I like these little italicized introductions. My name is Stephen, and I’ve been given a wonderful opportunity to share a slightly different side of Mariners Baseball here on Lookout Landing.
For the last year, you may have seen me around Lookout Landing as ArrwCtchr. My goal is to provide this community with the good, the bad, and the ugly side of Major League Baseball. Primarily I'll present you with image sequences repeated ad infinitum, you know them as .GIFs*.
It’s a matter of perspective. Lose the Tour de France by four seconds and it’s the closest Tour of all time. Lose a 100-meter dash by four seconds and you’ll be the ridicule of the infield. What is four seconds to a home run?
Kendrys Morales vs Wilmer Font – March 17th, 2013
Kendrys Morales joined the Mariners in a trade for Jason Vargas. A serviceable pitcher, who occasionally gives up home runs, exchanged for a serviceable hitter, who occasionally hits them.
This frozen rope of a line drive is absolutely crushed. A linear trajectory, combined with near perfect contact, and the ball clears the outfield fence in three seconds. Kendrys Morales demonstrated how to hit a home run in as little time as possible.
One day later:
Michael Morse vs A.J. Griffin – March 18th, 2013
Chris Hadfield will write songs about this home run, remembering the day it rose from the desert of the American Southwest and drifted effortlessly by his window on the International Space Station.
We anticipate Michael Morse will hit home runs for the Mariners. We only hope he’ll be productive enough at the plate to keep us from glancing southward, towards a particular catcher in Oakland. While we don't have to like everything about Michael Morse, we can like his ability to launch these massive home runs, as superficial as that may be.
A lot has been written about the Mariners’ power surge this spring. Sadly, when that cool marine layer politely greets the Mariners on a crisp April evening in Seattle, this torrid home run pace will likely come to an end. Moving in the fences will not turn Safeco into a bandbox; the 2013 Mariners will not break the 1997 Mariners’ single season home run record.
But instead of lamenting what is to come, let’s appreciate what we currently have.
*The pronunciation of .GIF is disputed. It is an acronym of "Graphics Interchange Format." As such, some people prefer to use a hard "G". Others, including the creators of the format, use a soft "G" mimicking the name of a popular peanut butter brand. No one wins this argument.