The Mariners game

My grandson and I have had tickets to this game for quite some time and were planning on flying up but found that the flight loads were not good so we ended up driving. We all seem to enjoy the drive up, however and we arrived at Safeco Field around an hour before the game.

The game was non eventful going into the top half of the ninth inning. With the Mariners up 3-0 and the Orioles only having three hits. Many of the faithful were walking out with this game just about in the books. Especially with the Mariners new star closer coming out to the mound. Sound explosions rocked the stadium as the jumbo tron hailed the mighty Aardsma. The jumbo tron showed fireball pitch after fireball pitch and a stat was put up that in the previous games, he had an era of .69. Yes, the game was secure with mighty Aardsma on the mound.....or was it. The young reliever seemed to have trouble with his pitches right off of the bat and before he knew it, the bases were loaded with no outs. Now, I can not blame the whole thing on him as the infield seem to bobble ball after ball also. I remember when Baltimore's fourth run crossed the plate. "That is the winning run.", I told my daughter. Soon, the mighty Aardsma was pulled for another pitcher but it was too late. The damage was done and the Orioles had a 5-3 lead.

Now, up to this point both Trinity and Jayden had been disappointed that they had not seen Ken Griffey Jr. play yet and with the last two batters up in the bottom half of the ninth, it seemed like a natural thing for the manager to do but the manager didn't listen to me. He sent up his two worst batters and their were soon two outs. With the game almost over and Ichiro up to bat, Jay informed us that he needed to go to the bathroom. "We might as well leave.", I stated. This game is as good as over, even if Ichiro gets a hit. The girls waited while Jay and I went into the bathroom.

The radio was piped into the bathroom and I heard that Ichiro got his hit. Then the announcer announced the next batter, Ken Griffey Jr. I yelled at Jay to hurry up and told him that Jr. was up. But as we washed our hands Jr. hit a grounder on his first pitch and the game was over. "Oh, well,", stated Jayden, "I guess I will have to wait till next year to see him play.".

With that, we walked to our car and headed home in rush hour traffic. We arrived home about midnight, tired but having enjoyed a nice road trip and major league game.