Not that I haven't been watching, I think I've watched a Colby-esque 70% of all the games on TV and/or (listened) on the radio. I guess I caught the Mariner bug while I was stuck in my cast and had nothing better to do. It's just that now that I am able to walk around, I felt like the day would have been better served if I had just drove in to Seattle and watched at the park.

I must admit--I may be alone in this--that I do like this group of Mariner broadcasters. Dave Niehaus might be getting old and slow, but all great announcers do this and it's kind of part of their charm. Vin Sculley, Mel Allen, (and especially) Harry Carey went crazy, now we have Dave Niehaus who is.

Rick Rizz has toned it down being the all radio guy and I think I can put up with him now. When he and Niehaus take over the radio in the bottom of the 4th inning, they're not too bad. Rizz does the play-by-play and Niehaus does the color. It works.

Dave Simms is a typical TV talking head. He's like listening to any national second tier game play-by-play guy, because that is exactly who he is. At least he works well with Blowers and doesn't try to talk all over him. He knows how to talk about the game going on without being too over the top, like Rick Rizz was.

Dave Blowers is very good. He might not be, but who am I--as a Mariner fan--to compare him to? Dave Valle? Jay Buhner? Dave Henderson? Dave Valle was so retarded and was so over the top ++ that when he and Rick Rizz teamed you could get a cavity from all the sweet talk listening to them. That and he pronounces every Latino name with a very exaggerated accent. Jay Buhner didn't give a shit about getting good enough to deserve to be on the air regularly. That or he was a dipshit. He had a hard time not being subjective--really they all did--but he played with too many of the guys to want to say anything even moderate like "struggling" or "tough night". Dave Henderson was the worst of the bunch and I hated him. First of all, he was a tough, gritty, good retired player that won a World Series with he A's and went there with the Red Sox but sounded like a total pussy on the broadcasts. Where was the balls? Which brings me the second reason I hated him, he showed those balls one night in a drunken discussion with me and Colby in the beer garden one night. He was talking all sorts of shit about the team that he blew kisses to on the broadcasts. Which meant that he was full of shit. Third reason was the night a few of us were at the Frontier Room and he came in with young ladies on each arm and was giving everyone in the bar finger guns and when he walked past us gave us all high fives and taps on the back, like he was everyone's best pal. Brian asks him to show him his World Series ring and he denied him. Some best pal. (I think Vanos has a god story of Hendu pretending to be his best pal.)

Note: I did not forget about Ron "Red" Farely, but I forgave him a few years ago.

Anyhow, I like Mike Blowers a lot because he has some good insight in not only his time playing for the Mariners during the mid-90's including '95, but because he is from the area and grew up watching the Mariners and went to UW. He brings a perspective that the others didn't because he actually played in '95 (Sorry Dave Valle the '95 expert) He talks baseball facts, he doesn't speculate as to what he is thinking people are saying, he watches the action and talks about what he sees (Sorry Mr. Mind Reader Dave Henderson) I think he is learning still, but will be very good. He is detached enough to speak about the players and tell us like it is. (Sorry Jay Buhner)

...

As for the game...

2-0 win over the Angels, who lost twice today when Atlanta got Teixeira. JJ gets the save on 'Japan Day' with a ich, ni, san 9th, K'ing Vlad!

Batista had another good outing, after a couple rough ones. One thing about our starters, they have all proven to be capable pitching very good games against some very good teams. They have also thrown up all over themselves on occasion (Washburn yesterday). I think if the offense can give them anything, we can continue to win the games they get roughed up in. Why?

Because our bullpen is good. Morrow had another nice inning tonight. His control is better, less walks. Reistma is likely on the DL for the rest of the season due to elbow surgery, which is good. Sherrill is talked about how he is one of the best LH setup men in the AL this season.

And JJ Putz is unbelievable. We have never had a closer like him. Maybe Norm Charleton in '95 was closest, but not that close. Unlike 'Everyday' Eddie (who?) and Sasaki who both of them could blow a game at any moment with their control, I never doubt JJ. Even with his recent blown save (which he was brought into a terrible position) I know he will win it when he comes in. He dominates!

I was going to write something about how shitty Steve Phillips, the "analyst" at ESPN is, but that is old hat. We all know it.

But this morning I was thinking about JJ Putz (who looks like he wants to Hate Fuck Kenji Johjima AKA Kevin Chang) and the MVP award. While I do think he is the MVP of Seattle (slightly ahead of Ichiro), I don't think he's the MVP of the league even if he is a huge part of the reason the Mariners are doing so well despite their shitty run differential (granted, they did get blown out a few times - that hurts).

Thoughts?


And while we are at it, I found someone else with Frodo's full name . Same with Darky.

But mainly, I think A-rod and Magglio are too damn good this year; in any other year, you might vote for JJ. A-rod is pretty much the only reason the Yankees are in a position to make the playoffs this year, and Magglio is having almost as good of a year.

The Mariner's game yesterday was a great time. Even though we did lose to Detroit, the highlight came in the top of the 8th when Ordonez hit a homer right into the beer garden in center field. D-man and I are talking at the front rail and we notice that the ball is going to make it over the wall. And...it was heading right for us.
Having a half-full beer in his left hand, Donovan deftly maneuvers into position to make a move on the ball with his right. The ball was tailing a bit at the end (besides being a near line drive) and proved to be too tough to catch. Glancing off the outside of his right index finger, the ball shot back against the concrete floor and wall sending it back out on to the warning track. Bloomquist tossed the ball back into the beer garden but we didn't notice this because we were too busy shouting about how D-man damn near had his whole hand on it. (for the record, he did say it stung a little)

We were talking about how sweet it would have been if he had caught it one handed while also maintaining grip on his beer. Maybe a top 10 play of the week. D-man later told me that playing college football and nearly catching that ball were the two greatest times/moments in his life.

The picture here isn't too good in comparison to the HD feed that I saw this morning. You can see D-man (in the blue Detroit long sleeve shirt with his right arm in the air) and I (white shirt to his right) on the rail near the center of the picture, and Kara is to the right of me (blue Detroit hat). Bobs should be in there too somewhere, but he doesn't care anyway so I won't bother looking.

Good times.

Labels: beer garden, D-man, human glove hands, Ichiro, Mariners, smokes

Apparently it's hard to find actual malt liquor in Seattle anymore. We did our best with my official lineage drink: Budweiser 40's.

Memories.

so yesterday, 747, was a good time. Too bad my chest is now redder than blair's ass pimples. Ouch.

Thanks to those who showed up. That was fun. Kudos to Andy for being up ass early, too.

Hey All-

If you all haven't heard by now, I am now managing the Madison Park Washington Mutual by the Attic. So what better excuse do you need to get a pitcher of beer and drop by the branch and check it out. Also, if anyone needs a personal contact at WaMu for anything let me know and I can help you out. In addition, if you are looking to open a checking account or a second one for separate expenses let me know and I'll hook ya up and buy some beers afterwards!

So what is the deal? where are we gonna do it?

Possible places: mine/darky's on the roof, bobbo's boat, "Lo's" apartment. We are gonna have a good time, doing this:


Except we won't look like douchebags.

Mariner Manager Mike Hargrove resigns and Bench Coach John McLaren takes over. Surprising because the Mariners are the hottest team in baseball right now with 7 straight wins going into today's game.

Why did this happen right now? Who made this call? This is really bizarre.