they can climb by july. they've got 7 games this month with the angels and cubs, 2 with pittsburgh, and 4 more with an oakland club who, despite being lightyears ahead of us in wins/losses, player development, baseball IQ, front office savvy, ect etc., we somehow always match up with really well on the field.

[RainCity]

6/3 saunders 6.1 ip / 1 er (W)
6/4 hernandez 7.1 ip / 4 er (W)
6/5 iwakuma 8 ip / 0 er (L)
6/6 harang 2.1 ip / 6 er (L)
6/7 bonderman 6 ip / 1 er (W)
6/8 saunders 6.1 ip / 3 er (L)
6/9 hernandez 9 ip / 1 er (L)
6/10 iwakuma 7 ip / 0 er (W)
6/11 harang 9 ip / 0 er (W)
6/12 bonderman 8 ip / 0 er (L)
6/13 off
6/14 saunders 7 ip / 1 er (W)
6/15 hernandez 7 ip / 0 er (W)

outside of a start against the yankees where aaron harang threw up all over himself, the starting pitching has actually been pretty dynamite in june. in fact, with starts like that, it's kind of a bummer the m's are only 7-5 over their last 12. they've collected series wins against the chisox, astros, and now the a's, but the everyday line-up is still a mess and the bullpen remains shaky.

seattle is 31-38. as mentioned, they've won 3 of their last 4 series. they've picked themselves up after a really rough slide, but for long can you trust joe saunders, aaron harang, jeremy bonderman?? it'll be interesting to see how close to .500 they can climb by july. they've got 7 games this month with the angels and cubs, 2 with pittsburgh, and 4 more with an oakland club who, despite being lightyears ahead of us in wins/losses, player development, baseball IQ, front office savvy, ect etc., we somehow always match up with really well on the field.

I agree with pretty much everything you said TTown. Outside of Felix and Kuma, I really don't have a ton of confidence in the rest of the staff as a whole, however they have performed better as of late. I do have confidence in Saunders when he's pitching at home, but then again his nicknames "Safeco Joe" for a reason. I'm hoping his win in Oakland got the monkey off his back and maybe will give him more confidence when pitching on the road in the future. Don't know what to expect from Harang. He got lit up by the Yanks, but threw a gem against the Astros. Is he moving in the right direction or was it simply the result of pitching against a crappy team? At least Bonderman has been really solid his last two starts. I feel Wedge has made a few bad calls, and really over thought himself by taking Bonderman out after 8IP when his count was at 89. He said he made the decision based on his shoulder surgery and not wanting to overload him basically but I thought that was BS. Tom had saved four in a row and had restored confidence in Wedge putting him out there. With Bonderman cruising through 8, with a count of 89, the move was just unnecessary and his comments about the surgery were thrown out to save face. In those last 12 games the M's should really have gone 10-2 if the offense would have shown up at all(Iwakuma 8IP 0ER L, Felix 9IP 1ER L, Bonderman 8IP 0ER L)....I'm hoping that winning the last few series will be a sign of good things to come. I have faith, Go M's!

[TTown]

i blame myself for our two game slide, i boast about the starting rotation and then kuma has his worst outing of the year and and harang gets beaten like a rented mule by the angels.

seattle's facebook/social media blitz regarding the big return of justin smoak today made me chuckle every time i saw it.

nick franklin has logged 20 games at the major league level. .299/.382/20 H/3 HR. he and seager are essentially holding together this 'youth movement' single handily.

[RainCity]

My buddy and I are huge M's fans and and have been dedicated to this team for so long. Of our group of buddies, we are the only two who are constantly talking M's baseball year round. We've recently joked that during every offseason for the past 10 years (mother of God) we've sent texts to each other containing the same messages, "Dude, this is our year, I gaurentee it!"....."I predict Smoak will breakout this year, Ackley will begin his string of All-Star seasons....Guiti will be comeback player of the year and we win the West".....I used to feel bad for the teams like the Pirates and basically viewed them as a joke....and it's recently occurred to me that we are now the joke, basically on the same level (currently worse) than the lowly Pirates.....At this point Im just hoping we make the playoffs before I die. Also, as much as I love have King Felix representing the M's I can't help but feel bad about how many more career wins he would have if he were on a team with a decent offense. Out of respect for his talent and career I almost wish we would trade him to a team that could make him a 20 game winner on a yearly basis. He deserves better.

M's fan for life.

[Sweezo]

Sorry I've been silent but I've been in Europe for a couple weeks and I'm just now getting back into the loop.

Bonderman has given up 3 hits and has only thrown 89 pitches. It's only logical to keep him in to finish the game, correct?

NOPE! NOT ACCORDING TO ERIC WEDGE! LETS GO TO OUR BUMBLING IDIOT OF A CLOSER!

Is it cause Wedge thought the bullpen needed work after Harang just threw a complete game? WOW.

I hate Wedge. He is awful. And the Bartender should have been traded early in the year when he was still relevant.

What do people think of Bonderman? I haven't seen him pitch much but in looking at the stats he posted...I feel like he's due for an implosion just as Harang's due for the opposite. Bonderman doesn't generate strikeouts, and relies on his defense to help him out. Seattle's defense isn't all that good and I'd hate to see Erasmo's callup delayed as a result of a misplaced belief in Bonderman.

[BayAreaMadSkill]

I don't watch the Mariners much anymore, but from what I have seen of Bonderman, I feel like he's just on a good run. I'm never a fan of contact pitchers unless they just have amazing control, which Bonderman hasn't shown over his career.