Thursday night's (August 8, 2006) loss to the Texas Rangers was indicative of everything that's wrong with the Seattle Mariners: poor hitting, mediocre starting pitching and illogical managerial moves. Reading the comments about the game is like enjoying a nice, quiet dinner that slowly but surely transforms into an all-out family feud.

Seattle is only six games behind division-leader Oakland with 48 games to go. Plenty of time for the M's to catch up, right? Not when its next 20 games are against the Rangers, Oakland Athletics, LA Angels, NY Yankees and Boston Red Sox. By the time September rolls around, the M's will very likely be trailing the in AL West by double-digits.

But wait, didn't Seattle make a heroic push for the playoffs in 1995, coming back from a 13-game deficit to eventually win the division title? Why yes they did. Well, why can't this group duplicate what happened a decade ago?

For starters, the modern-day Mariners don't have sluggers like Jay Buhner, Edgar and Tino Martinez in their lineup. Richie Sexson, Seattle's current big bopper, is batting .224. Willie Bloomquist has only four extra-base hits in over 150 at-bats. In fact, out of the 14 teams in the American League, the 2006 Mariners are 11th in runs scored, 12th in batting average and slugging, and 13th in on-base percentage.

Today's Mariners also don't have an elite starter like Randy Johnson. In 1995 Randy pitched on short rest all through Septemeber to keep the ballclub in contention. The Big Unit finished the epic season with a 18-2 record and 2.48 ERA, carrying Seattle to a playoff berth. The lowest ERA on the M's current staff? 4.28, and that guy has already lost 11 games.

The '95 Mariners were managed by Lou Pinella, a World Series winner. This year the M's are run by the Grover, whose boneheaded judgments are well-documented and almost a daily occurrence.

As I mentioned in my 2006 Mariners preview, a .500 record is a likely finish. As for a playoff berth; don't even think about it.