Wednesday, May. 20, 2009

Plenty of green at Safeco

I was pleasantly surprised last night when I switched from hockey on Charter channel 36 to channel 37 and discovered that the Seattle Mariners game actually was on the screen of my NEC.

I'm guessing I wasn't the only one in the Tri-Cities who tried to watch the M's via Charter on Saturday night, only to be frustrated by a blank screen with that read "Channel 101 'LSG FSN' blacked out."

Back in days of the Big Unit, Junior and Edgar, such a technical issue on the boob tube produced a flood of calls to sports desk at the Herald. One friend of mine in the industry, dealing with a similar situation, would reply to those types of inquiries by saying, "Hey, we're the newspaper. Call the cable company."

Monday night, it was "Channel 101' LSG FSN blacked out' again, but only through the first inning. Both nights, I sent an e-mail to my friends at FSN, who replied with a note saying they are working through technical issues with Charter.

Alas, based on the huge number of empty seats for Tuesday's loss to the Angels, folks in Seattle already are losing interest in the Mariners. Announced attendance was 16,002. Capacity is 47,818. That meant more than 31,000 green seats showing up on TV.

Yuniesky Betancourt got benched again last night. I believe this time was for poor defense. Last week, it was because he refuses to make opposing pitchers work. He's committed more errors (7) than walks (5). That's a puny total, Yuni.

Geoff Baker of The Seattle Times reported the M's are interested in foisting Betancourt upon the Pittsburgh Pirates for similar light-hitting Jack Wilson. However, Wilson is considered one of the top defensive shortstops in the game.

Indeed, the infield is unraveling. Last night, second baseman Jose Lopez booted a routine double play ball that cost the Mariners a run in their 6-5 defeat. He backed that up at the plate by going 0-for-4.

Adrian Beltre returned to the lineup Tuesday after being benched for his lack of offense. He batted cleanup and went 0-for-4. The third baseman is hitless in his last 17 trips to the plate.

The M's now have lost 12 of 15 and are only two games removed from the cellar in the American League West.

If they continue to play lackluster ball under Hood River product Don Wakamatsu, I wonder how long people in the Tri-Cities will keep trying to tune in on Charter.