Like most Mariners fans, I wanted to believe. After watching the franchise go downhill in 2004's 99-loss season, then finally seeing some light at the end of the tunnel in 2009's 85-win season, I needed to believe. And after pulling off the trade to acquire 2008 Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee, I started believing Jack Zduriencik could cure cancer and walk on water.
Sure, the Mariners still lacked a power bat in the lineup, after letting go of Russell Branyan and his 31 home runs. But with Felix Hernandez and Lee at the top of the rotation, I, like many others, believed Seattle's pitching could overcome any lack of offense.
Boy, were we all wrong.
The Mariners are now 2-6 on the season, after what has to be one of the most lackluster home openers in baseball history. They only managed two hits against Justin Duchsherer and the Oakland A's in a 4-0 loss before a sellout crowd of 45,876 at Safeco Field. This is the same Justin Duchsherer who missed all of last season with an elbow injury and was later treated for clinical depression.
Mariners fans might want to get his therapist's number.
Aside from Franklin Gutierrez's sparking .419 batting average through eight games, no regular contributor is batting better than .250. Their .212 team batting average ranks dead last in Major League Baseball. And the offenders include most of the regular starters:
Milton Bradley - .045 (1-22 to start his Mariners career)
Rob Johnson - .182 (known for his work with pitchers, but still)
Jose Lopez - .188 (no extra base hits for the career .271 hitter)
Casey Kotchman - .200 (just three hits since his 4 RBI game on opening night)
Chone Figgins - .207 (at least the career .291 hitter has drawn four walks)
Ken Griffey Jr. - .211 (maybe the feel good return story should have ended in 2009)
Ichiro Suzuki - .250 (we know #51 will come around, but his slow starting isn't helping)
We figured coming into 2010, the Mariners would have to play station to station baseball, because the longballs just wouldn't be there. And on this point, we were correct. But we didn't expect the lack of power to be this glaring.
Through eight games, Seattle has hit a total of three home runs. Albert Pujols, Nelson Cruz, Alex Gonzalez and Vernon Wells have all hit more homers by themselves. At this pace, the M's would wind up with 60.75 longballs as a team this season, which is a fraction less than Roger Maris hit by himself in his record-breaking 1961 season.
You want more evidence of just how anemic the Mariners' offense has been? Their on base percentage of .287 ranks 29th out of 30 MLB teams (only Houston is worse). Their slugging percentage of .286 is dead last. And Seattle's .573 OPS (on base plus slugging) is also 29th (again, only Houston is worse).
With 154 games to go, the Mariners still have plenty of time to show that this slow start is simply an anomoly. But they better hurry up, because scoring 2.625 runs a game isn't going to butts in the seats at Safeco for 80 more home dates.
I still want to believe, but my faith is only so strong.
No Ratings Yet
