By Kelly:
It only took a little less than a month but I finally made it up to Seattle to see a Mariner’s game. And of course they were playing the California Angels of Anaheim and you know I had to be sitting right next to one of their fans. I don’t mind at all that they are rooting for their team, but I’m a Dodger’s fan so I didn’t really want to listen to an Angels fan. The fan that was sitting next to me was nice and I was nice to him, so it was all good but I did get to rub it in when the Mariner’s beat them 3-2. Plus you know I had to mention the fact that they spent $350+ Million on 2 sluggers that are hitting a combined .237 with 4 HR’s and 21 RBI’s. Enough about the Angels. Lets talk Mariners!!!
It was Dustin Ackley Full Size Bat night, so the first 15,000 kids 14 and under got bats, which is awesome. I don’t know when the last time the Mariners did a full size bat giveaway. I know they do mini bat giveaways. So with my 3 daughter’s we got 3 bats. I plan on taking them to Spring Training next year and having Dustin Ackley sign one of them. With the two others I will just give them to Gracie (8) and Malia (5) with a silver sharpie and tell them to get as many Mariner’s as they can sign them.
Another thing we like to do while we are at a game is try to get at least one baseball. I would like to consider myself a ballhawk along with my 2 older daughters. I have an account on mygameballs.com and it keeps track of all the balls we have gotten at games. It’s been five or six years since we have been to a game and didn’t get a ball and today wasn’t any different. Gracie got a ball tossed to her from Brandon Maurer, a Mariners rookie starting pitcher. Gracie has gotten really good at getting balls. In her short ballhawking career she has gotten a ball from Ichiro, Felix Hernandez, Trevor Hoffman, Jake Peavy, J.J Putz and many others. Malia hasn’t gotten quite as many as Gracie but last year she did get a ball from Davy Lopes (a coach with the Dodgers).
I was kind of disappointed that not a lot of players from either team were signing autographs for the kids. We did get Brandon Maurer on a blank autograph card since he doesn’t have a card out yet. Besides that I saw Tom Wilhelmsen and Brendan Ryan signing a lot like they always do. Raul Ibanez signed about 10 or so which is great. The only Angel that I saw sign was Mike Trout which was surprising but was great to see. Usually a lot more of the bullpen or bench players sign from the opposing team but not from the Angels. That’s okay though, it just gives me more reason not to like them.
The game in itself was awesome. I got to see Felix Hernandez pitch, Happy Felix Day to me. He pitched 8 innings, K’ed 7 and got the win to improve to 3-2 with a 1.90 ERA. Down 2-0 in the bottom of the 6th Jesus Montero blasted a 2 run 406 ft HR to tie the game. Kyle Seager got a hit in the 7th and improved his hitting streak to 16 games. Three batters later Kendrys Morales pinched hit with a single to left field scoring Seager for the go ahead run. Tom Wilhelmsen came in and got the save improving to 7 for 7 in save opportunities this year.
Overall we had a great time as we always do and I can’t wait to go to another game. As long as it’s not against the California Angels of Anaheim.
That was a great story. You should check out our site, s we take groups up to Seattle for Mariners games. We also do Spring Training packages for a great rice, with great seats!
Thank you and I will check it out. My family is going to Spring Training next year.