Chone Figgins

Although cloudless days continue to appear in Seattle's summer sky, locals are still advised to carry umbrellas... because Jack Zduriencik is quickly plummeting downwards.

Just months after being hailed as a hero in the Emerald City for his roster overhaul filled with top-flight players, the Mariners general manager is now being scrutinized for not meeting his team's needs in the off-season.

The recent rash of perfect games and no hitters has many people scratching their heads. Some are calling it the “Year of the Pitcher,” while others think it’s due to the eradication of steroids in the sport.

There are only five teams in Major League Baseball with a worse record than the Seattle Mariners.

The M’s are 14 games behind the red-hot Texas Rangers in the division standings. They’re 13 games off the pace for the Wild Card.

The Seattle Mariners should be sellers at the trade deadline, right? Well, they just gave up two minor-league prospects to the Cleveland Indians for 34-year old Russell Branyan whom they declined to sign over the off-season.

Evan Longoria was drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays with the 3rd pick of the 2006 amateur player draft out of Cal-State Long Beach. Rays fans knew as soon as they heard about this kid that he was going to be great.

After spending two years in the minor leagues, Longoria hit a combined .301/.386/.534 with 44 home runs and 144 RBI, all before his 22nd birthday.

Knowing what they had on their hands, with a team that they felt confident with, Andrew Friedman knew that he had to call up Longoria if the team was going to contend.

After going a dismal 8-19 in May that dropped them into the cellar of the mediocre AL West, the Mariners have played inspiring baseball in June, going 3-0 to begin the month.

I understand that three games isn't exactly the 1995 comeback all over again, but if you look at the numbers going back into later May, this team is showing signs of life.

Sometimes, I think that my punishment in life for all the bad things I've done, and will do in the future, is being a devoted Seattle Mariners fan.

It's not an easy life, and one that takes a certain kind of person to fully commit to it.

We must be masochists. The constant pain and despair that my team has brought me over my 23 years on this earth is enough to drive a man straight into the arms of a bottle of Jack Daniels.

I know there are other fan bases out there with similar, or even harder, teams to root for.

Admit it: you don't know if J.A. Happ's name is "Jay" or "J.A." Despite the fact that his name is clearly listed in every scorecard, box score, and recap as "J.A.', announcers uniformly refer to him as "Jay Happ."

Happ is hardly the first baseball player in major league history to have a name that befuddles fans and sportscasters alike.

There were many baseball fans, myself included, who thought that the Mariner's were the real day. Who wouldn't? They showed vast improvements in 2009 and they made a bunch of moves to get even better. The fact that the Angels looked pretty weak only help the Mariners' chances. Oh were we wrong.

This team can't hit, can't score, and can't hit home runs. It doesn't even matter that they can't hit home runs because there's no one on the stadium to catch them.

It always hurts to see a batter struggling to hit at the plate. It is always annoying to see a batter swing at pitches they have no business swinging at. It is just as annoying for a hitter's average to drop 100 points in a season.

These are the hitters who just cannot catch a break this season. They've hit in the past, but suddenly cannot find the ball.