Whoa back, Mariners

The hard charge to date by the Seattle Mariners has left more than a few of their fans in the dust, or maybe the infield dirt. Longtime Mariner loyalists need time to catch up.

It's like needing reverse attitude adjustment. The Ms are winning at a torrid pace, and veteran fans have trouble accepting, or maybe trusting, what has happened.

Many long-suffering Ms' fans feel more that a little nervous. This could be some of an extended MLB scheme. Maybe a Charlie-Brown-tries-to-kick-the-football-thing.

The Mariners have not been in the playoffs since 2001, and they were not really predicted to be in the hunt this year.

Pre-season predictons centered on the team's "aging nucleus." Felix in decline since the 2014 run. Robinson Cano and Nelson Cruz in the mid-30s. And, at the start, there was Ichiro.

Sportsline pegged the Mariners' playoff chances at 21.6 percent with maybe 80 wins.

For baseball fans in the Northwest, the start of another Mariners' season has sort of been like facing the opening day of fishing season with the same cluttered tackle box that saw little use the previous season.

As of Tuesday, the Ms had a 46-26 record after rolling a 23-9 charge since the middle of May. They top MLB in one-run wins, one-run games and comeback wins.

They are still trailing Houston in the AL west, but their record tops the lead teams in four of the six MLB divisions.

The weekend series against Boston brought out more than 135,000 fans for three games, according to a summary report by Matt Calkins of the Seattle Times.

This all amounts to overload for fans who have become used to easing their way throughout the 162-game season, and probably losing track in the final weeks as the Seahawks, Huskies and Cougars crank up their football seasons and take over the prime space in the sports pages.

The Mariners are powered by a new lineup with players like Marco Gonzales, a former Zags pitcher throwing his best season. He was added to the lineup last year in a trade with the Cardinals where he spent most of his time playing for Triple-A Memphis.

Mitch Haniger, who was hurt last year after being added to the team in November of 2016, and Jean Segura, who was obtained as part of the same trade with the Diamondbacks, are also a big part of the show. James Paxton, also hurt last year, has been solid.

It's all going just too fast for loyal followers, but we'll just have to cope.