We got a front runner!

Yes, we got us a front runner.  …but he stands on the brink as we write this.

It’s a week into the postseason, but it only took us a day to wonder just what the hell is going on. The box score of the Yankees-Red Sox wild card game contained exactly zero ex-Mariners on either squad. For a couple of teams that regularly feature former M’s like Varitek while we slobber over bums like Slocumb… wait, we digress.

The next night, the Dodgers-Cards matchup, was a different story, wasn’t it? Continue reading “We got a front runner!”

Mariner playoff rosters!

Here we go!

Twenty-five guys, a perfect postseason roster, fill the ranks of this year’s playoff teams’ 40-man rosters. Plus a former Mariner ace on IR, another who chose not to play under Rona Risk, and a couple honorable mentionables. Some of these guys are “who?” …and as of this writing, just 24 hours into the postseason, a few have already gone south on Elimination Street. But laugh as we may at them now, they each took their season farther than Jerry’s Boys from Dave Niehaus Avenue. Read ’em and wonder. Click the names for stats and such. Continue reading “Mariner playoff rosters!”

Chalky Topps cards and miracles

I’m on the corner in front of Katterman’s Drug Store. They took one look and ran me out after I paid at the register, caked in dust and sweat from an afternoon on the diamond.

So now here I am. Debating.

Do I rip open this pack of Topps in the August swelter? Risk pissing Mom off even worse than I know she is? I’m late already. Why not take a look? Or do I hop back on my bike, sprint home, beg forgiveness, bolt up the stairs, and take refuge in the bathtub?

One foot on the pedal, I straddle the seat and… no. No! I gotta see who I got. The waxy wrap falls away. Funny, the bubblegum feels like cardboard, and the cards smell like bubblegum.

Tom Who? Why do they fill these packs with rookies?

Continue reading “Chalky Topps cards and miracles”

Who will be 2018 Ex-Mariner of the Year?

The petunia withereth, the Mariners choketh. And it’s only the bottom of the 5th®

Take heart, Mariner fans!

The excitement of the 2018 season is just getting started. Now that the Mariners are officially, gracefully, thankfully, mercifully, and without fanfare, eliminated from the postseason, who will be named Playin’ In The Dirt’s 2018 Ex-Mariner of the Year? Continue reading “Who will be 2018 Ex-Mariner of the Year?”