Game 66

It’s a fake holiday here in the United States, so no one has to go to work today.

Fresh from barbecue goodness last night, I fire up the grill and cook yummy cow, in anticipation of tonight’s contest vs. the Cleveland Indians. Tonight’s game kicks off two straight weeks of baseball here in Seattle, during which Ichiro should hit several hundred balls into play.

Nobody told him not to go to work today.

Mindy comes by with plenty of time to spare, and we are treated to that rarest of sights, Mariners Batting Practice. Cleveland does not take pregame cuts, due the the vagaries of the MLB travel schedule, and the need to have baseball on all day during this, our second greatest fake holiday.

No matter, Indians BP starts promptly at 7:05 PM. And 10 minutes later, starts again as Travis Hafner and Casey Blake crush two back over the center field wall. Remember, kids, solo home runs don’t mean anything.

And we’ll never be able to attract big name free agents to Seattle because nobody can hit HR here.

I’d give up, but we’ve come so far together. Just a little bit longer, then we can rest our weary heads.

Ichiro rockets #’s 225 and 226, while Edgar does the same with #’s 113 and 114. Singles, all.

Willie Bloomquist is awarded a double on the most egregious of errors, but otherwise, no Mariner gets farther than second base.

C.C. Sabathia pitches a complete game shutout, walking only one man (yay, Edgar) and striking out 8. Also putting up 8 K’s is Gil Meche (PEPSI!), but with two fewer innings, one fewer hits, and no walks. Amazingly , they had very similar pitch counts (118-80 to 1116-73), but Sabathia kept the ball down, while Meche left it hanging.

Poor, poor Gil Meche. As the only Mariners starting pitcher without a contract for next year, he could find free agency a cold and lonely place. He and Willie Bloomquist are staring down the barrel of Arbitration, and should be thankful for whatever they can get. Hopefully, Willie will be happy and fulfiled with his next team.

Because the odds of Scott Spezio’s contract being picked up by anyone else is so remote, he’s almost guaranteed to start at 3rd base next year. Leone needs to come back 110%, and even then he’s “iffy.”

Mariners lose, again. The perfect way to follow up a 5 game winning streak seems to be a 6 game losing streak. Anybody can tell you that. This is also the 5th game in a row in which the opposing team has scored first.

In the words of Amy and Emily, “I think there’s a message here, he died without a fight.”