Toss Out the Sleeping Speculation

The Seattle Mariners had a get away day game on Thursday against the BlueJays. With the Mariners only mustering up just one run through the first 8 innings of baseball it seemed as though they were gonna lose another close low scoring game, as they have gotten used to this season. The Sports media and fans had given up on the season because the Mariners were so bad at hitting, and already 12 games under .500 that it seemed that there was no hope in Seattle for the lowly Mariners. But on the day in the bottom of the 8th inning lightning may have struck and woken this team up.
Mike Sweeney is at the plate with two outs and Ichiro on first base, the Mariners are down 3-1. The ironic thing about this is I cannot foresee a scenario where Ichiro should be trying to steal a base with two outs and the aging 36 year old body of Mike Sweeney at the dish who will get thrown out on any ground ball anyway. I guess Don Wakamatsu was trying to take a force away from a ground ball, but I still don't it. Getting a guy into scoring position means nothing because you are down by two runs, why would you run the chance of getting thrown out and take away the chance to tie the game with a long ball. But either way, on the first pitch of Sweeney's at bat there goes Ichiro to controversially get thrown out at second base, and here comes Mr. Wakamatsu out of the dugout to argue the call. This team needed a spark, they needed something to get their adrenaline going again after having such a bad start to the season. Don Wakamatsu got tossed out of the game by the second base umpire and as he walking into the dugout to go hit the showers the fans in attendance gave Wakamatsu a standing ovation. Now I am a sports guy, and I've had coaches that have been animated and others that have been very quiet and mundane. The debate is whether or not Wakamatsu getting tossed out rallied the Mariners or not. I have a slightly different take on that, I grew up playing hockey mostly, and while I don't know for sure if the actual fact that he got tossed matters, but I do in fact know that when a coach stands up for his team and shows a little emotion when things are not going well, then the players can rally around that. I think it was very important to the M's making the comeback that they did.
On a day that seemed to be like any other Mariner game, Wakamatsu made it exciting, and it could not have ended any better. After the Mariners plated two runs already in the ninth to tie the game, up to the plate came pinch hitter Ken Griffey Jr., the man who "built" Safeco Field essentially. "The Kid," who apparently was acting like a kid when he was said to be sleeping in the dugout a couple weeks earlier during a game, silenced his critics for one day at least, and hit a walk off single to score Milton Bradley from second base. Griffey was wide awake on this day and was smiling from ear to ear after the big base hit with that famous Griffey smile that captured the hearts of so many in the city of Seattle.
I admit that I am an optimist but when I was work digging a ditch at some construction site and I listened to Wakamatsu get tossed, I had a feeling it could be a turning point. The manager gets excited and gets ejected from a game and then the team who doesn't score any runs scores 3 in the ninth to win. You can just sense the excitement in the stadium and with the players. Its a long long long season but for one day the Mariners were fun to cheer for. I called it, that the next game that the Mariners play in, which was Friday against the Padres they were gonna break out and they did. They won that game 15-8 and are starting to roll maybe. With their pitching being very very good, their hitting only needs to be decnet to put something together here. It could be the start of a very fun summer in Seattle. Go M's baby!!