Do we have a problem?

I was able to go to the Mariners game on Friday night. The stadium was full of buzz as Cliff Lee was set to make his debut as a Seattle Mariner. He certainly did not disappoint as Rangers hitters looked seemingly lost against the Cy Young winner. He finished the night after pitching 7 innings of 3-hit ball with 8 strike outs and no walks. If any of you have the opportunity I say go see this guy live. It's really amazing to watch him work.

But for all the happy feelings I had from my first Cliff Lee experience, the joy was quickly ruined by the Mariners anemic offense and some questionable decisions from our manager Don Wakamatsu. Let me begin by saying I like Don Wakamatsu. I think he's done an unbelievable job not only bringing a clubhouse together but also performing his duties as a field manager. Unfortunately, on Friday night he made some decisions that I just can't agree with and regardless whether or not they led to a positive outcome, I had been questioning.

1) I believe it was in the tenth inning, but with the bases loaded and one out, Jack Wilson was stepping up to the plate. Jack Wilson is not a very good hitter but I have faith in him that he could at least avoid hitting into a double play. All he had to do was hit the ball into the outfield and we could go home happy Mariners fans excited about the prospect of our new pitcher. Instead Wakamatsu pinch hit Wilson with Mike Sweeney. The significance of this switch is two-fold; Sweeney, like Wilson, does not hit the ball well and once Wilson is out of the game we don't have a major league caliber backup shortstop. Sweeney immediately hit into a 6-4-3 double play and the threat was over. That next inning, Matt Tuiasosopo took over for Wilson at shortstop and actually factored in the outcome of the game as a 12th inning throwing error put the a Ranger runner on 2nd base.

2) After a leadoff single in the 11th inning by Ichiro Suzuki, Chone Figgins beat out a sacrifice bunt for a single. Runner now stood on 1st and 2nd with our best hitter, Franklin Gutierrez stepping to the plate. I thought a sacrifice bunt was possible, however considering the absolute lack of offense from anyone not hitting in the 1st or 3rd spot in the order, highly unlikely. Sure enough Wakamatsu had the sacrifice in effect and Gutierrez took two quick strikes before striking out. If any other batter had been at the plate I would not have thought twice about the decision, as it is, nobody on this team, outside of Ichiro and Gutierrez are even hitting the ball. Let's watch Guti excite the Safeco crowd.

This is only one game, and like I mentioned earlier, I'm a fan of what Wakamatsu has done with this team. But I'm hearing increasing rumblings about his mis-use of the bullpen and how he builds his lineups. Wak has one of the most difficult jobs in the majors, every day he has to decide who is going to DH and often that decision is between Griffey and Sweeney. There's obviously no reason to panic, but I'll definitely be keeping my eye on how Wak manages the lineup a bit more as games continue to be played.

Mariners Social Media Night at Safeco

Tonight the Mariners Marketing Department hosted their first-ever Social Networking Happy Hour. Fans who signed up ahead of time were able to listen to a panel discussion from some of the area's leading Twitter users. Among the panelists were Mike Salk from ESPN Radio, Jenni Hogan from KIRO 7 and Mariners Twitter user Ryan Rowland-Smith. It was a really cool idea and it was a privelege for me to be there representing both The Bush Leagues and my company. I even got to bring home a Ryan Rowland-Smith "I follow hyphen18" t-shirt. Don't believe me? Look at the picture below.

With admission to the panel came a ticket to tonight's game. I was more than impressed with Doug Fister. He had his pitches working for him as he threw a 1-hit shutout with 4 Ks. Fister is the definition of a pitch-to-contact pitcher and he was able to locate his pitches very well. The trick here will be his next start when a team has a chance to look at tonight's game and do their homework.

Here are my thoughts from the game:

1) Miguel Batista is done. The guy threw twice as many balls as he did strikes and walked three batters. He was the beneficiary of a Jack Wilson double-play but without that he wouldn't have gotten a single batter out. The guy looks like he has no confidence on the mound to where he can throw a strike and I've lost all confidence in him to be able to hold a lead.

2) Jack Wilson has OCD. I noticed this during Friday's game and spent a good 20 minutes watching it. After ever pitch Jack Wilson walks behind the pitcher toward second base. Of course the meaning of this is for him to back up the throw in case it gets back to the pitcher but in addition Jack will take off his glove, hold it in his throwing hand and smooth out the dirt with his foot. He does it after every pitch, and he smooths out the same exact spot or at least very close to the same exact spot. Next time you go to a game look for it. I was pretty entertained and watched that more than I watched the action at the plate. If that's not enough for you, Garbs pointed out on Sunday that after the grounds crew drags the infield he'll walk over to the second dark green spot in the outfield and draw an "X" with his cleats. It's much like he just has a routine but comes off as OCD.

3) David Aardsma flirts with disaster nearly every game. I tell Garbs all the time that Aardsma is good for one walk, a LONG fly ball out and two strike outs in save situations. Tonight, unfortunately he didn't get some of the strike calls to get him the two strike outs needed after he gave up a deep fly ball to Konerko hauled in at the wall by Gutierrez. Unfortunately, this is Aardsma's make-up and as good as he's been this year he has benefitted tremendously from pitching in cavernous Safeco Field and having a great outfield defense behind him. If Aardsma is going to be a shut down closer he'll need to improve his command, limit the walks and keep the ball down.

Oh yeah...one more thing. Ozzie Guillen is full of s***. Over the weekend such a big deal was made about Guillen's comment that he'll bean an opposing batter for every time one of his are plunked. Well, tonight Gordon Beckham was hit by a pitch and there was nothing from the White Sox. Granted, it was Doug Fister's first start and that may have been cause for hitting Beckham. But I'd be lying if I didn't say I was expecting some fireworks at Safeco similar to the Red Sox/Tigers brawl.

Also, speaking of that brawl...did everybody see Rick Porcello pancake Kevin Youkilis? I haven't seen a throw like that since high school wrestling. Not to mention it was very fitting after Youkilis threw his helmet at Porcello. I remember last year when Richie Sexson took a lot of heat for doing the same thing against the Texas Rangers. Let's see if anyone says anything about Youkilis and whether he acted like a coward using the helmet as a weapon. But what do you guys think? Are you ok with hitters throwing helmets at pitchers after getting hit?

Welcome to Seattle Wilson and Snell!

So the rumors about Jeff Clement were true. Seattle traded SS Ronny Cedeño, C/1B/DH Jeff Clement and three minor league pitchers for SS Jack Wilson and minor league RHP Ian Snell.

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Jack Wilson will replace Cedeño as the starting SS for the M's. Wilson is signed through 2009 and has a club option of $8.4 million for 2010 which according to Buster Olney, the Pirates were not going to pick up. Since 2006 Wilson has had the fourth highest fielding percentage among major league shortstops.

Ian Snell is a 27-year-old talented right-handed pitcher who was sent down to AAA Indianapolis at the beginning of the year. During that time he has started six games going 2-2 with a 0.96 ERA striking out 47. Snell recently fell from the graces of heralded prospects in the Pirates organization. Snell was quoted as saying he would rather play for Indianapolis than Pittsburgh and when asked about Snell's contract extension Pirates GM Neil Huntington was quoted saying he made a huge mistake.

Ronny Cedeño was falling out of grace with the Mariners. He is currently stuck in a 0-25 slump and his only saving grace is his defense, which while good, is not spectacular.

Jeff Clement did not have a position on this team. He stopped catching for Tacoma early in the season and when you look at the AAA and MLB roster, there are plenty of left-handed 1B/DH types.

This trade makes sense all-around for the Mariners. Although they don't have any pitching depth in Single-A Clinton as all three minor leaguers are from there. But remember, Jarrod Washburn is still on the team. It will be interesting to see if that's still the case come 1:00 on Friday. Look for another middle infielder possibly?