Baseball. Hope springs eternal and it springs up in the spring as well, as every year me and everybody of my ilk think that their baseball team will be better than last year.

And it's no different for fans of the Mariners, even though last year's team was pretty pathetic really. It's like they all went out and had a big kegger before the year or something and then were all hungover all year.

They had guys like Boonie and Scott Spezio and really they were just terrible, I don't even want to think about it.

So let's just see how good we think they'll be this year.

Pitching: well, they got rid of Ryan Franklin so they are IMPROVED from the get go, he was a drag on the whole staff, doing his steroids and saying things like "No, I don't think I should miss my next start, I don't CARE if I gave up 7 runs in the first inning. I felt good after that!" That whole thing about not getting enuf run support was a Krop of Krap too, some pitcher just ain't deserving of runs, probably their bad Krap Karma.

They got rid of the pitching coach, whatshisname, which was a very good move too. That guy was turrible and he was a drag on the whole staff, what with his "psychology" and his need for the spotlight. What could you be possibly discussing with Felix Hernandez in the middle of one hitter? That he needs to work on his mechanics? Arg.

This year they got Rafael Chavez who was the pitching coach in the minors that everybody went to to fix what old whatshisname had messed up for them. So let's just hope Raffy can do it again and get guys like Pineiro and Meche back on track.

Catching: They got this guy from Japan who is destined to be called "Joe" because his last name is Johjima. The batting watch is out this spring as we are all watching how he's going to hit major league pitching. So far, it's 1 for 6 which HAS GOT TO GET BETTER!!! Just kidding, it's spring training. And so far in spring training, despite the best effforts of Raffy and Joe, the pitching has been AWFUL, so hopefully they can round up the cows from that stampede and put them in the ol' corral before the games start to count.

Broadcasting: Still got Rick Rizzs, he's still turrible. I think we have to be resigned to the fact that he's here for the duration and just live with it (if we can). It's not so much his play by play, it's his highly irritating discussions with "Val" and "Hendu" and his propensity to talk about the Bowling Extravaganza for Cancer that "Bone" put together last night and how much fun they all had. Also, he tends to drive everybody KER-AZY with his rosy outlook, his running up the flagpole of the talent of anybody who shows a smidgen of success, talking and talking and talking about their last game meanwhile they're giving up home run after home run until Rick is finally silent for an out or two before he gets some steam up again and watch out Clint Nageotte, because you can't do ANYTHING without Rick telling people how GREAT you are even if you and I and everybody else knows that there's going to be some ups and downs during a year and it's not all going to be a bed of daffodils.

I just hope Felix can rise above Rick who IS getting a little old, maybe thinking about retiring? ("Oh, no, I just love this game too much, they're going to have to pry the microphone out of my hands.") Sigh.

Let's see: First Base? Richie Sexson. Hope he does better this year, batting average wise. Second base? Jose Lopez. This guy is going to be great, probably the year after the Mariners trade him. Shortstop? Yuniesky Betancourt, who showed he was a good fielder and an improving hitter, he seemed to get a lot of hits with men on base. Third Base? Adrian Beltre, who I think will have a better year than last, and who has reported to camp 20 pounds lighter than last year, just like Boonie did at the start of spring training 2005. Uh oh. Left field? Uh, Raul Ibanez, the quiet guy who is just hoping that nobody finds out that he's not all that good either. Center field? Jeremy Reed who everybody is thinking is a lot better because the Red Sox wanted him in a trade, so we'll all be looking at him a leetle closer. Right field will be Ichiro, and I tell ya, he better have a better year than last year or people are gonna start talking. DH? The Bucky Jacobsen era is over, and now we're in the Carl Everett era. Not much change, probably.

All and all, I'd have to say that the getting rid of Ryan Franklin and Bryan Price will add 10 games on to their record last year. The addition of Raffy will add some more games and the pitching I think will be much better.

So I'm predicting that the Mariner's record this coming year will be 85-77.

That's a real stretch, but I do think that the Mariners have some good young talent and if a guy like Felix is really as good as everybody hopes, it could make a BIG difference. They need somebody like Jeremy Reed or Betancourt or Lopez to break out and they need Johjima or Rene Rivera to be really good.

All are GOOD possibilities of actually happening because hope does spring eternal in the springy spring, so I'm sticking by that prediction, 84 and 78.