The All-Star break came at a good time for me and all 25 of the Mariners not selected for the All-Star game.  Not just because it gave me the chance to watch good baseball (caveats: Jose Lopez plays better defense than Dan Uggla and Josh Hamilton probably wouldn’t get into double digits if that home run derby was in Safeco Field).  It gave me the chance to realize that even Mariners baseball (and by association, Yuniesky Betancourt) is good.  Sure, I could harp on the team for not being as awesome as the A’s, or call on Yuni to stop swinging.  I could suggest that the M’s trade Ichiro or (god forbid) trade Yuni to the Dodgers for Andre Ethier and Chin-Lung Hu (phtew!).  Instead of wishing for excellence, I’ll accept this team and their shortstop’s mediocrity.

After all:
-Yuni had a much better second half of the season last year.
-It’s exciting to know that just about every time Yuni steps up to the plate, he’ll put the ball in play. Walks are good for baseball, but aren’t that exciting. Who knows where Yuni will hit the ball? (Well, he probably won’t hit it over the fence.)
-Yuni’s exciting on the basepaths. (Exciting does include getting doubled up on routine fly balls to right field, however.)
-Yuni’s got a bobblehead giveaway in less than a month. I still maintain that this potential draw to fans (August 8th! Get your Tickets!) will prevent Yuni from being shipped off before the July 31st trading deadline.

I’ve decided to stop being optimist and stop hoping for good things to come. I’ll just accept the Mariners for the rest of the season, and try to label as much of it as I can as good or fun.