Last year, the Mariners were your trendy division winning pick. ESPN’s Joe Morgan and Orel Hershiser both picked the M’s to win the A.L. West. Sporting News and Sports Illustrated both had the M’s finishing over .500, and even the know-it-alls at Baseball Prospectus thought the M’s would finish 2nd with 83 wins.
Just picked up my The Sporting News baseball preview, and you probably don’t need me to tell you where they’ve picked the 2011 Mariners to finish. “Could be another long season in Seattle,” the magazine writes. An anonymous rival scout interviewed by The Sporting News assays the M’s thusly: “This is a terrible team.”
Does this get your blood stirring? It does mine. It’s one thing for you or I or our other fellow Mariner fans to dis the team, but when these national magazines do it, I get pissed off. “Terrible”? Get a real job, scout man.
The Sporting News’ aspersions are first out of the gate in the month-long race to slam the Mariners. Sports Illustrated and ESPN are planning their insults now, I assure you. Let them talk, just like they did last year. Maybe they’ll be just as wrong.
What they’re saying…
“It’s a new start and you have a lot of hope. That’s how I felt today, as always.” — Ichiro
“I think we have to win the Pac-10 tournament again.” — Justin Holiday
“Nobody can compete with me when I’m Milton Bradley.” — Milton Bradley
In other news…
Pretty sure Isaiah Thomas saw his Pac-10 Player of the Year hopes go bye-bye after Derrick Williams’ dominating performance Saturday. There’s always next year, I.T.
M’s incumbent Jack Wilson won’t be handed the shortstop job. Eric Wedge says that Brendan Ryan will get a chance to win the job. (Which also opens the door a crack for top prospect Dustin Ackley to grab the starting spot at 2B?)
New DH Jack Cust made fun of Ichiro’s clothes. But when will he start with the tickling?
UW wing Scott Suggs is out for two weeks with the MCL strain he suffered against Arizona State. Suggs might not be back until the Pac-10 Tournament.
Pretty sweet lineup of high school hoops at ShoWare Center tonight. The 2A, 3A, and 4A district championships, boys and girls, starting at 10 a.m., final game at 8 p.m.
Today’s action…
Nada, other than the aforementioned high school hoops.