Oh boy, the time has come to crawl out of my fantasy world where I’m determined that the Mariners still have a shot at winning at least the Wild Card race.

I know that sounds completely ridiculous but I’m sure everyone knows the feeling of purposely being a teeny tiny bit ignorant about watching your favorite team fall out of contention.

So here I am, finally (and forcefully) waving the white flag. When the Mariners traded away Jarrod Washburn, that was pretty much the GM waving the flag but me being stubborn, I knowingly ignored that. Oh to find out your team has become a “seller”.

How lovely.

Mariners, you broke my heart again!

Thank your lucky stars I’m going on vacation so I don’t have too much time to sulk and be depressed. However, I will be back in Seattle for vacation so you guys had better be ready for some Diamond Girl power at Safeco Field. ♥  I’m so excited I can actually watch the Mariners on FSN every game! 

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What really forced me to admit to the team becoming a seller was the four game series against the big, bad Texas Rangers. It was a four game series and after the 3rd game I thought maybe we can at least tie the game but that didn’t happen.

This is the result of the series:

7/30: 1-7 Rangers

7/31: 4-5 Rangers

8/1: 7-2 Mariners

8/2: 2-4 Rangers

I guess I can find solace in knowing we didn’t get swept but losing 3 games is kind of a sweep.

It’s hard to criticize the Rangers, 1. because they’re better than the Mariners and 2. because I’ve always liked the Rangers. I don’t know what it is about them (yes, apart from the fact that I ♥ Kinsler, Hamilton and Saltalamacchia :]) but I always find myself cheering them on when the Wild Card rankings really start to matter (they always start showing the wild card rankings right after the All Star game…too soon!).

For the fourth game, Snell, our newest member from the Pittsburgh Pirates made his first start as a Mariner. 
Considering his win-loss ratio from when he was a Pirate and the fact that he was playing against the Texas Rangers, I suppose his performance was fairly solid. He gave up 2 runs which were both homers and struck out 4.

Meh.

Personally, I’m not quite sure if I was satisfied or not. I mean, he’s better than Olson (most are, and please don’t get me started on Olson. I’m highly irate and dangerous when I hear his name) but my expectations were probably set too high for him. I think he did well against the Rangers, it was just a tough loss that night and it wasn’t his fault. Again, our RPs messed it up. Thanks to White, we threw away what could have been a tied series against our arch nemesis.

The 3rd game was very nice. Felix got his 12th win despite his struggle. Jose Lopez and Ken Griffey Jr. both went 3 for 5. When Felix pitches, Lopez averages a .338 with 8 doubles, 5 homers and 18 RBIs.

Felix and Lopez = BFFs.  :]

Adorable. ♥

How can I forget Ichiro? Although he went 0 for 4 in the first game of the series (wow!), he had at least 2 hits a game for the rest of the series. With his batting average, I feel it’s the best decision to put a higher average player to bat 9th. I’m guessing that would help produce more runs for the team. That seems pretty obvious but perhaps I’m too naiive.

Ichiro is also well on his way to 200+ hits for 10 seasons in a row.

Wow.

What an amazing feat.

Just like President Obama told Ichiro that made him giggle like a kid, he’s a future Hall of Famer for sure. It won’t be anytime soon since there’s apparently no slowing down for #51 but in the years to come, I’m excited to see him inching closer to his entrance to Cooperstown.  ♥

So the next three series are against the Kansas City Royals. Unfortunately we won’t be facing the amazing Zack Greinke or Gil Meche (I believe he’s on the DL) but I’m crossing my fingers that I get to see the Royals in their baby blue uniform that makes them look like softies (see below). Note, I’m not making fun of that, I actually ♥ it. I like the Royals, mostly because there are a few former Mariners so I’ll be able to enjoy watching the game without getting livid and/or stressed out. Hehe. :]

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On a personal note, I’m going on vacation and leaving Mo-Town tomorrow morning for Portland, Oregon and then to my second home-sweet-home, Seattle, Washington. For the next week while I’m in Portland I highly doubt I’ll be blogging at all but once I’m home in Seattle, I’ll be back. :]

  Wait, the Pacific Northwest doesn’t look like that. More like this:

Till I’m back, best of luck to all your teams!

Toodles!

xoxo