Go ahead and check out Day 1 and Day 2, if you missed ’em over the weekend. I WENT TO ALL THREE GAMES AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOUSY T-SHIRT AND MEMORIES THAT WILL LAST A LIFETIME!
Pre-game breakfast at Jimmy’s …
It was rough getting going on Sunday. We wanted to be on the road by 8:30, so I sucked down a cup of coffee, put on my finest Husky gear, and went with the Rainiers cap you see above. We got there around 9am, in anticipation of the 10am opening of the gates, ahead of the 1:10pm start time. Needless to say, our line positioning was the best of all three days.
A free jersey is a free jersey …
As soon as we got our shirts, we walked right back out, so we could grab breakfast and a million mimosas at Jimmy’s On First, in what has to be one of the top three restaurant bills I’ve ever been involved with (almost exclusively because we spent a good two and a half to three hours drinking champagne-based beverages). Everything was a God damn delight.
Let’s win the whole fuckin’ thing …
We missed the ceremonial first pitch (I heard Gary Payton threw to Griffey behind the plate) and the actual first game pitch thanks to our dallying, but once seated, we were treated to a real delight. Mike Trout, instead of hitting a first inning 3-run home run, struck out 4 times (but sufficiently beat us in other ways – like taking away a possible Grand Slam – proving he was indeed the MVP of this weekend).
James Paxton was the star, going 8.1 innings of 1-run ball before taking a liner off of his throwing elbow to miss out on the complete game. With Edwin Diaz unavailable – because seriously, it seems like all these games are close lately – The Bartender locked down the final two outs for the emergency save.
Among the other heroes included call-up Mike Freeman, who got the start for Robbie Cano (being given a regular rest day, but also probably watching out for his sore foot) and had his first Major League hit and RBI in going 2 for 3. It all added up to a 3-1 victory on the back of our pitching, which is what we’ll need if we want to go somewhere in this race.
The Mariners, in sweeping this weekend, regained second place in the A.L. West (7 games behind Texas), and are a mere 3.5 games behind Detroit for the second Wild Card spot, with the Tigers coming in for three games, starting tonight. Our destiny is right there, in our hands! Let’s get out there and do this thing! Let’s keep the momentum going! Let’s give ’em something to talk about!
How about love?