My connection's been up and down all night, and it's beginning to get on my nerves, so I'm just going to throw the chart up while I can and hope that everything's better in the morning so that I can actually do a little writing. I'd apologize for the inconvenience if it weren't me being inconvenienced the most.
Biggest Contribution: Jose Lopez, +22.2%
Biggest Suckfest: Adrian Beltre, -11.5%
Most Important Hit: Lopez double, +11.4%
Most Important Pitch: Bard homer, -20.3%
Most Important Other Play: Ichiro assist, +20.5%
Total Contribution by Pitcher(s): -7.4%
Total Contribution by Hitters: +41.7%
Your "No Duh" Announcer Moment Of The Game:
Anyway, the short of it is that tonight's Mariners were everything they're usually not - energized, exciting, powerful, effective, and triumphant. These are the kinds of games that keep you coming back every day, because you never know when they're going to put something like this together, gain steam, and reel off a bunch of wins in a row. The footage of Ichiro gunning down Josh Barfield at the plate and Kenji Johjima staring him down while getting to his feet is going to be replayed at least a thousand times over the next week, and that's how it should be, because it was a huge moment, the kind of thing that people can retrospectively identify as a turning point for a team that suddenly catches fire. It probably won't work out like that, but isn't it worth finding out?
Also, third place!
More in the morning, provided the connection gets better.