Eric Wedge started with pure optimism, moved on to defending some of his underperformers and eventually grew increasingly angry and frustrated as his Seattle Mariners continued regressing.

Through a trying first-half of the 2012 season, the Mariners manager has stayed with his belief that eventually the inconsistencies will level off and Seattle's young prospects will start playing at a major-league level.

Seattle entered the All-Star Break last in the AL West, 15 games under .500 - 16 1/2 games behind first-place Texas - and with increasing apathy from fans growing more impatient.

Ultimately, the second half of the 2012 season will be telling about whether the course Wedge and general manager Jack Zduriencik are implementing will eventually work. The first half has solved only a few questions from the start of the season while raising some more.