In a season full of touchstone moments, the Mariners’ 16-13 victory over the Padres on Thursday, in which they rallied from a 12-2 deficit, was the signature event.
It’s not a buzz anymore, that growing sense of wonder surrounding these Mariners, these crazy, driven Mariners.
More like a clamor, the collective sound of a region re-discovering its baseball team. Check that — not re-discovering, because everyone knew the Mariners were there, mainly an irritant to be either tolerated or ridiculed for far too long.
More like re-investing. And on Thursday night, the buzz-turned-clamor became a din, as palms hit foreheads, and fluttering hearts hit overdrive in abeyance of reality as a 12-2 deficit somehow, someway became a 16-13 Seattle victory in San Diego.
It’s impossible to pinpoint the precise moment when the Mariners won back the ever-skeptical populace, many of whom have been waiting for the other shoe to drop in the midst of this year’s promising start.
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But I’d wager it was sometime in the 42-minute seventh inning Thursday, when a lost cause became the most rousing Mariner sequence in maybe a decade, and when anything became possible. Even a miracle.
In a season full of touchstone moments — from Scott Servais standing in front of the dugout to yell at Texas manager Jeff Banister in the second game of the year, to Dae-Ho Lee’s walkoff homer against the Rangers to prevent a winless opening homestand, to Leonys Martin’s two-out, two-strike, two-run homer against Oakland that turned a 5-4 Mariners deficit into a 6-5 win — this was the signature event.
This one will be recalled and regaled for years, probably forever, by Mariners fans. On Friday morning at the gym and at the mini-mart, all I heard was people excitedly recapping the game, telling where they were when the rally happened, or how they found out the next morning after giving up on the team and going to bed.
It’s beginning to remind me, I must say, of 2001. That’s not to say they’ll win 116 games, or even 96. I’m talking about a vibe that’s been highly elusive over the ensuing 15 years. I’ve always felt that good vibes are the byproduct of good teams, and I still do, but there’s a certain synergy between the two that hastens the process when you have the right mix.
The Mariners had it like never before, or since, in 2001. I recently talked to Bret Boone about his new book, Home Game,” and of course the subject of 2001 came up. Here’s what he said:
“What a special time, and what a special group of guys. To this day, I love those guys so much from Edgar (Martinez) to Mike Cameron to Johnny Olerud, one of the best human beings I’ve ever been around, David Bell, (Carlos) Guillen, Stan Javier, Jamie (Moyer), and Freddy (Garcia). I love Freddy, (Aaron) Sele and Danny (Wilson). I don’t want to leave anyone out. It was one of those special, special teams. I’ve never been on a team where I could go out to dinner with anyone on that team.”
This year’s Mariners are developing a strong camaraderie that is palpable on the television screen and even more so in person in the clubhouse. For that, I give much credit to Servais, who has been masterful in the team-building aspect of the job.
And this year is reminiscent of 2001 in another aspect — the manner in which general manager Jerry Dipoto has hit on most of the seemingly minor additions that have helped build a depth the Mariners have been sorely lacking.
GM Pat Gillick was uncanny in 2000 and 2001 — every free agent, even the under-the-radar ones, turned out to be important contributors, from Arthur Rhodes and Jeff Nelson in the bullpen to Mark McLemore and Javier off the bench, to Ichiro, Boone, Sele, Olerud and Kaz Sasaski in more-visible roles.
Dipoto’s offseason pickups include Martin, Lee (fast becoming a local folk hero), Norichika Aoki, Chris Iannetta, Nathan Karns, Wade Miley, Steve Cishek, Joaquin Benoit and Nick Vincent. They haven’t all been flawless, but they’ve contributed to a lineup more productive top to bottom than the Mariners have had in forever (Seattle second in the American League in on-base percentage? Really?), and a bullpen that’s fourth in the majors in ERA. The rotation has been worrisome of late; how that sorts out might well determine how far this Mariners team goes.
Boone called 2001 “a destiny year” for the Mariners.
“It was eerie, almost,’’ he told me. “We took the field, and they knew they were going to get beat, whoever we were playing that night. I could feel it. We had an aura about us.”
You could write a book about why the 2001 Mariners, after the jolt of 9/11, didn’t take it all the way. As to whether these Mariners are in the midst of a destiny year, we won’t find out for a few months.
But it sure felt like it on Thursday.