Mariners, Mariners, wherefore art thou?

The Seattle Mariners have managed to put together two pathetic seasons in a row. They lost to another pathetic team on Saturday, and it will be a toss up if they will win against Detroit today. After a season (is it really only three before this one?) where they set a record and then went on to ignominy by not getting to the World Series, how have they fallen so far? I have been a Mariners fan since they became a member of the American League. I was privileged to sing the National Anthem for them before the start of several games while they played in the Kingdome. I was one of those who kept thinking, "maybe next year in the above .500 club". When they became the American League West champions I was moved to buy the video about the season. When they moved into "the Safe" I was excited and have attended many games there. But last year I was so disappointed in the team that I stopped watching the games on TV and stopped listening to the games on the radio in July. I almost have done the same thing this year. After seeing several games with the new young players taking over for the creaky old folks and seeing some good games (as well as some terrible ones) I am starting to think that maybe next year...