Fan Humiliation day

Pirates showing their frustration with losing

  Still reeling from yesterdays bizarre loss, like a lot of you I was disappointed to hear that Jack Zduriencik had decided that for his own good and the future of the team, Felix Hernandez would not be given the ball this Sunday on the final game of the season. This coupled with another humiliating loss tonight by the score of 8-1 to the visiting A’s, has convinced me to change my weekend plans.

So instead of going to the game Sunday to watch Felix get a chance to improve his chances for the Cy-Young and possibly prevent the Mariners from suffering a 100-loss season, I have decided that I’m not going to get mad I’m getting even!

Yes that is right, Friday night I will be joining the other irate fans and mustering at 530 in front of the left field gate by the glove to stage a rally and protest against the front office duo of Howard Lincoln and Chuck Armstrong and the apathetic absentee owner Hiroshi Yamauchi. I will be joining forces with the folks from FireNintendo: www.firenintendo.com , and welcome all of my loyal readers to grab a brown bag or a sign and come on down to show that you care enough to stand up and be counted!

  The picture above shows a few fans in Pittsburgh using the age-old instrument of choice for disgruntled fans, the Brown Bag Demonstration. It is time for all good shipmates to hit the picket line here in the Port of Seattle! 

  Remember: “All that is necessary for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing”…..http://jeffsmariners.com

It’s not personal Chuck and Howard, but….

  All is quiet on the Northwest front as far as actual games for our slumping Mariners and surging Rainiers. However there does seem to be a lot of activity in the blogosphere regarding the whole Chuck Armstrong and Howard Lincoln fronts.

  As many of you know I have been writing about this issue since June, especially the problem of an aging absentee owner in Japan and how it relates to the current front office guys. I just want to say that as far as I am concerned Howard Lincoln and Chuck Armstrong seem like decent guys with good business instincts. And yes we all know Hiroshi Yamauchi has trust in Howard Lincoln and unless he passes the reigns to someone else in Japan or sells the team we will probably still have Howard and Chuck running the show next year.

 I have read Lincoln’s explanation of the infamous leaked e-mail in an article by Art Thiel as well as Shannon Drayer’s post. I also read both the Look out Landing and USS Mariner posts on this topic and tend to side with Geoff Baker and Art Thiel who seem to be on too the real issues. I am just an expansion blogger and of course do not have all the information but I do have my experience of following this team for 25+ years.

  I usually agree with Shannon on a lot of things, but her post like the USS Mariner and Lookout Landing seem to infer that things are ok now that Jack Z. is here and the front office does not meddle anymore in baseball issues on the field. In response to that I would say that an engaged owner with good baseball savvy folks in the front office is indeed what we need. By stating that the front office does not meddle anymore, you are saying Tha a) they used to, and b) it infers that they don’t understand the game well enough to set the tone and give the organization a vision. I would say these are both bad things and we need front office guys with enough background to stay involved, not to mention an owner who cares more about his team.

  It seems that as a new blogger my views are not as important as the seasoned guys who may very well have a vested interest in not upsetting the front office so as to gain access etc. This is a  common complaint that is usually reserved for the main stream media, but in this case it seems Geoff Baker and Art Thiel are the guys willing to stick their necks out in order to deliver the uncomfortable truth, not the local bloggers or Shannon.

  So I stick to my position that I have held all year that the absentee/uninvolved ownership, combined with Howard Lincoln and Chuck Armstrong are the reason our team is in the situation it is in now.http://jeffsmariners.com

Lincoln and Armstrong squirming under the light of day

If you have not had a chance to read the Blog post put up by Geoff Baker at the Times here it is: Mariners CEO Howard Lincoln to employees:

Mariners Blog | Seattle Times Newspaper

  Somehow Baker got a copy of an internal memo put out by Howard Lincoln to the rest of the Mariners organization and in the spirit of investigative journalism Baker posted it last night.

  I can only imagine what sort of damage control Lincoln and Armstrong are trying to conjure up today in order to attempt to nullify the negative public relations hole they have dug for themselves. It is hard to imagine either of these two deciding to do the right thing and step down, but anything is possible I suppose.

  Of course the majority owner Hiroshi Yamauchi has the final say in these sort of matters, but I have a hunch that due to his age and distance every effort is being made to shield him from the truth about this dysfunctional organization as long as the checks keep rolling in.

  It is also apparent that the top brass in the front office are hoping things will blow-over here in Seattle and the criticism will get washed away with the coming 7 months of gloom and rain so that they can proceed as normal. While we in the NW are a tolerant and forgiving group of folks, once we set our mind to something we like to go all the way.

   The question is will the media, bloggers, or grassroots groups like:

#Mariners #FireNintendo Details – Twibbon.com – Start Something!

  be able to organize the fan base into some sort of concerted action to bring about real change for the team that represents our corner of the country? One thing is for sure it will take more than articles or tweets to send a message to the owner that we the fans have had enough of lies, deception, gimmicks and meddling by the Lincoln/Armstrong cabal.

  As you know I have been writing about this issue in several different posts this year dating back to this post on  June 9th : Snell finished, Mariners reverting back to 80s farmclub? So here we are 3 months later and it appears that I am no longer a voice in the wilderness. The question is what are we the fans willing to do? Should we leaflet outside the game on Fan appreciation night? Hold rallies? Wear brown bags over our heads like they do in Pittsburgh periodically? Or just do nothing and hope things get better by themselves?

   Like the rest of you I love baseball and the Mariners which is why I write this blog. The ball is squarely in our court to either watch, look away, or take a big swing and  and hit the ball, perhaps allowing Grandma to really get out the Rye Bread and clean the bases of the Lincoln/Armstrong cabal once and for all. The future depends on us…http://jeffsmariners.com