Shattered Dreams

Wake up, Mariners fans. Your nightmare is over. Six months of the most god awful baseball one could imagine is thankfully kaput.

Even the most pessimistic pundits couldn't have imagined the Mariners crapping out another 101-loss albatross. The simple explanation for this disaster is that everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong. The hitters didn't hit. The relief pitchers didn't pitch. Don Wakamatsu didn't manage. Needless to say, the Mariners 2010 campaign is the most confounding season I've ever witnessed as a sports fan.

Rewind (as I did yesterday on my DVR) to the Mariners final game from last October. The magical 85-win season was capped off by a victory lap/Griffey lovefest that left every person in Safeco Field confident that the Mariners were headed on the right track. For the first time since Lou Piniella, the Mariners had a competent manager. Even more impressive was their new general manager, Jack Zduriencik, didn't insist in signing his name with crayons, or trading for players that peaked in 2003.

The prevailing thought was if the M's could make a few tweaks, they would add 5-10 wins t0 the 2009 total. And if that could happen, then you're talking playoffs. Good times, indeed.

So with that in mind, all Zduriencik did was trade spare parts for Cliff Lee, arguably the best pitcher in baseball at the time, coming off a memorably dominant postseason with the Philadelphia Phillies. Then Zduriencik shrewdly signed the pesky Chone Figgins away from the division rival Anaheim Angels of Tarzana. On paper the Mariners had the best 1-2 pitching combo in baseball with Lee and Felix Hernandez, along with the top two leadoff hitters in baseball at the top of their lineup in Ichiro and Figgins. We were well on our way.

Zduriencik addressed the hole in left field by trading Carlos Silva, his bloated contract, and his even more bloated waistline to the Cubs for Milton Bradley. Sure, Bradley was batshit crazy, but he also led the AL in OPS in 2008. From a talent perspective, this was like trading Jason Mraz for Billy Joel.

While the M's let 2009 home run leader Russell Branyan walk, citing his chronic back problems, his replacement, Casey Kotchman, appeared to be a much better contact hitter than Branyan. And like Branyan, a player who seemingly just needed a chance to thrive.

The only other notable defection from the 2009 squad was Adrian Beltre. But Beltre missed over 50 games in 2009 with a myriad of injuries. My personal fave was his stint on the 15-day DL for a "severely bruised testicle". While Beltre's glove proved invaluable, his .683 OPS didn't seem like a big hurdle to overcome.

The offense was never touted as a force. It didn't need to be. With the stellar pitching and defense from 2009, all the Mariners bats needed to do was put up 4-5 runs a game. It seemed so simple. Until it wasn't.

Well, we all know what happened next. In short, it goes something like this.

-Cliff Lee got hurt
-Eric Byrnes turned in arguably the worst month in baseball history
-Milton went crazy
-Junior took a nap
-Junior went on a permanent road trip
-Lee got traded
-Figgins tried to fight Wak
-Wak got canned

The only players on the entire roster who performed up to expectations were Felix and Ichiro. Call it bad luck. Call it bad personnel moves. Call it whatever.

The fact of the matter is there was a 2010 baseball season. The Mariners just didn't bother showing up for it.

I've heard people talk about how winning and losing are both contagious. After witnessing the Mariners 2009 and 2010 seasons, I'd say I agree with that statement. Taking that into consideration, it's pretty clear that the 2010 Mariners had a raging case of herpes.