Today I joined 22,422 of my closest friends down at the Safe to enjoy an indoor matinée played out on a grass field between white lines on another gloomy Seattle late May afternoon. In the first 8 innings it looked like the visiting gladiators from Motown were toying with our Mariners from the soggy Northwest before finally unloading their lethal bats on us. But for some reason the Detroit Tigers were unable to put the hurt on our boys despite hitting line drives all over the park that were just playable by our crafty sailors.
Jason Vargas managed to keep this game close by going 5 full innings and giving up only 2 runs despite not having his best stuff. On the other hand Jason Bonderman pitching for the Tigers only got touched for a single run in the second and it looked like he would coast to an easy victory. The Tigers have a tough line-up and got a long ball from Ordonez and added two more in the sixth off of Ryan Rowland-Smith, who should have gotten out of the inning were it not for the error by Jose Lopez.
But then came the bottom of the 8th…. Franklin Gutierrez lashed a lead-off single to right, followed by a strikeout from Milton Bradley. This brought up Mike Sweeney who has been on a tear lately and played an awkward first base today. Mike Sweeney has a knack for the dramatic and today was no different as he unloaded for a 2-run bomb that suddenly made it 4-3. Jose Lopez managed to get on with a single to bring up Rob Johnson who replaced Josh Bard who came out with an injury earlier in the game. Johnson is sometimes difficult to watch at the plate and he knows he is on the bubble with the Mariners. However today Johnson managed to drive a double off the wall in left and we had runners at second and third with the “Paper Boy” Josh Wilson coming to bat. Josh Wilson continued to make us forget about ailing Jack Wilson with a clutch 2-run RBI single that put the Mariners up for good at 5-4.
With the 2-game sweep the Mariners pulled to 7 1/2 games back of the Texas Rangers who lost today. But more importantly the last 2 games have shown everyone that the Mariners, though still ten games under .500 have not given up on the season and in fact are starting to gel. We now have a day off before heading to Anaheim for a 3-game series with the Angels. This was a decent home stand where we went 4-3 and could well be the turning point of the season. Between now and the All-Star break the Mariners have a chance to get back in the race slowly but surely with the formula of good pitching and timely hitting. Jose Lopez and Chone Figgins will be a key component of any comeback and they both are overdue to break-out and start producing like they are capable of. It looks like our ship hasn’t sunk yet so remember: Hope Floats! http://jeffsmariners.com
Filed under: Barometer Rising? | Tagged: Detroit Tigers, Jason Vargas, Josh Wilson, Mike Sweeney, Rob Johnson |
Jeff's Mariners Fan Blog 
By coming from behind these last 2 games, this shows more about the M’s than any sabermetric statistic could show in a whole book. Statistics have their place in baseball, but it’s gone way overboard lately. How do you measure the heart of an individual or a team?-probably the MOST important stat. Not by crunching numbers like a bunch of geeks, but by coming behind in the 8th inning 2 games in a row against a team like the Tigers. Way to go M’s!! (p.s.) keep an eye on the paper boy- He’s the real deal….
Mike, Well put. Our guys had to dig deep the past couple of games to do what it took to comeback and keep this team alive. Yes I’m starting to like Josh the “Paperboy” Wilson as he sure does seem to deliver on time! Looking forward to playing the A’s and winning that series. Ill be back down at the Safe next Monday when the Twins come to town…..Jeff