I think it's emblematic of the wholesale apathy of the M's fan base that Felix Hernandez could throw a 9-inning shutout of the Texas Rangers and there isn't even a post about it, much less a gameday thread.

If the owners are interested in selling, they'd better do it soon, because the interest of the fans is in free fall, and that can't enhance the value of the franchise.

Felix being Felix. Nothing more to say. Long live The King.

To be honest Bro I'm tired of all the negativeness on this board it was draining the life out of me. Felix throws a shutout... Zunino has a great game... The M's win all is talked about is how Smoak this...Wedge $&:;b. etc...

"It reminds me of the saying misery loves company". Now I know why all the old posters left Izzy, I8mybike etc...

I should add that I understand criticism, venting, PO'd I do it as well. What kind of fans are we if we don't care and show some emotion.

However some of the hyperbole is ridiculous.

And 7 runs from the offense.

It's frustration. Sports fans are fickle anyway, so even when their teams are in contention, they tend to live and die by every score. But when the losing gets to be chronic and there's no hope of competing for anything, gloom tends to become the overwhelming sentiment. When your hopes get set up with a lot of hype over a player (Smoak, for instance) and he produces nothing but disappointment, fans start feeling hopeless. We've been losing too often and for too long. Under the circumstances, there's little justification for optimism. It's like hearing politicians feeding us the same lies year after year, decade after decade. Cynicism thrives under those conditions. Fool me twice, etc.

I had to take a couple year break myself. I've seen this movie before...Major League.

Strange how this team has dominated Darvish. They got all seven runs off of him. Sometimes I wonder if Yaumuchi isn't paying Darvish or his family off? The success they have had against him, which has a allowed them to be pretty successful over the Rangers all together this season, has been a bright spot for this team.

Fans know the song and dance. We just happen to have the best pitcher in baseball throwing for us every five days. Did you see anything tonight that you haven't seen before?

Run support for Felix?

Not that it is ever the pitcher's fault when they don't get run support, but I don't think it is coincidence that Felix rarely does get run support. The scoring and pace the game goes on defense affects the offense.

37-52. 16.5 games out of the division lead. On track for a 3rd straight year of under 70 wins. Some of the hyped young talents are stumbling. Ms fans do not have to look very far for justification to be gloomy. A periodic gem from Felix only goes so far.

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> Some of the hyped young talents are stumbling.

OH be quiet. If you had even the slightest clue about how a typical player development path works I might care what you have to say.

There's nothing wrong with saying some of your young players are stumbling. They are. When someone makes a definitive conclusion based on that is when things get stupid.

Hi fans of another 4th place finish. Next year, 5th place, under current ownership. But we'll be good in 3 years! Really!

"OH be quiet. If you had even the slightest clue about how a typical player development path works I might care what you have to say."

OK I want you to list off MULTIPLE players that have struggled to this extent at this stage of their development and turned out to be good players. Again I am talking about many that fall under this pattern and not just a few outliers. Show me many so that I know the chances are good.

That is it exactly, you hit that nail square on that little head. Hey, I've been around some pretty darned bad teams in my day, and for the most part, you let it roll off your back and with each new season, you start fresh and hope that this may be the year you do better, but in order to gain optimism, you must start with something that gives you optimism, and with the M's, it's just not there yet, as they still, just keep losing and end up in last place. We all, with our teams, put up with losing seasons, it's the nature of the beast that you're a winner for only so long, and one day you plummet back to earth, and it's happened to ALL teams at one time or another, and that trend will continue with the Angels and Rangers in our division. Right now, they're winners, and look almost invincible, but they weren't always that way, they both have had some very stinky seasons, and for more than just a year or two, I mean, look at how long the Rangers looked downright awful!, and the same with the Angels, they've had some bad seasons as well, over the years, but they found the right guys to lead the team and look at them now, especially since Scioscia took over as manager. Look at the Rangers, especially since Washington took the reins. The right people at the right time, and put the right manager with the right players, and what do you get?............A Winner. I mean, there have been some real stinkers finally make it to the promised land, and they put up with an awful lot of losing teams and seasons. But, be that as it may, Yes, you can become 'jaded' after so many losing seasons, and there just comes a time when you've had enough losing, and you want those who lead to do just that, and if they can't find the leadership to make the team, if nothing else, a contender, then you go find the guys that can do it, and keep trying until you do find them. The players help too, of course, I mean, they're the firing pins that make the team go, but by the same token, you need the right leadership to steer and inspire them, to do what they do best..................PLAY!!!

Look at this list of batters 24 and under:

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/batting/_/maxage/24/sort/OPS/order/true

Then look at these Baseball America rankings:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/rankings/top-100-prospects/2010/269546.html

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/rankings/top-100-prospects/2011/2611316.html

Montero ranked right below Trout, Harper and Stanton. What happened?

Before some knucklehead comes in here and interprets that as "hey look, we have 3 guys in the top 22" keep in mind that most organizations would have these guys in the minors right now. That list gets very unimpressive after the top 11

The question these lists suggest to me is, why are the Mariners prospects universally underperforming players of the same age and comparable rank? Why is Mike Trout an MVP candidate while Jesus Montero, with the same batting rank from Baseball America, continues to slide into sub-replacement-level performance? And Montero is the bright spot! Smoak's batting rank was right up there with Trout and Stanton, and he's a complete bust. Ackley, too, was among the top prospects, and he's on the skids. One can't say "well, this is just the development curve for young hitters." Apparently, Trout, Stanton, Goldschmidt, Altuve, Harper, Lawrie, etc., didn't get the memo.

Sorry, but there's something wrong with this franchise and its handling of young hitters.