The Mariners return home today having surpassed the quarter-season mark in 2012. Their current 19-24 record is identical to their 43-game mark a year ago, when they finished 67-95.

With a .442 winning percentage (or, as I like to call it, a .558 losing percentage), the Mariners are on pace to win 71 or 72 games this season, which would mean a third straight year with at least 90 losses. But I think they'll be better than that by season's end. Then again, I'm expecting it to be sunny today.

Here at The Brewery, we'll spend the next few days reviewing the Mariners now that they're more than a quarter through 2012. Here's the first post, hitting some of the high and low points of a streaky team. It's just a general appetizer to get started. We'll go more in depth on various issues later, and I'll also answer some questions that readers submitted via Twitter.

Best moment: The first game of the Tokyo trip Ichiro returned home and collected four hits in a 3-1 season-opening victory over Oakland. Dustin Ackley homered. Felix Hernandez threw eight impressive innings, but he didn't get the win because the game was tied at 1 when he left. But in the eleventh inning, Ackley drove in the go-ahead run, and Ichiro's homecoming was a successful one. And waking up at 3 a.m. to watch the game was worth it. And it has been all downhill since then. (OK, that's not true, but I couldn't resist saying that, for some reason.)

My latest column -- on Mariners manager Eric Wedge and the fine line he walks as he tries to get more out of the Mariners without losing them -- is accompanied by The Seattle Times' poll question du jour (What do you think of Wedge's discipline?).

If you haven't done so already, click on the above link to hear my thoughts on Wedge. Here's gist in four paragraphs:

Wedge is doing what he was hired to do. He's trying to bring discipline and accountability to this team, and if you recall some of the unprofessionalism and borderline buffoonery that plagued the clubhouse before Wedge arrived — during the 2008 and 2010 seasons in particular — then you know his approach is necessary.

Still, I'm wondering two things as he attempts to transform the ballclub.

Will his discipline be selective or universal?

And if he does wind up prodding every underperforming player in the same manner, can he do so without alienating, or even intimidating, too much of the team?

Now, it's your turn to respond by voting in the poll below and/or dropping a line in the comments section. I'm working on a big quarter-season report about the Mariners, who will hit the 40-game mark later this week. So I am going to be throwing several questions at you about the M's over the next few days to get your take and see how they match up with my thoughts.

Let's start with Wedge and talk more later today.

The Sporting News has released its ranking of all 124 Division I Football Bowl Subdivision coaches. How do Washington State's Mike Leach and Washington's Steve Sarkisian stack up?

Very good, actually.

Leach is No. 17 overall. Sarkisian, who has been a head coach for only three seasons, is No. 30. Not surprisingly, Alabama's Nick Saban tops the list.

Oregon's Chip Kelly is the highest-ranked Pac-12 coach at No. 6. Earlier this week, as the prolific Bob Condotta noted, the Sporting News ranked coaches by conference. Click here to look at the Pac-12.

Here's how they stack up overall: Chip (No. 6), Leach (17), USC's Lane Kiffin (20), Utah's Kyle Whittingham (21), Sarkisian (30), Stanford's David Shaw (32), Arizona's Rich Rodriguez (39), Oregon State's Mike Riley (55), California's Jeff Tedford (57), UCLA's Jim Mora (68), Arizona State's Todd Graham (75), Colorado's Jon Embree (106).

What does it all mean? Whatever you want it to, really. It's mostly just fodder for a fun debate. It'll be interesting to see who lives up -- or down -- to these rankings.

Refuse to lose?

Isn't that the Mariners' old motto from 1995?

On Monday at Safeco Field, I witnessed a variation of that theme, via the extremely wild Detroit pitcher Octavio Dotel:

Refuse to throw a strike.

I have this argument with friends all the time. Actually, it's more like a lament.

When the Sonics left four years ago and became the Oklahoma City Thunder, the most unfortunate part was that we lost Kevin Durant, who was destined to be the city's next transcendent star, an enchanting athlete who would brand Seattle sports in a positive manner, the next Ken Griffey Jr., Shawn Kemp, Gary Payton, Ichiro, etc., in terms of making us undeniably relevant. Without Durant, Seattle is currently a city without a superstar, and not coincidentally, it's a city without a marquee team.

But the argument is where Felix Hernandez fits into this conversation. He's something short of a superstar, but he's one of the best pitchers in baseball, a 2010 Cy Young Award winner, and at 26, he's only getting better and more mature.

Does he influence winning? Well, that's the problem. The Mariners have yet to even sniff the playoffs with King Felix, but in baseball, it's impossible to expect a starting pitcher,who makes 32-35 starts a year, to carry a team. Hernandez has done his job. Over the past four seasons, Hernandez has a 49-32 record with a 2.67 ERA, 13 complete games and 722 strikeouts in 774 1/3 innings. And during this span, the Mariners have just one winning season and an overall record of 225-290 (.437 winning percentage). Hernandez is the ace of, well, what?

The Mariners return to Safeco Field today, and they bring home a depressing present -- a six-game losing streak.

At 11-16, they're already seven games behind first-place Texas in the American League West. They're just a half game ahead of last-place Anaheim, so the division cellar may soon be theirs. Most disappointing, though, is that the Mariners are in another one of their offensive funks, having scored only 12 runs during this losing streak. It included an embarrassing 0-for-30 skid with runners in scoring position.

After scoring 30 runs and winning the first four games of the road trip, the Mariners are in a free fall. More than a month into this season, they resemble the same offensively-challenged ballclub that they have been since 2008. They're hitting .237 with a .633 on-base-plus-slugging percentage and are averaging only 3.7 runs per game.

Now, it's time for manager Eric Wedge to show us what he's going to do about it.

As I normally do, I am posting my weekly Thursday afternoon visit on Sportsradio KJR.

Click here to listen.

We covered a variety of topics today, including the Sounders FC's enduring fan support, the team's hot start and Seattle's status as a true soccer city. We also touch upon Junior Seau's death, life for athletes after professional sports, concussions, the NBA players, leftovers from the NFL draft and that unavoidable struggling team -- the Mariners.

I'm working on a piece about the M's for this space on Friday, so I don't want to cannibalize my writing. But as you listen to the podcast of that radio interview with Elise Woodward, you'll hear that I'm just about ready to call for Mariners manager Eric Wedge to make the first-base job an open competition.

I meant to post this yesterday, but I was delayed. Nevertheless, you need to check out Seahawks general manager John Schneider's revealing 25-minute interview with Dave "Softy" Mahler on Sportsradio KJR. It's the most insightful interview of this draft season.

Here is a link to the podcast.

In the interview, Schneider details the Seahawks draft in greater detail than he did last weekend. He said the Seahawks liked a cluster of three defensive players with their first-round pick: safety Mark Barron, linebacker Luke Kuechly and defensive Bruce Irvin, who wound up being their pick. Barron went No. 7 overall to Tampa Bay, so we'll never know how the Seahawks would've handled the wild idea of adding another impact safety to a group that already includes Pro BowlersEarl Thomas and Kam Chancellor. Kuechly went No. 9 to Carolina. But Irvin was still available at No. 12. Of course, Schneider moved down to No. 15, took his guy and added an extra fourth and sixth round pick in a trade with Philadelphia.

Asked what the Seahawks would've doneif Irvin hadn't been available, Schneider mentioned Melvin Igram, Shean McClellin and Chandler Jones.