M's Celebrate My Birthday With Their Ninth Straight Series

May 3, 2001

I was there of course. My whole family was, actually, because it was my birthday and I made them all go. HAHA Seriously though, the evening started off with my super cute three year old nephew Dylan with his super cute new crew-cut in his super cute Mariner jacket talking my mom (his grandmother) into buying him this enormous red foam finger which just looks obscene and SOUNDS obscene to even talk about if you ask me and it is totally cracking my mom and I up the way he is waving this thing around and then we get out to our super sweet seats RIGHT in the corner of left field, I'm not exaggerating, they are AWESOME, and he is all waving his glove to the players out there (mostly Red Sox, unfortunately), and none of them throw him a ball and instead toss a couple to these obnoxious high school boys a few rows behind us. I crack myself up when I tell Dylan to give them the finger and he waves his big red foam finger around. Which, you know, is what I meant for him to do all along. My sister does not appreciate the joke, which was really quite clever if you ask me.

So there we all are, me, my mom, my sister, my brother-in-law, my friends Lee Ann and Travis (who I ran into on a fluke and who sat with us because we had two extra seats with my dad and grandpa both having the flu not that anybody is really concerned with the particulars of all that I suppose, but too late now), Dylan and my 8 month old nephew Casey, who is also super cute in all his little teeny Mariner apparel and I have to say MY NEPHEWS ARE SO DARLING IT IS NOT EVEN FUNNY and Jamie Moyer sits the Red Sox down like there was nothing to it. THEN, Ichiro, who was given the all-new "Rookie of the Month" Award right before the game, doubled and then stole third which made me very, very happy.

"To be a leadoff hitter, you have to be the table-setter. He has done very well at that. Defensively, he gets a great jump on the ball and already in the first month (opponents) have a respect for his arm strength. When he gets on base, the pitcher and the catcher give him a lot of attention, which helps the batter get better pitches." -Jamie Moyer, on Ichiro

Mike Cameron grounded out, but Edgar sacrificed Ichiro in, and then John Olerud followed THAT with a homerun, and just like that, we are up 2-0.

Second inning. Boston gets 4 hits, but only scores 1 run. My nephew hits me in the head with the red foam finger. We do absolutely nothing.

Third inning. Boston does nothing. More importantly, Carl Everett and Manny Ramirez do nothing, and those two are not easy outs. For our half, Ichiro gets an infield hit and Mike Cameron hit a homerun that I thought was coming right for me but I didn't mind when it stayed fair and went over the wall behind us instead. Edgar walked, and I do believe it was his 1,000th career walk. Olerud K'd, and then Edgar stole second--YES, THAT'S RIGHT, EDGAR STOLE SECOND, and I always crack up when Edgar steals a base because he doesn't do that very often and when he does you're just so surprised because he's not known for his speed and HOW MUCH DO I LOVE EDGAR MARTINEZ and I took that steal as a personal birthday shoutout to me. We can't score him though, and we leave the inning leading 4-1.

Fourth inning. Jamie K's two, walks one and gives up no hits. Then, Carlos Guillen got a hit we were unable to do anything with. I notice some guys arguing a few rows over. It appears there are a couple of Boston fans and a couple of Seattle fans not enjoying one another's company. I inform my brother-in-law, "There's going to be a fight up there."

Fifth inning. Jamie gives up 3 hits, which the Bo Sox are unable to do anything with. And I believe this was when the Moose shot around the park on his go-kart, but I'm not entirely certain. Regardless, that cracks me up no end for whatever reason. Ichiro made an out. Cameron singled and stole second. Edgar made an out. John Olerud was intentionally walked and they (the sound people) play a chicken-clucking noise which always kills me and then they play "R.E.S.P.E.C.T." by Aretha Franklin as John heads on down to first, and then to the dish steps Bret "Gee, I'm Awfully Sorry Walking John To Get To Me Didn't Work Out For You" Boone drilled a single which scored Cammie and Olerud got to third when they threw to the plate. We break into Boston's bullpen, but we end up leaving John and Boone stranded. We are now leading 5-1.

Sixth inning. Casey is sound asleep on me. Shea Hillenbrand homers with one man on to bring the score to 5-3. I swear quietly so I won't wake up the baby but mostly so my sister wouldn't hear and yell at me for swearing around Dylan who ALSO didn't hear, I might add. We come right back though, with David Bell (and I love David Bell) doubling and then getting to third on a passed ball, which also got Carlos (who had just struck out) to first, and although it was in our favor, I STILL HATE THAT RULE, I mean strike three, take a seat, no exceptions. And actually, before yesterday's game, I don't think I'd ever seen anybody reach first on a strike three call when the ball gets away from the catcher, and I have now seen it twice in two ballgames back to back. Anyway though, Dan Wilson grounded out and David scored on it, and we leave the inning lead 6-3. I notice more arguing from the people a few rows over. A Mariner fan grabs the Boston fan's Boston hat and waves it around. The Boston guy gets mad. It doesn't go past arguing though. I tell my brother-in-law again, "There's gonna be a fight up there."

Seventh inning. Jamie sits them down 1-2-3, and again, I must point out that he also gets Carl Everett and Manny Ramirez, and that is no easy feat. How much do I love Jamie Moyer.

I do the 7th inning stretch with Casey, who sleeps right through it, and that is not easy to do with my singing, trust me. Then Edgar walked and Ole singled which got Edgar to third, and then Boone struck out, but John stole second, which surprised me just as much as Edgar, and with my great ability to make everything all about me anyway, I considered it another birthday shout out. Unfortunately, we somehow manage NOT to score them. Still 6-3 us.

Norm "the Sherriff's Back In Town Tonight" Charlton relieves Jamie and sits the Sox down in order with a strikeout. How much do I love to see Norm doing so well. My nephew wakes up and gets mad, so I hand him back to his mother. And then this is where it gets exciting, so pay attention: Rich Garces comes in to pitch for Boston. He K's Danny. Ichiro singles. Cameron walks. Edgar strikes out. Olerud walks. Bases loaded. AND SURE ENOUGH, a fight breaks out a few rows over between the two Boston guys and the Mariner fans who instead of just grabbing the guy's hat, they LAUNCH it down the crowd which I actually thought was pretty funny because it is a huge peeve of mine when people root for the away team, I mean when I was in Yankee Stadium I didn't say one single word, and not just because I was afraid I'd get beat up, but because it is OBNOXIOUS as all get out, and when we won that night, I didn't even obnoxiously GLOAT about it, and anyway I am so busy watching about 5 different men involved throwing punches and having to be restrained as the security and police come down to get them that I totally miss Bret Boone getting walked to force in a run until I hear the song "I Wanna Walk You Home" (which I believe was a hit by Fats Domino, but I'm not 100% sure on that) come blaring on. Bases still loaded. Enter Mark McLemore to pinch hit, and once again he delivers, cleaning off the bases with a double. We leave the inning leading 10-3.

Kazu came in to shut Boston down right nicely, although I could've done without the two back-to-back singles he gave up after getting two outs. They were harmless though, so if he's going to give up hits, that's the way to do it.

As we are walking out of the stadium, these three obnoxious Boston fans are standing at the top of the section screaming "GO RED SOX!" at the top of their obnoxious lungs and my mom, who isn't really all that into baseball, and she's certainly not the confrontational type in any case, doesn't miss a beat in informing these guys "they went," which surprised the heck out of them and pretty much had me rolling down the concord I was laughing so hard, and I was like GO MOM and she was really pleased with herself.

"I wouldn't say I've been overly dominant on my part. We've had good defense, timely hitting and scored our share of runs. To me, it's been a great team effort." -Jamie Moyer, on his 5-0 record

"Not a damn thing that I can think of." -Jamie Moyer, on what he has in common with Pedro Martinez

"Those guys are good. They are tough pitchers. They know how to pitch situation by situation. Everyone has a distinct role. The starters are good at what they do. The middle relievers are good at what they do and the closer is good at what he does. From a position player's point of view, they are easy to play for." -Ichiro, on the Mariner pitching staff

"It's good to beat anybody, whether they're leaders or not." -Lou Piniella, when asked how it felt to beat the Boston Red Sox, who are tied with the Toronto Blue Jays for the lead in the A.L. East

Interesting side note: The Boston Red Sox walked 15 batters in this three game series. The Seattle Mariners walked ONE. In three games. That's right. ONE.

And one more interesting side note: Tonight's victory gave us our 9th straight series win, and all I can say about that is these guys know how to throw a birthday party.