Despite injuries, an offense that at times hits Ryan Seacrest's weight and a severe lack of talent, the 2009 Seattle Mariners continue to exceed all expectations.
Wednesday afternoon's 3-0 win over the Los Angeles Angels of Orange County and The Valley (LAAOCTV), epitomized the grit and desire the M's have shown throughout the entire season.
King Felix was sensational on Wednesday. Eight shutout innings of four-hit ball against a very formidable Angels lineup is the kind of a performance very few big league pitchers can pull off. Felix is quickly becoming a bonafide number one starter. And with his 14th win (ties a career high), plus his 2.65 ERA (second in the AL) Felix has earned the right to be in the Cy Young discussion.
Few people gave this team a fighting chance. Two games into September, the Mariners are six games over .500, and hanging on by mere tenths of percentage points in the Wild Card and AL West race.
From 2004-2008, the M's were a franchise built on over priced free agents who regularly performed on the field like Year One performed at the box office.
Needless to say, being a Mariners fan during the bad years was painful. Even the 2007 team that somehow pulled 88 wins out of its ass wasn't a team worth rooting for. Almost everyone knew those 88 wins were a mirage - a front for a team that was about to collapse.
Sure enough that's exactly what happened in 2008.
Enter new GM Jack Zduriencik and a new organizational philosophy. In 10 months, Zduriencik has compiled a roster full of players that other teams gave up on. The same kind of players the Mariners used to give up on, only to have them succeed with other franchises.
Cleveland saw no need for Franklin Gutierrez. David Aardsma and Russell Branyan could have been anonymous in the independent leagues. Zduriencik got all three for next to nothing.
The Brewers are paying the Mariners to have Billy Hall on the team. All he did Wednesday was knock in the game's first run on a double, steal third and score the M's second run.
Look up and down the M's roster and it's full of guys that were written off, and young players trying to show their value.
On Tuesday, rookie Doug Fister threw seven solid innings of one run ball. Four of Fister's five big league starts have been quality starts. Think the 6-foot 8-inch righty isn't in the M's plans for 2010? (Can we just say that Doug Fister is one of the all-time great porno star/athlete names? The only thing that might top that would be Doug Pokerface. As of now, I'm heavily leaning towards Fister.)
Add in the legend known as Ken Griffey Jr. and a great field manager like Don Wakamatsu, and there really is no reason not to like the 2009 Mariners.
Today's sports landscape is overcrowded with overpaid prima donnas, punks who only care about individual numbers and genuine douche bags who will say anything that sounds good (Pay-Fraud).
This Mariners team has none of that.
They may not win a World Series or even make the playoffs. The record books will most likely show them placing third in a four team division. But for the entire season, the Mariners have consistently found ways to win when they shouldn't have. They've fully embraced what it means to be a part of a team.
At various points in 2009, the M's have been down. But they've never considered themselves out.
And that's something worth rooting for.
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