July was a painful month for Mariner baseball fans. Seventeen losses in a row, when you figure in the All-Star break, equates to a full three weeks of misery. But from July 6th clear through July 26th, not a single “W” was posted in the M’s standings.
The tide swung on July 27th, when My Boy Felix pitched at Yankee Stadium and we rousted New York 9 to 2. Games don’t get any sweeter than that! But since then, it’s been back to normal for our boys of summer: win one, lose one, win one, lose one, win three (Yes, THREE in a row!), lose some, win some, and so on.
What gets me is that the organization apparently gave up, sometime mid-July, on making any kind of run for the pennant. Which essentially means they gave up on the rest of this season without a fight. Which means there’s really no point in attending too many August or September games now, is there?
Oh, it’s “interesting” to see “new talent” brought up from Triple A, but I hate going to the stadium, looking out onto the field and wondering “Who are these guys?”
A single trip to the stadium costs me the price of tickets, the price of parking, the gas for the 320 mile round trip, and the time to drive it. And if I want to eat anything while I’m there—boy howdy! It sure adds up!
So forgive me for saying this, but if I’m going to invest that much time and effort into a trip to Safeco Field, I want the starting line-up to be the ballplayers that got us into this mess, not some new kids on the block.
In protest, I’m not attending another live game again this year… maybe.