Larry Brown Sports

Milton Bradley has been hitting the ball well lately for the Seattle Mariners.  Since returning from a calf injury, Bradley was 8-for-25 with three doubles going into last night’s game against the Rays.  Lately, he seems to be one of the lone bright spots on what has been a pretty stale Mariners offense.  Apparently that’s not good enough for Bradley, who has of course been known for being a complete hot head in the past and someone who can’t seem to control his emotions.  He’s a bomb waiting to go off, and he was detonated once again last night, albeit in a quiet manner.

After Bradley struck out in the 6th inning, he supposedly headed back to the dugout and said something to Seattle manager Don Wakamatsu that was along the lines of, “I’m done; I’m not helping the team.”  Bradley then reportedly walked toward the clubhouse, where teammate Ryan Langerhans attempted to talk to him to get him to cool down a bit.  When Bradley started back toward the dugout to find out Langerhans had replaced him in left field, he headed to the locker room, packed up his things, and left the ballpark.

This wasn’t the usual blow up on an umpire and get ejected that we’ve grown used to seeing from Bradley.  In fact, it’s probably worse.  I don’t know whether he’s putting too much pressure on himself to carry the offense in Seattle or what, but you can’t just up and leave your team during a game ever –  let alone in a game where you’re only trailing by two runs.  This can’t sit well with the Mariners front office.  Bradley’s been hitting well, but it’ll be interesting to see how this is handled.  Back in December, we asked your opinion on how long Milton would last in Seattle.  I’m not sure how this tips the odds, but it certainly shouldn’t be something his coaches and teammates turn their cheeks to.  It’s an insult to them and a slap in the face.

Sources:
SbB Live
Milton Bradley packed up, left stadium during game after being benched [Seattle Times Blog]

Last year the Mariners may have won 85 games and finished 3rd in the AL West, but they were last in the American League in runs scored. During the offseason they made several moves that had me and several other AL fans concerned. In addition to acquiring Cy Young winner Cliff Lee, the Mariners signed Chone Figgins away from the Angels, and they traded for Milton Bradley and Casey Kotchman. Despite all their moves, it’s become apparent through 25 games that it’s the same old Seattle story.

The Mariners just got swept by the Rangers, scoring only four runs in three games. To make matters more frustrating, they spoiled 11 scoreless innings from their staff on Friday night (including seven thrown by starter Cliff Lee), and eight scoreless innings from Doug Fister on Sunday. Manager Don Wakamatsu has seen enough of the club’s offensive struggles: “If somebody said you’d throw 26 scoreless innings in a three-game series and get swept, I’d think you were crazy. But that’s what happened. It just kind of tells you the shape of the offense right now.”

The Mariners are tied with the Pirates for the third worst offense in MLB based on runs scored. The only other AL team that’s stinking it up more is the Cleveland Indians. Seattle’s also tied with Houston for the fewest home runs in MLB with a measly nine. Even though the Mariners are offensively challenged at this point I expect them to pick it up. They have several hitters currently underachieving who should be doing much better. One of the biggest problems they’re facing is that they don’t have any true three or four hitters on the team, and that puts extra pressure on guys who should be batting towards the bottom of the lineup but are now in the middle. Where’s Richie Sexson when you need him?

Sources:
Mariners waste another pitching performance, swept by Rangers [Seattle PI]

This story is pretty cool and not one you see every day so I figure it’s definitely worth mentioning. The World of Isaac via The Sporting Blog says that a minor trade by the Mariners recently can be attributed to an online chat the team’s GM had with fans last week. Check out this Q&A from the chat on mlb.com:

booxa: We need more LH bats. Have you looked at Ryan Langerhans, currently in the Nats’ organization?

Jack_Zduriencik: Good suggestion.

Well, a matter of about four days later, the trade was officially announced: the Mariners had acquired Langerhans from the Nats for former steroid cheat, Mike Morse. Also adding to this story was the post done at the Mariners blog, U.S.S. Mariner, that suggested they pursue Langerhans. Now obviously I don’t follow the Mariners to the level that I’m suggesting they get a guy who’s with the Nats’ Triple-A team, but obviously they do. And for some reason someone there has a thing for Langerhans that I just don’t get. Cool side is that when the fans talk, the team listens. And even cooler is when they actually respond. Oh yeah, this is not the first time something posted at U.S.S. Mariner has impacted the team.

Dude, I know things got pretty bad for the Mariners this year, so much so that Richie Sexson had to do some mound charging to help everyone forget how much he sucked, but infighting? Ganging up on a teammate? Seriously? This tid-bit from the Seattle Times via the wealth of news that is Rotoworld has me extremely concerned:

“I just can’t believe the number of guys who really dislike [Ichiro],” said one clubhouse insider. “It got to a point early on when I thought they were going to get together and go after him.”

The coaching staff and then-manager John McLaren intervened when one player was overheard talking — in reference to Ichiro — about wanting to “knock him out.” A team meeting was called to clear the air.

It was a repeat of May 2007, when Mike Hargrove was in charge and a team meeting had to be called during a series at Tampa Bay because of clubhouse bickering over Ichiro being a “selfish” player.

Now I might not be in that clubhouse, but as far as I can tell, Ichiro’s done a pretty consistent job of performing at a high level ever since he came to the U.S. Raul Ibanez is pretty much the only other Mariner about whom you can say the same. So if there are any concerns about guys not being “team players,” maybe those doing the bullying should have focused on picking up their offensive and defensive games to Ichiro’s level. If they did, I’m guessing the Mariners would be doing just fine. By the way, it’s not to say I couldn’t see where Ichiro would rub people as a selfish player, because I could, but still.

UPDATE: J.J. Putz calls the anonymous source a coward

With the Mariners in town to visit the Royals for a weekend series, it gave the Seattle writers a chance to catch up with former Mariner Jose Guillen. And believe me when I say this, I was absolutely floored to read the comments not only Guillen made about the state of the Mariners, but also what fired GM Bill Bavasi had said about him, and what the writer himself felt:

With [Guillen] went the one Mariner who held his teammates to a higher standard. If he needed to get in someone’s face to see the game played right, he’d do it.

This year’s team is missing that.

As Guillen said, “they are a bunch of good guys.” There is no one in the Mariners clubhouse with an edge. Bill Bavasi said as much on June 16, the day he was fired as general manager, saying not having Guillen around hurt the team.

Let’s see, Guillen got in the face of his KC teammates in late May and they’re still 10 games below .500. He left the Angels after 2004 and they did even better the following year. Man, the very idea that Jose Guillen is the missing link to the Mariners this year makes me chuckle. Please.

The second of the managers to be whacked this week — Willie Randolph and John Gibbons being the others — spoke out today, one day after being fired. Not unlike Willie who was critical after his firing, McLaren took a small hammer to his former team. Via Mullet’s perm at FanHouse:

”There is tension, friction and a little jealousy. We (the staff) tried to deal with it, but they got to do it on their own.”
…
”The tension and jealousy has been there, and crystal clear,” he said. ”The only reason I mention that, not to deter any criticism from myself, but to make this team better.

”If they can get in that room and work some issues out, they’ll be better off. Sometimes we get caught up in own world.”

”I am not calling anybody out. I’m not bashing them. Its hard to come to the park when you lose for gosh’s sake. But we’ve had a divide, hitters vs. pitchers. On a good team, those things are overlooked. But (not when) you’re losing.”

Well, gotta say something to make yourself look good, right? Thing is, there’s jealousy and tension on good teams. Remember the fight between Youkilis and Manny in the dugout? I’m sure things aren’t much of a difference on the M’s compared to other teams. The only thing different about the Mariners is they’ve scored the fewest runs in the AL. I’m guessing that’s the main problem; winning obscures mostly everything.

First it was Ichiro saying that the Mariners were playing so poorly that he’d be drinking beer and booing the team if he were at the games. Ichiro generally keeps comments to himself, so hearing that carried even more weight. Well, after getting swept by the Nationals — truly an amazing feat — Jarrod Washburn stepped up and admitted what we all know:

Mariners fans have had almost nothing to cheer about this season, and they’ve had plenty to boo. For the most part, the booing has been muted, but Sunday it could be heard in a volume approximating that of a 737 landing at SeaTac.

“When we’ve played like this,” pitcher Jarrod Washburn said, “we should be booed.”

With a .348 winning percentage, the Mariners are currently the worst team in baseball — by a wide margin. Even the worst teams have at least 28 wins and a .400 winning percentage. The Mariners are 24-45, 21 games under .500. I never imagined things could possibly get this bad for them. Last month I was doing a radio interview and was asked which manager would probably be first to go, the obvious choice being Willie Randolph. I didn’t take the bait, instead going with McLaren because the Mariners were underachieving by a ridiculous amount. This team is far too talented to be this pathetic. Maybe they do need a change at the top. And Washburn is right — the fans should be booing a team this bad.