TERRY MOSHER
You know, the news about the sinking Seattle Mariners is that at some point the team can’s sink anymore, it will have reached absolute bottom, and then the only way out is up.
So there is that.
For someone who played a little semipro baseball and was the unofficial general manager of the Kitsap Outsiders (1971-74) semipro team, I don’t think there is a ton of difference between the superstar and the average baseball player in terms of producing wins.
Yeah, it’s nice to have the Ken Griffey JRs, Alex Rodriguez and Edgar Martinez on your team all at once, as the Mariners did, but you can win with average Joes as long as they play together as a team and have good chemistry, which is hard to define but is essential to success.
Just like softball, baseball really comes down to pitching. You got five starters who are shut-down throwers and a bullpen that can efficiently close games you have a winner despite maybe short-comings on offense. Good pitching will always shut down good hitting.
When Randy Johnson was going good for the Mariners, you knew a victory was not only possible but probable no matter who was the opponent.
The big problem with the current Mariners is they don’t have good pitching. There is no ace that can stop losing streaks. Heck, you can make a case they don’t even have a No. 2 thrower. And the bullpen sucks.
Remember when Japanese import Yusei Kikuchi was tagged pre-season as a possible replacement for Felix Hernandez as the ace of the pitching staff? Not so fast. Kikuchi is a bust. The lefthander who turned 28 two days ago (June 17) has a 5.15 ERA and a 1.481 WHIP. He is getting smacked around and maybe with a little stretch of the imagination could be a No. 3 starter.
I get that this season is a “step-back” and general manager Jerry Dipoto is through some wheeling and dealing has partially restocked a minor league system that was ranked as baseball’s worst before this season.
Dipoto has added some good prospects and the system now is much better thought of. But be careful. Prospects have a tendency to be just that ‑ prospects. They have to climb through the various stages of the minor league system to get to the Promised Land – the Major Leagues – and that is a perilous journey fraught with injuries and off-the field mistakes that have derailed many others. Potential is just potential until the prospect gets to prove it over and over in the big leagues.
So hold your breath and pray for the best.
I repeatedly have said that the Democrats need to have a “Truth Train” following traitor Trump around to his rallies and counter his massive amount of lying. It does no good, and even dangerous, to allow the traitor to go around and lie to his core supporters (some of his lies are so unbelievable that they are both amusing and dangerous at the same time). The Democrats need to call him out and do it almost immediately in the same city where he rallies.
The media also must be more aggressive. Traitor Trump is not playing normally. He is doing the equivalent of hitting below the belt and when he does it, the media needs to immediately call foul on him and hit back doubly hard.
Traitor Trump is going to live tweet during the Democrats debates this next week and I would demand, if I’m the democrats, that his tweets are not to be aired during the debates. Hit him where it hurts. He likes to be center stage and his live tweeting is way to interject himself into the debates. Don’t let him do it.
I don’t know why there isn’t more outrage over traitor Trump’s administration putting kids in cages and in concentration camps. We went through this in World War II with the Japanese here in his country and with the Jewish population in Germany. It is clearly demonic and inhumane. We should be all outraged and should be all yelling to the high heavens about it.
At the least – the very least – Democratic candidates running for the presidency should all make this issue their campaign’s centerpiece. Shout it loud and clear, day after day. It’s wrong, it’s criminal. Hold the traitor accountable.
When NHL hockey arrives in Seattle in two years, I believe it’s going to be a smash hit. I had gotten away from hockey since my college days in the 1960s when I watched it twice a week on CBC. I have gotten back into it the past two Stanley Cup playoffs and I know now how much I missed it.
Hockey is probably the most exciting sport to watch and, man, you have to be extra tough to play it at the NHL level. Those guys are brutal. But they hit each other and keep on ticking, even when a puck smashes off the mouth, as it did to one player these past playoffs. He went in and got stitches and came back and finished the game.
Hockey players, their coaches and the staffs, are all honest in their analysis of the games, which is refreshing. There is no phony baloney.
Believe me, the game has also gotten much quicker than it was when I watched back in the 1960s. The action is quicker than a coyote chasing a rabbit. I love it.
That’s enough for today. The grass is greener, the trees are sporting big green leaves and waving them in my face as a gentle breeze squeezes through, the water is flat except for the occasional ripple and splash caused by a jumping fish, and the world seems to be peaceful for at least this one quiet moment.
Go and enjoy.
Be well pal.
Be careful out there.
Have a great day.
You are loved.