From the moment I stepped off the link light rail and onto the platform at Stadium Station ~ pleasantly assailed by the aromas of scotch broom, hot dogs and roasted peanuts ~ until my head hit the pillow, I savored every moment of the fact that: Baseball. Is. Back.
couldn’t have asked for better weather (especially in April!)
From the record-setting regular season crowd to the Griffey Cooperstown Countdown, from the Make-a-Wish kid running the bases to the Military mom surprising her son, from Mr. Niehaus’s voice welcoming us all to Junior “Felixing” after the ceremonial first pitch, from the rare and amazing Seattle Spring weather to the Safeco Field sunset . . .
the Opening Night pomp and circumstance was super stupendous.
And there they are, your 2016 SEATTLE MARINERS!!!
Oh, and then we got to watch this little game they call baseball . . .
ON THE MOUND
Tai was a bit amped at first . . .
(seemed like we could almost hear his breath and heart from the third deck) but, he eventually settled down, still threw a ton of pitches (in part due to two errors by his defense in the 2nd) and THREE of his K’s ended an inning . . .
SIX innings ~ SEVEN hits ~ TWO earned runs ~ ZERO walks ~ FOUR strikeouts
The bullpen continued its roll, until the 9th . . .
} Joel and Joaquin both posted hitless frames combining for THREE K’s
} Then, as they were anointing the new closer, Steve, complete with the audio-visual hoopla, I thought to myself . . . this isn’t a close situation and he hasn’t recorded a save yet (situation ripe for jinxing) and – BAM! Homer into the right field seats breaking the 2-2 tie 😦
AT THE PLATE
First game, in the extremely small sample size, where the M’s didn’t hit multiple homers.
Other than Dae-Ho’s solo shot,’t was the most anemic offensive performance yet . . .
~ only THREE other hits – all singles (Nori, Ketel, Robbie)
~ only TWO walks and both were stranded
~ nice to a little manufacturing (Leonys HBP after Dae-Ho’s homer, 1B to 3B on Nori’s single, scored on Ketel’s fly)
IN THE FIELD
Not their best leather but, not their worst so far . . .
* the good = TWO lovely DPs
* the bad = TWO errors in ONE inning (no damage but, a few extra pitches for Tai)
tweets of the game . . .
‘t would have been nice to get the win but, my theory is the M’s have issues with the first game of a series 😉
Anyway, the best part, is that I got to share it all with my Dad . . .
The tradition continues
almost time . . .
awaiting the introductions . . .
Opening Night
Celebrating a legend
Junior “Felixing” after his ceremonial first pitch
Tai’s first pitch of 0f 2016
Safeco Sunset
Hey, still atop the AL West 😉
FOUR down, ONE HUNDRED FIFTY EIGHT to go!
Compass Rosy 
So happy Baseball is back …