We need more Wild Cards

Postseason baseball is here and again the door was shut on the Mariners once again. They were one game out and still had a chance on Saturday but that was not to be. Since the Mariners last won their division in 2001 with 116 victories they’ve only made it to the postseason as a Wild Card team a couple of years ago. Now the M’s won 90 games in 2002 and 2003 but there was only one Wild Card team at that time. Since then the amount of Wild Card teams in each league is now three.

In June, Seattle had a 10 game lead on the Houston Astros but the M’s went into a slump and the poor hitting and injuries to key people led to a fading fast group of Major Leaguers. Mariner starting pitching had been solid all season but hitting came up a bit short with a lot of strikeouts. A team has no defense for walks and even a poor defending team looks good when the opponent strikes out a lot.

So Scott Servais was let go and former Mariner Dan Wilson became Manager and he brought in former teammate Edgar Martinez as the hitting coach. This wasn’t Edgar’s first stint as a hitting coach. Both gentlemen did an admirable job. It sounded like Martinez made some inroads to some of the player’s hitting woes but maybe not enough with just over a month of baseball left to play.

Now I’m not sure that Dan Wilson wants to manage full time or if Edgar wants to be full time hitting coach for a season or two. I do know the fans would love it but the travel for a Mariner team is brutal and time away from family would be tough. But Seattle needs people that can get the Mariners on the right track and knock the Houston Astros out of the top spot in the AL West. But beating the teams you are supposed to beat might be more important since the Angels were the M’s nemesis late in the season and they shouldn’t have been.

The Mariners did well against the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers and had a winning record against Houston but also had trouble against teams in other divisions of baseball that were also-rans. I’m not sure if it is confidence or something in the air but it seems that the Mariners need something and they have gotten rid of some real good clubhouse guys that played well elsewhere and not so well in Seattle and then played well elsewhere. That doesn’t make sense to me. The weather in Seattle is ideal. Compared to the Midwest with its brutal hot and humid summers you would think playing in the northwest would be a good thing.

The fans in Seattle are pretty decent even the media treats the Mariners well. Even during a losing streak they try to find a ray of sunshine to get the fans enthused and hopeful.

Looking back on the 2001 team it seemed that you had a bunch of no name guys that had career years. The team didn’t have a Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson or Alex Rodriguez since they had all left for different reasons.

But they signed Ichiro from Japan and in his first year he was Rookie of the year and MVP. Jay Buhner, the M’s regular right fielder was injured much of the season so having Ichiro roaming right field was a bonus. Dan Wilson and Edgar were also part of that 116 win season that was so special. They were also a big part of the 1995 ‘Refuse to lose’ season when the Mariners made it to their very first playoff run in which they won the AL West title. It seems like the M’s need players that know how to win and become the next generation of Refuse to lose athletes. Do you remember the old saying they had? “Two outs? So what!” The magic needs to happen again but it has to start with bringing in guys that want to be part of the Mariner magic and bring back the fun to the park.

Also it would be nice if we had more TV access to the Mariner games on this side of the state. I’m hoping that the Seattle nine can put together a full season of great pitching and timely hitting for a playoff run next year. I hope they can do it without having more Wild Card berths but if not…

— Dale Anderson is a sports columnist from Ritzville. To contact him, email [email protected].