I'm going to be out and about today, so I can't write much more than a rant. I watched last night's game, and was giddy for the first 9 and a half innings. Cliff Lee was unbelievable, the bullpen looked great, and Brandon League started looking like Brandon League. I was willing to tip my hat to Colby Lewis for the M's struggles at the plate.
Forget it. This offense is terrible. We've seen rock bottom. The 10th and 11th were atrocious. Eric Byrnes's failed suicide squeeze in the 11th was called by Gregg Bell (of the AP, not even a beat writer for either team) "the worst at-bat in Major League history." It might have been too. Ron Washington got ejected for arguing that Byrnes should have strike two on him because there was no way he would've pulled the bat back on a suicide squeeze.
I can't blame Ron Washington for being so flabbergasted. Everyone was. Byrnes only entrenched the claim by whiffing horribly on a fastball down the middle, and then watching one go by for strike three.
The Rangers never got a hit with a runner in scoring position, and didn't hit any home runs. The pitching staff was sensational. The defense made a couple nice plays too. There is no getting around who lost the game last night, and how ugly it looked.
The M's offense broke the WPA formula, which measures what percentage of a win or loss is contributed to players. The M's lineup accounted for over 100%. They were that bad.
Granted, obviously, the M's offense is better than they showed last night. Any offense is. But I keep telling myself that, and at some point it rings hollow.
Last night is when it finally rang hollow.
I'll suggest answers later, but something must be done. I think it involves ditching Eric Byrnes, and maybe Mike Sweeney too.
The Mariners offense will look better today, because they can't look any worse than they did last night. Seriously, I think an offense looks better when they are no-hit, because at least then they can't think up incomprehensible ways to fail with runners in scoring position.
Still, I don't care if the M's score 25 runs today. There need to be consequences after the egg they laid last night.
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