Posted by basebal5 on Tuesday, June 10, 2008 at 4:41 pm

…The heads have started to roll in Seattle as the Mariners fired their hitting coach Jeff Pentland yesterday. The Mariners are next to dead last in the American League in hitting, and GM Bill Bavasi hopes the change will improve the lack luster offense of the worst team in the American League. The Mariners promoted Lee Elia who was a special instructor with the M's to the position that Pentland held.

“Jeff has an excellent and proven track record, and those of us who have worked with him are well aware he knows hitting,” Bavasi said. “Unfortunately, we have consistently, and for an extended period, underperformed at the plate and we are hopeful that a different voice might help the situation.”

To me this seems more like a ceremonial move than anything, I mean if they aren't hitting now what makes you so sure Elia is going to get the job done?

…Speaking of changes, there are changes behind the dish in Detroit. Manager Jim Leyland has decided to platoon Ivan Rodriguez with Brandon Inge in hopes of getting the 36 year-old catcher some rest and with Pudge's contract up at the end of the year, this maybe a tryout to see if Inge can be the catcher of Detroit's future.

…Since their collapse at the end of last year, the New York Mets have been..well pretty mediocre and it seems that their GM agrees.

“Well, .500 is not acceptable,” Minaya said. “For me, it’s not acceptable because we’re better than that. It’s not so much about the investment. It’s about what this team is about and what this team, talent-wise, is.”

So how long before the NY media starts in on the “Willie Randolph” must go bandwagon..again?

…The press cycle hasn't stopped on Sidney Ponson. Kevin Sharrington of the Dallas Morning News reports that Sir Sidney challenged manager Ron Washington to release him. Well I guess you get what you ask for…