Many “experts” picked the Mariners as their darkhorse in the A.L. West. They were very wrong! The Mariners finished up the first half of the season with a 35-53 record which has them in last place in the A.L. West, 15 games behind the Rangers. It has not all been bad for the Mariners so here’s a lot at the surprises and disappointments for the Mariners in the first half of the year:

Pleasant Surprises: The Mariners didn’t expect much out of 27-year old lefty starting pitcher Jason Vargas but he has been outstanding so far this year. Vargas has started 17 games for the Mariners this year and he is 6-4 with a 3.09 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP. 26-year old righty starting pitcher Doug Fister looked decent at the end of 2009. He has been very solid in 2010 for the Mariners. Fister has started 13 games for the Mariners so far this season and he is 3-4 with a 3.09 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP. 29-year old SS Josh Wilson started the season in the minors but he took over as the starter at SS when Jack Wilson got injured. Josh Wilson has played in 56 games for the Mariners this year and he is 50 of 189 (.265 avg, .663 OPS) with 14 runs scored, 1 homer, 14 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. 36-year old DH Mike Sweeney has been solid for the Mariners, when healthy. He has played in 30 games for the Mariners this season and he is 26 of 99 (.263 avg, .802 OPS) with 11 runs scored, 6 homers, 18 RBIs and 2 stolen bases.

Disappointments: The Mariners sure have a lot of guys who fit this description but I will only list the Top Five. 32-year old switch hitting 2B Chone Figgins was supposed to give the Mariners an awesome 1-2 punch at the top of the order with Ichiro…but that hasn’t happened yet. Figgins has played in 87 games for the Mariners this year and he is 75 of 319 (.235 avg, .608 OPS) with 38 runs scored, 0 homers, 22 RBIs and 24 stolen bases. 27-year old lefty swinging Casey Kotchman has been so bad at first base that the Mariners traded for two guys to replace him in Russell Branyan and Justin Smoak. Kotchman has played in 69 games for the Mariners this year and he is 47 of 216 (.218 avg, .670 OPS) with 20 runs scored, 7 homers and 29 RBIs. Ken Griffey Jr. was so awful ths season for the Mariners that he decided to retire so he could catch up on his sleep. Griffey played in 33 games in his last year with the Mariners and he was 18 of 98 (.184 avg, .454 OPS) with 6 runs scored, 0 homers and 7 RBIs. 32-year old switch hitting OF Milton Bradley was supposed to really help the offense in 2010 but it hasn’t turned out that way. Bradley has played in 62 games for the Mariners this year and he is 44 of 210 (.210 avg, .661 OPS) with 24 runs scored, 8 homers, 28 RBIs and 6 stolen bases. 28-year old righty reliever David Aardsma had a breakout 2009 as the Mariners’ closer. But he has been awful this year for the Mariners. Aardsma has pitched in 31 games (0 starts) for the Mariners this year and he was 0-6 with 16 saves, a 5.40 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP.

The Mariners are 6-7 on the season which has them tied for 2nd place in the A.L. West with the Angels, 2.5 games behind the A’s. The Mariners have been outscored 50-45 this season as they still aren’t hitting the ball which has caused them to waste some pretty good pitching. The Mariners play three games at home against the Orioles before traveling to Chicago this coming up weekend for a 3 game set against the White Sox. Those two teams have a combined record of 6-20 on the season so the Mariners appear to be catching both of them at the right time.

The Mariners are now 2-5 on the season which has them tied for last place in the A.L. West with the Angels, 3 games behind the A’s. The Mariners have been outscored 35-21 so far this season as they have not pitched or hit well this year. The Mariners hope that some home cooking will give the Mariners a jolt this week. The host the A’s for three games starting tonight and then they hook up with the Tigers for three games this coming up weekend.

The Mariners lost three out of four games to the Oakland A’s to start the 2010 season. The Mariners were outscored 17-13 by the A’s as they wasted some good pitching. The main problem against the A’s was the hitting. If you take Franklin Gutierrez, Jose Lopez and Matt Tuiasosopo’s stats away, the rest of the team hit a paltry .144 against the A’s and that just isn’t good enough to get the job done. The Mariners are traveling to Texas to take on the Rangers this weekend against a Rangers’ team that is also struggling so far this season at 1-2.

The Mariners have signed 33 year old Miguel Cairo to a 2-year contract. The righty swinging Cairo played in 82 games last season for the Yankees and Cardinals and he was 44 for 174 (.253 avg) with 20 runs scored, 15 RBIs and 10 stolen bases. Cairo has now played in 1,092 games in his major league career and he is 826 for 3,095 (.267 avg, .674 OPS) with 392 runs scored, 27 homers, 295 RBIs and 123 stolen bases. This was a good signing for the Mariners as Cairo is a solid player off of the bench.