Last Game vs. Oakland; Seattle and Tampa

[b_roy7]

No one cared about the last game. Yuni's been clutch though.

If we don't sweep the 'Rays, the playoffs' are bye-bye.

[HeyIt'sMe]

It'll be tough for ya to win all four games, especially the Kazmir/Ramirez matchup, but you're one step of the way there after the awfulness that is the Rays pen blew an enormous lead late.

It's tough being a Tampa fan sometimes.

[BlackMamba]

not to be pesimistic, but aren't the playoffs already bye-bye?

i think the mariners should start putting in the rotation some youn guys instead of ramirez.

[b_roy7]

Give Rowland-Smith at a chance to start over Rammy...Ho. Ram can go in the bullpen. 2 game winning streak, let's see what happens.

[Troy McClure]

That was a good come back last night...

[b_roy7]

Happy to even see J.J. The East rivalry game was CRAZY.

[Sweezo]

Give Rowland-Smith at a chance to start over Rammy...Ho. Ram can go to hell

Fixed.

Seriously. Four batters. He made it through four lousy batters against the Devil Rays before he had to be pulled out of the game. Explain to me why John McClaren feels the need to trot this guy out there every fifth start....loyalty? Why? He's not a long term Mariner, and hasn't produced for this team at all.

So, which would have been more important when this team's bullpen started to falter in the past few weeks...a **** SP like Ho Ram who can't make it through an inning and forces his manager to go to the pen early, or a lights out reliever like Rafael Soriano who has proven time and time again he can stop the bleeding when relied upon?

It's not second guessing. Every M's fan knew that trade was a turd the minute they found out about it.

BTW I like RRS. He's had some bad innings where he's shown a tendency to give up bombs, but he's also had some innings where his stuff has been on and he's looked unhittable. I like his upside.

[Ex-hippie]

-= original quote snipped =-
It's not second guessing. Every M's fan knew that trade was a turd the minute they found out about it.

I was probably closer than anyone else here to being optimistic about it. Even I didn't love it, but I thought Ramirez could be solid. It turns out I was about as wrong as anyone could possibly be. The trade was in fact a turd, and not even the cool kind with bits of corn in it.

BTW I like RRS. He's had some bad innings where he's shown a tendency to give up bombs, but he's also had some innings where his stuff has been on and he's looked unhittable. I like his upside.

Seems like he was hanging around the minor league system as a second-tier prospect forever, so it's nice to see him finally come up and pitch effectively in the majors. 38 K's and 14 walks in 33 innings at age 24 is certainly cause for optimism. Fun fact: Ryan Rowland-Smith is the only player in major league history with a hyphenated surname. Let's bring up Austin Bibens-Dirkx (who will then have easily the coolest hyphenated surname, with apologies to Rowland-Smith).

EDIT: I looked further at RRS's Sportsline page, and the fantasy analysis says he is the first major leaguer with an "abbreviated name." Who knew that it was abbreviated as well? And it's not limited to last names -- maybe R.Y.A.N. is an acronym for something. I wonder what his teammate J.J. Putz thinks about this?

[BlackMamba]

lol at the Ms vs. tampa...