"Last month I wrote that Chone Figgins had managed to overtake Bobby Ayala to become my most disliked Mariner of all-time.

Sherman Polinder, a reader, thought I was too harsh in that column and sent me an email:

"May I make a friendly suggestion?" Polinder asked. "Would you consider apologizing publicly to Figgins? Apologize and give him some encouragement. He may respond. There is a fine line between success and failure in this business.

"If you would be willing to take that albatross off his back , he may lighten up just enough that he would start relaxing at the plate.

"The reason I'm approaching you is because I think you're man enough to do something like this. Why do I think that? Because you are a Cougar. Most Cougars have some class."

Turns out that Polinder's a fellow Coug - he graduated from WSU in 1964, 14 years before I did. Why he had to throw that Cougar stuff in there, I'm not sure, but it made me stop and think about Figgins more than I would have otherwise.

"Apologize to Figgins?" I thought. "For what exactly?"

He's done nothing to justify his $36 million contract and came off like a jerk during the Don Wakamatsu dust-up last year, making it doubly hard to be sympathetic. If he played in New York or Philadelphia, this guy would have been chewed up and spat out already. In Seattle, the media have been relatively soft on him.

Since that column was written on April 24, Figgins has gone from mostly to completely punchless - after Monday's 0-for-3 effort against the Orioles, he's 3-for-his-last-39, lowering his average to .190.

Before the game, manager Eric Wedge announced that the torrid Brendan Ryan would hit second in the order, dropping Figgins to eighth. That move didn't help Figgins on Monday."