Ordinarily, I wouldn’t post about attending a routine mid-season Mariner’s game, and if you are not a baseball fan or don’t enjoy statistics, you can stop reading now.
In addition to Leslie’s comedy gig, I went to an afternoon Mariners game. It is so nice to go to Safeco Field on a warm sunny day, especially where our seats are located. To add to the enjoyment, the Mariners won, 7-3. It is also so nice for a change to reach August with the M’s still in contention for something! Maybe it is just the change in the playoff structure to add a 2nd wildcard team, but the M’s are definitely in it!
According to today’s paper, the M’s are within 1 game of attaining the 2nd wildcard, so a run of wins could put them solidly in the position to go to at least a one-game playoff. The team has added some hitting, and I heard a couple of interesting bits yesterday. First, Manager McLendon has a feeling the team will make a run of wins. The M’s have among the best pitching in the baseball, but their run production has been dismal. Their games have been close though, so if they pick up a few runs, they could definitely go on a winning streak. Here is an interesting statistic: So far this season, the M’s are 5 and 36 in games in which they scored 0 – 2 runs. But they are 54 and 17 in games in which they scored 3 or more runs. As I said, the pitching is great, but the pitchers have not gotten run support even in games in which they held the opponents to a couple of runs. Thus, it is entirely conceivable that by picking up one or two runs per game, they substantially increase their wins. The rest of the season could be interesting!
