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Q.  What was the HBP really about?

A.  It was about the Rangers thinking that the Mariners were going to be their customers this season, and the Mariners trying to spit the bit.  That's not speculation; that's stating the obvious.

Differences between Tuesday's HBP and some other less confrontational, much less an accidental, HBP:

1.  The pitch was aimed below the waist (so as not to be dangerous) and slightly behind Iannetta, so as to be sure of actually nailing the batter.

2.  It immediately followed an on-mound discussion with the pitching coach.  Next pitch.

3.  It followed a rally, not just any rally, but the kind of humiliating inning that only multiple upper-deck shots can bring ...

3a.  Which ended 400 pitches' worth of intense play between the two teams.

4.  The ump immediately threw Wilhelmsen out of the game.  This being because the ump saw everything coming.

5.  The field managers, not the benches, were shouting obscenities at each other.

6.  You don't throw at people in game 2 of the season.  It takes time for ill will to gather.

7.  Wilhelmsen was defiant in the postgame and specifically said "I don't want them getting too comfortable out there."

8.  Iannetta's irate reaction.

9.  etc.

Connect the dots.  The Mariners -- naturally unsure of themselves early on -- were hanging on to the series (and the young season) like a cat to a screen door with a toddler pulling its tail.

BAM all of a sudden the M's sheer talent imposed its will on the tit-for-tat pitch sequences.  They sunk their fangs in with a series of chomps to the inner thigh that said (or tried to say) "Not this year.  Nuh-uh."  The Rangers didn't appreciate it one bit.  Think Rocky Balboa VI, where the champ Mason Dixon tells the 50-ish Rocky "ain't no need for anybody to get hurt.  But if you hit me, I will take you out."  That's the scenario.

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Q.  Was this okay for the Rangers to do, or was it kind of chickenfeathers?

A.  Totally out of line.  Second game of the season?!  We got 17 left with these guys.

Which is also why Iannetta carefully warned the post-game ROOT guy not to bring it up.  These wars can get out of hand real quick. 

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Q.  Would Dr. D have thrown at the Rangers in return?

A.  50-50 call.  I probably would have, yes.  Servais' attitude seemed to be, we'll give you that one, but understand the situation here.  This isn't a team that's going to let you throw elbows in the paint.  Kudos to him for yelling enough back at them, right after the HBP, to --- > bring the Rangers out of their dugout.  Reminded you of the M's first playoff series under Piniella, where the Yankee$ threw at us, and Lou screamed over "You're going down, and when you do, remember I ordered it!"

Interesting too, that the guys who were leaning forward, ready to rush the Rangers, were the M's coaches, and Robby Cano and ... Dae-Ho Lee :- )  None of whom are known for spending their careers learning how to lose and take it in stride.

Leo Durocher once wrote a memoir about a nasty beanball war in which he came out of the dugout and "couldn't figure out why" he was standing by the 6'7", 250# Frank Howard while everybody was yelling ... couple pages later he wrote "Oh yeah.  Now I realized.  I wanted Big Frank standing next to me in case the fighting really started."

:: blinks ::

... sudden thought.  THAT's why Romero is in AAA?

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Q.  What was the exit velocity on Smith's home run?!

A.  HR Tracker gives it as 109.6 MPH "average velocity off bat," whatever "average velocity" means. ... oh.  Average of one homer, since he only has one.  Robby's average of 110 is based on two :- )

Here is a video of Robby's upper-deck shot at 107 MPH.  Smith's was the 109.6 and at the time, we thought it must have been as hard as Smith ever hit a home run.  On the ESPN Home Run Tracker, I can't find a homer from 2012-15 that he hit harder than Tuesday's.  He's usually 102-106 MPH and once per year he gets one that is 108, 109 MPH.  Wilhelmsen was the sour-grapes recipient of this one.

Hey by the way, Nelson Cruz' line-drive homer -- off a 92 MPH jam pitch -- to make the game 2-0 in the fourth?  It had a launch velocity of 111.1 MPH and I had thought it was a routine fly ball for him :- )

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Q.  What's that in the Shout Box about Marte?

A.  May we refer you to the D-O-V Mainframe.

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Q.  4 homers from the Big Three in two games, that must be a lineup.

A.  Cano hit 27 homers per year and 45 doubles, every year his last five with the Yankees.  .525 SLG like clockwork.  I mean to say that his .500-and-plenty SLG was a given, year after year.

Yes, Egbert, the park was different.  :: taps knee, foot kicks up ::   Now that we've signed off on that, can we ask why he hit with so much authority so consistently, and why he got $240M for 10 years?  In the Seattle park, second half last year, .331/.387/.540.  Would be nice to see him make a run at that.

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Q.  Good game for Martin?

A.  OBF gets the postgame yoo-hoo shower.    

We didn't see the rangy plays in center that Rizzs apparently "called," but the double down into the corner ... breaking pitch outside, Martin covered it neatly.  When it counted - it was a "Hard RBI."  We're hardly declaring victory on his behalf after one big hit, but ... if Martin can chip in even a little bit, that'll be pretty sweet.

BABVA,

Dr D