I am posting this OT because, well, the other one was too far down the page and I have grown tired of having to scroll down to find it. There. I said it.

ANYWAYS - I will be the first to admit, I didn't watch the Oscars last night. Although, judging by the running commentary in the previous OTFPOTD, there were quite a few who did. Here is what I know - The Hurt Locker beat Furn Gully in Space (told my fiancee that this morning, she asked "What's the Hurt Locker?" So that was interesting..) and Sandra Bullock won for something. That in and of itself is worthy of a "stop the presses" moment, apparently. 

But hey, she was hot in Speed!

Who watched the Oscars? What are your gripes? 

Finally, a couple more things. People in Seattle know how to drive in the rain - that is a simple fact. Another simple fact? Arizonans cannot.  Also, Battlefield Bad Company 2 - great game, or shitty game? Because in my time with it, I am leaning towards the latter.

Continue reading this post »

I am not sure how much weight to put into this, since it is the ramblings of a columnist in Boston, but according to the article linked here (you have to scroll down to "updates on nine",) talks are apparently "getting serious"

Here is the text that is interesting

 7. Felix Hernandez, RHP, Mariners - Talks between the Mariners and Hernandez’s agent, Alan Nero, are getting serious, and there’s more optimism that a long-term deal can get done this offseason. The Mariners have been aggressive signing players (Chone Figgins) and making trades (Cliff Lee,Casey Kotchman, Milton Bradley), and consider Hernandez the building block of their franchise.

It certainly looks like the goal of the front office is to show Felix they are serious - and, hopefully, it is working.

Ken Rosenthal is reporting that John Lackey is going to be taking a physical today in Boston... While Peter Gammons is saying that Mike Lowell may be requiring surgery on his thumb. It doesn't say if it will change the deal to Texas, but if it does.. One less suitor for Beltre? 

Contract is expected by Rosenthal to be similar than AJ Burnett money - I must say, I am pretty stoked about Lackey leaving the division, even if it is a lateral move in terms of amount of hate.

Here is the Rosenthal link

Here is the Gammons link

I don't know, maybe it's just me, but Bob Klapisch on Northjersey.com has a piece up where he talks about the Halladay trade rumors, but he also throws in a piece about the Yankees and Jarrod Washburn..

The M’s reportedly asked the Yankees for Melky Cabrera and Brett Gardner, which is why the talks never gained momentum. It’s unlikely Washburn is going anywhere at this rate

This seems to be old information, didn't Pelekoudas ask for those two last year? Why would we be trying to get two outfielders back for Washburn at this point? What with Saunders, Gutz and Ichiro in the OF mix along with Langerhans.. Just doesn't make much sense to me.

In today's Arizona Republic, the newspaper that covers the Phoenix area, there is a story about Randy Johnson and how he is considering going in to the hall of fame as a Mariner..

When asked how it felt to perform so well in front of his former bosses, Johnson mockingly asked if Jerry Colangelo was in attendance. And then he did something unexpected. He made it clear that his sentimental home is in Seattle, just in case the Hall of Fame was curious as to what hat he'd like to wear for eternity.

"I'd say the biggest thrill I got was going back to Seattle," Johnson said. "The time I spent there, what it meant to me and my career . . . I had more wins there than any place else, more time there then any place else. It was kind of my steppingstone. All the other teams I played for kind of reaped the benefits . . . "

Interesting bit of news and considering it was in a paper / website that not a whole lot of people probably read around this site, here ya go!

More Mariners in the hall of fame is a-ok with me..

Whoops - forgot the link.. Link here

Well.. It looks as if we are going to be down one pick when heading in to this years draft, according the Official Website

I am not so sure that I am a fan of this move.. Well, I am going to go out on a limb and say that I am very much not a fan of this move.

I was looking forward to this front office having an extra first round pick, but apparently the need for another bullpen arm was just too great?

Granted, I know a bunch of people are going to read that and think RRS problem? But he is a starter now!!!! ZOMG!

But yea, that's not what I mean.

I have RSS feeds of both the fanposts as well as the articles on the page. However, as of this morning, all that shows up in the main articles feed are minor league wraps and the Carlos Beltran must be destroyed, the tRA post and Felix on the DL.

Is anyone else having this problem or is it just me? I have looked on a couple different computers and I am having the issue on both of em.

Indeed.. I was sitting here watching ESPNEWS and lo and behold, across the bottom of the screen came this little diddy..

"Ken Griffey Jr. considering waiving no-trade clause for a trade to the Tampa Bay Rays."

My first thought? WHEW! My second thought? Poor Rays. Although I guess it doesn't really matter because Andrew Freidman is 400 times better than Bavasi and won't give up any Jeff Clement style of prospect to get him.. But good for Griffey to possibly be on a winning team again.

It doesn't say there is a trade imminent, but the wording made it sound like there is something brewiing.

This may just be emotion spilling over from another rough series where nothing went right (funny how no talent leads to nothing going right..) but, this is from Baker's blog ..

"We're playing our (bleep) off every day and got nothing to show for it. I'm tired of (bleeping) losing, I'm tired of getting my (bleep) beat, and so have those guys. We gotta change this (bleeping bleep) around and get after it. And only we can do it. The fans are (bleeped) off, and I'm (bleeped) off, and the players are (bleeped) off. And that's the way it is. There's no (bleeping) easy way out of this, can't feel sorry for ourself, we gotta (bleeping) buckle it up and get after it. I'm tired of (bleep) losing this, (bleeping) every night we bust our (bleep). It's gotta be a total team (bleeping) effort to turn this thing around, and that's it."

How much more of this can possibly be had? Half empty, quarter full ballparks seem to be the first sign, but cmon..

Maybe Bavasi will be out on his ass after this weekend's Ammy draft and Mac can follow.. one can dream right?

Do you think this is what they meant when the front office said they want to have veteran leadership in the clubhouse?

"Too many babies here," Guillen stormed while seated in front of his locker and spicing his language with obscenity. "They don't know how to play the game and win the game right, the way it's supposed to be played. And that's the problem here. Now I know why this organization's been losing for a while. Now I know."

That's Jose Guillen for those that did not assume - or thought it was Ozzie.

Makes me wonder if Guillen is regretting finally getting that long-term contract he has been looking for for years.

Somewhat surprised that nobody has posted this anywhere on here, but, according to Baker, McLaren and Co. is starting to entertain the idea of moving Morrow ::gasp:: in to the rotation.

"We have thought about it,'' he said. "We haven't come to a conclusion yet, but that is a possibility.''

Morrow could either go back to Class AAA to begin the transition, or work out of Seattle's bullpen in the majors.

"There are a couple of schools of thought,'' McLaren said. "That he could be like Chamberlain and work on it here.''

I don't see why they would be throwing Morrow back to AAA in order to stretch him out when the team is in dire straits as it is.. Why not keep him at the major league level and let him work it out up here? What's the worst that can happen? (barring injury which would happen in AAA too if it's gonna happen) Morrow fails to go 5 innings? He loses? Yeaaa... what's new?

Link right here

There is this little tidbit from the Seattle Times article about the changeup that got hit out of the park by Olivo...

"Really one bad pitch, the changeup to Olivo," Washburn said. "It seems to be a recurring thing — bad changeup in a game. I wish I wouldn't have thrown a changeup in that situation [a 2-2 pitch with one out]. I didn't really want to throw it, but I said yes when he [catcher Johjima] called it, and it lost the game for us."

Well Wash - it wouldn't take much to shake off the sign. Sounds like he is just trying to find someone to blame on that one.  Here is another idea - make a better pitch.

Continue reading this post »

We would be in the playoffs!

Continue reading this post »

Seriously - if the front office could just take a few cues from that of the Milwaukee Brewers, we would all be so much better off.

Calling up Ryan Braun when it was apparent that the team needed an offensive boost was a great move.  Putting him in the three-hole of the lineup shows that they trust their younger players in key situations and what has he done since his promotion? .330/.394/.657 yea.  

This isn't just a rant about how good that move was, but also this today..

The Milwaukee Brewers sent slumping second baseman Rickie Weeks to the team's Triple-A farm club in Nashville.

Right-handed pitcher Scott Linebrink was placed on leave after the birth of his first child, the team said Wednesday.

Pitcher Elmer Dessens was recalled from his rehabilitation assignment at Nashville and infielder/outfielder Joe Dillon was brought up from Nashville after Tuesday night's game with the New York Mets.

Weeks was hitting .212 with five homers and 19 runs batted in 75 games. Dillon was batting .317 at Nashville with team highs of 20 home runs and 73 RBI.

WHAT!?  They had a slumping player up with the major league club but he was cold?  Oh? AND you have a better option down in AAA?  Uggh, this just shows the polar opposites of front offices in the major leagues and it saddens me.

Getting four players from Atlanta for Tex..  Saltalamacchia, Andrus and two minor leaguers.  That is quite the haul for him and I for one am just glad to see him not go to the Angels.

Ron Mahay also went from Texas to the Braves.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7074846

One-line diaries are prohibited on Lookout Landing. Give your diary a bit more thought, then give it another shot. If you have nothing to add to your proposed diary, then it probably belongs as a comment under another appropriate thread.