Four UP and Four DOWN

I love the 2012 Mariners!  They are young and exciting and so full of hope. I won't say that they wear their hearts on their sleeves, but they have honest, open faces.  They are willing to show happiness and frustration equally.  I think that they genuinely care for each other and I think that is the driving force that binds a team.

We have been fortunate to have escaped major injury until this week, and now it has struck with a big hammer.  Miguel Olivo had just hit a home run in two games in a row.  The guys were saying that he was hitting his stride, and we knew coming into the season that he had spent extra time in the off season getting himself ready to be a big cog in the wheel this year.  It looked like it was beginning to pay off.  I have not had the heart to dig into the coverage of the problem so far, but I did see Shannon's comment asking who we felt should catch during his period on the DL.  I am hoping that Wedge will allow Montero to do *some* catching, but I hope he won't have it all dumped on him at once.  John Jaso was hitting 300 when he was playing in Florida.  He was catching and having regular at bats.  I think he would be well-equipped to carry part of the load while Jesus learns his own staff and starts to learn the hitters, at least in his own division.

If it were up to me, I'd give each catcher a set of pitchers and have them get into serious concentration on catching those guys only.  Knowing how a guy throws and what he wants to throw can go a long ways in the comfort zone, and I believe that that translates to the success zone.  If they move from one guy to the other, they lose that chance to build serious familiarity.

Our one saving grace may be that Wedge was himself a catcher when he played.  He has also built a team like this before.  He did the same thing with Cleveland.  I hope that means he will succeed with us, too.

This road trip has been dumfounding.  They were able to sweep Detroit and won 4 games in a row.  Then they ran into the Buzzsaws in Toronto and again here in Tampa Bay.  It is si painful seeing them being turned away at the plate the way they are.  They are putting some good wood on some of the hits--but they are being caught, and that's the rub.

With Olivo's injury, they have called up Mike Carp instead of a 3rd catcher.  I hope he will be able to help them climb out of the hole they are in.  He was hitting well last year and had a good start prior to his injury this year.  That would, indeed, be a blessing!