Jack Wilson + Mike Sweeney + Ken Griffey Jr. = Super clubhouse chemistry = Playoffs!!

And they shall inspire these two men to play their hearts out, even though yellow NEVER wins.

It is certainly not all performance related. We love Gary Payton and never really got into Shaun Alexander.

We gave Griffey plaques and standing o’s when he returned, cheered Randy and in between boo’s, threw everything within our vicinity at A-Rod.

I do not disagree with these reactions, except maybe Randy, but I certainly think they are curious. My conclusion is that Seattle fans want heart, effort and sincerity.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ANA/ANA200706230.shtml

Please don’t put all this pressure on me. And don’t say you will hate me. You hate me?

Sincerely,
Ian Oquendo Davila-Snell

ANYTHING!

Good read. Made me happy.

Make funny commercials for the team and you’ll have fans for life regardless of what happens on the field.

Wilson and Snell have been watching Pierogis race for years.

we had problem fielding more than one regular position player who had an OPS over 800. Now we have 4. Even if our probability of making the playoffs was like 5% or something at the beginning of the week, I am enjoying the season.

And Ian Snell: the world is yours, ugly

I’m generally of the LL/USSM take on team chemistry (like Larry Stone said, winning makes good chemistry and losing makes bad chemistry). However, I think Sweeney and Griffey in particular – and Wak, Rick Adair, and GMZ too – will prove enormously beneficial to Snell immediately. Why? First, look at this story:

Look at this story from July 1:

But Triple-A hasn’t been much of a challenge for Snell. But why is he playing at this level? Snell says he’s doing it to save his life. A month ago, he says he contemplated suicide.

“Sometimes people do stupid stuff and I had to fight it, not to do something stupid and take my life for myself and from my family and my parents,” he said.

He says, emotionally, he hit rock bottom and has been battling depression. When he had bad games with the Pirates, negative comments from the media or on the Internet bothered him, so he wanted to leave Pittsburgh.

“I just want to say sorry to all the bloggers and media people for saying they don’t know anything. But I didn’t mean anything by it,” Snell said. “I was just upset at the time.”

He says family, friends and God helped him get back on track.

“Seek God and positive people around you and look for your true friends and they’ll come out and support you,” Snell said. “A lot of people support me right now. I’m just grateful, because if I didn’t have them, I probably wouldn’t be standing here right now.”

Ken Griffey Jr. actually attempted to commit suicide when he was 17. “’Don’t ever try to commit suicide,’ Griffey said he wants to tell kids. ‘I am living proof how stupid it is.’” Griffey’s attitude, demeanor, and leadership have been absolutely flawless as far as we know. Mike Sweeney, obviously, babysits kids and channels Jesusy vibes and makes everyone love him everywhere he goes. Those two guys seem tailor-made to help a guy like Snell.

Furthermore, Snell knows he’s in an organization that, from GMZ down, values him and know he can once again become the #2 starter he was in 2007 (his tRA+ in 2007 was 118 and he was worth 4.3 WAR). Rick Adair and Wak have done an outstanding job handling the rotation – I can’t think of any real complaints I had with them that lasted more than a day. Seattle is, all things considered, a pretty friendly fan and media environment, so that will help too.

I’m really excited. Snell’s a guy I’ve liked a ton since 2007 – I didn’t follow the season that closely that year, but he jumped out at me whenever I saw his highlights or stat line. I think he can be King Felix’s grand vizier.