My Triumphant Return

As some of you, mostly Kevin, may have noticed, I have not been able to post anything for quite some time. I apologize for this, but working at a summer camp does this to my schedule. Luckily, I should be able to get back into my old groove now, so keep your head up.

Something occured to me a little while ago about this season in baseball, and I thought it was an interesting point. For all the talk about the Mariners building around pitching and defense, it has obviously failed this year. Luckily, the team still has a strong foundation for the future, but many have questioned whether their strategy will work.

Obviously, the answer is yes. Pitching and defense is an excellent and, if done correctly, cheap way to build a team. Many may question this, but simply look at the best team in the National League for evidence: the San Diego Padres.

The Padres play in the most extreme pitcher's park in baseball, and even the simplest baseball fan can tell you that they can't hit well. Chase Headley is second on the team in RBI and hasn't cracked 50 yet. The team starts corner outfielders who can't consistently break .250 with no power. Yet they are within a couple wins of being the best team in all of baseball.

Why is this? Obviously, the pitching. Kevin Correia is the only pitcher with an ERA over four. Just think about that for a second. Five different pitchers all have ERAs under two. This is a team that knows exactly what it takes to pitch successfully, doesn't waste money chasing veterans, and has a clearly defined role for each and every player. Every single bullpen man finds success because they know what they need to do and do it using one or two out pitches.

A couple years back, I heard a lot of questioning whether or not Bud Black, being a pitching coach, could really put together a successful team. My idea at the time was that if a hitting coach can learn how to utilize pitchers, why can't a pitching coach learn how to use hitters? I've always seen pitching as the most important part of baseball as well. If one batter fails, then the rest of the lineup can pick up the slack. However, if your pitcher fails, the whole game is lost (see Snell, Ian; every single start this year).

Simply put, the Padres are what the Mariners were supposed to be this year. All that hype was simply placed on the wrong team. Now let's see just how far the Padres can go with it.