I/O:  M's win two crisp games as Brown takes the helm... and then slap me silly if they don't parlay it into 4 ballgames, and two nice series victories.

CRUNCH:  Which is an illustration of the fact that manager changes do give a re-set.

But those first two wins were 3-1 and 2-0, and the victories drew nothing but a groaaaannnnnnn from Dr. D.  Pep in your step is fine, but the Mariners had pep in early April.  The balloon was relentlessly pulled down by the weight of a AAA-quality offense:  it took the Wak M's about 20 games to realize that they were just terrible.

This team, under Brown, has dared to hope that it isn't terrible, but it is.  Like a jalopy finally firing up on a cold morning, it will conk out again as soon as the players realize they can't drive in runs.

Four out of six wins is great -- but having your offense locked down in 5 of those 6 isn't.

As Capt Jack watches the Brown Mariners collapse again under the weight of their all-UZR-all-the-time composition, he'll have to do some serious thinking about adding bats (some way, any way) this winter.

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

Assuming that Valentine went somewhere else, would SSI back Darren Brown?

1.  I dunno.

2.  We got a good month-and-a-half to gather intel on 1.  That's the beauty of the trial run.

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I/O:  Put the caption on the picture.

CRUNCH:  Not touching that one?  Okay, Here's the article, anyway.  Check it out.

Not far-fetched that Valentine could be a key factor in the M's acquisition of Japanese players.  Not a minor variable, this.

And certainly he would provide a very expert opinion when making decisions on said Japanese players.  Perhaps the most expert opinion in the world.

This is neither here nor there, but back when 90% of ML scouts and insiders were assessing Ichiro as a 4th outfielder in the major leagues, Valentine was the one guy standing on the tracks in front of the train. 

Nooooooooo way, sez Bobby, before Ichiro ever took an ML at-bat.  Ichiro is one of the five best outfielders in the game.  

Huh?  One of the five best glove?  Nuh-huh, sez Bobby.  One of the five best all-around OF's, period.  ... as we now know, Ichiro won the MVP as a rookie.  But consider that Valentine was flying as blind as he was confident on that one.

I'd like some more blind, confident NPB-incomer assessments from Valentine.

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Bring it on,

Jeff