g99 | splittin' in Seattle

Mariners 4 | Red Sox 2

From "the Friday Fracas" to 2 wins-in-a-row ...
This was definitely a fun one to be at and the Chamber of Commerce weather had a lot to do with it (it's days like these I canNOT imagine living anywhere else!).  We had to wait a bit for the fun on the field, as the guys had plenty of chances early but Matsuzaka kept wigglin' off the hook.  When they finally did break out in the 8th inning it wasn't your typical barrage - singles (Jose, Michael, Justin), bunt singles (Casey and Milton) and even a butcher boy (Jack) - but when the inning was over, they had three more runs to add to the one they had scored in the 3rd.

TED S. WARREN / AP

On the mound ...
Doug wasn't super sharp and only went five innings, but all-in-all showed some signs of improvement - efficient early on and only walked one.  The BP was great (as it has been nearly all home stand).  Chris is impressing early, Brandon got the win even though he only faced one batter (struck out Youkilis for the third out in the 8th) and David notched his 18th save.

Seems most would have been happy with a split vs. the BoSox ...

But then you think about how close it came to a sweep - that first game where the M's came back from 1-6 down to tie it in the 9th (as disappointing as that game was in the end, I still found more to be ENcouraged about than DIS couraged) and then the next game to lose 2-1.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda.

On to the south side...