Well, at the time of this post (about 11pm pacific), the Seattle Times has a scary and disheartening picture on their front page. Jeff Weaver looks pretty pissed there. It accurately sums up the past few days for the Mariners, and for me, possibly the month.
Let’s start with those guys. Their August started great, and the M’s players and fans were happy. I was happy too, and I’m usually the person who doesn’t like to get too complacent. Their high LOB totals last week was a little scary. But they had the runs. Seemed like now they had the LOB’s, but without the runs. And now it looks like they don’t have either. As if things couldn’t get any worse after Monday. M’s were up five runs with 26 outs to go. It seemed like they decided they were done and put things on cruise control after that.
Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like the Mariners have been doing that a lot this season. But I don’t think the M’s are the team that can afford this kind of tactic. Their starting rotation really isn’t consistent enough, especially against a team like the Angels. I wouldn’t trust them to hold even a five or six run lead. And no one wants to go to the bullpen early in a game.
Anyway, now it looks like the Mariners are digging themselves into a hole. I don’t mind losing. I think losing builds character. It’s part of the game, part of life. But it just seems so hopeless watching them lose every time. It’s as if the M’s aren’t even trying. Or if they are trying, then they’re trying to end the game faster by swinging at anything and everything.
I know the Angels are a better team in many ways. There are other contenders with better teams. My friend doesn’t know how the M’s are doing so good this season, and I don’t either. He also suggested that Mariner fans should be happy that we’re doing much better than expected. A good point, and accepting this makes life less stressful.
But it’s not as fun. Less stressful, less negative feelings. But is that always a good thing? Sounds boring that way. That attitude might be one to consider once the season is over, but for now, I rather be cheering on for my hometown team in the first pennant race we’ve had in these parts for years.
There may be better teams in baseball than the Mariners. So what? I always loved cheering on for the underdogs. With the top tier teams, they’re expected to perform, expected to win. And winning in itself is fun, I won’t deny that. But it’s those guys who no one looks to accomplish anything that are the funnest to watch when they surprise everyone. And well, while we know they are doing better than expected, when watching them, you just think they are capable of accomplishing so much more. Or maybe it’s the idea of how everyone else’s faces will look when they come out of nowhere and take the pennant/championship/whatever.
Maybe I’m going too far… but sometimes, if you want to finish big, you have to start thinking that way. I don’t know where this is going, but it could probably go anywhere. I’ll end this right now before I spend the next three hours typing nonsense.
This August overall has been very painful, and instead of venting on this blog, I’ve been keeping it inside, and venting at the Mariners losing, and the Angels winning instead. I didn’t really like all the whining I did on my old blog, so I’m trying to keep that out.
As a concluding note, do not do any yard work on a humid summer evening. I probably got about a thousand mosquito bites this evening. In addition, the sun was setting and visibility was getting bad. Then my hand tried to grab a very thorny branch. Ouch. It still hurts.
