Who in the world stole Jarrod Washburn and replaced him with this guy?

5-14. 4.69 ERA. 87 Strikeouts.

That was the totals from the 2008 season for Jarrod Washington.

3-0. 1.71 ERA. 17 Strikeouts.

So far, that is his line this season.

Jarrod has already thrown 20% of his strikeouts from 2008. He has already won 60% of his wins from last year.

I don't know who abducted him, don't care as of this morning, in fact, don't bring him back. I like this guy. Jarrod threw another gem last night giving the Mariner's a solid effort and pitching another 7 innings last night. The offense (OK, Sweeney and Bentancourt) came back last night scoring 4 and giving up only 2.

Now if someone could do something with Silva...............

Alrighty, here it is, the Seahawks draft question

So we are 4 days away from what could be a very interesting day for the Seahawks and the NFL draft. I've read the blogs, the "experts", and the mock drafts. A couple things are for sure as we get ready for the draft:

1. Detroit again has the #1 pick

2. Seattle is in a interesting predicament.

3. Nobody really knows what is going to happen.

In regards to Seattle, if for some reason Seattle finds itself in a position that Curry, Monroe, Crabtree, and Sanchez are available, I still think the answer is easy.

Curry is the fit for the Hawks. I don't expect that we will see Monroe, and as nice as having Crabtree as another option for Hasslebeck, I don't see them going for a wide receiver.

Curry can make a difference now. He can physically fit in with this core of linebackers and make immediate gains. I think that is what is most important to the Hawks.

Personally, I think the Hawks did the right thing last year in shutting down Matt. We were going nowhere, the offensive line was banged up something fierce, and allowing him to get healthy and come back this year ready to go was a bold, but right decision.

I know the offensive line is getting old, but they too were put on ice for the better part of the year, allowing to get healthy.

Further, if it does fail, and the Seahawks struggle, I personally think that next years crop of QB's far out way this years.

Another huge area of concern is getting a running back. This could be done in the second or third round, but I don't like the options at running back.

I just hope they don't go QB on the first pick. What do you think? What do you see the Hawks doing?

I'd like to address some of the other sports

First

Its playoff Hockey time. There is few better playoff's than the NHL. I am a Philly Flyer fan, and after almost jumping off the roof of my house due to a lackluster game 1, and then blowing it in game 2, the boys came out like someone peed in their cheerios and finally took it to the Pens. I cannot stand Sidney Crosby. And with that, every time he was on the ice, one of my Flyers were trying to put him on his butt. Game 3 started off as physical as any I have seen. The Flyers ultimately put a smile on my face, winning 6-3, getting back into the series and now only trail the hated Pens by one. Tonight, my pick to raise Lord Stanley's cup, the Bruins, look to go up 3-0 against the Habs. Boston just flat out looks better. If your a hockey fan, your thinking, what about the Detroit freaking Redwings. That team, in my house, is not allowed to be discussed. They are to me like the New York Yankees, Rangers, Michigan Wolverines and others. The mere thought of them makes me ill. Some that know me that after I was born in Philly, we moved to Chicago, and then finally the NW. So, naturally my second favorite team is the Blackhawks, and after a long drought, made it back with youth and hard work. Back to D'troit, the sight of Chris Chelios skating for them makes me contemplate eating peanuts right now. That move, granted years ago, would be like Luke Skywalker joining the dark side. Unthinkable. But he did, and quickly became part of public enemy number one.

Is there no bigger loser in hockey than Sean Avery? GOD I can't stand him. Let alone the putrid organization he plays for.

The Canucks are 3-0 over St Louis, and looking good. Those who are not:

Washington. Seriously, one time, just do something worthwhile

San Jose. Age, Age, Age. Man they look HORRIBLE.

Second NASCAR

Those that know me, know I am a die hard Stewart fan. Tony Stewart switched from JGR to a team he now partially owns. In the build up to this year, I didn't know what to expect. Granted he's running everything Hendrick (The Darkside of Nascar) ((shut up Dave)), few have been able to pull it off. Tony has never been a media darling, a buffet darling maybe, but no media. He is known to speak his mind, hit cameraman, talk smack about Goodyear, and win races. Although he has not won yet this year in 8 starts, Tony has 3 top 5's and 6 top 10's. As a 2 time Champ, he is the greatest driver in NASCAR (shut up Dave)

What in the world is going on with RCR? A 15th, 20th, 26th, and 30th place showing at Phoenix? Overall, Clint Bowyer is 6th, Jeff Burton is 11th, Kevin Harvick is 16th, and making another strong showing is Casey Mears. My friends have heard this before, I thought drivers like Casey, Kasey Kahne, Elliot Sadler, and Jamie McMurray were victims of bad teams. But Casey, and McMurray have proved me wrong. Strong teams, bad results. And don't even get me started about the most overrated driver in Nascar, Dale Earnhardt Jr.

What I am sad to see about Nascar is how vanilla this sport has become. Everyone drives around till the last couple, begging not to mix it up and keep the car clean, and just like the NBA and it only counting in the last 3 minutes, the drivers don't heat it up until the end. Being a long time fan, this is disappointing. I think it really came to a headway when Denny Hamlin was leading the race, only to give it up late at Martinsville and acting like it was no big deal. NO BIG DEAL? I thought the point in racing was to stand up there with that big cardboard check, the hottie Nextel girls standing around not knowing what sport they are even at, talking about I won. As much of a fan I became of the chase, this has also made the race boring to watch. Bristol and Martinsville used to be one of my favorite races. Grudges were held until then, and in payback fashion, taken out there. Kyle Busch should have derailed the 88. He should have made his car look like something that came out of a wrecking yard. But no. Some might say that if Sr.was still here, things would be different. Who knows, the France's have taken this sport to the ultimate in paydays and publicity, but have also to a degree made chess more combative.

Third and finally, it is clear that Chuck Lidell simply needs to retire. A poor outing, an old crusty vet who has seen his run in MMA pass him by. In his day, he was simply amazing, and now is becoming punch drunk and honestly boring.

Mariners update and a little something about my FAVORITE Mariner

All was good. It really was. A 2-2 won/loss record to start the season against Minnesota, went on the road to Oakland and swept them, only to come home and win 3 out of 4 against the perennial division winner Anaheim. We were rolling, the Detroit Tigers were coming in for some more of our crafty pitching, timely hitting. But on a Thursday night, the Angels stymied the offense for a win with a 5-1 outing. Ryan Rowland-Smith was hurt and Jakubauskas was called into duty. The offense was quite, but the Angels pitching was short of masterful.

Friday brought in the Tigers, and with a win of 6-3 all seemed to have been fixed. Another game with 5+ runs, the pitching holding the Tigers to 3 runs. Just what the doctor ordered. All wasn't perfect, Garcia did not look good, and if you recall Verlander had a no-no going into the 4th. But, as this short season has shown us, the Mariners didn't give up and battled hard. Saturday and Sunday, however, were welcomed with mixed results. Although on Saturday the Mariners lost, Bedard again pitched a brilliant game, commanding his pitches and not really getting into trouble, only to be out done by a rookie Edwin Jackson.

Sunday, my boy Silva was back on the mound. You see, the stock market is more stable than Carlos. Carlos put in a "solid" effort, going 5 innings, giving up 4 earned runs, one walk and unbelievably, no strike outs. So Carlos has started the year, 0-2, 6.35 era and 6 strikeouts. The fabulous one has run his brilliant Mariners career to a commanding 4-17 record. That's right boys and girls 4-17. If you want to look at it a different way, he wins on a clip of 24%.

24%.

Carlos Silva made $7,000,000.00. This year, boy wonder is slated to make a sickening $11,000,000.00.

So, by simple math, last year, Carlos pulled in $45,751.63 an INNING. What's worse, is if you project his outings vs salary this year, it balloons to $71,895,42. An increase of $26,143.79. This is highway robbery. Now I know some of you are saying, that is a product of the old regime, and you are correct, but what is the purpose of continuing to run out a stiff that produces mixed results at best and cant be counted on. Is our minor league system that thin that we cant do something else? Can we not package one of our 57 catchers (preferably Clement) and package Silva and some Little Debbie's Cosmic Brownies? Shoot, we're in Seattle, if needed to seal the deal, we could turn those suckers into Magical Cosmic Brownies without any trouble.

Its been determined that Clement is not the catcher of the future. It was said they need to find another position for him, since, one of the better snowjobs that has ever occurred in the Mariners organization, Kenji Johjima somehow was given a three year extension. Although Clement is off to a slow start this year, he was the AAA player of the year for the Rainiers, finishing the season with a .337 ba. He has solid power numbers, 17 doubles, 14 homers and 43 RBI in 47 games with Tacoma. I dont want to lose him, but, to get some youth, get rid of Carlos, I'm for it.

I'm not saying that all is wrong in MarinerLand. The season is long and there are bumps in the road. But the organization has said there is a retooling happening, I am just giving my Monday morning help. I'm just sayin

I am not drinking the kool aid, but, I am getting thirsty

So as the boys of summer take the field tonight for the second game against many who believe will be the ultimate winners of the AL West, I have some interesting points for you. Again, I understand its 8 games into a 162 game year. I understand that its just roughly 5% of the season. But last night, again, the Mariners fought. They fought for 10 innings. Carlos Silva looked like he actually wanted to pitch and was going to give some effort. The crowd packed the house, of course to see the return of the prodigal son Jr. +/- 49,ooo fans made Safeco look like Safeco of the good years.

Jr. was limited to the DH role due to a stiff back, but managed to come through with a 1-3 performance, and with the amount of pressure he was facing, I will take it. Endy Chavez continues his torid pace by going 2 for 4, hitting .394 so far for the season. Again, Carlos Silva pitched very well. He went 7 innings, allowing 2 earned runs, striking out 4. Aardsma, Morrow, and finally Corcoran coming in for the win. This by far was one of the best outings for Silva, and also was very timely.

Tonight, Jarrod Washburn will face Jered Weaver. Both are 1-0, both are sporting a 0.00 era, a below 1 WHIP. Let's hope the pitching can continue. Ichiro returns from his first stint on the DL as a MLB player. We will see where he is at. Does this drop Chavez to #2 in the offense?

The following are some stats that stick out to me:

Foxsports.com power rankings list the Mariners as #5

Seattle is #2 with a 2.76 team era

Seattle is tied for 2nd with LA Dodgers in Runs Scored against with 24, the leader Pittsburgh has only given up 23

Seattle is 19th with a .253 BA

Seattle has a .990 fielding percentage

Endy Chavez is tied for 8th in the American League for batting average, 6th in the American League for hits.

Russell Branyan is tied for 12th in the American League for Home Runs

Endy Chavez is tied for 3rd in the American League with 3 stolen bases, with 0 CS

Sounder Montero will not face charges

Freddy Montero hopefully has learned an important lesson in becoming a professional athlete. In this climate that we find ourselves, unlike the times of the past, professional athletes are not bulletproof. I have read the stories, I read the claim, and honestly I don't know everything. I can stipulate, boy meets girl, boy tells girl who he is, girl becomes enamored and who knows. It has happened, I am not saying the girl made it up, I'm simply stating Montero has a second chance. Hopefully the veterans of this team will surround him and show him the lessons that athlete's face. Hell, the NFL has education courses for these types of things for their rookies, I would bet MLB and the NHL does the same. The NBA, facing moral issues you know does this. Athlete's are not invincible. Look at the latest examples, Burress, Whitner from the Jets, Vick, hell the list could go on and on. They simply don't run the town, are above the law anymore. Is this wrong, heck no, is it correctable? Who knows. These kids that are groomed, coached, and shown that with hard work, the potential career at hand is full of dollars and glory. What little is done, is taking care of the same athlete when they are off the field, court wherever. Need an example?

How about Marcus Vick. His brother Mike was playing for the Falcons, making millions of millions of dollars, he was the heir apparent to the QB position in the same very place his brother made himself a star, and he simply could not figure it out. In 2004 he was suspended from Virginia Tech the entire year due to 2 criminal convictions. The next year, he was brought back with conditions, which was without incidents. In 2006, Vick was released from the school because of what the school said was "due to a cumulative effect of legal infractions and unsportsmanlike play". Marcus was forced to go into the draft, ultimately going undrafted and lasting into 2007, finally being released and never to be picked up again. His brother, Mike, needs no introductions, or time spent on his story.

In these economic times, people are losing jobs, houses, sanity and everything else. Yet, the pro athlete still makes headlines with million dollar contracts, and endorsements. To some, they become targets. They go out on the town, flaunting their riches, getting in trouble with fighting etc, and some meet women that don't care about them, but their bank accounts.

I do not blame the athlete for making the money, hell, if I could I would too. I am not trying to make this a negative story, I am just hoping for Montero's sake, a kid with massive talent, he will adjust, if needed, his thinking. Montero's career is just beginning, if he performs the rest of the season like he has the beginning, he could very well be playing on a higher level in Europe. I just want to see the talent on the field, and not the police blotter.

This of course is not everyone. There are great examples, Manning, Hasselbeck, Jones, Keller, and Edgar. Maybe in college, ethics courses should be taught to the athletes. I don't know what the answer is. I don't believe I have it, other than surround yourselves with the right people, for parents to teach the athletes morals and give them the right upbringing.

What I do know is it's disappointing when young athletes throw everything away because they think they are above the law. They lose the opportunity to perform on the world's biggest stages with the talents that God graced them with.

Here's a question for you

So as my family gathered round for a great Easter dinner, one of the greatest Master's tournament played out in front of us. A little background, I do "play" golf, and I respect and admire what those that play on a professional level do. To handle the pressure, to handle the crowd, to control your swing, hell, I can't do that on a weekend at Hawke's Prarie with 3 of my friends. Shutup Dave. I am not in their stratosphere, heck, I'm not in the same solar system as them when it comes to golf. You see, I grew up and golf is what sissy's did. Golf was not cool, golf was never even brought up. As I grew, I played a couple rounds here and there, and then came a cat called "Tiger". I would contest that there has been fewer athletes other than Michael Jordan that came along and grew their sport as Tiger has done to the sport of golf. So I play, if you want to call it that, and have a great time doing it. I have a brother that earlier in life realized much more than I that the Mariner's were in fact not going to call and picked up his clubs and started playing. To go out and play with someone of his caliber is mesmerizing. He is not a pro, but he is amazing to watch. Many times I have watched the swing or play and thought, am I watching T.V.? Am I supposed to do that? See, I can bang it. I can drive it with the best of them, 5 out of 10 times. Watching golf on T.V. to some might not be the most thrilling couple of hours spent, to me, I enjoy it. Hell, I even watch when Tiger is not in contention. Somehow I became enough of a fan that I have become fans of the like of Tiger, Kim, Ogilvy, Harrington, Scott and yes even Boo Weekley. Along with favorites I even found golfers I don't like, Mickleson, Garcia, Westwood, and Colin Montgomerie.

My reason for saying that was at this get together, my other brother proposed a question. Kenny Perry was staring a +/- 150 yard shot onto the green, sink the put and get the tailor ready. Kenny was about to hit, my younger brother was discussing the pressure that Perry was under, and my older brother said, "What do you think is tougher, sinking a free throw, or making that shot?"

WHAT? I thought. Are you kidding me? A free throw or a shot to hold the green in front of the same amount of crowd. Seriously? Now, a quick background, my older brother has never I think played golf, although has shot many free throws on his sport court. My younger brother has done both, excelling more on the course than the court. Sorry little brother.

After my initial thought, which was that the golf shot is much more complicated than a free throw could ever be, I started thinking. What is harder? That got me thinking. On the car ride home, I was talking with my wife and she said, I think you have a great question to ask. In thinking about this question I thought I needed to add a sport. But Baseball is not the same, Hockey and Soccer is not the same. But wait, how about kicking a winning field goal in a football game like Super Bowl XXXVI similar to Adam Vinatieri did to beat the Rams.

So here is my question. What is tougher, taking a free throw, to win the NBA Championship, a field goal to win the Superbowl, or 150 yards out, not taking in consideration the putt, knocking onto the green on 18 at Augusta?

I must say, in thinking about it, there are more additional hazards in golf than the other two. Both basketball and football play on level surfaces, in golf with that shot, the ball could be above or below your feet. In basketball, your indoors and weather is controlled. In football, its either in a dome or scheduled for the best possible place to play a game. Golf, its what mother nature and the cruel and unusual punishment that the course designer concocted.

But what do you think? What is your opinion? For me, given all that comes into play, the weather, the course and the mechanics, it really goes to the golfer. And in conclusion, Mr Perry duffed the shot, sending it left and shooting for bogey. This pushed it to a 3 way sudden death playoff, which again he had a chance, but on the 2nd playoff hole hooked it left. He had an almost impossible putt to make to push it for a 3rd playoff hole, ultimately coming up second and missing the infamous green jacket.

Irregardless of the opinions, the Master's played out in what could only be described as a 12 round heavy weight bout. Tiger and Mickleson made late runs, only to come up short. Cabrera, Chambers and Perry were left to duke it out, and eventually the Cabrera that used to smoke on the track and the camera's hid it, powered through.

I have had many get together's with my family, and at one point, one of the wives thought, hmm who would have guessed they would all be around the T.V. watching golf. And if this was 15 years ago, I would have agreed.

Happy Easter to all