.

In the 1980's, there was an NBA game on TV one weekend...  The Bird Celtics, and Magic Lakers, were going at it hammer-and-tongs.  Bill Russell was doing "color," and doing it with his usual complete lack of interest in the game.  He remarked laconically, "if ANY other team in the NBA were on the floor right now, it would be behind by 20 points.  To either team."

Which was quite a visual, since the score was tied ...

You can win 12-1* for a lot of different reasons:

• Maybe the ball just fell in for you.  Two doubles kicked up chalk, a HR landed in 2nd row, etc
• The opposing pitcher walked five guys in the first two innings.  They just had a stinker game
• Your lineup is really hot this week
• It was your turn today
• etc

When you win your sixth game in a row, and that game is 12-1*, you proceed to Level 201 Scan.

..............

In this specific game, all 9 batters applied steady, consistent pressure to Jordan Lyles' cranium.  The result kinda reminded you of the Khan Skullcrusher that he favored when there was a Peter Weller that needed ending.

Jordan Lyles just gave you the impression that he simply wasn't up to the task.  The emotional feel of the game, its tempo and rhythm, was like a Seahawks vs Arizona game.  At Qwest.*

In the first inning, Brad Miller stepped up.  Lyle confidently fired a 1st-pitch fastball down the middle, and Brad Miller confidently fired a tape-measure swing at the ball.  Juuuuuuuust missed it, baby.... Lyle's eyes got wide.  He walked Miller on the next four pitches.  Is that the quintessential Miller 5-pitch walk?!  :- )  First-pitch swing out of your shoes and then watch the next four go by wide?

Nick Franklin then got a 93 fastball on the black and got it Right. On. the. Screws, screaming a line drive to the opposite field.  It so happened to hit their third baseman in the mitt.  Miller was doubled off, but Lyle was white as a sheet.  Or he shoulda been.

..................

Second inning, the M's anti-Seahawk, white-bread kiddie corps scrambled their way to five baserunners ... Seager scuffled on through a botched force attempt, Michael Saunders worked a classic Saunders walk off a nervous Lyle.  Ackley had a long infield single.  There was a HBP and then:

Miller took the above WAYYYY outside pitch on a line into LF .... I'm tellin' ya that was Pete Rose Reincarnated.  This specific pitch, that screaming line drive to LF on that way outside fastball, that is Pete Rose and that is a .300 career batting average.  Brad Miller is just such a pleasure to behold.  I flat enjoy watching him play hardball.  You fancy that Eric Wedge considers him rather easy on the eye, also.

Six baserunners, nobody doing anything special, but EVERYBODY throwing body punches to Lyle's bladder region.  Sounds like a cliche, except that is what was occurring.

Nick Franklin's grand slam was not a Michael Morse-style grand slam, and it was not a Mike Trout-style grand slam.  It was a Derek Jeter-style grand slam:

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................

There is an axiom in tournament chess:  "A beautiful game is a sign you are improving."  In other words, when a 15-year-old junior plays his one "evergreen" game (out of 10 that week) that is grandmaster quality, well ... that game is a sign of the level he'll consolidate the next summer.

Man, that game was a taste.  

When can you ask about a Cinderella run?  For me that's at exactly -2 under .500.  ;- )  The M's are about one more series sweep away from turning their heads over to the right to examine the standings.  Shhhhhh ...

BABVA,

Dr D

*Apologies to non-smurf Henry Blanco