The King Reigns, Guti saves the day

I hope anyone reading this post caught the Mariner game last night, because if you watched the whole thing, there is no way you can't be excited about the outcome. Games like last night are the reason why I watch every game I can. People often say that baseball is boring to watch, that its extremely slow. I can't fault them for that, because it can drag on from time to time. However, when you get the right ingredients together, baseball is tops, in my opinion, in suspense and intrigue. Last night was a prime example of what can happen when you have a player who is on fire, a King who is taking his rightful throne, and two teams who realize what is at stake by playing each other.

Franklin Gutierrez...Wow. Noah "touched" on him in his post, but its really exciting to watch this guy come into his own. Currently, in the last 22 games, Guti has raised his average from approx .250 to almost .300. That's insane! Its interesting to watch a pitcher's approach when facing him. It looks like the scouting report on Frank was that the best way to get him out was to bust fastballs in on his hands, jamming him. But ever since the NL West trip, he is CRUSHING these pitches, getting his hands through the zone, and driving balls over the left field wall. His HR's are consistently over 400 feet and in what seems to be the most opportune times. So we have a guy that catches anything that is hit in the air to center field, who is completely on fire at the plate, and is also clutch. Playoff teams have guys like that. Its guys like that that win you division titles because they come through in huge series. My only concern with Guti is wondering what is going to happen when the scouting report determines that the outside pitch is the way to go. We'll see how well he can adjust to a different approach, but after what I have seen lately, I got all the confidence in the world in this guy as of late. Its tough to say who actually "won" the game for the M's last night for me. Frank was a huge part of it though.

King Felix, in my opinion, gets the game ball for the M's last night. This is his upteenth time in a row that he has come out, no matter who the opponent, and dominated. The Rangers lead the league in home runs, and he made them look like a little league team all game long. His two seem fast ball, with all the movement, is basically a 93-95 mph curve ball. Pair that with his actual curve ball, and finish it off with one of the best change up's in the game, and you have your stopper. Your ace. Your King. By holding the Rangers to one run, he allowed the offence to grind away on the Rangers' starting pitcher, Hunter, and get into their bullpen. He did everything an ace is supposed to do. Go 8 innings, hold the other team down by the neck, and allow your team to have a decent inning. A solid ace is another huge piece to a playoff team, and we look to have ours firing on all cylinders. The fact that he did it against a team we are trying to catch is absolute gold, sending a message to the Rangers and Angels that we are for real, and we're chasing you down on the backs of guys who want it.


Lets call last night and the next three games what it really is. A statement series. The closest thing to playoff baseball that you cant get...in July. We came out with our Ace, shut down our rival, and eventually locked it up with a majestic HR by a guy who is exploding onto the scene as a major player. Now I know it was only one game. This is a four game series, and if history has taught an M's fan anything, its that you can't get too excited (two years ago we were a similar situation and found a way to lose 10 or so games a row...). But history has also allowed us to experience the feeling of a playoff caliber team, and what they are able to do on any given night - to excite, along with succeed in huge games. I feel like that's what the M's did last night. They showed the Rangers, the AL West, and their fans that they can win the big game. I still think they are a piece or two away from truly contending, but not too far. Last night's win hopefully sold the powers that be that this season can be a huge success if we make the right moves. Last night got me all kinds of inspired (if you can't tell by this post). I'm heading to the game tonight to hopefully see the M's shave another game off the Rangers' division lead. Let's get excited about this team folks. Baseball isn't all that boring when the team can pull off wins like they did last night.

Garbs