“Hey now, Get all of it” has been a disaster as a slogan. At this point, the M’s should switch to something like “We are your father’s Mariners”, “Creating new ways to lose on a nightly basis”, or my personal favorite, “Justin Upton, here we come”. Upton is, by most accounts, more advanced than his older brother B.J., who is currently whacking the baseball in Triple-A Durham as a 20-year-old shortstop. The M’s are currently in 4th place in the Justin Upton sweepstakes (sounds much better than 32-51, doesn’t it?), behind KC, Arizona, and Montreal. With as awful as Kansas City looks right now, we should probably count on picking no higher than second next summer. But, hey, Mark Prior went #2, so we’ve got that on our side.
In other news, Randy Winn is on fire. Since June started, he’s hitting .318/.390/.540. 17 of his 43 hits are extra base knocks. He has 16 walks and 19 strikeouts in 135 at-bats. Sell Sell Sell! Seriously, are the Phillies not the perfect fit for Winn? They have a gaping hole in center field and could definitely use Winn’s stick. They have a brand new park and can afford to take on his medium sized contract. I’d gladly take Andy Machado, a slick fielding shortstop with some pop, in exchange.
Rumors in the Times today had the M’s beginning to get more serious about dumping Rich Aurilia. Personally, I don’t see the point of releasing him. There isn’t a player in the organization who can play a quality major league shortstop right now (or, likely, at any time). You’re not opening up playing time for a blocked prospect or giving an opportunity to anyone knocking on the door. You’re giving fans a prolonged look at Ramon Santiago, the daily reminder that Carlos Guillen got traded for one of the worst players in major league baseball. If someone wants to take Aurilia off our hands, great. If we have to pay half his salary, fine, but releasing him and eating the whole contract is pointless. It’s change for changes sake. There are plenty of actual changes that should take place; no reason to waste time on needless ones.
Anyone have any idea why my wireless network cuts off at home when the phone rings? Cell phones don’t affect it, but if the landline rings, I can kiss my connection goodbye.
I loved the moment of helplessness and then relief when Bob File came in and they were late in putting up the stat line Fairly’s so used to reading.
“I’m sure we’ll see the numbers for File here in a second… [long pause as Fairly starts to look around the booth for the day’s game notes] uh, ERA about four point three–[stat box appears on screen] oh, there you go, 4.30 ERA…”
Shallow fly in the outfield, Winn’s there, Phelps is ready to run (and not that swift)… Winn’s throw arrives at the plate after the commercial break, having taken a couple hops before Wilson fields it a couple yards up and off the plate.
That’s embarassing.
It’s games like those that make me glad I had to work Wednesday night; didn’t see a single pitch.