Mariners Play Baseball, Stop Playing Baseball

Seems to me, in a non-playoff season like this, it probably doesn't really matter how you go out. Nobody really cares that much about Game 162, and as soon as Game 162 is over, people are either reflecting on the season entire, or they get baseball out of their minds and move on to something else. Nobody really cared that the Mariners went out 2-0 losers in 2011, especially given everything else that was going on in baseball that day. Nobody really cared that the Mariners went out 4-3 losers in 2010. People liked the ultimate conclusion in 2009, but not so much because of the outcome of the game but rather because of the whole Ken Griffey Jr. thing. The game is played and almost immediately forgotten about.

But if it did matter how you went out, in some other universe, then the Mariners just went out in style. The Mariners clobbered the Angels 12-0, which is twelve runs to zero runs. The Mariners finished with a positive run differential against the Angels for the season, by one. Previous to today, the Mariners' season-high for runs scored in a home game was eight. The Mariners just beat that by half, against a dreaded division rival. The offense looked good. Blake Beavan generated zero strikeouts in eight innings, suggesting this wasn't just bizarro baseball. Jesus Montero, as a catcher, threw out Mike Trout trying to steal, and Casper Wells threw out Mike Trout trying to score. The Mariners beat Jered Weaver for the third time in three starts. Weaver, granted, lasted only an inning before he was removed with "general fatigue", but it was a poor inning, and this is like revenge for Felix Hernandez going 0-3 against the Angels in five starts. The Angels might've had Felix's number, but Weaver had more losses against the Mariners in 2012 than he had against all the other teams combined.

It's satisfying to see the Mariners clobber the Angels, a day after having little trouble against the Angels. Those were dispirited Angels, broken Angels, so maybe they weren't putting up their usual fight, but given the Mariners' recent track record against that team I'll take what positives I can get. In a two-day span, the Mariners outscored the Angels 18-1, and that's a fine way to go out, even if it doesn't matter how you go out. I appreciated it while I was watching. I'll appreciate it a little more tonight before I dump the whole season from my memory. I mean, I won't do that, and I can't do that, but you probably know what I'm getting at.

This post is now no longer about today's game, or about any game or assortment of games. Rather, I just want to take this opportunity to thank you guys for sticking around and reading along for so much of the season. Even if you're someone who's not reading this because you checked out a month or two ago, thank you for reading before. Thank you for making this website what it is, because this website wouldn't be what it is if it were just some sarcastic asshole posting .gifs by himself. This website has long been a significant part of my life and the community helps to make it rewarding.

Thank you for sticking with us through the layout changes. Thank you for sticking with us while I moved from Baseball Nation over to FanGraphs. Thank you for sticking with us when we went a while without posting new content, and thank you for sticking with us when we went crazy with new content all in a row. Personally, behind the scenes, this hasn't been the easiest year of my life, on multiple fronts, but LL has always served as a stabilizer and for that I couldn't be more thankful. I can't imagine what my life would be like without this place. Sometimes that's a bad thing, but sometimes, that's the best thing. Right now, it feels like the best thing.

I'd say more, but now I'm heading across town to drink away the 2012 Seattle Mariners regular season with Lookout Landing readers and Lookout Landing followers on Twitter. This community exists on the Internet and it exists in real life, as one can observe at any USSM/LL Safeco blog get-together. I don't know if this is objectively the best baseball blog on the Internet, but for my money, there's none better.

Thank you, guys. And thank you, Munenori Kawasaki. You never made sense, and I love you for that.