Sportsfrog.com

Saw the announcement in the bottom corner of the ESPNews crawl and decided that it would make the finals of the “Huh, what?” awards for 2007, as, if you are at all a baseball zealot, you were aware that the Mariners had been playing good (damn good, actually) ball and are in the playoff hunt. A quick check of the standings would confirm, that, yes, the Mariners are for real.

So why would the manager of such a surprisingly successful team step away? Apparently because of the Dick Vermeil. That is, no more fire (maybe, because Hargrove was already amending that angle later on Sunday). Which Art Thiel in the Seattle Post finds absolutely bizarre, even for Hargrove. A sample:

“A fair question becomes: Who or what betrayed Hargrove? No one and nothing, he claims. One alternative is to believe Hargrove is a quitter, someone who bailed on his team when they were finally turning a four-year-old corner. But that is hard to accept, too, given what he said before the season and seemed to underscore through three months of unanticipated success — he was excited. Asked specifically if he was a victim of burnout, loss of passion or changes in the game, Hargrove offered an unequivocal no to each.

But he never truly explained himself — to his bosses, players, fans or himself. Hargrove strained mightily to say his resignation was caused by no one among Mariners management, staff or roster, going so far as to say that Bavasi ‘was the greatest general manager I’ve ever worked for.’ Hargrove’s critics will say that’s just another reason for him to be gone. But they are having a harder time explaining the team’s success.”

Yeah, weird. In every respect. At any rate, the day became an odd advertisement for Die Hard 4: Bruce Willis Looking Old, as the announcement of John McLaren as the replacement led to momentary confusion with the aged John McLain character. And he gets to manage a team that has now won eight in a row and is just four games behind the Angels and one game behind the Tigers in the Wild Card (current standings here). Which is to say, more than just a little pressure for McLaren.