Seattle bound

Felix Hernandez in his final Tacoma Rainiers start

I must be crazy, or a true fan, because I bought weekend plan tickets to the 2009 Mariners. My hopes have been bound up with this team for so long, that at the lowest point in their recent history, when the club dropped more than 100 games for the first time since 1983, I decided against all reasonable considerations and on the prospect of good seats, to buy a weekend plan and spend 40 days this summer in Safeco cheering a team that has a long, long way to go before it contends regularly.

I take great comfort in the 2009 Baseball Prospectus‘ assessment of the Mariners, that “For the first time in years, Mariners fans can contemplate the product of [the General Manager's] labor with optimism.”

Of course, I’ve been burned before, but there was a fateful moment on closing day that sealed the deal: I caught my first ball after 40 years of Major League games–my first was a Twins home game in 1968. 

It also helped that, having walked up to the box office as the first pitch was thrown, my wife and I scored two seats in the Commissioner’s Box. Sometime during the 6th inning, when my wife commented that “these are great seats, what if we could get seats almost this good all the time….” that I leaped into a 40-game plan, despite the melting economy and fulfilling my fondest dream.

It also helped that the M’s hired Jack Zduriencek as GM, which is extremely encouraging because he brings a unique blend of old baseball feel for the players and Sabremetric savvy to assessing talent and building teams. Don Wakamatsu, too, seems an inspired hire. A former catcher and bench coach in Texas, Wakamatsu appears to approach the game with a comprehensive strategy and tactics that start in the first inning and don’t end in the sixth inning.

Meet me behind first base

For many years, I’ve written about technology while studying baseball. My ZD Net blog, Rational Rants, is going into its fourth year, after I started the blogging effort at The Red Herring and my own blog way back in the fog that produced the blogosphere. 

This year, you’ll be getting my comments on breaking Mariners and related news, reports and photos from games, and occasionally, the opportunity to win a ticket to accompany me to games at Safeco.

Praise Zduriencik and pass the Wakamatsu, this is your Mariners blog. Let me know how I can help you get more out of upcoming games, what you want to know about strategy, the competition and evaluations of players. If you enjoy fantasy baseball, I may be writing a bit about that, too. I’m a regular at GameDayRitual, and in Yahoo and ESPN leagues.

Next up, I’ll begin a rundown of the candidates at each position and, as Spring Training happens, give you links to breaking news and some thoughts on how the Mariners are shaping up.

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