The M's are, with today's loss, now 8 games under .500. The last time they were 8 games under, according to Dave Niehaus during today's radio broadcast, was the last game of the 1998 season. That was the year Randy Johnson was phoning it in before he was traded to Houston.

Nobody wants to see a forest fire. The once-beautiful landscape becomes scarred, and homes are threatened. Without the fire, though, the forest can not thrive. Dead wood is cleared out, and the resulting ash revitalizes the soil. The stage is then set for the forest to eventually becomes stronger than it was before the fire.

Maybe this season is the forest fire in the Mariners saga. All the fairweather fans that none of us can stand will be driven away (gosh, you might even be able to get good tickets DAY OF GAME again!). We're in a good position to start shopping for prospects in other organizations and loading up at weak positions (outfield and catcher come to mind). It's still too early to throw in the towel on behalf of the 2004 Mariners and go into fire sale mode, but it's never too early to test the trade waters for commodities that contending teams would covet. If, for example, Detroit or Cincinnati maintain their hot starts, both teams would consider trading quality prospects for a starting pitcher like Gil Meche or Ryan Franklin (Franklin could be pretty good in Comerica).

It's not time to panic, but if somebody makes Bavasi a great offer, why not take it?