Seattle Mariners

As we close in on the July 31st MLB trade deadline, many teams are in the market for a shutdown closer. 

Closers can serve two purposes for these teams.

In the case of the St. Louis Cardinals, Fernando Salas has been more or less serviceable, but without Eduardo Sanchez, they could use another option in the ninth inning.

Other teams hope to make use of a closer acting as a lights-out setup man.

Seattle Mariners right fielder Ichiro Suzuki has taken the career path far less traveled, and that has led to uncertainty regarding just how good he really is.

While most prominent stars crack major league lineups in their early 20s after going through the minors, Ichiro cracked the Mariners lineup at age 27 after establishing his game in Japan.

The Seattle Mariners offense came alive last night against Phil Coke and the Detroit Tigers, scoring 13 runs on 15 hits. Mariner fans were left wondering one thing.

Was it for real?

While players, such as Seattle's Felix Hernandez, will tell you that they make the best of their situation and do what they can to help their team win, there's no doubting one thing.

They hate losing.

This is why they're in a competitive sport. They're driven to excel in their personal game and assist in the collective goal of winning a championship.

Throughout the decades, we've seen some of the greats athletes of our lifetime fail to ride a float in a parade through the downtown area of their home town.

Through three starts (19 1/3 innings) in 2011, Seattle Mariners’ rookie Michael Pineda has certainly turned some heads. The 21-year-old boasts a 2.33 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and 16/7 K/BB ratio, which includes a start at Texas.

This begs the question: How good is Michael Pineda?

For the past several years, the outcry among critics of the Mariners was that while the team could field viable rosters–think ’07 and ’09, of course–there was no home-grown talent outside of the dazzling Felix Hernandez.

After the Seattle Mariners lost to the Kansas City Royals today, 7-0, Eric Wedge held a closed door meeting and ripped into his team like no other, according to Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times.

The loss dropped the Mariners to 4-11 on the season.

When Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik asked the Seattle fans to be patient with the rebuilding process, I decided to comply with his request. I vowed to sit back and wait to see if the Mariners showed any progress with hopes that things would be different this season.

When Seattle started out 2-0 I was optimistic the ball club was on the right path. Since then the Mariners are 2-10 and still can't score any runs. Same old story.

If only the Seattle Mariners offense could actually show up before they found themselves hopelessly behind—such has been the underlying theme of the Mariners’ 2011 campaign. And Friday night was a microcosm of that very issue, too little too late.

The Seattle Mariners boast one of the best young arms in the American League. A flame-throwing pitcher who possesses a knee-buckling slider, an excellent changeup and a blazing fastball that has been clocked in the triple digits. No, I am not referring to reigning AL CY Young winner Felix Hernandez, but rather rookie sensation Michael Pineda.