As always, these are random thoughts to get your week started on the right and/or wrong foot. Prepare to be spellbound. Or at least mildly amused.
Who cares if our offensive scoring prowess is worse than the two dudes from Superbad? So what if 40 percent of our starting rotation should be taking buses to games in small towns with names that end in "ville"?
Right now, this team of thrown-together misfits, castoffs, underachieving middle infielders, over-the-hill Hall of Famers, aloof Asian superstars and over-priced free agent mistakes is positively scorching the earth like the climax of a Michael Bay film.
Relatively speaking.
In fact, the M's have won two in a row (shoula been three, Wladamir!) taken three straight series against solid competition (Angels, Orioles and Twins) and sit just one game under .500. Not bad, but not awesome. But here's the kicker. We're improving. That's right, the Mariners are getting better.
The starting pitching has been fantastic. The new lineup, with Branyan hitting second, has been increasingly productive.
But the most impressive wrinkle in this delightfully unpredictable season is that this team is coming to play every night or afternoon. We lose focus and games, some that we shouldn't, some that we blew. Regardless, we're coming back the next day and playing hard.
I credit Wak and I credit our cooky veterans.
Wak, because he's willing to make changes (brilliant on the Branyan shift) and holds his players accountable for making preventable mistakes (Jose, Yuni, even Felix have all been taken to task for mental errors).
By cooky veterans, I mean Griffey and Sweeney. These graybeards are keeping this team focused and in stitches. The major league baseball season is long and arduous. You need to have a short memory to keep coming back day after day and act like nothing (good or bad) happened yesterday. And what's the best way to forget about your troubles: laughing. Comedy as cure-all.
When Griffey's gone, sadly, the Mariners will need to hire Zach Galafianakis to fill the comedic void. "The Hangover" star probably couldn't hit much worse. It hurts just to write that, but I'm sure, if he read that surprisingly topical joke, the new ego-less Ken "Cosby" Griffey would probably be laughing. When isn't he?
Anyway, I'm enjoying it.
Other musings:
-This Bedard renaissance is a sham. He's a mercenary, plain and simple. If someone were to play him in a movie, it would be Jean Claude Van Dam.
-He's also re-established himself as one of the top 5 nastiest pitchers in the American League. Scouts are watching. Too bad we still won't get half of what we gave up for him.
-Seahawks starting tailback, Michael Vick. Sounds good, doesn't it.
-If you saw Pau Gasol on the street, wouldn't you wonder why someone that tall had fallen so far and wasn't playing in the NBA? Wouldn't you point him to the nearest homeless shelter, keep walking and then make a (Chappelle) Rick James joke? "Cocaine is a helluva drug."
-I really hope the Magic win a couple of games against the Lakers, just to prolong the series. Aside from Rescue Me (best season yet and it goes all summer long) and the occasionally train-wreckish fun of crappy reality shows, TV is terrible this time of year.
I'm telling you, that was a thrilling cup finals. 7 games. Sid the Kid. No Stan Van Gundy. What else can you ask for?
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