Q.  Is it over?

A.  We can tell you, with the 100% certititude of a Seattle weatherman predicting highs Mariners think it's over.

Which is why the daggers have stab'd Caesar.  Caesar Wok, that is.

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Q.  What's this?  SSI quitting while down 18 in the second quarter?

A.  Anybody who quits because they're down 18 in the second quarter deserves to play H-O-R-S-E with an M's draft pick.  That, or have his court shoes forcibly ripped off his feet so he can go become a barefoot internet chess player.

Have some guts, dude.

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Q.  Quit why, then?

A.  You quit if you're outmanned. 

If you sign up for the SSI/MC vs UW softball game, and you're on the side featuring Dr. D, you quit after you see the first ten or fifteen pitches.  If you don't, the afternoon is going to be more awkward than a Michael Scott Pam Beasley moment.

On the street, I've seen outmanned teams yelled off the court midgame.  They're never shouted off the court because they're down 7-1.  They're shouted off the court because the other guys threw down uncontested dunks the first four possessions.  Get off!  Get off!

It's okay to mail in the M's season, not because they're 9 down, but because they've proved that they're not good enough.

.............

Hey, you quit on the Royals before Opening Day.  You don't quit on the Red Sox, though, even if they're down 12 in August. 

In past years, cyber-Seattle has focused on "Are we too far down?  What % of teams ever came from 7 games down?"  This year, cyber-Seattle has asked the right question:  do the M's have the horses?

They don't.  Not with everybody having off years together, they don't.  They'd have needed a lot of guys having up years together.  They got the reverse.

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Q.  The M's have quit?

A.  They quit after the game on May 29.  SSI would have written it up that night, but we didn't want to add our little push over the edge.

When the M's changed hitting coaches, they broke out of a funk, and from May 20-28 the Mariners finally started playing well. 

They won two nice games, including a 15-run bustout, then lost two, including a tough 2-1 loss ... then ripped off three straight beautiful wins:

• May 26 - Fister over a red-hot Justin Verlander, and the M's scored two "hard" runs in the 8th
• May 27 - Vargas vs. a hot Jeremy Bonderman, the M's hung tough and laid 4 runs on the bullpen
• May 28 - Lee pole-axed the Angels 8-3

At that point, the M's were down -6.5 ... but had (IIRC) a hot Figgins, a hot Lopez, they had Felix and Lee and Fister, and a 20-game stretch in a weak division.

But then came May 29.

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Part 2