M's Celebrate the Halfway Mark With Their 60th Win

July 2, 2001

"Sixty wins at the halfway point is a lot of wins. It's a tribute to the talent we've got here, to the intensity we have going and the confidence that's been building." -Lou Piniella

Okay so this exceedingly delightful game began with a 1-out double from Stan Javier that ended up being a triple thanks to an error by Ricky Ledee and Edgar "All Star" Martinez hit a sac fly to score him and we head into the bottom half leading 1-0 and Paul Abbott made me a little nervous by giving up a 1-out double to Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez and then Alex "Is Fort Worth Worth It?" Rodriguez singled much to my extreme dismay and speaking of my extreme dismay, I went to flip my Mariner calendar over to July and while there are a few ex-Mariners in it like Raul Ibanez and John Mabry that I don't mind having in there because they were such good guys, I had forgotten that Alex was Mr. July and so after I got done shrieking in outrage, I put a sticky note up over his face and anyway, Rafael "Abby Has My Number BIG TIME" Palmeiro popped up and Ruben Sierra struck out and I am quite impressed.

So then second inning and with two outs, David Bell singled and then Dan "I'm Goin' Yard!" Wilson WENT YARD to put us up 3-0! Unfortunately, Abby had a little trouble in the bottom half, and with one out he all of a sudden can't find the strike zone and he gave up back to back walks which scored on an obnoxious double from Mike Young who ended up at third on the throw in and then the Bat Boy singled to score him and NO WAIT that is Frank Catalanotto and we have a tie game and then Pudge singled and with two on and only one out, Alex and Rafael could not get them in and all I can say is it serves them both right, and speaking of Rangers' personnel I'm not fond of, I should mention that Doug Melvin, the Texas GM, announced with a rather tacky statement that they released third baseman Ken Caminiti because he "did not fit in" with the direction the Rangers wanted to go with younger players and while I do believe that this is in Ken's favor and he probably wanted out of there anyway, I can't help but wonder how they're going to write him out of that laughably ridiculous comic book they came out with, starring A-Rod, Palmeiro, Pudge and Caminiti as superheroes, and no, I am not making that up, I read it in Sports Illustrated, they actually created a Texas Rangers comic book. It's comical alright.

So anyway, third inning, tied at 3, and I had to stop watching for a bit because I have enough stress in my life at the moment what with have RAN INTO MY BEST FRIEND AND WRECKING MY CAR and all and I'm talking to my friend Shel who is watching the game and keeping me updated and with one out, Stan Javier pinched a nerve in his knee or something so Charles Gipson came in to hit for him and walked and then Edgar walked and then Olerud walked and bases loaded with Bret Boone at the plate and I run over and turn the TV back on just in time to see the umpire make a HORRIFYING strike three call on a pitch that was only FOUR THOUSAND MILES OUTSIDE and I am still having a complete hissy fit over it when Ed Sprague is ALSO called out on strikes and I turn off the TV and complain about the umpire to Shel for several minutes. So then with 1 out, Gabe Kapler doubled and I get the theme song to Welcome Back Kotter stuck in my head and Ledee walked and Michael Lamb singled and scored Kapler and we leave the inning trailing 4-3 and Shel is subjected to another tirade.

So fourth inning and I'm still not watching and Shel is all breaking in with updates for me and with 1 out, Dan Wilson singled and then with TWO outs, Mike Cameron doubled and tied the game by scoring Dan and JUST BARELY missed a homerun and Shel is all "the outfielder took a bite out of the wall going for it... I wonder if he'd like fries with that" which cracks me up and we head into the bottom half all tied at 4, and Abby retires the side in order, including Alex and Palmeiro, which made me very, very happy.

So fifth inning and resume watching the game and we sit down in order but Texas doesn't manage much better with a harmless walk and so let us move along to the sixth where we sit down in order AGAIN, and Texas managed a 2 out double and then we intentionally walk A-Rod after going 3-0 on him and then Palmeiro struck out and I can't get over how Abby dominates Palmeiro who has dominated US and anyway, seventh inning and Mark McLemore walked and then Cammie TRIPLED to score him and we take the lead 5-4 and Pat Mahomes relieved Doug Davis and with nobody out, we fail to score Cam from third base even though Ichiro came in to pinch hit for Gipson and Edgar and Olerud were up after him. It's not right, I tell you! So bottom of the seventh and I really don't care to get into what happened here but let's just say that the normally reliable Ryan Franklin had an off night and we leave the inning trailing 7-5.

So eighth inning and we sit down in rather dismal order and then Alex made an out and then Brian Fuentes relieved Franklin and walked Palmeiro and allowed Ruben Sierra a single and then Kapler, bless his heart, hit into a double play, inning over!

Ninth inning and the Rangers need 3 more outs to win the game and they got 2 of them. Jeff Zimmerman relieved Mahomes. Tom Lampkin, pinch hitting for Dan, was nailed with a pitch. Mark McLemore singled! Runners on 1st and 2nd, nobody out. Then Mac gets caught stealing, ending his big streak of like 23 in row or something, and I suffer a small heartbreak and then Mike Cameron K'd and I suffer another small heartbreak and we are down to our final out when Ichi "I'M GOIN YARD!" ro WENT YARD! TIE GAME! TIE GAME! 7-7!

"You can't expect Ichiro to hit a two-run homer. But the way this club has played, you've come to expect something." -Bret Boone

"There will come a time when Ichiro Suzuki will cease to amaze. Just picking a date out of the hat, Nov. 5, 2020, sounds about right." -John Hickey, sportswriter

"You just watch him and say, 'This is unbelievable.' Whatever we need, he gets. If we need a bunt, he gets it. If we need a single, he gets that. And if we need a home run, he gets that, too." -Al Martin on Ichiro

"The best player in the game this year." -Texas Ranger catcher Ivan Rodriguez on Ichirio

"Those guys believe they are going to win every time. If they don't, they are going to win the next day. It bleeds from one guy to the next." -Jeff Zimmerman

So bottom of the ninth and Fuentes K'd Ledee and got Lamb to ground out and then Jeff Nelson came in and I think the count went to 3-0 before he came back to STRIKE OUT Mike Young to end the inning, and you should've seen this beauty pitch he made, I mean MY GOD it was lovely.

So tenth inning and Mark Petkovsek relieved Zimmerman and John Olerud welcomed him with a double and then Bret Boone dropped this gorgeous bunt that surprised the crap out of the Rangers and ran RIGHT PAST Palmeiro with it for a base hit and he got John to third besides and I am beside myself with glee.

"Surprised the hell out of me." -Lou Piniella on Boone's bunting

So runners at the corners with nobody out and Al Martin singled to score John and there we are leading 8-7 and then David Bell flew out but Tom Lampkin followed with a walk to load the bases and Mac delivered with a sac fly to score Boone and we head to the bottom half leading 9-7 and enter Kazuhiro Sasaki who, in ruthless Kazu fashion, got the Bat Boy to fly out - NO WAIT that is Frank Catalanotto and then struck out Pudge AND GUESS WHO'S UP, could it be - is it - YES! It's Alex "I Wanna Be Like Boone!" Rodriguez in all his "it's-not-about-the-money-I'd-take-less-to-play-for-a-winner" pants-ablaze glory, and he TRIES TO BUNT like he's Bret Boone or something and that fails and and a few swings later and Alex is K'd and we win our 60th game of the year which was a rather delightful thing to do on the halfway point (81st game) in the season.

"Sixty wins? That's a lot of wins. Sixty-one sounds better, though." -Lou Piniella

"No one can know the future, but the Mariners wouldn't mind extending the present. Against a Rangers team that was talking about having found itself in the last three weeks, Seattle stood up late and beat Texas again - dropping the Rangers 28 games back." -Larry LaRue, sportswriter

"They play the game right, they get the job done, but we should have had this one." -Jerry Narron, Texas Ranger manager

"Am I surprised? No. We have one player who leads the league in RBI. We have another who leads the league in hits and stolen bases and runs scored.  We've had a lot of success this season, and these four players are a big part of that." -Lou Piniella, on having four players elected as starters for the All Star Game (Boone, Ichiro, Edgar and Olerud)

"Sure. I went online and voted 'Me ... me ... me ...'" -Edgar Martinez, when asked if he voted