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Mariners death watch: It's finally over
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It seems almost ironic that the Mariners season ended the way we hoped it would all start. Ichiro scored the game's decisive run, J.J. Putz picked up the save striking out the side in the ninth, and the M's beat their division rivals.
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If only that was how the whole season had gone.
By winning, the M's finished the season 61-101, their first 100-loss season since 1983, meaning the M's haven't been this bad since before I was born...and I've lived through some pretty bad teams. The M's will have the number 2 pick in next year's draft, the highest draft pick they've had since they drafted a guy nicknamed A-Rod in 1993. One can only hope they find a gem like Rodriguez or their number one pick before that (you remember....we called him The Kid?).
None of us could wait for this season to come to an end. But now that it has, we, as fans of an organization that is stuck in reverse, have to face the facts. Our best player is a singles hitter, albeit a damn good singles hitter, and our next best player is a 36-year-old who, as much as he seems to love this city, basically gave us a declaration of his leaving with this quote:
"Sure, I'd love to be here. [But] I'd love to be in a competitive environment," the 36-year-old said.
Raul is a smart enough guy to know that if he wants that environment, it's going to be a bit away from the 206. While our opposition in the final game of the season was a team that finished with 44 losses in their final 68 games, the outlooks of the two teams was rather different. The A's manager sounded optimistic about the team's future because, well, they have.jpg)
young talent. The Mariners, don't.
As I watched our team suddenly flourish in a game you almost wished they would lose so they could have a chance at the number one pick, I couldn't help but think about the conversation I had after the first game of the season with the owner of my favorite local bar, Teddy's in North Seattle. Dan and I were discussing Erik Bedard's performance and saying how if that was him at his worst, we were excited about his best. I actually looked at Dan and said "it's going to be a good year." Yeah, I know. I'm an idiot.
This season will always stand out as my worst as a living Mariners fan. On the heels of the Sonics leaving, there was no way any real Seattle fan could deal with a bad year. But, as I have accepted, somewhere deep in its past, Seattle did something to offend the sport gods, and it was pre-destined that the 2008 M's would be terrible.
And the worst part is, it's only going to get worse. The 2008 M's will say hello to the 2009 disasters, the 2010 disasters and hopefully not the 2011 disasters.
It's finally over. And it feels so unsatisfying.
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