SEATTLE - GAME RECAPS

April 17th - Seattle 6 Texas 4 - Attendance 34, 536.

What a great game to begin the trip. Ichiro led off the Seattle first with a single, but was quickly caught stealing. But Edgar Martinez reached on an error by Alex Rodriguez, and John Olerud slammed his first homer of the season, giving the Mariners a quick 2-0 lead. In the second inning, Carlos Guillen came up with a man on and promptly hit his first homer of the season. It was 4-0 Seattle after only 2 innings. In the 2nd Ichiro singled again, and was caught stealing again - Ivan Rodriguez is not a catcher to treat lightly. 

Although the roof was open when the game started, another rain shower began. This forced them to close the roof, a very interesting sight - completely quiet and fast as well. 

A-Rod waits for a pitch

After Texas narrowed the lead to 4-2, Ichiro was up again with a man on second - he singled again, driving in a run and giving Seattle some insurance. In his final at-bat, he drove a ball to right-center and legged out his first triple of the season. He later scored on Alex Rodriguez's second error of the game, giving the Mariners
a 6-4 lead, which Sasaki saved with a perfect 9th inning, including 2 strikeouts. Seattle now leads the majors with an 11-3 record. Jamie Moyer got the win on 6 2/3 innings of strong work while Rick Helling dropped to 0-3.

This game had it all and gets a 9/10 rating, as it was the first game of our trip,  Ichiro was the star, Sasaki got the save, and the roof closed.

Sasaki getting his 7th save

April 18th - Texas 8 Seattle 6 - Attendance 43, 823.

The second game of our trip was obviously not going to match the first in terms of excitement. Texas got to Seattle starter Brett Tomko right away - A-Rod hit a double and Rafael Palmeiro followed with a homer to right. Before we were settled in Texas was up 2-0. The Rangers added a run in the second on a Ruben Mateo sacrifice fly, but John Olerud replied in the bottom of the inning with his 2nd homer of the season (and our trip) to right center.

Chad Curtis homered in the 4th and Tomko was rattled, walking the next two batters. A sacrifice bunt and a sac fly got another run home but Olerud led off the Seattle 4th with a single and was eventually driven in by Dan Wilson. But Tomko continued in the 5th and gave up two doubles and two singles which led to two more Texas runs. Seattle again replied with one unearned run in the bottom of the 5th, but it was now 7-3 Texas and getting very cold out in the bleachers.

In the bottom of the 6th, Texas starter Doug Davis was clearly tiring - David Bell homered to lead off the inning and after two fly outs, Ichiro came to bat. On an 0-1 pitch, he drove the ball deep to right, going, going, GONE! His first homer at Safeco. And he set a new Seattle record by hitting safely in his 13th consecutive game. Suddenly it was 7-5 and things were getting interesting.

In the bottom of the 8th, Bell doubled and scored on Bo Porter's dropped fly ball. Ichiro was up with one out and men on 1st and 2nd, down 7-6. Although the stage was set for some dramatics, Ichiro fouled out to third and Cameron followed him with a fly to center, ending the rally.

In the 9th, Texas added another run and Jeff Zimmerman was able to close the Mariners out 1-2-3 to earn the save and avoid the Seattle sweep.

Ichiro crosses home plate with his record setting hit

Overall this game was still interesting as Seattle mounted a comeback and Ichiro homered, but the cold weather combined with poor control on the part of both starters made this a long game - about 3.5 hours. I give this game a rating of 6/10 since I froze over the last few innings hoping in vain for a Mariner's comeback.

July 12th - Seattle 4 San Francisco 3 (11 innings) - Attendance 45,696.

We returned to Seattle for the All-Star game and stayed a couple of extra days to watch Barry Bonds continue his pursuit of the home run record. We were not disappointed, as Bonds smashed his 40th home run in his first at-bat, giving the Giants a 1-0 lead. It was the fastest 40th homer in major league history. Seattle tied it in the third when Brett Boone singled, Rich Aurillia booted an Ed Sprague grounder allowing Boone to reach third, and David Bell singled. 

In the third, Ichiro reached on an infield single and later scored on an Edgar Martinez sacrifice fly (see picture) to give Seattle the lead. But Aurillia compensated for his error by slamming a 2-run shot in the 6th inning and the Giants had regained the lead off M's starter Paul Abbott. 

It looked like Seattle was going down to a rare loss as Robb Nen, NL saves leader, came in to preserve the 1-run lead in the 9th. But with 1 out, Bell hit a full-count pitch to deep center and suddenly extra innings loomed. The fans were on their feet, cheering their team that just wouldn't give up.

Sasaki pitched a perfect 10th as did Nen for the Giants. Sasaki then began the 11th by getting Jeff Kent to fly out before Arthur Rhodes came in to strike out Armando Rios and Felix Crespo. In the bottom of the 11th, Brian Boehringer was brought in and with one out, he walked Mike Cameron and Mark McLemore. After he struck out Bell, a pitching change was made. Zerbe came in to face Tom Lampkin, who chopped a single up the middle. Second-baseman Ramon Martinez got to the ball as McLemore raced around third. The throw home was.... not in time and the Mariners had won again! What a thrilling finish to our time in Seattle. This game had it all -  major league records, Ichiro, Sasaki, and extra innings. It gets an 8/10.

Lampkin's winning hit