Carp!

Tuesday night's loss highlights so many weaknesses of the current M's team.

1. Lousy starting pitching. Spicoli couldn't hold a 5 run lead. Despite a recent run of usefulness, he still pretty much sucks.

2. An offense of hackers. You can't really complain about too much about the offense when you score 6 runs, but how did they let Dustin Moseley shut them down for 5 and a third? on 54 pitches?

3. Handing out playing time for all the wrong reasons. Jose Lopez gets benched for presumably missing the tag on Matthews the night before. Bloomquist goes 0 for 3.

4. Terrible left field defense. Guerrero's RBI double to left in should have been an out. It was well hit, but certainly catchable. Ibanez jumped for it, but it wasn't over his head, it was 3 feet to his left. His route was terrible and he is painfully slow. Raul's post AS break success has come mostly against righties. He would make a great platoon DH. Adam Jones continues to kiss pine.

5. General bullpen mismanagement including the Fetish for Veterans. Reitsma, Parrish, and now Rick White. Three pretty bad pitchers that McLaren has let pitch in crucial situations, because they are experienced. Rick White is, without question, the worst pitcher in the bullpen. Its not even close! And there he was, facing Vlad Fucking Guerrero in the eighth inning with the bases loaded. I understand that if Morrow and Green had pitched better, they wouldn't have had to go to White. But the bottom line is that if you manage your pen so that Rick White is the guy you have pitching the most crucial at-bat of the game, then you suck as a manager. And Putz hasn't pitched in 4 days.


This has been a great year for the Mariners. I am rooting like crazy for them. I desparately want a Felix win today so we are still vaguely alive in the West. But this team is badly constructed and poorly run. There is no getting around this.