This is something we'll do here on the Rangers blog before every new series the club plays. Obviously, there's one series left. But I thought you still might like to hear about the Seattle Mariners and what one of their bloggers thought about the team and its future. Jeff Sullivan, from Lookout Landing was kind enough to answer a few questions.

Q: The Mariners can tie for second with a sweep in this series. How important to the fans would it be to finsh in second place this season? Or does it matter?

A: Technically we'd still be third, since we lost the season series. But anyway, though it'd be cool to catch the Rangers, and though we'd all have a good laugh about it, realistically it doesn't matter. Nothing about how this Mariners team is going to be remembered depends on these final three days. The team's already bounced back from a 101-loss season to finish above .500. Management is smart. The players are happy. Some of them are really good. Whether the M's finish tied with the Rangers or a few games behind...it just doesn't make a difference. Short of someone putting up a legendary performance, the only reason these games might be remembered is if they turn out to be the last of Griffey's career.

Q: Assess the job manager Don Wakamatsu did this season.

A: It's hard to assess a manager. Where do you start? Where do you stop? And the Mariners elected to make this exceptionally difficult by keeping Griffey and Sweeney around in pseudo-managerial roles. The biggest challenge for Wak coming into the year was bringing together a clubhouse that turned against itself a year ago, and these days things are wonderful, but it's impossible to isolate how much of that is the fault of the manager. Same with bringing the players closer to Ichiro. Was that Wak? Was that Griffey? Was that both of them, or neither of them? All I can say for certain is that there's no reason to believe that Wakamatsu has been bad. He has his quirks, like not pinch-hitting very often or always batting Griffey or Sweeney cleanup, but most fans are supposed to hate their team's manager, so the fact that I kinda like Wak says pretty much everything you need to know.

Q: The Mariners' offense is last in the MLB in runs scored. What has caused the lack of production?

A: The Mariners have received a sub-.650 OPS from their catchers, shortstops, third basemen, and left fielders. Rob Johnson never hit. None of the shortstops ever hit. Adrian Beltre played below himself and also got hurt. Left field's been a whole collection of guys who can't hit and guys who didn't hit. On paper the offense doesn't deserve to be this bad, but between some veterans underperforming and some youngsters failing to step up, it's been a nightmare. Not a killer-clown-in-your-closet-waiting-until-you-shower nightmare, but more a I-took-a-picture-with-Eliza-Dushku-and-accidentally-elbowed-her-in-the-ribs-and-she-walked-away-muttering-under-her-breath nightmare. Russell Branyan getting hurt hasn't helped. I wonder if I'll be able to use that sentence again in a year.

Q: Who is the most improved Mariners player this season?

A: I'm trying to choose from Felix, Branyan, David Aardsma, and Franklin Gutierrez. I guess I'll have to go with Aardsma. Though the other three have substantially elevated their games, they were already good, whereas Aardsma was a wild journeyman who's come in and established himself as a legitimate late-inning reliever. He's no true relief ace - he gives up way too many fly balls - but the consensus opinion now is a lot more favorable than it was in Spring Training.

Q: Who is the most disappointing?

A: Bill Hall has been awful. Can I just make a list of guys who've been awful? Most disappointing...either Adrian Beltre for underperforming, or Erik Bedard for getting hurt, I guess. There's no one guy who singlehandedly torpedoed our chances of competing for the postseason, but this offense needed Beltre to hit, and he never did, just as the rotation needed Bedard to stay healthy, which he didn't. I'll give the nod to Beltre, since Bedard's disappointment was more predictable. Beltre's still going to be a bargain, though. Don't buy his 2009 numbers as being reflective of his true talent.

Q: The pitching staff has an impressive sub 4.00 ERA. What has made them so good? Who are some of the pitchers that Rangers fans will see in the Mariners rotation and bullpen for a long time?

A: The pitching staff hasn't actually been very good. I mean, certain guys have stood out - the obvious ones - but that ERA is a factor of the ballpark and one of the best team defenses baseball has seen in a while. According to UZR - a top-of-the-line defensive statistic available at Fangraphs - the Mariner defense has been 85 runs better than average. Add 85 runs to our pitching stats and suddenly they don't look so great anymore. So, yeah. Defense is awesome. You know how much you love Elvis Andrus? We love Franklin Gutierrez like seven times that much.

There are a lot of guys on this team who *could* be here a while, but nobody's even close to being a guarantee. Not even Felix. Felix, Ryan Rowland-Smith, Ian Snell, Brandon Morrow, Mark Lowe, Aardsma, Doug Fister, and so on...there are enough bodies here to plan around, but the front office is going to have to get creative to turn this into a winner in 2010, and as such, I just can't predict who's going to stay and who's going to go.

Q: Who are some young position players that maybe got some time this season that could have a big impact later?

A: Michael Saunders could have a big impact as a gap-power lefty bat with plus defense. Someone in the Randy Winn mold. Adam Moore's being billed as the catcher of the future, which is good, since Rob Johnson is the catcher of the never. Matt Tuiasosopo is going to challenge hard for a job out of camp next season, and if his footwork in the field really has gotten better, the team will be hard-pressed to keep him away much longer. And Mike Carp is here, which, whatever. Getting excited about any of our position player prospects right now is just kind of stretching in preparation for getting excited about Dustin Ackley.

Q: Anything else Rangers fans should know about the Mariners before this series?

A: Ian Snell's coming off by far his best start as a Mariner, as changes to his front foot and a few other things may finally be paying dividends. So he might look better than you thought. And Felix will have one last chance to build his resume for a Cy Young that he doesn't deserve, but still badly wants. Those are the pitching storylines. Outside of that, this may be the final weekend of Ken Griffey Jr's career, so prepare for some sort of lengthy tribute on Sunday. He's not going to make an announcement either way, but the team will have to do something just in case. As you applaud Griffey (or don't) from your seat or your home, you should also take care to give a tip of the cap to Eddie Guardado. Guardado's as good a person as Griffey was a player, and deserves a wonderful sendoff of his own.

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