AL West

For the past several years, the outcry among critics of the Mariners was that while the team could field viable rosters–think ’07 and ’09, of course–there was no home-grown talent outside of the dazzling Felix Hernandez.

It's still too early to panic at only 14 games into the regular season, but this Oakland team is underwhelming the baseball world in all facets of their game but one, and it is costing the A's in the win column.

When Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik asked the Seattle fans to be patient with the rebuilding process, I decided to comply with his request. I vowed to sit back and wait to see if the Mariners showed any progress with hopes that things would be different this season.

When Seattle started out 2-0 I was optimistic the ball club was on the right path. Since then the Mariners are 2-10 and still can't score any runs. Same old story.

If only the Seattle Mariners offense could actually show up before they found themselves hopelessly behind—such has been the underlying theme of the Mariners’ 2011 campaign. And Friday night was a microcosm of that very issue, too little too late.

It appears that for once the statement "all things happen for a reason" has some validity in regards to the Oakland Athletics.

The A's attempted to buy their former radio flagship KTRB 860am, finally ending negotiations the final week of spring training.

The failed bid to purchase the station briefly put regular season broadcasting in question for the Athletics, drawing criticism for A's owner Lew Wolff.

The Seattle Mariners boast one of the best young arms in the American League. A flame-throwing pitcher who possesses a knee-buckling slider, an excellent changeup and a blazing fastball that has been clocked in the triple digits. No, I am not referring to reigning AL CY Young winner Felix Hernandez, but rather rookie sensation Michael Pineda. 

The Mariners entered Monday’s series opener with the Toronto Blue Jays on a seven-game losing streak since opening the season 2-0. They won the first two games of that series, and had a great chance to win the third before reigning home run king Jose Bautista ended their aspirations of a sweep with one swing.

The Seattle Mariners haven't had the start some fans were hoping for: just four wins through 13 games, but there's no reason for worry.  They've had several inauspicious factors working against them early, and there are a couple of key elements that we'll see come out as the season develops.

It's been a little over a day since Josh Hamilton was injured, and I've had time to think about how his absence in the lineup will affect the Rangers. There is no more "knee-jerk reaction" in this article.

Let's face it. Texas lost its reigning AL MVP after he carried them to the World Series.

Or did they?