And so Mike Hargrove leaves.

As anyone who's read this blog on a regular basis- all five of you, that means- would know of the disdain I hold for Mike Hargrove. During his brief tenure at the helm of the Mariners, he made questionable strategical choices, poor judgement of players' ability resulting in increased playing time for undeserving players and vice-versa, and over-all set the bar of low expectations for the entire team, never seeming able to create a result from the aggregate portions of the team.

A good manager can instill a drive from a team leading to results that defy expectations. Hargrove's managing style certainly lacked passion or emotion, and almost seemed resigned to accept subpar results from their team. As I've pointed out before, as a manager, Hargrove is nearly a cipher in the dugout, with the caliber of his players or the decisions made by the front office defining him, rather than the other way around. He rose to prominence- and the World Series- as the manager of some insanely talented Cleveland Indian clubs, but was it his managerial skills that led to the team's success, or the collection of talent that the Cleveland front office collected during the 1990s? The Baltimore Orioles teams had a pretty good collection of talented players as well, and were a team that had reached the playoffs shortly before Hargrove's arrival. But three consecutive late-season collapses helped turn that team into a laughing stock (coupled with the ineptitude of Baltimore's front office) and Hargrove was chased out of town by irate Baltimore fans, to eventually show up in Mariner teal a year later.

As manager of the Mariners, Hargrove played the role of the care-taker, shaping and molding this current version of the team, which could more accurately be referred to as Bill Bavasi's team. He played a conservative, careful brand of baseball which, besides the rare poorly timed call for a bunt by Jose Lopez, relied more on what the players did well rather than what they could do. As such Ichiro ran and hit and Richie swung from his heels at everything. More often than not there appeared to be a lack of an indelible stamp on this team, similar to the effect predecessor Bob Melvin had on the Mariners. In short, after nearly a decade of being influenced by the fiery temperament of Lou Pinella leading to a run of playoff appearances, it has appeared that the Mariners have been led by managers taking a snooze on the clubhouse bench, with results to match.

And so Hargrove is gone, and perhaps by leaving the team now on his own terms, he may be doing the team a huge favor. For as he's no longer associated with the team, the Mariners no longer run the risk of succumbing to Hargrovitis, and dropping 35 of their last 40 games or anything of that magnitude of ineptitude. It's preferable this way, as it casts all the parties in a positive light. Despite his faults as a manager that won't be realized by those that don't closely follow the Seattle Mariners, Hargrove comes across as the paragon of decency, walking away from the game he's known for nearly four decades because his heart hasn't (obviously) been into it for some time, and he gets to spend time with his family. With the compliments he gave the m's front office, and the sentiments returned by Bavasi, the organization comes across in a good light, despite the questionable decisions made by Bavasi and Co. that any close Mariner fan would be able to list. And the emotions expressed by John McClaren, the bench coach who is now the new M's manager- with no 'interim' designation- provided the human stamp on yesterday's news, as he was obviously conflicted at taking the managing job he's always sought, but not wanting to move in and replace a friend at mid-stream. Especially when that stream is an eight-game winning streak, continued with yesterday's 2-1 win to finish their second consecutive home sweep, this time of the Toronto Blue Jays.

What kind of manager will McClaren be, and what kind of personality will he affect the team with? Who knows, but at yesterday's press conference, McClaren said he had a "lot of Lou" in him, which hopefully will translate in a fiery, passionate level of play by the team. If they've been playing .667 ball over the past month with a manager who's been a sleep-walking zombie, what kind of results will the team be getting with a manager who's 100% involved?

Oh, and the game yesterday provided its own set of dramatics, besides the obvious subtext of the last game being managed by Grover. A second consecutive pitching duel by the two teams- this time provided by a match-up of Jeff Weaver and Shawn Marcum- resulted in a scoreless tie through six innings before Frank Thomas Frank Thomas led off the seventh inning with a solo home run. However, that was all the Blue Jays were able to manage, as Weaver relied on a variety of arm angles and ball speeds to keep the Blue Jays off balance, contributing his third consecutive quality start by allowing just one run on seven hits through eight innings. Keeping it close allowed the Mariners a chance to catch the Blue Jays, as Jose Guillen single-handedly won the game for the Mariners, and Grover, with an eighth-inning solo home run, and a ninth-inning RBI single, which plated Beltre with the game-winning run. With his 1-for-3 day, Beltre's average ended the game at .259.

After their fantastically successful 10-2 twelve-game homestand, the Mariners take their show on the road, with their first step at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, with their first match-up against old friend Gil Meche, who is now a newly-minted All Star. Meche has split two decisions against the Mariners, in the last one allowing seven earned runs in just over four innings last May. Ichiro and Guillen have hit home runs off Meche, while combining to go 8-for-18 (.444 average) against him. However, Beltre and Sexson have combined to pick up just four hits in 19 at-bats against Meche.

Felix Hernandez takes the mound for the Mariners, and if he's able to stay away from the early-count fastballs that opposing hitters eem to wait on (thus leading to an opposing average against of .304 so far this season) Felix should be bale to have a similar outing as he did against the Pirates a couple of weeks back. In 13 career innings over two starts against the Kansas City Royals, Felix has allowed three earned runs and struck out sixteen as he has dominated the Royals to win both starts. Felix has allowed no home runs and only two extra-base hits out of the twelve collected by Royals hitters against Felix.

So expect a low-scoring affair, but with the Mariners coming out on top in their first game maanged by McClaren. I see the final score along the lines of 6-1.