I was perusing the Mariners' pitching statistics provided by ESPN (must be my inner sadist at work), when I noticed something interesting: Jamie Moyer leads the Mariners in wins with seven. (Seven! That's only two more than four!) It's a tight race for the lead, with Ron Villone and Gil Meche posting so far six wins apiece. (Joel Piniero has also notched six victories in 2004, but he's not going to win any more games from the disabled list.)

My reaction to this news was along the lines of, "Wow, that's gotta be some kind of record," so I did a bit of research. Since 1944, in seasons of 140 games or more, only two teams have had their pitching staffs paced by a seven game winner. The 53-109 1996 Detroit Tigers were led by one-time Mariner Omar Oliveras, and the 61-101 1987 Cleveland Indians had a tie at the top, with reliever Scott Bailes joining knuckleballers Tom Candiotti and Phil Niekro at seven wins apiece.

The Mariners have a real shot at joining this illustrious group. Meche and Villone will be hard pressed to wins two more games. Jamie Moyer, sitting at seven wins already, will start probably two more games this year. The way Moyer's been knocked around all year, it wouldn't be difficult at all for the M's to blow Moyer's final two outings and put themselves in the record books. Go M's!