Its been a long time since we've posted something about baseball. Its not that we quit watching or don't care about the Mariners anymore. Its because we were so disappointed in their collapse from being with 1.5 games back in the division and leading the wildcard by 3 games on August 24th to virtual elimination losing 15 of 17, falling behind both Anaheim New York by 6.5 games.
The reason why they fell apart and lost all of these games is because of their starting pitching. The offseason acquisitions of Jeff Weaver and Horacio Ramirez were complete busts. You knew that the bullpen was not going to be able to keep pulling the starters out of trouble and protecting 1 run leads all season. By the middle of August the starters had run out of gas and the bullpen became human.
It became official today when the Angels won the division today beating the Mariners 7-4. I know that they are not officially eliminated from the Wildcard, but realistically its only a matter of days till the Yankees make it official.
The Mariners have a solid offense although one that is aging. They have a good bullpen and got good play from their bench this season when they were allowed to play. If they have any ideas about playing in October next year they need to spend some money and find some quality starting pitching. There is not a lot out there, but in order to win you have to find it.
Felix, Washburn, and Batista will be back. Hopefully Morrow can use this offseason and spring training to develop another pitch and become a starter. If that happens you then need to add a solid 2nd starter, and if not, then a #2 and backend starter.
It needs to be a productive offseason for the Mariners. A question that needs to be answered first is if a new GM is going to trying to improve the team or is Bavasi still running the ship?
Angels finally clinch AL West Title [LA Times]
Angels lock up third AL West title in 4 years [Seattle Times]
