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That had to be one heck of a game to attend. BTW, Ichiro was totally safe on that pickoff throw. It was that man again, Mike Reilly.
Some Fan Notes From Last Night
As tonight's action gets underway, I thought I'd pass on some of what I saw last night. I'm not sure if anyone else here was at the game, but it sounds like probably not:
I was sitting down the right field line in the seventh when Ichiro got picked off the second time. It seemed to me that he was safe, but even before, you could tell he was eager to go, and could see his legs freeze as Burnett made his move. I didn't see a replay, so don't know if he was out, but Tinsley reacted to the call immediately.
To me, the Yankee fans didn't become very evident until the 9th. Maybe that just because I went down to see Rivera warm up, then you could hear the cheering and see them in their jerseys standing for what they assumed would be the final out.
I bet some of the Yankee fans flew out here for all three games because it's that much cheaper to watch the Yankees at Safeco than at the new Stadium.
When Sweeney hit his ball, I was thinking homer, it had that sort of sound and arc. It was maybe five feet short. At that point, it felt like "oh, that was their best chance, too bad it didn't go a little farther. Hope for an Ichiro single to tie the game." Between Rivera and all the Yankee fans making themselves known, it seemed too much to expect a win. And the Mariner fans kept leaving the park even with Sweeney/Saunders at second and Ichiro up.
I can't be the only person who was thinking before the 9th that Ichiro was trying to ruin things for Gutierrez. He makes the fine catch in the fourth, then runs down a few other balls. But his double and single came after Ichiro's two pick-offs.
Felix didn't seem to be pitching that well to me. There were three-four balls hit deep that I suppose would have been homers in N.Y., and the singles by Cano and Matsui were hit extremely hard.
Finally, I talked about the whole "Revive '95" thing a couple weeks ago, and I think for basically all the N.Y. and Seattle players there's no thought of 1995, but all this late-game drama does inspire fans to think of those days, no matter what the runs scored/runs against numbers say.