A response to Believe it or not, Mariners have a shot

My first thought on reading this was to wonder what Mr. Perry had been smoking and/or drinking, and how many people he had shared it with (up to and including Howard Lincoln, Chuck Armstrong, Bald Billy (Bavasi) and Mike Hargrove).

Then, after sitting back and momentarily setting aside the M's 2 and 10 record in the Cactus League and thinking about things, maybe he has something going on here, to whit......

Item the first:  The five starters have allowed only 2 earned runs in the last 22 innings pitched, with a sub 2.0 ERA. FAR better than I thought they would be at this point nearly halfway into the exhibition season.  In fact, Horacio Ramirez' ERA is 0.00 at this point--can't argue with those numbers.

Item the second:  Good health news.  Beltre's shoulder appears to be OK.  Guillen's arm is coming along well, and he still appears to know how to hit.  JJ Putz's elbow is coming along on schedule, and he is scheduled to pitch off a mound this week.

Item the third:  For the most part, the pitchers that have been getting shelled, other than Mr. Reitsma, that is, stand about as much chance as a snowball in the infernal regions of being on the big league 25 man roster on opening day.   The bullpen still needs some work on getting in shape and remembering how to pitch, but things should improve once the regular starters/relievers start being the primary pitchers for the second half of the exhibition season.

Item the fourth:  Ben Broussard is hitting pretty well so far, so, if Richie Sexson continues to go "0 for the season," perhaps he can play first base for a while.  Not to mention the fact that he (Broussard) isn't doing half bad with his chores of learning to play the outfield, too.

So, perhaps I should discard my "glass half empty" disposition for one of "glass half full," at least for the next couple of weeks (this, of course, is not to say that it won't reappear if they go 0 for April, or even 10 for April).