**2008 Seattle Mariners**

aNiMaL

roar wrote:

it looks like lee elia has some influence on more than just the hitters.

Well, he's the official new hitting coach now, so I hope he has some influence!!

http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/updates/story/384539.html

Lukin66

I'm happy Elia is signed on as the hitting coach, there's nowhere to go but up for the Mariners now....
That final loss to Bahston was a heartbreaker. Bedard was completely worn down. Third inning was horrible, 40 or so pitches in almost 100 degrees, fucking crazy

roar

the thing is...how much better is he going to be at resuscitating this team? hasn't he BEEN working with hitters all season long as a special assistant?

i don't really see how moves like this are supposed to help.

Lukin66

roar wrote:

the thing is...how much better is he going to be at resuscitating this team? hasn't he BEEN working with hitters all season long as a special assistant?

i don't really see how moves like this are supposed to help.

lol, well, obviously yelling at them hasn't worked....

roar

bill bavasi needs to take a look at the man in the mirror. whose players are stepping up to bat?

can you really blame Pentland for that?
i mean, he's the guy who turned Sammy Sosa from a dude who hit 30 homeruns to hit 65 homeruns, struck out less and had a better OBP.
...and that was pre-cork, mind you!

aNiMaL

roar wrote:

the thing is...how much better is he going to be at resuscitating this team? hasn't he BEEN working with hitters all season long as a special assistant?

i don't really see how moves like this are supposed to help.

I get that, but Lee really hasn't been the man in charge of the hitters, now he is.

The way I see it, this is the first of many firings that are about to happen.

roar

aNiMaL wrote:

The way I see it, this is the first of many firings that are about to happen.

Definitely. I'm just uncomfortable with Bavasi being in charge of the overhaul/rebuilding.

Lukin66

aNiMaL wrote:

I get that, but Lee really hasn't been the man in charge of the hitters, now he is.

The way I see it, this is the first of many firings that are about to happen.

here's hoping...

South of Seattle

Welcome to the 600 Club Ken Griffey Jr.!

xavier mcdaniel

it looks like bavasi has been fired.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/mariners/2008000489_webmari16.html

Hawkshore

xavier mcdaniel wrote:

it looks like bavasi has been fired.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/mariners/2008000489_webmari16.html

About time!!! .......It is amazing to see how much damage he has been able to do to this team in his five year tenure! .....I think W is the only person to fuck up more than Bavasi over this period of time!!!

xavier mcdaniel

Hawkshore wrote:

About time!!! .......It is amazing to see how much damage he has been able to do to this team in his five year tenure! .....I think W is the only person to fuck up more than Bavasi over this period of time!!!

you can't forget isiah thomas in new york..

Lukin66

From The Seattle Times today:
Mariners reach new low after three-game sweep by Nationals
By Larry Stone
Seattle Times Staff Reporter
Just when it seemed that the Mariners' nightmare season couldn't sink any lower, the Washington Nationals limped into town.

Turns out rock bottom is a fluid concept for the M's.

The Nats came in as the worst team in the National League, riddled by injuries and losers of 10 out of 12 games. In other words, the perfect team for the Mariners to get healthy against.

By the time the Nationals left town, however, they had completed a three-game sweep capped by Sunday's 6-2 victory.

What remained of the Father's Day crowd of 38,548 at Safeco Field was raining down boos upon the Mariners, who have lost seven straight at home and now are the worst team in baseball by a 3 ½-game margin.

"They have every right to boo," said Mariners pitcher Jarrod Washburn, who left with a lead for the third time in his last four starts, all of which resulted in no-decisions.

"We've been bad. There's no getting around it. We should be booed."

The dimensions of the Mariners' epic collapse keep expanding. Now they have reached another flash point where major repercussions would seem to be looming. But it has seemed that way before, without the other shoe falling.

Whether heads will roll — in the form of team executives, manager John McLaren or struggling players like Richie Sexson, who sat out Sunday — remains to be seen.

What's clear, however is that no miracle turnaround seems to be in sight for the Mariners, who held a 2-1 lead after six innings behind Washburn's strong pitching, only to watch it slip away in now-typical fashion.

The key blow was a three-run, pinch-hit homer by Kory Casto in the eighth off Mark Lowe, a ball that the Mariners initially argued was foul before conceding it had hit the right-field foul pole.

The game was another in a long line of weak offensive efforts for the Mariners, who had Yuniesky Betancourt as well as Sexson on the bench. They managed eight hits, all singles, and one of their two runs was unearned as the result of a three-error inning by the Nationals.

The defeat inspired some frank talk within the clubhouse. Asked to sum up the season, Washburn said, "I don't think a printable word comes to mind.

"It's been terrible," he continued. "We find a different way to lose every night. ... We're just not good. We haven't shown any signs of turning it around. It's frustrating. It's embarrassing."

Washburn said he had been on losing teams before, "but those teams weren't expected to compete and do well. We had high expectations for ourselves. Other people had high expectations. We fully expected to be competing for the division and trying to get to the playoffs.

"We knew we had talent to do it. We're just not doing it. We've got to turn it around. I don't think it's possible to play this bad for an entire season. I hope not."

Ichiro concurred with Washburn that fans have the right to boo the Mariners' performance.

"We have to think more about our fans, because they come to the ballpark to see us play and perform, and we're not performing," he said through an interpreter. "That's something I cannot believe."

Ichiro added that the players "are always thinking about the solution. We're just not clicking. It's not like we're not thinking about that. We just can't find the answer."

McLaren was again left grappling for answers, this time for the M's offensive malaise. Lee Elia has replaced the fired Jeff Pentland as hitting coach, but the Mariners' bats have yet to break out.

"Lee's working hard with these guys; it just hasn't happened yet," McLaren said. "I see some positives with the hitters. We need to do it collectively. It's tough to have just one guy hot, or whatever. You've got to hit up and down the lineup.

"The capability is there. For some reason, we haven't done it. That's part of the puzzle Lee's trying to figure out, we're trying to figure out. They're working hard every day. There's not anything you can put your finger on."

Asked about a realistic goal for the rest of the season after his team fell 21 games under .500, Ichiro replied, "We shouldn't care about the opponents. We have to perform for ourselves. Focus each day, each game, and the next game from there on.

"Say, for instance, not even having the TV on. Don't worry about where the others are in the standings. That's something useless for us, because we have to do something to change this. We have to perform in order to compete."

So far this season, the Mariners' performance has been inept, and their ability to compete nonexistent.

They've reached rock bottom. For now.

Wobbie

Kory "Freakin'" Casto??????????? I least I had heard of Bucky "Freakin'" Dent!

Wobbie

roar wrote:

can you really blame Pentland for that?
i mean, he's the guy who turned Sammy Sosa from a dude who hit 30 homeruns to hit 65 homeruns

There was no "guy" who did that for Sammy other than his Dominican pharmacist :eek:

aNiMaL

xavier mcdaniel wrote:

it looks like bavasi has been fired.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/mariners/2008000489_webmari16.html

I was elated when i read this news, this afternoon.

I say, keep 'em coming...or actually going.

sennin

John McClaren....Axed!

roar

keep 'em coming.

Lukin66

sennin wrote:

John McClaren....Axed!

WOOT WOOT

xavier mcdaniel

roar wrote:

keep 'em coming.

i'd guess richie sexson would be next..