I was wavering for a couple of days on whether or not I should go to tonight's game. Well... after the come from behind win and the fact that I was a horrible fan and left early (regardless of how crappy it was), I decided I really needed to get to the ballgame for rookie Michael Pineda's first start at Safeco Field. I did not expect perfection, I did not expect him to be "that good", but DAMN. He can bring it. As the late, great, Dave Niehaus called it... "DIABOLICAL". He's 22 years old, stands 6'7" and at least 265. He's got long legs and his first pitch was 96 mph. He stayed consistently 96/97 throughout the game. It was just a beautiful thing to see, that's the best way I can describe it.
There were 15,500, fourth lowest ever, but we had fun. Pineda struck out 7 but it felt like more. Justin Smoak saved the game in the bottom of the 8th with a runner on 3rd and 1 man out (thanks to Olivo error). With his back to HP he caught a foul ball near the stands, turned around, and fired a shot to Olivo on one hop. Patterson, the runner on third, was dead to rights. Inning ending double play and that was pretty much the ballgame as League came on in the 9th for the save. Most people stayed until the end, learning their lesson from yesterday.
Langerhans hit his third home run of the season in the third, he's leading the team in homers, although it is early. He had three all of last year. I'm liking what I am seeing from him at the plate, his defense is certainly lacking and we need Guti back yesterday, but he's shown me enough in the first couple of weeks that I want him around. Saunders is another one I am liking right now... but like I said with Guti coming back soon we're going to have too many outfielders. I'd like to see Langerhans/Saunders split time in the field and have Milton as the DH. Cust just isn't doing it for me right now. He strikes out a lot and so far he hasn't shown much power, which is what we brought him in for... to walk and hit homers.
Olivo is just how I remember when we had him in 2004/2005. He can't hit, and his defense is crap. Today he had four plate appearances, accounting for 5 outs. Defensively he practically gave the game away with a passed ball that allowed runners to advance to 2nd and 3rd in the 8th (taking away the DP possibility to get Pineda out of a jam and 8 shutout innings). Instead the 2 came around to score on a single by Patterson and Pineda was out of the ballgame. Patterson ended up stealing and then advancing to third on the error by Olivo... after which Smoak saved the day with his fantastic defensive play.
Tuesday's they always have deals on food (like two dollar hotdogs) and tickets. This year they've implemented a double discount for Season Ticket Holders of merchandise. Usually we get 10% off. I knew I needed a new hat 'cause my Pilots hat is getting pretty grungy. So I went to the team shop before the game and ended up with a new hat, two Ryan Rowland-Smith shirts, and a sweatshirt... all for $52! I will definitely be going back another Tuesday 'cause I need a new coat. My old ones are too big or got ruined by my cats.
After the team shop I headed back to The Pen to continue my exploration of the new food choices. Tonight I went to the "Cantina", which was formerly the Bullpen Pub, and picked up a Chicken Torta for $8.50. It is made to order and I declined the jalapenos and sour cream, but it came with a bean? spread, onions, and avocado. Thumbs up for letting people pick and choose what they want (hint, hint Crepe) but it was just okay and got soggy very quickly. The White Pizza still wins out, last on the list is a Burger. I will try one next homestand.
Toronto fans were pretty quiet and subdued until they started rallying in the 8th inning. I'm pretty sure they were in shock from yesterday's game. The crowd was in a good mood and joking around a lot. Yet another annoying kid, but this time he was in the row in front of me. He stood on the seat most of the game but was one seat over so no view was blocked. Best game of the year so far with great pitching. The game had everything, excitement, highly tense moments, errors, a great defensive play, and most important of all a WIN! I'm not going to the day game tomorrow, so I made it to 4 out of the 6 games on this homestand. They will be going to KC for a short trip this weekend, then it all starts over again! Things are looking up, it is much less dire than a couple of games ago. This is why I love baseball. Such a roller coaster.
The Mariners improved to 2-2 when I attend... on a 2 game winning streak!
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