Patience is a Forgotten Virtue…Daily Links

by Mike Salk

MARINERS/MLB

Ugh. Awful game last night for the Mariners and not just because they lost. The Indians have the worst record and baseball and the primary reason is their attrocious bullpen. The M’s never got to expose that weakness because they were WAY to aggressive against Cliff Lee. Now I understand the Cy Young award winner was throwing strikes, but you have to find a way to take pitches and force him out of the game.

The Mariners sent just two fewer players to the plate last night but saw 41 fewer pitches. Ugly.

Larry Stone and Ryan Divish have the Mariners looking rusty in first game back from the break. Garrett Olson lasts 2-2/3 innings and the team commits 4 errors. We’ll talk to Larry today at 12:10. Olson didn’t exactly help his cause last night. That could open the door for Ryan Rowland-Smith, according to USSMARINER. Good news on the Adrian Beltre front. He could be back as soon as a month from now, according to manager Don Wakamatsu.

Lookout Landing previews the Mariner’s series against the Indians and see that the Mariners have an advantage against Cleveland. Well, yeah, they should against a last place team. But you have to actually take advantage of the weaknesses!

If the M’s do fall out of it in the next two weeks, the Dodgers may be a good trading partner. Jason Churchill has a Dodgers scout looking at Jarrod Washburn and Miguel Batista.

SI.com ranks the Mariners 14th in the power rankings and said that Erik Bedard is their most important player for the second half. Their second half may not matter much if they don’t do something impressive im the next two weeks. They are in a bit of a hole now (six back in the loss column) and Buster Olney says that the Mariners have the 3rd toughest road to the playoffs from here.

SEAHAWKS/NFL

Colin Cowherd said this morning on 710 ESPN Seattle that Mike Holmgren “had essentially mailed it in. Very little energy, looking forward to retirement. Putting in 9-5 hours.” Pretty explosive comment. To hear it all, tune it at 11:00 as we’ll debate during the show. But if that’s true? Ouch. Brock does not agree AT ALL. Colin also said the Hawks are a good bet this year under Jim Mora. I’m with him on that one.

Eric Williams has the Seahawks looking to throw out a 3-3 defense for second and third downs more often this season. That should maximize the abilities of the linebackers. Seahawks Addicts has 10 reasons why the Seattle will win the NFC West this year.

BASKETBALL ETC

Lorenzo Romar says that it’s not a guarantee that the highly recruited Abdul Gaddy will start at point guard for the Huskies. The back court is crowded with Gaddy, Isaiah Thomas, and Venoy Overton.

Steve Kelley writes that former Huskies Jon Brockman and Spencer Hawes are happy to be on the same team again.

University of Washington lineman Skyler Fancher chased down a thief in the U District. Jerry Brewer writes that he did it while rehabbing.

Freddie Ljungberg and Steve Zakuani both have ties to Chelsea and look forward to playing against them tomorrow. I’m looking forward to being there, thanks to Matt Johnson!

NOTES

-First pitch tonight is at 4:05

–Felix Hernandez will pitch tonight he is 5-0 with a 1.19 ERA in nine starts

–Tomo Ohka is the Indians’ starter he is 0-3 and posts a 6.40

–Ichiro Suzuki is in the middle of a 12 game hitting streak