g58 | one bad inning can spoil the whole darn game...

Mariners 2 | Rays 3

Not your typical Mr Fister start....
For one thing, it's rare for him to give up three walks in a game, let alone one inning.  So yeah, the 3rd inning, where he gave up all three runs, was rough but, he locked it down from there - at one point retiring 12 in-a-row and striking out the side in the 5th.

OTTO GREULE JR / GETTY IMAGES

But apparently, Mr Hellickson was doing his typical thing...
Like getting batters out and not giving up runs.  Through seven, all the M's could muster was a Cust walk, a Peguero single and a Smoak lead-off double and, he would be thrown out at home trying to score on an Kennedy fly ball (the replay would show a very close play).

JOHN FROSCHAUER / AP

Things got very exciting in the 8th...
When Peguero doubled and Wedge pinch hit Olivo for Giminez and he hit a 2-run homer to get the M's to within one.  But, Ichiro flyed out for the last out and Farnsworth retired the M's in order in the 9th.

So there was this annoying fan a few rows behind me...
You know the kind, calls out every player.  For instance, with 2 outs in the 1st, Joyce hit a hot-shot grounder to short that Brendan almost got a glove on and the guy heckles, "That's on you, Ryan!"  I muttered, "shut up.".  Then the next batter, Kotchman, hit a low liner that Brendan back-handed nicely.  I yelled, "There you go, Brendan!" and the guy says, "He got lucky."  Some "fans" are so annoying.  During the middle innings, since my section is in the shade, I made my way to a section of the third deck that was drenched in sunshine and had lots of empty seats (left field).  I thoroughly enjoyed soaking up the sunshine, sans heckler.  Oh yeah, it was a good vantage point to hear U2 doing sound checks tonight's concert next door.

Oh well, 't was a beautiful, sunny day at The Safe...

and they still can take the series tomorrow (for a very successful homestand).