<![CDATA[When I went to the Seattle Mariners’ home opener in April, Fernando Rodney walked out onto the mound and a man standing next to me grabbed the bill of my baseball cap and turned it to the side. First, I was like, “Don’t touch me.” Second, I was all, “Oh, we have a reliever that has a shtick. And he seems good!” Well, that wore off quickly.
Though Rodney is tied for the most saves in the American League, he just blew two saves for the M’s in what were otherwise solid outings by the pitching staff against the Tampa Bay Rays. I know that there’s an argument to be made that the offense should be putting more runs on the board, but this guy has walked nine guys in just 16.1 innings pitched. That’s not a number you want to see from your star closer.
The M’s have had such a troubled morale over the past several seasons that it’s finally nice to have a team together that wants to win and is actually trying. I would have expected Felix Hernandez to be phoning it in by now (who could blame him?) But he’s not, and neither is Hisashi Iwakuma, so watching them or anyone else not get that W because of one disastrous inning is unacceptable. Manager Lloyd McClendon stands by Rodney, which is great and all for team morale, but I sure hope he’s singing a more serious tune during practice.
Call me crazy, but I’m fairly sure we aren’t paying this guy the third highest salary on the team to pitch himself out of his own mess. It seems like the bigger the hole he digs himself into, the further the bill of his hat travels to the left. You don’t have to straighten that hat, Rodney, but you better straighten out that pitching game of yours.]]>
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