The surprising end that stuns all.

The Seattle Mariners had been in a downfall since their amazing season with 116 wins. Each year since, they had only gotten worse. The team had gone through a couple managers, the most recent Mike Hargrove. It did not take fans long before they were already asking for his head. The team had a huge payroll with players that were not even coming close to their contracts worth such as Adrian Beltre and Richie Sexson. Last season the Mariners finished with a record of 78 wins and 84 losses, good for last place in the AL west again. Many fans didn’t assume that he would be fired during the off-season; they expected it. Then came opening day of the 2007 season and Hargrove was still the man calling the shots, that was until a few days ago.

The Mariners got off to a good but somewhat slow start due to many snow and rain outs at the start of the season that halted an entire series in Cleveland that yet has to be completely made up. Still the Mariners started to rise. They finally started to win again and actually put themselves in the race once again for the playoffs. Riding a 7 game winning streak that included a sweep of the Boston Red Sox came an announcement that surprised the baseball world. Mike Hargrove decided to resign. With his club the hottest team in all of Major League Baseball, Hargrove stated he had simply lost his passion for the game of baseball and didn't want to bring the club down.

As a Mariners fan myself that was completely stunned with the announcement and timing, am not all that upset. I only wish he would have made his decision before the season started so that this would not have become a distraction the way it did. Following the announcement the team lost 2 games to the Royals which I believe was do to them still in shock from the move. If Hargrove really lost his passion for the game, for the team, for what ever; that’s fine, get out like you did and go away so the team can move on. If you did not want to hurt the team you should have just kept this out of the public eye and dealt with it for the remainder of the season, that is already half over. It is never good for a team to lose a manager midseason, especially one that is winning. Managers normally leave because they are fired for the team not performing.

Now I wish the Mariners all the best luck on the rest of the season and hope to see them in October. As for Mike Hargrove, you had overstayed your welcome, I’m Glad your gone, Good Bye! Now the Mariners can continue on their path of success and will now hopefully have someone in charge that wants to be there and wants the team to win a World Series.