Still missing you, Dave...

Grounds Crew's tribute to Dave remains in the infield despite the snow. | via tweet/twitpic from RealMariners 

Pining for spring...

This just ain't right...

Safeco Field on November 22, 2010 ~ via RealMariners tweet

this, however, looks pretty darned fun (as they say, Cleveland rocks!) ...

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=12875627

and here was the scene outside the Regional Justice Center as I sat awaiting to serve on a jury Monday morning ... 

I wasn't called and actually got dismissed at lunchtime (which worked out well - got home before the roads got really bad).  So, my service for this summons is fulfilled.  To tell you the truth, I'm rather disappointed.  I've never gotten to actually participate in a trial and I'm sure it would be fascinating.

bleakness abounded, and then there was...

Felix Hernandez

DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Congratulations to the 2010 Cy Young Award Winner!

1000 words and such...

Felix hugging his wife Sandra when he heard the news
Junny Sanchez Gomez / AP

Felix and son Jeremy celebrating
Junny Sanchez Gomez / AP

tweet from The Real Mariners...

Shortly after we learned Felix won the Cy Young there was a rainbow outside Safeco Field. Dave no doubt heard the news, too.

I remember when, I watched him walk to the bullpen ...

19 years young ... 

throw some warm up tosses ...

Yes, he wore 59 before switching to Freddy's 35

And then, my first and only time seated directly behind home plate, I watched as Felix threw his very first pitch as a Mariner at Safeco Field...

Oh what a glorious day!

photo not coming through well here, but the speed gun registered 98

Oh, by the way...
Felix posted eight shutout innings, allowed five hits, zero walks and six strikeouts and the Mariners won 1-0.


Some things never change :-)

CY Felix? ~ or ~ *sigh*, Felix...

Seattle Weekly

Most everyone knows Felix’s lovely, lofty stats and his poor, paltry wins total, so I’ll not rehash them here, but instead reference some of the other relevant observation and fun facts...

re: pressure …
Many (especially, seemingly, those of the east coast persuasion) seem to place a lot of stock in the premise that because Felix pitched on such an awful team, there was no pressure.  False premise, in my opinion.  One could successfully argue that there is a whole heckofalot of pressure when you take the mound knowing that even allowing ONE run could still result in a loss. Unfortunately, it is the truth that Felix has not had the opportunity to pitch in a truly “big game” (read post-season) but he certainly does not shy away from and, in fact, thrives on some of the grander stages – many of the best moments of his young career have come in Boston and NY.

re: competition …
Comparing Felix and CC and how they stacked up against their respective competition, it is interesting to note that Felix actually pitched more games vs. teams above .500 (22 w/an 11-7 record) than did CC (18 w/ a 9-4 record). CC really feasted on the 16 games pitched vs sub .500 teams, going 12-3 (including beating the M’s 3 times) where Felix only posted a 2-5 record in 12 such games.

re: run support …
One thing is crystal clear - run support or, more precisely, lack thereof, was an issue.  The case has been made every which way but loose, Felix's run support wasn't just below average - it was epically low.  Any way you slice it, his was the lowest of low, as he was dead last no matter how you filter – 32nd of all pitchers with at least 180IP, 44th of those with at least 160IP, 56th of those with 140IP and 64th of those with 120IP. Sad.

re: beasts in the east ...
Felix pitched 6 games vs. the AL East going 5-0 in 49.1 IP and 53K's with a 0.55 ERA and 0.79 WHIP

~ Price vs Yanks 2-1 w/4.39 ERA in 4 games
~ CC vs Rays 1-2 w/.333ERA in 5 games
~ Felix vs Yanks 3-0 w/0.35 in 3 games

Another really fun little "Felix fact" ...
he pitched more scoreless innings in 2010 (209) than Price pitched in total.

If he DOESN'T win...
it'll be far from a travesty, as the competition is good, and will likely serve to motivate him further.

If he DOES win ...
while he’ll no doubt be extremely proud of his accomplishment, I would hazard a guess that he’d trade it (and all the other personal awards and accolades that are no doubt in his future) in a Seattle second for a World Championship.

That said...

I VOTE FOR FELIX!!!

:-)

A day of remembrance...

That hole in my baseball soul was patched a wee bit today...

The Seattle Mariners and the Niehaus family held an Open House at Safeco Field this afternoon.  It was a chance for fans to come reflect and remember this very special man who was so rightly revered.

I got there about 11:40am...
The gates were due to open at noon and before getting in line, I spent some time at the home plate gate admiring all the candles, flowers, signs and various mementos fans had left in tribute to Dave.

The remembrances started pouring in on the day he died

I walked to the end of the line...
from the corner of 1st Avenue and Edgar Martinez Way to nearly the end of the block at Royal Brougham.  As I waited for the line to begin moving, I turned on my walkman (same one I've had since 1995) and inserted my ear buds just in time to hear the first pitch of the "My Oh My" tribute - a re-broadcast of Game 5 of the 1995 ALDS game vs the Yankees.  Indeed a special backdrop for my remembrance visit.

banner above the stairs at the Home Plate entrance

The family gathering to view the tribute table

Look! Grandma left out the rye bread and the mustard for the grand salami

First I just tried to soak it all in....
There was subdued music playing on the sound system throughout the ball park interspersed with some of Dave's signature calls and snippets of his Hall of Fame speech.

the big screen displayed photos spanning Dave's career

the out-of-town scoreboard rotated quotations about Dave

A nice touch, that Angel fans would appreciate, was the hand operated scoreboard set up to reflect a game between the Seattle Mariners and the California Angels.

The two teams Dave called games for

But the very best and most poignant display was revealed as I turned and looked toward the broadcast booth.  It was dark, save for a single lamp shining on a microphone casting a shadow on the jersey hanging above it.

#77 - Niehaus

Before getting in line, I had a salami sandwich, on rye, with plenty of mustard. Never was such a small, simple meal more satisfying to the taste buds or soothing to the psyche.

with yellow or dijon?

At about 1pm, I got in line to view the tribute table set up behind home plate...
At that time, the end of the line was near the Left Field Gates (more than half way round the main concourse).  Game 5 was still playing in my ears (about the 5th inning at that point) and I was taking photos and posting them to facebook as the line crept along.

only about half the line...

At about the 90 minute mark, I stopped to sign the memory book...
and realized my penmanship wasn't going to be the best.  But, while my fingers and toes were numb from the cold, my heart was warmed from the waves of people that continued to file in as the afternoon wore on.

pages and pages of remembrances and reverence

Some of the display, that need no description, as the line approached the stairs...

At about the 2 hour mark, I started to descend the stairs down to the field....  
Game 5 was now in extra innings.  Once at field level, I snapped some more photos.

Not everyday you get to actually walk on the field

Still a lot of fans behind me

More rye bread, mustard and salami above the dugout

The jersey in the booth

The fans ahead of me

another view of the sandwich makin's

Finally, around 3:40pm, I reached the area behind home plate...
and, rather eerily, the re-broadcast of Game 5 had just ended.

smelled wonderful

Bringing us joy brought him joy

the microphone 

the whole tribute table

Inaugural game scorecard 

More memorabilia from the HoF'er 

As we remember him at the opening of Safeco Field

The first greeter after the tribute table was none other than Rick Rizzs....
I shook his hand and mentioned, motioning to the earbuds around my neck, that Game 5 had just ended.  He smiled and said, "Did we win?  Let me guess, Joey reached on a drag bunt, Junior singled and Edgar hit a double down the left field line to win it ... in the 11th inning."  I said, "You got it.  And, Joey also hit a homer earlier and Dan made a couple of nice plays, but didn't play the whole game." He said, "That's right, Chris Widger was in there and Randy pitched in relief."

I also shook Dave's daughter Greta's hand and thanked her for sharing her father with all of us.

After that, I continued to take in the scene and, even though I was freezing, I didn't want to leave.

Thank you to the Seattle Mariners and the Niehaus family for recognizing how much the fans needed to reflect and remember and for executing the event with such class and attention to detail.  It is SO appreciated.

Here's the text of my note in the memory book...

Dear Dave~
Your passing has left a hole in my baseball soul.  But, I shall cherish this tattered soul because if it weren't for you, it wouldn't exist at all.  Thank you for doubling and tripling our joy of Mariner Baseball and making the less than joyful moments bearable.  You will be missed more than you will ever know but, your spirit will be ever present with every pitch, every swing and every play for as long as the Seattle Mariners live.
~Lisa Gilmore (aka CompassRosy)


Oh, and took a little self-portrait with the man of honor on my way out...

Thanks for the memories, Mr. Niehaus.
Mariner Baseball will never be the same without you.

(no photo credits needed, as you can probably tell from the less than stellar quality, the photos were taken by me - via my little Nikon or my PalmPrePlus)

The one, the only constant of Mariners Baseball for 34 years...

from Mariners.com

Pure shock and deep sadness.  I've been trying to take it in since late this afternoon when I first saw the breaking news alert.  Marinerland is reeling right now,  trying, without success, to imagine our baseball lives without him.

Dave Niehaus is gone.

Spring and summer evenings will never be the same...
He was the one, true “forever Mariner” - the only person on earth who can say he's been with the team since the first pitch in Mariners history ... back in 1977. He was a true gentleman and an awesome story teller. Over the past few seasons, it was becoming evident that his eyes and ears were failing him a bit (e.g., “swung on and belted” ended up a sac fly to the warning track) but his passion for the game was ever present.

His voice and signature lines are forever etched in my mind....

"My oh my!"

"Swung on and belted!"

"Get out the rye bread and mustard, Grandma.  It's grand salami time!"

"Fly, fly away!"

And, of course, I can recite, word-for-word, his call of Gar’s double down the leftfield line on that magical October evening in 1995.

He expressed genuine enthusiasm when he called the game...

the ENTIRE game - not just when something good happened for the M's.  Yes, he loved the team he worked for, but he loved -no, revered- the game of baseball even more.  And that was never so crystal clear as in his Hall of Fame speech, that, along with some of his calls, they have been replaying in tribute tonight.

When I listened to that speech live...
I cried tears of pride and joy that such a great man was the announcer for my favorite baseball team and that he had finally made it to the pinnacle of his career.
When I listened to the replay of that speech tonight...
I cried tears of sadness and disbelief that the one and only voice of the M's has been forever silenced.

Something that speaks volumes to the man he was, not just the broadcaster...
Junior was on 710ESPN sharing his memories of Dave - it's the first time he's spoken publicly (that I'm aware of) since his retirement.

How fortunate we are to have been able to hear him for 34 summers...  

The 35th one is going to be tough.  Really tough.  But, I will take comfort in the fact that he did what he loved until the day he died. My thoughts and prayers are with all his loved ones and his extended Mariner family.

I have a hole in my baseball soul.  

But then, if it weren't for him, I wouldn't have a baseball soul.

R.I.P. Mr. Niehaus....
Your voice elevated our joy in the good times and helped us cope in the all too common not-so-good times.  Not sure how we are going to do this without you.  You will be missed - exponentially. 

JOHN LOK / THE SEATTLE TIMES

"He meant everything to Mariners baseball. Everything.  He was not only the voice of the Mariners, he was the Mariners.       ---Rick Rizzs

Some of the stories and memories being shared....

Seattle PI

Larry Stone | The Seattle Times

Larry Larue | The News Tribune

Kirby Arnold | Herald.net

Jerry Brewer | The Seattle Times