All early signs pointed to a pretty special night at the ball park – the best of which was the fact that I would be enjoying it with a dear friend who (much to our mutual astonishment) I had never attended a game with! Anyhoo, here are the rest of those harbingers of fun, in no particular order . . .
o 88 degrees of wonderful warmth at the first pitch
o Mike McReady playing the National Anthem and tossing the first pitch
o rare meeting with the Cubbies (with many fans who either travel well or live in Seattle)
o happenstance meeting ~at Edgar’s~ of the lovely, esteemed author and photog of Section331
o big league debut of the M’s newest rookie ~ SS Brad Miller
o Dustin’s debut in CF
o anticipation of the first ever fireworks show at Safeco Field to immediately follow the game
Mike McReady
All that, and we not only ended up seeing a great baseball game but, a Mariners extra-inning, walk-off win AND a fantabulous fireworks show (set to music and everything)!!!
ON THE MOUND
Save for an errant triple in the 2nd and a silly top of the 7th where he gave up TWO solo shots, Kuma was Kuma. Especially good to see him come back out for the 8th and retire the side in order. His balls-to-strikes ratio was crazy good (90/69) and he still sits atop the AL in starters WHIP at a minuscule 0.88
EIGHT innings ~ SIX hits ~ FOUR earned runs ~ ZERO walks ~ FIVE strikeouts
} Ollie bringing it lately ~ no different tonight, as he struck out the side in the 9th
} Yoervis faces the minimum in the 10th ~ with the help of the pitcher’s best friend
AT THE PLATE
~ several 0’fers but some multi-hit games as well (Mike, Nick and Kendrys)
~ Jason got the M’s on the board with a solo shot in the 5th
~ Brad earned his first major league RBI in the 7th when he hit into a fielder’s choice that scored Jason
~ In the 8th, Kendrys doubled home Nick and Raul hit an RBI triple to score Michael (pinch running for Kendrys)
~ In the 10th, Mike came through with an RBI single scoring Michael
Brad’s first AB
IN THE FIELD
* of course, the first play of the game goes to the “new guy” Brad fielded it cleanly for the 6-3 put out
* Nick with a throwing error in the 2nd in which the first TWO Cubbie runs scored
* Justin right place, right time for a super smash line-out double play
* Brad with his first major league steal in the 7th
tweets of the game . . .
the night the lights went out at Safeco. . .
I have video of some of the fireworks show but for some reason I can’t seem to get it to post 😦
But, some really good pics here . . .
Compass Rosy 