Mariners update: six games, many questions

One preseason question, for example, was: “This year will Richie Sexson mostly fan looking at strike three or swinging at ball four?” Miraculously, the answer so far is that Big Richie might actually get a hit or four (in 20 at bats), as he had through the Sunday (April 6) 3-2 loss in Baltimore, the M’s third straight to the Orioles after starting the year 2-1.

Another question remains extant and is: “What for the love of Jurassic Carl Everett is Brad Wilkerson doing in this lineup?” Answer through Sunday: The right-fielder is “hitting” one for 15 while Mike Morse, who amassed a .492 preseason average, sits. Wilkerson, then, after playing five games, was hitting a diabolical .0666 (off into infinity so we’ll make it .067), with five strikeouts.

Then there’s that minor question for the manager, John McLaren, who pulled Felix Hernandez after eight innings of five-hit, shutout pitching Sunday to hand the game over to the Orioles via Eric O’Flaherty and Mark Lowe: “Mac? Why’d you do that? Felix had 97 pitches but he actually was getting stronger as the game went on. You didn’t have the injured J.J. Putz so you went with O’Flaherty, who had thrown 29 times Saturday and whose earned-run average was 10.13. Then you went with Lowe, who missed all of last season and was said by some to be less-than ready after a pair of surgeries.”

“It just didn’t work,” the remorseful McManager said and then repeated after the Sunday game, looking as he reiterated the fateful four words as though he actually would burst into tears.

April 6 was the 31st anniversary of the first-season opener for the M’s, now one of just three American League teams never to have played in a World Series. Fans no doubt hope “it just didn’t work” doesn’t become the McMantra as another season slips away.

Meanwhile, as the M’s struggle to win just one against the Bal-Birds Monday (April 7), they would seem to at least stand a chance of taking a couple from Tampa Bay this week before returning Friday (April 11) for three against the reigning (and still winning) Los Angeles Angels. The only problem when anticipating Tampa, though, is that one other nagging question: “Aren’t these the same Devil Rays who embarrassed the Yankees twice in New York last week?"