There's Nothing Like a 3-6-2-2 Triple Play

In the course of a 162-game schedule, stuff just happens.

The Seattle Mariners know a thing or two about that. Favored to win the American League West, they're seen their entire season become stuff that just happens.

Then there's the Toronto Blue Jays, playing in a division that's been there for the taking, and they just keep happening to themselves.

With those factors in mind, here's baseball's version of a movable force meeting a resistable object:

Those bases can be slippery, all right. Someone needs to call OSHA before this becomes an international incident.

Are greater forces at work, here? Is playing in the same city as the Maple Leafs rubbing off on the Blue Jays? Is there so much bad Seattle hockey karma that it's spilling over to the Mariners?

There are theories.

• Try the Curse of Tulo; at least, Toronto is repentant.
• There's something in the water -- such as it is -- in Peoria, Arizona. The Padres aren't exactly having a breakout season, either.

Too bad Ed Wood has advanced to the Great Beyond. If the Mariners indeed do fire their general manager, he would've been a natural replacement.

Then again, under Plan 9, he's still in the running.