Today's Mariners game showed the fans something that they probably have already figured out.......our bullpen stinks. When the season started the Mariners bullpen was lights out. In April the M's bullpen were lights out. They posted a 3.90 ERA with Stephen Pryor leading the way posting a 0.00 ERA in 7 games in 7.1 innings but went down mid way through the month with a torn right latissimus dorsi muscle. Both Tom Wilhelmsen and Oliver Perez posted almost identical records. Perez appeared in 11 games going 11.1 innings with a 0.79 ERA and Wilhelmsen appeared in the same number of games going 12 innings with a 0.75 ERA with 8 saves. Those three guys pitching like was the big reason that the team posted a 12-17 record.
The next month saw the bullpen post an ERA about the same as the first month, posting a 3.80 ERA. Wilhelmsen had another successful month, appearing in 11 games saving 4 of them in 12 innings posting a 0.75 again. June saw the M's bullpen collapse as the bullpen posted a horrible 5.53 ERA. June also saw Wilhelmsen fall apart as he blew 3 saves while posting a 0-2 record with a 10.57 ERA, the only successful relievers in the month of June for the Mariners came from Perez and Yoervis Medina. Perez posted a 1-1 record with 1 save, appeared in 11 games, and had a 1.74 ERA; Medina posted a 2-1 record with 1 save, appeared in 12 games, and had a 1.93 ERA. Now finally this month, July has seen the bullpen post another bad ERA at 5.05.
Now, let me get to the point of all this. Since June the bullpen has cost the team at least 20 wins and in yesterday's 12-5 win it the bullpen almost fell completely apart and I thought they would blow the game for the team. The Mariners currently sit at 46-52 thanks to a season best 6 game winning streak, now if the M's would like to continue their hotstreak and hopefully have a shot at finishing above .500 or make the playoffs they must first fix their bullpen. Right now Wilhelmsen is getting back to his lights out ways, Perez is one of the best relievers in the game, Medina is always a help, and Furbush is back to throwing hard like he used to.
The biggest problems in the bullpen for the M's are Danny Farquhar, Bobby LaFromboise, Blake Beaven, and Carter Capps. The Mariners need to make some serious call ups if they would like to make a run at .500 or the playoffs, for example if they gave Logan Bawcom the call up that would give the M's a 3-4 inning reliever to work with. Brian Sweeney right now to me could use a call up, he's had a great year in Tacoma posting an 8-3 record with 3.92 ERA. Sweeney can be used in both the starting role and in the bullpen in case a starter needs to be pulled early.
The bottom line is, Eric Wedge needs to wake up and smell the java. In my opinion he's too stupid to realize that his bullpen is one of the worst in baseball and if he doesn't see it now then that could cost him games. The Mariners have great young pitchers in Tacoma right now that deserve a call up to give the team a boost in the bullpen and help the reach their goal at either finishing the season at or above .500 or making another Refuse To Lose run at either the American League West title or the Wild Card. Both titles don't matter to me, all those titles say is that the M's are in the the playoffs.
Showing posts with label Erik Wedge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Erik Wedge. Show all posts
Monday, July 22, 2013
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Mariners in the outfield
Yeah I know the title is a rip off of Angels in the Outfield but look at this clip that I post of a certain part in the movie clip.
Now, if you don't want to watch the clip then let me explain what the clip is. Its the part where Danny Glover is sick and tired of his team losing that he goes on a Lou Pinella rage and yells and demeans the team, he and I quote;
"ONE MORE LOSS! ONE MORE LOSS WHICH COULDVE BEEN A WIN! You call yourselves professionals, I have never ever seen a worse group of 25 players! You don't think as a team, you don't play as a team, you don't even lose as a team! You all got your head so far up your butts you cant even see the light of day!". He also said "I want you here in uniform at 9 tomorrow morning, were going back to fundamentals."
Now, why would I post something like this your wondering? Well, because for one thing this is what Eric Wedge should do to the Mariners and quit being the biggest pussy manager in baseball and it describes how the Mariners are playing and have been playing for the last 10 years and im going to break everything down of what Glover said.
Now the first thing was "one more loss which could've been a win" which best describes the Mariners ability to give up during the game and allow their opponents to get to the best of them and score run after run. The Mariners have seen their opponents score 6+ runs 22 times this year, 7+ 15 times, 8+ 10 times, 9+ 8 times, and 10+ runs 6 times. During most of the losses the M's have suffered this year their opponents have scored most of those runs within the first 4 innings or in the 6th inning or later. Tom Wilhelmsen has blown 3 saves and has struggled in the 3 out of the last 4 games he has saved and his ERA has suffered just as much has he has, jumping up from 0.50 to 1.98.
Next thing Glover said in his angry speech was "I have never ever seen a worse group of 25 players". Now, not all 25 players on the Mariners are horrible. Felix, Kuma, Seager, Morales, Franklin, Ibanez, Morse, Capps, Perez, and Chavez are the players that I consider the best players on the Mariners right now, that leaves 15 terrible players on the roster but im counting the guys we sent down so that's an additional 5 players putting the Mariners worse players to 20. Michael Saunders is one of the worst that is currently on the major league roster. Since May 16th Saunders's batting average has dipped from .278 down to .200.
Nobody knows what has happened to one of the Mariners best players from last year, Saunders went from being a power hitter to Brendan Ryan before he found his swing. Dustin Ackley and Jesus Montero playing performance has been horrific. Ackley's batting and fielding has shown along with Montero's defense and hitting. Since I mentioned Montero lets talk about the Mariners catchers situation. The Mariners catchers no matter who it is cant hold on to the baseball, make accurate throws to second, drops the ball on trying to throw out a runner and none of them can hit. The Mariners might have to bring up Mike Zunino if the catcher situation gets any worse.
The next group that should be mentioned on the worse of the worse is the pitchers. Brandon Maurer was just horrible in his brief stint in the majors this year going 2-7 with a 6.93 ERA. Aaron Harang has been just has horrible, although he has been solid in his last 2 starts, but so far he has posted a 2-6 record with a 6.70 ERA. Joe Saunders has been inconsistent as well as he cant find a way to win on the road but has been very solid in his last two road starts but has posted a 0-4 record with a 9.00 ERA. The only two pitchers that have been consistent has been Felix and Kuma. The Mariners need to solve their pitching and catcher situation.
Now getting to the next thing Glover said "you don't play as a team, you don't think as a team, you don't even lose as a team". When the Mariners went on their 8 game losing streak the Mariners began to lose faith in themselves. They don't seem to have confidence in themselves and therefore blame themselves and probably blame each other on tough loses. With the team failing to hit in key situations and their 3-4-5 pitchers need to figure out a way to pitch deep into ball games to give their bullpen a rest.
Now the final line Glover said "You all got your heads so far up your butts you cant even see the light of day". Right there describes the man standing in the dugout with white pubes under his nose and on his chin. Eric Wedge has made some questionable managerial decisions that not even Lou Pinella would have made. Wedge constantly changes pitchers after either they have faced one or two batters. That bite him in the ass during the 16 inning marathon against the Chicago White Sox. I have never seen a manager in my life that makes as many pitching changes as Wedge does. Now if the Mariners were to make a managerial change during the All Star break or now I think I would see the Mariners improve just a little.
To me the Mariners could use Lou Pinella's managerial help right now. The Mariners have been in the dumps since 2004 and has continued to slip into mediocrity along with being a laughing stock in baseball. All the Mariners need to do is improve on hitting with runners in scoring position, find catchers that can play defense and hit, fire Wedge and Jack Z, and find a way to get pitchers that can give the team 5-7 innings and not give up 5-7 runs a game. Im a die hard fan of this team and I have always supported the team through everything but its very heartbreaking to watch my team go through this every year but I will continue to support the Mariners in everyway possible and will always have faith in them.
I will now end by saying this to every Mariners fan, keep your faith in the team and cheer them on to a late season surge into the playoffs and stay True to The Blue!!!
Now, if you don't want to watch the clip then let me explain what the clip is. Its the part where Danny Glover is sick and tired of his team losing that he goes on a Lou Pinella rage and yells and demeans the team, he and I quote;
"ONE MORE LOSS! ONE MORE LOSS WHICH COULDVE BEEN A WIN! You call yourselves professionals, I have never ever seen a worse group of 25 players! You don't think as a team, you don't play as a team, you don't even lose as a team! You all got your head so far up your butts you cant even see the light of day!". He also said "I want you here in uniform at 9 tomorrow morning, were going back to fundamentals."
Now, why would I post something like this your wondering? Well, because for one thing this is what Eric Wedge should do to the Mariners and quit being the biggest pussy manager in baseball and it describes how the Mariners are playing and have been playing for the last 10 years and im going to break everything down of what Glover said.
Now the first thing was "one more loss which could've been a win" which best describes the Mariners ability to give up during the game and allow their opponents to get to the best of them and score run after run. The Mariners have seen their opponents score 6+ runs 22 times this year, 7+ 15 times, 8+ 10 times, 9+ 8 times, and 10+ runs 6 times. During most of the losses the M's have suffered this year their opponents have scored most of those runs within the first 4 innings or in the 6th inning or later. Tom Wilhelmsen has blown 3 saves and has struggled in the 3 out of the last 4 games he has saved and his ERA has suffered just as much has he has, jumping up from 0.50 to 1.98.
Next thing Glover said in his angry speech was "I have never ever seen a worse group of 25 players". Now, not all 25 players on the Mariners are horrible. Felix, Kuma, Seager, Morales, Franklin, Ibanez, Morse, Capps, Perez, and Chavez are the players that I consider the best players on the Mariners right now, that leaves 15 terrible players on the roster but im counting the guys we sent down so that's an additional 5 players putting the Mariners worse players to 20. Michael Saunders is one of the worst that is currently on the major league roster. Since May 16th Saunders's batting average has dipped from .278 down to .200.
Nobody knows what has happened to one of the Mariners best players from last year, Saunders went from being a power hitter to Brendan Ryan before he found his swing. Dustin Ackley and Jesus Montero playing performance has been horrific. Ackley's batting and fielding has shown along with Montero's defense and hitting. Since I mentioned Montero lets talk about the Mariners catchers situation. The Mariners catchers no matter who it is cant hold on to the baseball, make accurate throws to second, drops the ball on trying to throw out a runner and none of them can hit. The Mariners might have to bring up Mike Zunino if the catcher situation gets any worse.
The next group that should be mentioned on the worse of the worse is the pitchers. Brandon Maurer was just horrible in his brief stint in the majors this year going 2-7 with a 6.93 ERA. Aaron Harang has been just has horrible, although he has been solid in his last 2 starts, but so far he has posted a 2-6 record with a 6.70 ERA. Joe Saunders has been inconsistent as well as he cant find a way to win on the road but has been very solid in his last two road starts but has posted a 0-4 record with a 9.00 ERA. The only two pitchers that have been consistent has been Felix and Kuma. The Mariners need to solve their pitching and catcher situation.
Now getting to the next thing Glover said "you don't play as a team, you don't think as a team, you don't even lose as a team". When the Mariners went on their 8 game losing streak the Mariners began to lose faith in themselves. They don't seem to have confidence in themselves and therefore blame themselves and probably blame each other on tough loses. With the team failing to hit in key situations and their 3-4-5 pitchers need to figure out a way to pitch deep into ball games to give their bullpen a rest.
Now the final line Glover said "You all got your heads so far up your butts you cant even see the light of day". Right there describes the man standing in the dugout with white pubes under his nose and on his chin. Eric Wedge has made some questionable managerial decisions that not even Lou Pinella would have made. Wedge constantly changes pitchers after either they have faced one or two batters. That bite him in the ass during the 16 inning marathon against the Chicago White Sox. I have never seen a manager in my life that makes as many pitching changes as Wedge does. Now if the Mariners were to make a managerial change during the All Star break or now I think I would see the Mariners improve just a little.
To me the Mariners could use Lou Pinella's managerial help right now. The Mariners have been in the dumps since 2004 and has continued to slip into mediocrity along with being a laughing stock in baseball. All the Mariners need to do is improve on hitting with runners in scoring position, find catchers that can play defense and hit, fire Wedge and Jack Z, and find a way to get pitchers that can give the team 5-7 innings and not give up 5-7 runs a game. Im a die hard fan of this team and I have always supported the team through everything but its very heartbreaking to watch my team go through this every year but I will continue to support the Mariners in everyway possible and will always have faith in them.
I will now end by saying this to every Mariners fan, keep your faith in the team and cheer them on to a late season surge into the playoffs and stay True to The Blue!!!
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Rauuuuuuuul helps Felix to take out Chicago
King Felix Hernandez took the mound tonight for the Mariners looking for his seventh win of the season. In his last outing against the Chicago White Sox, Felix took the loss as he went 6.1 innings and gave up 4 runs. Tonight almost looked like it was going to be the same at the start. Alejandro De Aze started things off by singling on the third pitch from Felix, following that De Aze was able to move to third on the single by Gordon Beckham and on the single Beckham got into a rundown that would've scored De Aze but thanks to the Mariners defense paying attention to De Aze they were able to rundown Beckham without De Aze scoring. Conor Gillaspie grounded out to Nick Franklin that allowed the first run to come into score for the White Sox. After that, Felix was able to get Alex Rios to strikeout to end the inning.
Endy Chavez got things started for the Mariners in the bottom of the first by singling to lead off his day. Both Jason Bay and Kyle Seager flew out and on both fly outs Chavez moved up to second and third base. Kendrys Morales continued his tear by singling in Chavez to tie the game at 1, following Morales's single 41 year old Raul Ibanez stepped up and after last night's 13 pitch at bat homerun he figured "Why wait 13 pitches? I'll jump on the first pitch instead." and indeed he did as he drove it out for his eleventh homerun of the year tying him with Mike Morse for the team lead and giving the Mariners the 3-1 lead.
Adam Dunn pulled the White Sox within one run as he took King Felix deep to put the Mariners lead to 3-2. In the bottom of the third inning Jason Bay got the inning started off by singling and after Seager flew out for the second time Morales lined one down the left field line that bounce into the stands for a ground rule double bringing up Ibanez. Ibanez jumped out to a 3-0 count and after looking at one lined the fifth pitch into right field that scored both Bay and Morales to put the Mariners up 5-2. Jake Peavey would then leave the game after that pitch in what was revealed to be having pain in his ribs, no word yet on what his condition is. Brian Omogrosso was brought in for Peavey to face the Mariners 2009 draft pick sensation Nick Franklin. Franklin drove one to right field and at first the umpires called it a homerun but White Sox manager Robin Ventura wanted a review on the call, and after review the called was reversed to a double, so on the play Franklin was able to drive one more run for the Mariners increasing the lead to 6-2.
Felix would continue to pitch brilliantly through 7 innings, and in the top of the eighth inning would be the inning the White Sox got to the Mariners ace. Alexi Ramirez would lead off the inning by singling and then Tyler Flowers would double to right field that would score Ramirez and after that Eric Wedge would come out to relieve Felix of his duties and would hand the ball off to Oliver Perez. De Aze would single off of Perez to score Flowers and the lead was then cut down to 6-4. Perez would then settle down and get Gordon Beckham to ground into a double play to end the inning for the White Sox.
In the bottom of the eighth Michael Saunders would draw a walk from Hector Santiago. Kelly Shoppach would then come up looking to move Saunders over or scored him from first, Shoppach wouldn't need to move Saunders up as Michael was able to swipe both second and third base and after he stole third Shoppach did his job by flying out to left field that allowed Saunders to score easily from third extending the Mariners lead to 7-4. After Brendan Ryan struck out to end the eighth for the Mariners, Tom "The Bartender" Wilhelmsen entered the game and with much doubt from not only myself but other Mariners fans was hoping to get his second consecutive save. Tommy Boy couldn't find the strike zone on his first batter as he walked Conor Gillaspie on four straight pitches and on that note Eric Wedge called his bullpen and asked for Charlie Furbush to get warmed up. Tommy Boy managed to get Alex Rios to pop out and following that he got Paul Konerko to ground into a game ending double play.
During the post game I heard something out of the ROOT Sports analyst that I haven't heard in a long, long, LONG time "The Mariners take the series from the Chicago White Sox." That's right, the Mariners have finally taken a series from the White Sox in I don't know how long its been. With this win the Mariners moved back into third place and put their record to 26-33.
NOTES: Kyle Seager extended his hitting streak to 8 games. Felix Hernandez has now struck out at least 5 batters or more in 11 straight games. Kendrys Morales extended his hitting streak to 6 games. Jesus Sucre exited the game earlier after being hit on the hand on a swing by Alexi Ramirez, he's been cleared to play and will not go on the DL.
Endy Chavez got things started for the Mariners in the bottom of the first by singling to lead off his day. Both Jason Bay and Kyle Seager flew out and on both fly outs Chavez moved up to second and third base. Kendrys Morales continued his tear by singling in Chavez to tie the game at 1, following Morales's single 41 year old Raul Ibanez stepped up and after last night's 13 pitch at bat homerun he figured "Why wait 13 pitches? I'll jump on the first pitch instead." and indeed he did as he drove it out for his eleventh homerun of the year tying him with Mike Morse for the team lead and giving the Mariners the 3-1 lead.
Adam Dunn pulled the White Sox within one run as he took King Felix deep to put the Mariners lead to 3-2. In the bottom of the third inning Jason Bay got the inning started off by singling and after Seager flew out for the second time Morales lined one down the left field line that bounce into the stands for a ground rule double bringing up Ibanez. Ibanez jumped out to a 3-0 count and after looking at one lined the fifth pitch into right field that scored both Bay and Morales to put the Mariners up 5-2. Jake Peavey would then leave the game after that pitch in what was revealed to be having pain in his ribs, no word yet on what his condition is. Brian Omogrosso was brought in for Peavey to face the Mariners 2009 draft pick sensation Nick Franklin. Franklin drove one to right field and at first the umpires called it a homerun but White Sox manager Robin Ventura wanted a review on the call, and after review the called was reversed to a double, so on the play Franklin was able to drive one more run for the Mariners increasing the lead to 6-2.
Felix would continue to pitch brilliantly through 7 innings, and in the top of the eighth inning would be the inning the White Sox got to the Mariners ace. Alexi Ramirez would lead off the inning by singling and then Tyler Flowers would double to right field that would score Ramirez and after that Eric Wedge would come out to relieve Felix of his duties and would hand the ball off to Oliver Perez. De Aze would single off of Perez to score Flowers and the lead was then cut down to 6-4. Perez would then settle down and get Gordon Beckham to ground into a double play to end the inning for the White Sox.
In the bottom of the eighth Michael Saunders would draw a walk from Hector Santiago. Kelly Shoppach would then come up looking to move Saunders over or scored him from first, Shoppach wouldn't need to move Saunders up as Michael was able to swipe both second and third base and after he stole third Shoppach did his job by flying out to left field that allowed Saunders to score easily from third extending the Mariners lead to 7-4. After Brendan Ryan struck out to end the eighth for the Mariners, Tom "The Bartender" Wilhelmsen entered the game and with much doubt from not only myself but other Mariners fans was hoping to get his second consecutive save. Tommy Boy couldn't find the strike zone on his first batter as he walked Conor Gillaspie on four straight pitches and on that note Eric Wedge called his bullpen and asked for Charlie Furbush to get warmed up. Tommy Boy managed to get Alex Rios to pop out and following that he got Paul Konerko to ground into a game ending double play.
During the post game I heard something out of the ROOT Sports analyst that I haven't heard in a long, long, LONG time "The Mariners take the series from the Chicago White Sox." That's right, the Mariners have finally taken a series from the White Sox in I don't know how long its been. With this win the Mariners moved back into third place and put their record to 26-33.
NOTES: Kyle Seager extended his hitting streak to 8 games. Felix Hernandez has now struck out at least 5 batters or more in 11 straight games. Kendrys Morales extended his hitting streak to 6 games. Jesus Sucre exited the game earlier after being hit on the hand on a swing by Alexi Ramirez, he's been cleared to play and will not go on the DL.
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
What are the Mariners deal really?
So far this season for the Mariners have had only one problem. Wait a minute, they have way more then one problem. The Mariners could be at or around .500 if it wasn't for that 7 game losing streak. Now, another problem for the Mariners has been Michael Saunders. Saunders started the season off great. In the second game where the Mariners played the Yankees Saunders went 2-4, since then he has gone 7-59 (.118) lowering his batting average by 68 points, he has also struck out 28 times. Right now Saunders to me needs some work in Tacoma to work on his swing, why not send him down and call up Eric Thames?
Now, last night I heard that Franklin Gutierrez will need more time to recuperate from his hamstring injury. ROOT Sports analyst reported that Guti couldn't go more then 3 days without needing a break. Now, Guti's contract is up at the end of this year so why not release him now? Guti hasn't played a full season since 2010, he's nothing but an injury risk and not worth the money anymore.
Now, who could we get to replace Guti? Well, we have Jason Bay who the Mariners might likely resign after this year, Endy Chavez can also be a great replacement for Guti in center, Julio Morbon is another target for a good replacement he's shown us that he can hit the ball and play the outfield at the same time, the last candidate is the guy who we got in exchange for Shawn Kelley, Abraham Almonte. Almonte has been tearing things up in Triple A so far going 22-46 (.478). All of these players are terrific candidates to replace Gutierrez in centerfield along with Michael Saunders (if he can get his bat going again). Now, another problem that has popped up is Tom Wilhelmsen's ability to be consistent and locate his pitches. He was able to locate his pitches last night but before that he has blown 3 saves out of 4 attempts. Before
Tommy boy blew his first our of 3 in Cleveland he was 11 out of 11 in save opportunities with a 0.50 ERA, since then he has gone 1 out of 4 in save opportunities and his ERA has rose to 2.13. Now if Tommy boy loses his position as the closer I would think that either Carter Capps or Oliver Perez would be the two likely candidates for taking the closer position. Carter Capps has been able to come in for the Mariners and get them out of tight situations along with having one of the nastiest breaking ball and slider I've ever seen. Perez has also been just as reliable, in his last 10 games he has pitched 7.2 innings while striking out 16 batters. Capps in his last 10 games has pitch 9 innings allowing only 1 run and striking out 11 batters. Both these relievers are perfect candidates for replacing Tom if necessary.
Now by the end of this season there has to be one more change made to this team, either Eric Wedge or Jack Zduriencik has to go. Zduriencik has made some impressive signings and has drafted excellent talent but the thing is, is that Zduriencik has said "this team is currently rebuilding" now when he came to the team in 2008 he said the same thing. Mariners fans are tired of him saying that and we should have been rebuilding the team this long, the fans want to see this team in the playoffs and were not going to get there when Zduriencik keeps rebuilding. Now, Eric Wedge is one of the biggest pushover managers in baseball in my opinion. Wedge consistently makes excuses for poor performances and in games where he needs to make a pitching change he just stands there with his thumb in his ass watching the team fail. In the saves that Wilhelmsen has blown a normal manager would have gotten someone warmed up in the bullpen and ready to go after watching him walk two straight batters. Wedge never shows his emotions on the field just in the clubhouse........yeah that does not make a good manager.
Lou Pinella and Ozzie Guillen are great examples of when a manager shows his emotions on and off the field and in the clubhouse they get great results. Pinella's tough managerial skills saw the Mariners have their first winning season in his first season as manager and in his third year saw the team winning their first AL West title. Pinella's skills as a red hot manager saw the Mariners go to the playoffs 3 more times including the 116 win season and after that saw the Mariners win 93 games in two of his last 3 years of managing the team. Guillen saw his White Sox win the World Series in his second year of managing the team, in Ozzie's 8 years of managing the White Sox, his team win 83, 99, 90, 72, 88, 79, 88, and 79 games making the playoffs 5 times and winning one World Series.
Changes must be made on the Mariners roster and in their front office if this team would like to see the playoffs.
Now, last night I heard that Franklin Gutierrez will need more time to recuperate from his hamstring injury. ROOT Sports analyst reported that Guti couldn't go more then 3 days without needing a break. Now, Guti's contract is up at the end of this year so why not release him now? Guti hasn't played a full season since 2010, he's nothing but an injury risk and not worth the money anymore.
Now, who could we get to replace Guti? Well, we have Jason Bay who the Mariners might likely resign after this year, Endy Chavez can also be a great replacement for Guti in center, Julio Morbon is another target for a good replacement he's shown us that he can hit the ball and play the outfield at the same time, the last candidate is the guy who we got in exchange for Shawn Kelley, Abraham Almonte. Almonte has been tearing things up in Triple A so far going 22-46 (.478). All of these players are terrific candidates to replace Gutierrez in centerfield along with Michael Saunders (if he can get his bat going again). Now, another problem that has popped up is Tom Wilhelmsen's ability to be consistent and locate his pitches. He was able to locate his pitches last night but before that he has blown 3 saves out of 4 attempts. Before
Tommy boy blew his first our of 3 in Cleveland he was 11 out of 11 in save opportunities with a 0.50 ERA, since then he has gone 1 out of 4 in save opportunities and his ERA has rose to 2.13. Now if Tommy boy loses his position as the closer I would think that either Carter Capps or Oliver Perez would be the two likely candidates for taking the closer position. Carter Capps has been able to come in for the Mariners and get them out of tight situations along with having one of the nastiest breaking ball and slider I've ever seen. Perez has also been just as reliable, in his last 10 games he has pitched 7.2 innings while striking out 16 batters. Capps in his last 10 games has pitch 9 innings allowing only 1 run and striking out 11 batters. Both these relievers are perfect candidates for replacing Tom if necessary.
Now by the end of this season there has to be one more change made to this team, either Eric Wedge or Jack Zduriencik has to go. Zduriencik has made some impressive signings and has drafted excellent talent but the thing is, is that Zduriencik has said "this team is currently rebuilding" now when he came to the team in 2008 he said the same thing. Mariners fans are tired of him saying that and we should have been rebuilding the team this long, the fans want to see this team in the playoffs and were not going to get there when Zduriencik keeps rebuilding. Now, Eric Wedge is one of the biggest pushover managers in baseball in my opinion. Wedge consistently makes excuses for poor performances and in games where he needs to make a pitching change he just stands there with his thumb in his ass watching the team fail. In the saves that Wilhelmsen has blown a normal manager would have gotten someone warmed up in the bullpen and ready to go after watching him walk two straight batters. Wedge never shows his emotions on the field just in the clubhouse........yeah that does not make a good manager.
Lou Pinella and Ozzie Guillen are great examples of when a manager shows his emotions on and off the field and in the clubhouse they get great results. Pinella's tough managerial skills saw the Mariners have their first winning season in his first season as manager and in his third year saw the team winning their first AL West title. Pinella's skills as a red hot manager saw the Mariners go to the playoffs 3 more times including the 116 win season and after that saw the Mariners win 93 games in two of his last 3 years of managing the team. Guillen saw his White Sox win the World Series in his second year of managing the team, in Ozzie's 8 years of managing the White Sox, his team win 83, 99, 90, 72, 88, 79, 88, and 79 games making the playoffs 5 times and winning one World Series.
Changes must be made on the Mariners roster and in their front office if this team would like to see the playoffs.
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About Me
Im a huge Seattle sports nut. Thats basically about me. But im an upcoming blogger who writes only about the Mariners, Seahawks, Sounders, and when they come back the Sonics. Now if you would like me to write about something tweet me and i will write it. Now i should mark that im also Irish and have a beard that is feared above Brian Wilson's beard. His beard can kiss my beard's ass!