6/22: Open game thread

Well, hot damn, it looks like no matter what the Mariners are just going to keep on playing baseball games. Now, they certainly could win tonight. Almost every game this month, the Mariners have at some point or the other had a pretty good chance of winning. BUT, despite being only outscored by three runs over their past twenty-five games they are 8-17. That adds up to a lot of losses, almost all in excruciating, that-poor-dude-in-Private-Ryan-who-gets-stabbed-about-a-centimeter-a-second type fashion.

I see one of three things happening, going forward:

1) The Mariners get their act together, get healthy, and go back to stomping the yard the way they did in April and May, when they were legitimately one of the best teams in baseball.

2) They continue playing extremely close games but find a way to OCCASIONALLY win a few of them, and play much like the ~.500 team many expected them to be at the beginning of the season.

3) Their morale drops as injuries mount, the edge is lost, and they continue losing games, but now by many more runs and in such a way that we can let the madness slowly, comfortably build within us until we no longer feel, and can laugh gleefully as the season once again erupts in flames, smoke, and death.

What I don't expect is for game after game to be decided on 1-2 plays in the latter three innings, with the Mariners almost always suffering the defeat. It's just very unlikely.

So, they COULD win today. Let us hope that they do.