"Seeing him back at-bat was the highlight of the day. Just his presence means so much to us. It gives as a whole other look... dangerous. The team is complete now." -Paul Abbott on the return of Jay Buhner

So this game began with me anxiously watching for the starting lineup and I was just SURE Jay Buhner would be on it and he WASN'T and I was watching the game with my dad and I can see him cringe out of the corner of my eye when he sees what I saw (the absence of Jay's name) and I of course begin ranting about the unfairness of it all and while I'm still having a paroxysm we are down in order and Melvin Mora reached on a bunt single but 2 strikeouts later and he gets caught stealing which makes me pause in the middle of my tirade to shout hooray and we head to the second inning with no score.

So with 2 outs, Mike "I'm Goin Yard!" Cameron WENT YARD to put us up 1-0 and then... Paul Abbott gave up a lead off walk to Jeff Conine and a strikeout later and Tony Batista reached on an infield single and then... Brady Anderson and his big old muscles knocked one out to put Baltimore up 3-1 and I swear until I am pretty much lightheaded from the effort, and we head to the third inning where Tom Lampkin singled with 1 out and then Ichiro singled and then Mark McLemore and Edgar Martinez are both called out on bogus strikes and I call the umpire some names and with 1 out in their half, Larry Bigbie walked and then Chris Richard reached on an infield single and then both of them moved up a base on a rare error by David Bell and Conine was intentionally walked before Cal Ripken Jr. K'd and Batista fouled out to end the threat and I am so mad at this point that Jay isn't playing and that Edgar and Mac got crappy calls when we had runners on and that we're trailing 3-1 with a road series at stake here that I leave to run some errands so I don't pop a blood vessel or something, not that I take baseball too seriously or anything.

So remind to never ever, EVER go to Walmart on a Saturday right before school is starting. I needed to get another storage bin thingie and Walmart has those really cheap and I thought I'd just run in, grab one and run back out again before I went on my search for new lamps and anyway, it is hogwild with people in there and you can't even hardly walk down the aisles and I am starting to get very stressed out as I was already in a foul temper to begin with and what is wrong with people that they can't a) watch their children and b) say excuse me when they run into you and/or over you with their cart and c) shower. So anyway, I'm trying to make my way down the main aisle and there are all these screaming children with screaming parents and I desperately wished for earplugs and a forklift so that I could just plow my way through everybody and there is a particularly frightening family heading my direction, I mean there must have been 10 of them, all loud, all out of control and all not watching where they're going and rather than get trampled I ducked down an aisle to try and get away from the horror of it all only it turned out to be the school-supplies aisle which was jampacked with people rooting through things in search of the perfect pencil or whatever and people can really be complete pigs in stores and I have to say that I have never wanted out of any place SO BADLY IN MY ENTIRE LIFE and like 70 years later I manage to work my way through and I find the storage bin thingie I want and then I stand in line for several agonizing minutes before a nice cashier took pity on me and opened up another checkstand and by this time, I'm ready to go HOME because I am just exhausted.

So while I was barely surviving Walmart, the Mighty Mariners had moved through the fourth inning and after wasting John Olerud's lead off walk that was followed 2 outs later by an infield single from Stan Javier, Baltimore wastes Brook Fordyce's 1 out double and Jerry Hairston's walk thanks to a nice double play, and then they moved through the fifth, going down in order and Baltimore tacked on another run and I could tell you how but I don't want to.

"You're not going to see any let up in here or on the field, that's not the way we play. Except for me, nobody in here is cocky - and most of the time, I'm just joking when I'm cocky." -Bret Boone

So we head to the sixth inning and with 2 outs, Bret Boone reached on an infield single and then Mike Cameron doubled to score him and then Stan Javier doubled to score Cammie and then David Bell walked and BJ Ryan relieved Jose Mercedes and I had just gotten back to my car and turned on the radio and Dave Niehaus is all something like "Boy, it's good to see this face again, now pinch hitting for Tom Lampkin is Jay Buhner" and I am immediately conflicted with joy at having him play finally and horror THAT I AM NOT GETTING TO SEE IT and I can hear that he's getting some applause there and Jay walked and then Dan Wilson ran for him and Ichiro hit an infield single which scored 2 and then he stole second but that's as far as we get and we have taken the lead 5-4 as I am racing home hoping that they'll show replays later.

"It was good just seeing that old bird out there again. It made everybody smile. It was time. It was natural for him to be part of this. It's a lift for the club to see him swing the bat again." -Mike Cameron on Jay's at bat

"It felt great to be back out there. The way things were going in spring training when I hurt my foot, then later during the season... there were times I just wanted to walk, to leave the game. To be able to come back, to go back out there like that tonight... it was just great." -Jay Buhner

"Bad to the Bone. How about a guy who goes up and draws a walk his first at-bat? It's wonderful to see him back out there." -Bret Boone

"We were dormant for a while, but we got big two-out hits tonight, we broke loose a bit in that one inning (sixth. It was good to see Jay back out there. All I was thinking seeing him go up was, `hit one into the Birdland (beyond the center field fence)'" -Lou Piniella

"Many in the crowd, announced at 45,668, applauded when Buhner was announced, and that set the tone for his at-bat. 'That shocked me, but made me feel good,' he said of the applause. 'The at-bat felt great. I wasn't nervous at all. I didn't have time to be nervous.'" -Bob Finnigan, sportswriter

"We don't have the record we have because we can't come back on somebody. Two outs into that sixth inning, nobody on base ... wow." -Paul Abbott

So Ryan Franklin relieved Abby and retired the first two batters and then Norm Charlton came in and retired the third and we head to the seventh still leading 5-4 and John Wasdin relieved BJ Ryan and with 2 outs, Bret singled and then Cammie was hit by a pitch but we don't score any more and then with 1 out, Jeff Nelson relieved Normie and Conine walked but he got the next two guys no problem and we are off to the the eighth inning and I arrive home about this time and burst through the door and turn on my TV.

With 2 outs, Ichiro singled and stole second but that was as exciting as it got and then Baltimore wasted Brady Anderson's walk, so ninth inning and with 2 outs again, Bret Boone doubled and then Mike singled to score him and we come away from it leading 6-4 where Kazuhiro Sasaki relieved Nelson and a strikeout, a walk, a flyout, a runner to second on indifference and a ground out later and we have won the game and I am SO HAPPY.

"I don't know that it's any big difference, September or August," Bret Boone said, "except now we know we're closer. It's not two months away, it's not six weeks away. October is right there, and we've got to keep doing what we do best." There was a pause as the Eastern media stared at Boone, who seemed surprised anyone needed an explanation. "We win," he said. "That's what we do best." -Larry LaRue, sportswriter