Soft schedule
A week ago the Mariners were hoping to take sole possession of first place. Now they find themselves in 3rd place and starting to feel some pressure. The local columns are dominated by stories pointing out the need to beat up on the Rays and Royals appearing on the horizon.
Of course as I've pointed out, .500 teams have a way of driving you crazy. They can look absolutely awful one series, and sweep the next. They can put up a ton of runs one night and look hopeless 24 hours later. Because the team was constructed in a way that doesn't allow it to dominate in any one particular area, you get a lot of inconsistency. As soon as you start penciling in wins because you think the team SHOULD beat the Royals you're bound to be disappointed.
Most of us felt this team was going to win around 82 games. They are currently 1 game under .500 i.e. they are right about where we all thought they should be. Of course it's disappointing to see the Padres take 2 of 3, but we all saw this coming. I mean, there was a reason we all criticized the offseason and the disastrous plan Bavasi came up with.
So the team is a little stuck right now. They really, really need to win to keep the division within reach (the wildcard is so not happening) but they have so few choices available.
It's Bavasi's problem... it will be interesting to see what he comes up with.
A week ago the Mariners were hoping to take sole possession of first place. Now they find themselves in 3rd place and starting to feel some pressure. The local columns are dominated by stories pointing out the need to beat up on the Rays and Royals appearing on the horizon.
Of course as I've pointed out, .500 teams have a way of driving you crazy. They can look absolutely awful one series, and sweep the next. They can put up a ton of runs one night and look hopeless 24 hours later. Because the team was constructed in a way that doesn't allow it to dominate in any one particular area, you get a lot of inconsistency. As soon as you start penciling in wins because you think the team SHOULD beat the Royals you're bound to be disappointed.
Most of us felt this team was going to win around 82 games. They are currently 1 game under .500 i.e. they are right about where we all thought they should be. Of course it's disappointing to see the Padres take 2 of 3, but we all saw this coming. I mean, there was a reason we all criticized the offseason and the disastrous plan Bavasi came up with.
So the team is a little stuck right now. They really, really need to win to keep the division within reach (the wildcard is so not happening) but they have so few choices available.
It's Bavasi's problem... it will be interesting to see what he comes up with.
posted by Tom at
1:46 PM
