Ok, I figured we should separate up the posts because the last one was reaching War and Peace-type length. And even though it's my job, I can't always slog my way through an epic post.

Anyway, let's get to what Jack Zduriencik had to say about the day's worth of interviews and the overall managerial search process.

First of all, two more managerial candidates will come in on Wednesday. Don Wokamatsu will come in the morning and Randy Ready comes in the afternoon, and sometime between that Zduriencik has to go to a season ticket luncheon.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the conference call came late, when Zduriencik was asked about whether or not any names could be added to the seven-person candidate pool.

"Not at this time, although I continue to get phone calls," Zduriencik said. "I suspect that it could happen. This list wasn't all inclusive. It's a good starting point. It's a group of guys I felt comfortable with. Could someone else emerge? That's possible."

OK, so this could be taking a little longer than we thought.

As for this evening's re-scheduled interview, Zduriencik seemed upbeat.

"We made up the time," Zduriencik said. "He (Chip Hale) was scheduled to be in here much earlier. We would have gone to dinner afterwards, but we just reversed the plans. We went to dinner first. It was very relaxing and maybe it even worked to a benefit whereas he was a little more comfortable and a little more relaxed then sitting in a formal interview. We did sit around 40 minutes just talking. And we'll meet for a little while after this."

"All in all we both got a really good feel for each other and it worked out very well."

As for this morning's candidate - Joey Cora - Zduriencik also seemed pleased.

"He was impressive, a high-energy guy," Zduriencik said. "He was very well prepared and presented himself in a very positive light. I was impressed with his genuine care for this area and his experiences since he's been a player and as he's been in different roles in the minor leagues and major leagues. And how he's grown and matured and taken from his experiences and has taken a step forward to prepare himself for such a position as this."

As for Cora's association and familiarity with the Mariners having played here, Zduriencik said "it doesn't hurt" but was clear that wasn't a significant advantage over the rest.

"You'd like to have good people," Zduriencik said. "And any time anyone has a relationship with an organization, it could possibly work in their favor. that's not going to be the determining factor by any means. The fact that he does care for this area and this community is very nice to hear, but when the day's said and done, we'll make the decision under the premise the guy we hire will be the best person for this organization at this point in time."

Much has been made about Cora lobbying to get an interview and having White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen and GM Kenny Williams call in reference for him. Zduriencik said he was aware of Cora before that, pointing out that Milwaukee isn't far from Chicago in terms of baseball coverage.

"My list was pretty long as you guys well know," he said. "I had a lot of names on that list. Right after I got the job, I began to get phone calls about different people and Joey was one particular guy that I got several phone calls from people not related to this organization. And when I came on board a few people mentioned his name in the office."

One thing that Zduriencik said he must do is not get caught up with the most recent candidates, when there are still some left to be interviewed.

"To be fair to every candidate, you may like candidate A, B, C and you haven't even talked to D and F yet," he said. "You have to be open-minded. This is not any different than scouting. You are out there looking for the best talent and when the day's said and done, sometimes the talent might be the first person you see and it might be the last person you see.

"I told every single candidate that I did not go into this thing with any preconceived ideas. I don't have a cookie cutter on exactly what I'm looking for. Some of these guys, as they speak and sell themselves and present themselves in a positive light, is going to help me. It's going to help me create a little bit more of what I'm looking for. I know what I want. I know what we need. And all of these guys so far have been impressive."

While Zduriencik asks the bulk of the questions in the interview, he was asked if the candidates query him about the direction the team will be taking in the next few years.

"I've been open with them," Zduriencik said. "I tell them we're a little bit open-minded to where we are headed. I present several scenarios to them and ask them how they would handle either scenario. Their responses have been very open-minded and understanding and in some case offered some suggestions that I thought were good suggestions."

Good evening, we've got a really big show for you tonight. Our special guest is Mariners managerial candidate Chip Hale.

Chip Hale in his managing days with the Tucson Sidewinders

The reason for the late-night affair is that Mr. Hale's flight out of Tucson was stuck on the tarmac for awhile and then stuck on the tarmac and delayed in Phoenix, causing him to miss his connecting flight to Seattle.

So that obviously delayed the interview process and our subsequent conference call with Hale and Jack Zduriencik.

So let's get into what Hale, who's the current third-base and infield coach for the Diamondbacks, had to say.

"It's been quite a day so far, it's been interesting," Hale said, discussing his traveling issues for the afternoon.

Hale had dinner with Zduriencik and Chuck Armstrong before the conference call and was going to meet with Zduriencik for the official interview afterward.

This is the first interview Hale has had to be a major-league manager and he understandably was excited.

"It's a great opportunity," he said. "This is a great organization. It has won and will win again and I'd love to be part of that. Just to be in the process is fantastic. It's my first interview as a manager, but also just the fact that I feel like it's a good place and would be a good fit for me."

Hale did plenty to prepare for the interview, but also had some knowledge of the organization already.

"I looked over the organization, I know this organization pretty well from managing in Triple A with Tucson, and I watched a lot of games. I'm a guy that watches a lot of games. I've seen this team play and I know the strengths and we'll fix some of the weaknesses. I talked to some of the different people that have been around this team in the past and handled some of the players on this club."

Two of those people are D-Backs manager Bob Melvin and pitching coach Bryan Price, who used to work in the same capacity for the Mariners.

"They said it's a great spot," Hale said. "Bryan was obviously here for a long time in the minor leagues and major leagues. He has nothing but great things about the city, the organization and everything about it, and the people that run it. Obviously, Bob was here and let go, but he had no hard feelings and has landed on his feet. He loves this area and he was excited for me."

Hale was asked about assessing what went wrong with the Mariners from what he had seen in his preparations.

"Bedard getting hurt was tough. To me they made a great trade, it's sort of like with the Diamondbacks. and we get Danny Haren. We gave up a lot to get him. But he's a legitimate No. 1 pitcher in the major leagues and we put him with Brandon Webb. It was supposed to be the same deal putting (Bedard) with Felix Hernandez. But (Bedard) gets hurt and things don't go right.

"I don't know the ins and outs of every problem, but I will tell you that this will be a place that has enough talent to win. The pitching and defense are there when you have Betancourt at shortstop and Beltre at third and Ichiro is one of the best players in baseball, I think it's a good situation."

One of the things I liked was something Hale said about not saying things just for the sake of getting hired, but saying things he truly believes in during the interview process.

"I have to be honest about my feelings, and what I'd do in situations, so you're really not trying to play up to anybody in this organization by saying the things they want to hear," Hale said. "You want to say the things you believe in. You are going to make this place better because I'm the manager, and not (just) try to do things that are going to make people happy."

Perhaps the biggest aspect of Hale's background that I certainly consider a huge positive was his time spent as a player in Minnesota under manager Tom Kelly.

You won't find a much more respected manager than Tom Kelly. And Hale said he learned a lot from Kelly and from the Twins organization.

"My biggest thing is play the game the right way," Hale said. "I played under Tom Kelly in Minnesota, and the one thing he preached from day one was 'respect the game,' and it could be as simple as that. If guys just buy into that fact and play the game a little better and play the game the right way, we can beat a lot of teams."

"I came through that system and we just did things the right way. It sounds kind of simple, but whether it was working on bunt defenses or taking infield/outfield, if we didn't do it right, we kept doing it. And the bottom line, good minor-league and major-league systems are built by drafting good players. They had tremendous scouting and Jack has a great track record of that. To build that way, and to build through the system, is the way to do it. You are going to go get your free agent here and there, but if you can build this system from the bottom up, you are going to have guys who end up being superstars at the big-league level, and you'll have guys you move for other pieces."

Finally, Hale was asked him about what he would do to prevent some of the cliques and clubhouse division that seemed prevalent with the Mariners this season.

"You have to nip it in the bud," he said. "And you have to just convince the guy that this is our club. There's certain things that the media need to know, and ... certain things certain things that needed to be handled inside."

Of course, he admitted he knew no details of what went on with the M's, but the concept wasn't something new to baseball.

"I have to know the guys well enough and push the right buttons within," he said. "I should be able to see that problem way before it hits."

Ok, we just off the conference call with Joey Cora, who interviewed for the open Mariners managerial job this morning.

No, he didn't cry.

Actually Cora admitted that he didn't think he was done talking with Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik yet.

Anyway, Cora said all of the right things. One thing he mentioned was bringing back the "Mariners' way." He tried to explain, saying "there's got to be a pride in the way you play the game. How to be resilient and relentless. We don't want to worry about the other team, we want the the other teams to be worried about us."

Obviously, this season when Cora was with the White Sox as a bench coach, they probably weren't too worried about the Mariners.

"When we played the Mariners, we knew we had to worry about Ichiro and we knew we were going to see (Felix) Hernandez at least once," Cora said.

But he didn't say much after that about things they worried about with the Mariners.

"In spring training, the team looked great," Cora said of Seattle. "I don't know what happened after that. Obviously they have talented players."

But even Cora admitted that talent players aren't enough.

"It's about being a team," he said.

Cora wouldn't list any specific issues he saw, but he didn't deny they were there.

"They have some problems," he said. "If they didn't have problems I wouldn't be here."

As for working with Ozzie Guillen over the last five seasons and the things he's taken away from the experience, Cora pointed to Ozzie's relationship with his players.

"The way he communicated with the players, sometimes that gets lost in the shuffle with the way he talks to the media," Cora said. "Players want to play for him. They know he cares for real."

Cora also said he was a differing voice for Ozzie to bounce ideas and decisions off of.

"I'm the one that gives Ozzie a different perspective," Cora said. "I'm very different from him and maybe he sees the other side of the coin from me."

As for his time spent in Seattle, Cora doesn't know if it gives him as an advantage, other than the fact he knows what Seattle fans want.

"I know the town, I know what the town wants - a world series title," he said. "I don't know if that's an advantage. Seattle sports have been a little down this year with Sonics leaving and the Seahawks struggling. It was fun here when I played and we were in contention every year I played here. I know how great it can be here when things are going well."

So most of you know, Tim Lincecum has won the NL Cy Young today in what was basically his first full season in the big leagues. His numbers are ridiculous

34 games started, 18-5 record, 227 innings pitched, 265 strikeouts, just 84 walks, 2.62 ERA, 1.172 WHIP.

Here's the story from Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Apparently one voter left Lincecum completely off his ballot - Chris DeLuca, the national baseball writer for the Chicago SunTimes. So the Chronicle caught up with him to get his explanation.

This kind of cool, the Chronicle has the database that can compare Lincecum's stats to past Cy Young winners.

Of course, up here, Mariners fans only want to compare Lincecum to one person - Brandon Morrow.

Ever since the Mariners - led by Bob Fontaine - took Morrow with 5th pick of the 2006 draft over Lincecum - a Renton native and University of Washington standout. It's been fodder for debate. Lincecum was selected a few picks later at No. 10 by the Giants and the arguments, debates and comparisons began from there.

Really though it's been hard to compare the two pitchers for one main reason - they had two different roles. Lincecum was drafted as a starter, and has never strayed from that path. Morrow on other hand was drafted as a starter, but then-Mariners manager Mike Hargrove put him in the bullpen for the 2007 season. Morrow has a solid season as a reliever showing moments of brilliance as a set-up man. However, that isn't what he was drafted for.

The Mariners then decided to transition him back into starting after the 2007 season sending him to Venezuela in the offseason. But with signing of Carlos Silva and the trade for Erik Bedard, they moved Morrow back into the bullpen for the start of the 2008 season. (Excuse me, while I go vomit at that idea).

Anyway, you know the rest of the story, Morrow did a nice job of closing games for the Mariners when J.J. Putz got hurt. Eventually after Silva kept eating and getting bigger and also getting swatted around like a pinata and Bedard basically shut down in July with shoulder issues, and the season reeling into the abyss, the Mariners finally decided to begin the transition with Morrow to starting, sending him to Triple A to get stretched out to prepare for a month of starting in the big leagues.

I think everybody remembers the first start, a near no-hitter of the Yankees. But after that, Morrow struggled at times with his command of his secondary pitches and had so-so results.

Here's his stats as a starter

5 games started: 2-2 record, 28 innings pitched, 22 hits, 18 runs, 5 home runs, 19 walks and 28 strikeouts.

That's a pretty small sample size. But the 18 walks is an issue. Still, we won't know till we see Morrow for a whole season. I think the upside is there. Nobody questions his stuff, but he seems to have a good mentality and approach on the mound, and his work ethic has always been lauded.

With all that being said, Lincecum is more polished at this point in the career. And his durability - something many scouts questions because of his small stature - hasn't been an issue.

Anyway, I know Mariners fans cringe at the thought of Lincecum winning the Cy Young. And for the time being, both players, at least in Mariners fans' minds will always be linked.

So congratulations to Tim Lincecum. And good luck to Brandon Morrow

The list of seven finalists for the Seattle Mariners managerial job didn’t come together quite as smoothly as general manager Jack Zduriencik would have liked, but then nothing in baseball is as simple as it seems.

One of the candidates originally on Zduriencik’s list was Boston pitching coach John Farrell, a man whose name came up again and again as Zduriencik talked to baseball executives and scouts last week.

The problem? Farrell declined the opportunity even to interview.

Late Monday night, he issued a statement through the Red Sox:

“I have withdrawn my name for consideration by the Seattle Mariners as they search for a new manager,” Farrell said. “I wish them well as they move forward. My decision is based on family reasons and being committed to the Red Sox organization. The working relationship shared with Theo and Tito and the resources provided by John Henry, Tom Werner, and Larry Lucchino create a situation that is both challenging and rewarding.”

So there.

And another of the Mariners candidates – former second baseman Joey Cora – all but forced himself onto Seattle’s list with his dogged persistence.

According to sources in Chicago, where Cora has coached under Ozzie Guillen, Cora asked for and got recommendations for the job from Guillen and White Sox GM Ken Williams.

But he didn’t stop there.

One White Sox source said Cora had team owner Jerry Reinsdorf call the Mariners with a personal appeal for an interview.

The Mariners insist Cora was a viable candidate, anyway, and will interview him today.

Farrell’s withdrawl – and Cora’s full court press – aren’t all that important now that Zduriencik has his list of candidates.

It’s just a little behind the scenes action that’s always intriguing and never dull.