One could argue that the most competent aspect of the Seattle Mariners organization is their marketing department. Year in and year out they come up with fairly humorous and enjoyable commercial campaigns designed to paper over the fact that the Mariners are not a Major League Baseball team anymore. In their latest set of commercials, designed to fire up the Seattle faithful about the upcoming 2011 campaign, the Mariner marketers go beyond simple advertising and ingeniously and unwittingly stumble upon the clubs best chance of posting a winning record. That formula comes in the shape of Larry Bernandez.
As the commercial begins, the Mariners new manager, Erik Wedge, walks/trots/shuffles out to the pitcher’s mound to confront ace pitcher, and 2010 Cy Young award winner, Felix Hernandez. Dressed in disguise, Hernandez is attempting to pitch a second game in row, going by the alias “Larry Bernandez.” Wedge, making his first official mistake as Mariners skipper, let’s Hernandez know that he has seen through the disguise and will not let him pitch on back-to-back days.
All in all, it’s a very entertaining commercial befitting the standards established by the Mariners organization. My only issue with it is this – Wedge REALLY ought to let Bernandez pitch. The Mariners pitching staff does not have talent that even approaches what Bernandez brings to the table. What’s more, if the Mariners are implying that the team now has an established superstar who is willing to do whatever it takes to win, to include dressing up in disguise to get onto the field – then that spirit needs to be applauded by the new manager, not benched. If Wedge is looking for a superstar who will get in line with the mantra of mediocrity that the club has established, he should head on out to right field for some stretching exercises.
Ultimately, the bottom line is that I am unlikely to attend any Mariners games this year unless Hernandez/Bernandez is pitching. That is because Hernandez/Bernandez is a great pitcher and sort of seems to inspire his teammates to play harder when he’s on the mound (I assume this is to avoid the embarrassment of having to face Hernandez/Bernandez in the Locker room after he throws a complete game shut out and gets a no decision). If the Mariner’s organization were smart – they’d find more ways to get Bernandez on the mound, even if it means that he pitches every day.
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