William Walker, Author
Man this is baseball. You gotta stop thinking so much!
Relax and enjoy it, man. (20th Century Fox)
Remember a month and a half ago? Wasn’t it awesome? The fans were on fire. Rick Rizzszzzs couldn’t stop telling us “these guys never… ever… give up.” Continue reading “I bet you get straight A’s and s**t huh?”
First things first.
What about the 2017 Ex-Mariner of the Year?
Sorry, Eric From Spokane, it’s not this guy…
Video: mlb.com
Not those guys. But there are Ms in the postseason this year. Seriously. Once a Mariner, always a Mariner.
Sixteen — enough for a questionable starting rotation, a damn fine bullpen, and a full contingent in the field — went into the playoffs last week on seven different teams. Plus a couple honorable mentions:
Gotta start with Ron Fairly, whose 14-year color commentary career with the M’s broadcast team got him the nickname Ron Fairly Obvious as he bleated wisdom like “When ya strike out — nothing happens!”
“Baseball saved my life.”
The words on the page are a sucker punch to the senses, given the context.
We have this thing about sport being the savior. A mom swears it, no doubt, gymnastics kept her little girl from the wrong crowd. Football on the world’s dusty streets and ratty schoolyards keeps millions of kids out of trouble. And a 99-mph fastball steered Hideki Irabu clear of a violent end in the Japanese mafia.
Or so he believed. Hideki Irabu believed baseball saved his life.
Hideki Irabu is dead.
Oh yeah. Blue skies on a spring day and the season begins with the Yankees on the road, set to pound the home team… but Logan Morrison grinds out three RBIs for the hosts, Brad Miller goes 2 for 5 with a run scored, Danny Farquhar looks sharp in relief… and Tampa Bay wins?
On the other side of the country, just like old times, 40-year-old Fernando Rodney comes on in the ninth inning, gives up the go-ahead run, but watches from the bench and picks up the win as the… D-Backs walk off?
Huh? Say what? Continue reading “First Pitch!”
Twenty guys?
Exactly half the forty-man Spring Training roster has never dirtied their cleats in a Mariner big-league uniform. Here’s a list of every guy looking to make his future with your Seattle Mariners this year. Even some of our twenty returnees will have you (and their teammates) scratching your head going, “wait, who?” Continue reading “Springtime Mariners nametags”
“Jerry DiPoto is a nut job…” …but he means that in the most nicest way…
Dude in the video likes Vogelbach. Playin’ in the Dirt is not sold. But there’s some solid analysis here.
Fifty-four men took the field in a Mariner uniform in 2016. Just twenty of them, exactly half of the current forty-man roster, are in camp in Spring 2017 as part of the big-league squad. Continue reading “Change is done, change is comin’…”
In celebration, and you know we celebrate this day every year, Playin’ in the Dirt tips a cap to one amazing man. A man who you just have to believe is most glad for a mind-boggling trade.
Second-year pitcher Mike Montgomery had appeared in 32 games for the Ms in 2016, posting a 2.34 ERA and looking strong. On July 20, he went to the Cubs. Three months later, he was in the playoffs. Continue reading “Ex-Mariner of the Year”
There’s nothing but joy in this man’s game.
Munenori Kawasaki is remembered by Mariner fans as the bouncy Tigger® of their 2012 infield, a grin super-glued to his face saying how lucky he felt standing there, spikes caked at last with Major League dirt.
Who cares if he hit .192 in only 104 at-bats, appearing in less than half the Mariners’ games? That smile stayed on his face on the bench, lighting up the dugout. TV cameras loved the guy, check him out, what a great influence on his teammates, slapping backs, cheering on every pitch, just happy to be there. Continue reading “A Monkey Never Cramps”