Mariners Hanging In

Well they aren’t first but they aren’t worst either. The Seattle Mariners (the official MLB team of My Opinion on Sports) will enter tonight’s game against the Chicago White Sox owning the AL West’s second place spot with a 10-10 record.

This won’t be an easy week though for the Mariners who will host Chicago today and tomorrow before traveling to Boston for one game before landing in New York for a weekend series with the Yankees. It will be a good week it Seattle makes it to Saturday with a 3-2 record.

The Mariners ended April by winning five of their last six games which allowed them to climb from the basement to the floor just below the penthouse. They need to find a roller coaster to make as their official team mascot as they have experienced the ups and downs of going from first place to last and now back to second in a matter of weeks.

Now the Mariners sit just two games behind the first place LA Angels thanks in part to Jose Vidro’s .318 batting average and Adrian Beltre’s 15 RBI’s. With Felix Hernandez on the 15 day DL (as of April 19th) Jarrod Washburn has taken over as the Ace of the pitching staff with his 2.96 ERA and 13 strikeouts.

That’s Right, I Said First Place Mariners

Don’t look now but the official Major League Baseball team of My Opinion on Sports is sitting at the top of the AL West standings. OK on second thought do look because we don’t know how long it will last but are loving it right now.

Going into tonight’s game against the Minnesota Twins the Mariners have a game and a half lead on both the Angels and A’s and two games on the Rangers.

The Mariners top spot is due to Adrian Beltre’s 10 RBI’s, Ichiro’s .290 batting average, total dominance by Felix Hernandez, and some help from Mother Nature. The realists in me wants to admit that this lead won’t last but the fan in me wants it to go on forever.

Mariners Off to a Good Start

Just in case you weren’t aware, the Seattle Mariners are the official baseball team of My Opinion on Sports. They are also off to good start not a great one but a good start. A great start would have been a sweep of the Oakland Athletics but as it is the Mariners took 2 of 3 games in the series.

After the first series of the season Ichiro leads the team with a .400 batting average while Richie Sexon leads in home runs (2) RBI’s (5) and runs (2). Seattle is a half game back from the 3-0 Angels.

The thing that bothered me in this series was Wednesday’s loss. Not the fact that they lost but that they failed to produce any offense, something that plagued them last season. Hopefully that’s a trend that won’t continue as the Mariners head to Cleveland for a four games series with the currently undefeated Indians.

Mariners Make a Deal for Vidro

College football is about to head into the bowl season. The NFL is heading down the home stretch. College basketball is just starting and the NBA is hitting full stride. So, let’s talk some Major League Baseball. My Opinion on Sports’ adopted team, the Seattle Mariners, has made a move both excites and baffles.

Three time All-Star Jose Vidro will become a Mariner upon the completion of team physicals by all players involved in a trade between Seattle and Washington. Seattle is giving up outfielder Chris Snelling and right-handed pitcher Emiliano Fruto in order to get Vidro in what I believe to be a good trade. Snelling has struggled with injuries throughout his career and Fruto is barely above the prospect level. He made is debut last season with a 2-2 record and 5.50 ERA.

Vidro’s lifetime .301 batting average, 115 homers and 550 RBI’s over the past ten seasons should be enough to excite Seattle fans but the question as to where he will fit into the lineup could be baffling.

Vidro played second base for the Nationals but Seattle already has an All-Star second baseman in Jose Lopez. The thought is they could move Lopez to third and let Vidro play second but where does that leave Adrian Beltre? D.H., Trade bait, who knows but I’m not really liking where this way of thinking leads.

The other option, and best in my opinion, is to make Vidro the D.H. This works well for a few reasons. First, we’ve already seen that he can hit the ball. He is more than qualified to be the designated hitter and would make the Mariners line-up even more of a force. The second reason the D.H. is where he needs to be is because he has suffered through two season’s of injuries. He missed 36 games last season and playing the D.H. could not only help him avoid injury but also lengthen his career.

The third and final reason is because the Mariners need him at D.H. Seattle acquired Ben Broussard to be the D.H. last season in a trade with Cleveland but he only hit .238 after the trade.