Warn Your Fingernails: A Pennant Race Is Coming

Got an email from a friend the other day: "My boss says he's officially back on the Mariners bandwagon."

I was thrilled--the more bosses that join the bandwagon the better, in my view, even if it means it'll be harder to get the company seats.

The Mariners finished the first half of the year with the best record of any Mariner team in history that didn't include Mark McLemore, and it's not easy to explain how.

Their veteran hitters, Richie Sexson and Raul Ibanez, have been terrible.

Their supposed ace starter, Felix Hernandez, has only five wins.

Two of the guys in the opening day starting rotation have ERAs over 6.

Now, Ichiro has been very, very good, but then he was very, very good in 2004, and the M's lost 99 games. And J.J. Putz has anchored an amazing bullpen with 24 saves, but you can't save games without a lead.

There's no one thing that's propelled the Mariners, they are just a solid baseball team--no holes in the lineup, and, lately, a rotation that's pretty solid, maybe a small leak in the #5 hole. (ha! terrible, sorry)

Tonight, the 2nd half begins at Safeco, with two of the best young pitchers in baseball facing off: The M's Felix Hernandez vs. Detroit's Andrew Miller, who was the #6 pick in last year's draft. (The M's had the #5 pick, and took Brandon Morrow).

My personal feeling is that the M's have played a bit over their heads. They aren't really a 13 games over .500 team. But if they can find another solid starter, and get some decent production out of the black holes that are DH and 1B, they start looking pretty nice.

Regardless, it's looking like we'll have a pennant race this year. Move to the back--the bandwagon could get crowded.