Mariners battle but still lose 9-6

Well you have to hand it to our boys tonight at least they made the Red Sox earn this victory at the Safe tonight in front of 18,381 fans. But unlike our AAA  Rainiers who beat Memphis 5-2 tonight thanks to homers by Justin Smoak and Mike Wilson, the Mariners came up shy in this one thanks to the three long-balls hit by the visitors.

Luke French who pitched part of the game without his glasses/goggles tonight went seven innings and left with a 5-4 lead in a gutsy outing against Dice-K who pitched in his usual slow methodical style. The mere fact that the Mariners scored 6 runs tonight at Safeco Field, after going 16 straight games at the home without scoring more than 3 runs, should be considered some sort of moral victory.

   But of course the Red Sox are theoretically still in the race, and they came through when it counted off the bat of Big Papi himself who delivered a dramatic three run homer with two outs off of Brandon League to seal the deal. Oh ya, Adrian Beltre was in the house tonight and added three hits to bring his batting average up to a stunning .328 to go along with his 27 dingers and 96 RBI’s! I even saw Mr. Beltre do his little shuffle-step dance at the plate one more time, though he is more subtle now that he is playing for a contender.

 Glad to see little Chone Figgins pick-up four hits tonight to boost his average up to a respectable .257 on the year even though we didn’t manage to hold-on for the win. Ichiro got 3 hits himself so it looks like he will hit the magic number 200 again this year barring any sort of mini-slump, Good for Him!

  Yes at least we showed some signs of life tonight and almost had a real upset in front of all those loud Boston fans. Where do these people come from? Are they all transplants or do we indeed have a group of local folks who secretly pretend they are loyal Mariners fans at the office, then they sneak in with their Red Sox gear on as if we won’t notice? Oh well rest assured that as good as the Red Sox  are they too will be watching the play-offs this year from their living rooms as the dreaded Yankees make another run for the gold. If you know any of these local Sox fans and they are gloating tomorrow don’t even bother talking about the Mariners game, just mention the Yankees and you will immediately ruin their whole day! Ciao….http://jeffsmariners.com