THE FRONT ROW with Jason Elliott Nelke July 20, 2011

Sports are funny sometimes.

One minute you can be in the midst of a nine-game winning streak and another you could be facing the thought of trading some of your best players in an attempt to get better for the future.

No matter where the Seattle Mariners wind up come July 31, they're about as close this season as they will get in 2011.

But at least they're getting fans to Safeco Field to watch.

WHEN THE season began, there were some hopes that between pitchers Felix Hernandez and Michael Pineda, they could find ways to keep scores close to make up for a lack of offense.

Both have done as such, with Jason Vargas and Doug Fister making some strong starts while taking the mound.

Even Erik Bedard, who has been a fantasy baseball sleeper on my roster, had been pitching well until an injury has derailed his season.

But with a large lack in offense, the team again finds themselves on a downward spiral.

Entering Tuesday, the Mariners had lost nine straight games, with losses in key series against the Los Angeles Angels and Texas Rangers, both teams they'll need to beat to get a playoff berth this year.

That probably won't happen, no matter how many scoreless innings Hernandez and company can put in their remaining games.

At least the team gave their fans a glimpse of what winning is supposed to look like as they celebrated their 116-win season of 2001 on Saturday night.

While they didn't make it to the World Series, it was the best success they'd had since the Seattle SuperSonics won the NBA title in 1979. The Sonics got back to the NBA finals in 1996, but came up short to the Chicago Bulls, who won a record 72 games that season.

THE MARINERS will celebrate the success of the Sonics franchise during their next homestand when they'll face the Tampa Bay Rays.

Hopefully the current Mariners will get a chance to taste a bit of glory before they return from games in Toronto, Boston and New York because, if not, it could be a long weekend.

Celebrating a franchise which currently plays its home games in Oklahoma City sounds a few years too late.

If fans were really into celebrating the Sonics' glory, then why were they playing in a half-empty KeyArena in their final two years in Seattle?

When the Seahawks take the field again at CenturyLink Field, they'll be coming off a playoff appearance - no matter how ugly the regular season was to watch.

Should the Mariners continue to play at their current pace, the next get-together in 20 years won't carry the same excitement.

Thinking back to the glory days of David Bell at third base, Charles Gipson in left field and John Halama in the starting rotation.

Only problem, those games could be played in Portland by that time.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d'Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected].