A lot from a lefty

Sorry. Not much out there this morning.

It looks like the only post for today will be this one about ex-Rattler Ryan Rowland Smith ('03) from The Olympian in, um, Olympia.

Big year expected from lefty
Pitcher Ryan Rowland-Smith says he learned from an up-and-down season

Don Wakamatsu's face breaks into a grin, then grows serious. It's clear the subject of the conversation - Ryan Rowland-Smith - fills the customarily cool Mariners manager with some emotion.

“I really like Ryan Rowland-Smith,” Wakamatsu said Saturday as the grin slowly returned. “I like his intensity. I like how he competes. I think he’s going to have a big year for us.”
...
“Last year I went though a lot of ups and downs personally,” Rowland-Smith said from Mariners FanFest.

There were a few ups and mostly downs for Rowland-Smith, and he was left to find his way out of the downs.

“You go through a situation where it’s sort of like you are left telling yourself, ‘I have to pitch my way out of the situation,’ ” he said. “It wasn’t because of this or because of that. It was because of nothing. I have to pitch my way out of this situation. On the mental side of it, it really helped me. It makes you more aware. You have to perform and you have to show (you are) able to perform at this level.”

Remember, Seattle is in Milwaukee May 25-27.