There is an energy about the fanbase right now. One I haven't felt since......
So, I think today I'm going to pump the brakes a little bit. Yes the Mariners have won thirteen of eighteen games, and are in the midst of as solid a stretch of baseball as they have played this decade. Yes they are in first place. Yes they are tied for the best run differential in the American League. No, they really don't seem to be playing particularly over their heads during all of this. Yes, this might actually be a good baseball team that wears the same uniform as the Official Team of Sadness and Misery.
But for today, I'm going to put this bad boy in cruise, hunker down in my seat, and just enjoy the view. Felix Hernandez will pitch today for a sweep against the Oakland Athletics. If Felix pitches moderately well for five or more innings and the Mariners perform adequately against Sean Manaea, AND the bullpen manages to not blow the lead then Felix will be awarded a "win" on the day.
It's a very silly stat, and one that the baseball world has largely come to acknowledge as such. However, should Felix "earn" the "win" he will surpass fellow junkballer Jamie Moyer for the most wins in Mariner history. This is good, and just, and Felix should own all Mariner pitching records of even nominal importance, for he is the Alpha and Omega of the post-Gillick Mariners.
Through this three week stretch of great baseball the Mariners have not swept a single series. Felix has traditionally dominated baseball players adorned in Oakland Athletics garb, and Sean Manaea is a rookie. Typically this setup would put the over/under on Mariner runs at 0.5, but the team has spent a little over a month trying to prove to us that our suffering verbs are no longer needed.
Regardless, it's baseball, the twenty-seventh of (at least) one-hundred and sixty-two. It is Felix going for history, and I don't really require much more than that to be happy. Everything else is just a bonus.
Sunshine gleams off those damn lollipops.
Game Info
- Mariners @ Athletics, 12:35 PM PDT, O.co Coliseum
- TV: ROOT, Radio: 710 ESPN, Online: MLB.TV