The Mariners are just coming off one of the worst months in team history. In July they had a 6-22 record and couldn’t do anything right. When they had good pitching games, they couldn’t score. When they had good hitting games (which were rare), their pitching struggled.
The Mariners need someone to blame for all of their troubles last month and this year, and the person to blame is Don Wakamatsu. He has made many bad decisions as manager. For example, he kept on starting Ryan Rowland-Smith every fifth day and after seeing him struggle every game didn’t do anything about it.
Another bad thing Wakamatsu did was use the same pitchers in his bullpen way too often. He pitches Brandon League in almost any situation. He pitches him in the eighth, ninth, or extra innings. The Mariners have a pretty good bullpen and do not need to use League as much as they do.
Wakamatsu has also not mixed up his lineup at all. He has stuck with Ichiro, Figgins, Branyan, Lopez, Kotchman, Gutierrez, Saunders, Bard, and Wilson for almost every game. Maybe if he moved some players up or down he might have more success but he hasn’t tried that this year.
Wakamaksu has not managed this team well at all and I believe he should get fired soon so the team can get a new manager who will continue the promise of last season.
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