In most of the aisle-end seats at T-Mobile Park, there is an image of Fred Hutchinson, showing the Seattle native as he prepares to deliver a pitch. Those images have been there since the park opened 20 years ago. For good reason. Fred Hutchinson means a lot to Seattle. And elsewhere.

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Another day, another Mariners embarassment. This time, it's Tim Beckham. The 29-year-old shortstop was suspended for 80 games Tuesday by MLB for the use of stanozolol, an old-school performance-enhancing steroid on the sport's banned list. He's done for this season, and the punishment will linger into next season for any team signing him.

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My seminal cringe-worthy Mariners game was the 1992 season opener. It was the first game following the stunning news a few months earlier that, from out of nowhere, international man of mystery Hiroshi Yamauchi bought the franchise from Jeff Smulyan to keep him from moving it to Tampa Bay.

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Mike Leake, 31, nearly pitched a perfect game two starts ago for the Mariners against the Angels and their Terminator, Mike Trout. Such is the wackiness of MLB that his value at the trade deadline Wednesday was a mere high-A infielder.

Jose Caballero, 22, was hitting .268 in the Diamondbacks system. He has 28 stolen bases, so if he does make the majors, it appears he's fast enough to keep the Mariners out of a few double plays. Incremental value, yes; but something.

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COOPERSTOWN, NY -- Officially inducted Sunday afternoon, Yankees closer Mariano Rivera was the first voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame by every single BBWAA voter. Not even Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron or Ken Griffey Jr. were unanimous.

Meanwhile, Edgar Martinez did not get voted in until his 10th and final year of eligibility in January.

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Just about all that can be said about Edgar Martinez has been said, more than a few times. The 10-year wait for baseball writers to recognize the Mariners star's Hall of Fame bona fides provided more runway for scientific analysis than President Kennedy gave NASA 59 years ago to get men on the moon.

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Anticipation and astonishment are two expectations that are marbled into the fundamental appeal of big-time spectator sports. Most fans don't think of their sports passions in those terms, but the characteristics seem more topical now, if only for their absence in local baseball.

Ahead of MLB's July 31 trade deadline, it can be said the Mariners have neither going for them.

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Not only did the U.S. Women's National Team defend its World Cup title, they appear to be taking rental of the crown as the globe's hottest celebs. After a ticker-tape parade Wednesday morning for the champs in New York City's Canyon of Heroes (webcast here), the team will immediately depart for a flight to Los Angeles, where in the evening, the soccer champs will be hailed at the annual ESPY sports awards.

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Entering the weekend, the Mariners were said by the gambling site BetOnline.ag to have odds of 1,000-to-1 to win the 2019 World Series. While that will surprise no one who watched this season -- particularly the 25,816 who Sunday observed the sheet-soiling first inning of a 7-4 loss (box) to the Oakland A's at T-ball Park -- the noteworthy aspect is that those odds were better than five other MLB teams.

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The happiest Mariners employee Sunday afternoon was Daniel Vogelbach. The most gratified employee had to be general manager Jerry Dipoto, who had taken three years of grief for acquiring Vogelbach at the cost of Mike Montgomery, a versatile starter/reliever who helped the Chicago Cubs win the 2016 World Series.

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The Mariners are upon a minor anniversary, one unlikely to inspire the sentimental fetes for which the club's marketers are locally renowned. On July 5, 2018, the Mariners beat the Angels 4-1. Their ninth win in 10 games improved the record to 56-32, two games behind the Houston Astros in the American League West.

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Gary Bell was born in 1936. George Kirby was born in 1998. Their career arcs as right-handed pro pitchers crossed Saturday afternoon in Seattle through the ethereal Pilots, a single-year sports wormhole that flawlessly connected flawed moments in major league baseball.

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The Mariners Saturday will be acknowledging, or commemorating -- "celebrating" doesn't seem quite the right word -- the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Seattle Pilots, the awkward runt of MLB that lasted a single season. Enough time has passed that the criminal ineptitude of the operation now seems more like a childhood prank on the order of stuffing Aunt Thusnelda's wig down the toilet.

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Since the Mariners pitching staff was, entering Sunday, 26th in MLB in strikeouts (561), next to last in earned run average (5.49) and WHIP (1.47), and last in batting average against (.274), it is understandable that general manager Jerry Dipoto senses a bit of a deficiency there.

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Finally, the Mariners have found something worse than their season. But it's hardly a good distraction.

The man who leads the American League in strikeouts desperately needed make solid contact Thursday. Instead, OF Mitch Haniger fouled a pitch into his groin and Friday was put on the 10-day injured list with a ruptured testicle.

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In a season that is tantamount to extended spring training, any game outcome or personnel development can't be considered large, because there is little incentive to care about either for 2019. Nevertheless, Sunday and Monday may be seen as benchmark days in the larger plan of general manager Jerry Dipoto to get the Mariners competitive before the polar ice caps melt.

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After the 13-2 aberration gave way to the Mariners' 2019 norm -- Sunday's 7-4 victory prevented a four-game sweep by Minnesota, but was just the fifth win in the past 19 games -- I felt a need to consult with the smartest people I know, the readers of Sportspress Northwest, who I hope also are susceptible to flattery as brazen as it is cheap.

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After some solid starts in his final year as a Mariner, Felix Hernandez is nearly at a full stop. The former ace, 1-4 with a 6.52 ERA and now the club's fifth starter, has a grade-one (lowest-level) lat strain and will miss four to six weeks, manager Scott Servais said Tuesday.

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The temptation is to say that the Mariners' 11-2 loss Sunday (box) in Boston that featured five fielding blunders in the first three innings and eight walks in eight innings, concluding a three-game Red Sox sweep by a 34-8 cumulative margin, and a 2-8 road trip with the 15th defeat in 19 games, was a milestone in ineptitude.

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Compared to Hurricane Maria that slammed his native Puerto Rico in 2017, any metaphorical whirlwind caused by Alex Cora's decision to shun the celebratory trip to White House Thursday for his defending World Series champion Red Sox is a trifle.

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