Mariners Season Finale (9/28/2011)

November 21, 2011

All good things have to come to an end.  Even the baseball season.  And so the Mariners 2011 season ended on September 28, 2011, and we were there for it.  This is the story.

The line-up was different for this game.  Kellan had a few sniffles, so we didn’t want him to get sick.  So Colleen and Kellan sat this one out.  Meanwhile, my brother and sister-in-law were expecting the birth of their first baby any day so my mom stayed home in case the baby wanted to make an appearance that day (he didn’t).

So it was me, Tim, my dad, and my best buddy Paul at this game.  Paul would come straight from work and meet us at game time.

If I ran the Mariners, there would definitely, absolutely, without question be batting practice on the final day of the season.  Sadly, I do not run the Mariners so, despite the fact it was a night game, I was uncertain and doubtful that there would be batting practice.

I tweeted to some Mariners and Mariners personnel in hopes of figuring out whether it would be worthwhile arriving two hours before game time.  Word finally came in from Mariners broadcaster Dave Sims…

…but it was too late.  We arrived early for (no) BP.

No problem.  Nothing wrong with several hours of hanging out at Safeco Field, even if nothing is happening.

And that is exactly what was happening.  Nothing.

When we arrived, there were two Mariners playing catch along the RF foul line.  Before the rest of the stadium opened for the fans, the two Mariners were long gone.  We did not see another uniformed Mariner for about an hour-and-a-half.

We headed into the infield seats and did some quality hanging out:

We did *a lot* of hanging out.  We stayed down the RF line hoping some Mariners would come out to play catch.  It wasn’t happening.  We grabbed some seats and just chatted to pass time:

Eventually, a Mariners groundskeeper came walking by on his way to the outfield.  He walked right up to us and stopped in front of Tim –

Groundskeeper:  I bet you arrived early because you wanted to see batting practice, right?

Tim:  Uh, huh.

Groundskeeper:  You probably wanted to catch a baseball, right?

Tim:  Uh, huh.

And then the groundskeeper pulled our final baseball of the season out of his pocket and handed it to Tim:

Thanks, Groundskeeperdude!

A bunch of A’s pitchers came out and played catch down the LF line.  We didn’t even budge.  We didn’t want to miss out on any time with our Mariners, in case the Mariners happened to come out and play catch.

So, we hung out some more.  And I took this panorama from our spot in section 112:

Tim spent some time leaning over the short wall and playing with the warning track dirt:

Eventually, we gave up on the Mariners coming out – which was disappointing.  I think the Mariners need to realize that their fans want to see the guys on the last day.  It’s the end of a long grueling season for them and I understand that they are ready for a break and time to rest.  But for the fans it is the last chance to see their guys until next season.  So, hey, come on.  Come out and be seen one last day.  Rest tomorrow!

Anyway, we pulled up stakes and headed to the kids’ play area:

It could very well be Tim’s last time playing in the Mariners kids’ play area.  There is a height limit, and Tim was only one inch below it.  Next season, he’ll likely exceed it.  So Tim enjoyed his time in the play area.

Eventually, we reported back to the RF/1B line to see if any Mariners were going to make a pre-game appearance.  I really figured that tons of Mariners would be out signing for fans – that is what the fans want on the last day of the season!  But it still was not happening.

We headed behind home plate for a panorama:

I got a better picture than the night before of the new Dave Niehaus sign:

Of course, I had to take a picture of the beautiful Safeco Field clock/sign above the LF bleachers:

Ah, it’s a great looking stadium sign out there.  I could look at it all day.

Eventually, it really, truly did seem as if a bunch of Mariners were going to come out and do some pre-game autographing.  We staked out a spot just past 1B.  Shelly was ready with his blue sharpie:

We got our first signs of Mariners life – Chris Giminez and Jason Phillips made their way to the bullpen:

I was just taking the picture of Phillips and Giminez, but check out the situation that was unfolding on the out-of-town scoreboard?  The A.L. wild card was still up for grabs.  It would either be the Red Sox or the Rays.  They were tied going into the day.  And when Phillips and Giminez made their way out to the Mariners bullpen, the Red Sox were leading the Orioles 3-2 in the top of the seventh and the Yankees were leading the Rays 7-0 in the bottom of the sixth.  Things were looking good for the Red Sox.

We like to get an autograph or two, but at this game I really wanted to collect a bunch of them.  I had a plan.  While my dad and Tim held our ground along the 1B line, I ran out to the bullpen.  I did not know what my new nephew’s name would be, but I wanted to get a personalized signed baseball for him.  Jason Phillips hook up me big time:

He signed the baseball on one side and wrote a personalized message (“Welcome to Life Mr. Cook!”) across the sweet spot of the ball.  By the way, this was a ball that Casper Wells had thrown to some fans the day before.  They dropped it into the gap and an usher eventually gave it to my dad and Kellan.

I reported back to Tim and my dad (can you spot them?)…

…with the baseball in hand.  Now all I needed was for a ton of Mariners to add their signature along with Phillips’ signature.  If that plan did not work, it would be a pretty weird “welcome to life” memento for my nephew.

Miguel Olivo came out to sign autographs, but he never moved from one spot.  Neither did we.  So we missed out on Olivo’s signature.

A bunch of Mariners did eventually come out to play catch and stretch:

And one of them (Kyle Seager) signed the baseball and Tim’s hat.  Tim also got his had signed by this Mariners ball girl:

We still had a dismal two signatures on our baseball as game time approached.  So before heading to our seats, Tim and I headed back to the bullpen and we struck Mariners gold over there.  The guys in the bullpen were awesome – not just for me.  The bullpen was doing what the whole team should have been doing during the whole pre-game – they were signing and signing and signing, and greeting and thanking fans.  It was great.  In all, I believe we got 10 signatures. Unfortunately, I did not keep a picture of the whole thing, but I think my nephew’s baseball was signed by:  Jason Phillips, Kyle Seager, Brandon League, Chance Ruffin, Tom Wilhelmsen, Shawn Kelley, Jamey Wright, Jaime Navarro, Josh Lueke, Steve Delabar.

With the signed baseball in hand, we reported to our seats.  And look who was there to root of the Mariners with us:

It’s Paulie!

It is always great to take in a game with Paulie.  This would be the second season in a row that we’d close it out the Paul.

The game was a good one, but did not go the Mariners way.  The A’s right fielder Jai Miller hit a 2-run homerun in the top of the second inning and the 2-0 score held up all night.  Gio Gonzalez pitched a dandy for the A’s.  He threw 8 innings and only gave up two hits.  Not much you can do in terms of scoring runs when you’re only collecting 2 hits over the course of the game.  But we had a heck of a time at the game nonetheless.

With not much action to photograph, I at least managed to get a good shot of Justin Smoak…

…wearing his face-protecting batting helmet extension.  While it kept his mended face safe, it did not help Justin collect any hits.

A couple innings into the game, Tim and I went to get our final ice cream helmets of the season.  We went to the ice cream place by the home plate end of the Mariners Hall of Fame.  I had passed through the Hall of Fame the previous day, but Tim had not.  So we took a stroll through it on our way to get ice cream.

Tim posed on the pick-off-a-homerun-ball wall:

In the Ichiro’s locker display, we saw the baseball that Ichiro slapped into history for his all-time single season record 262nd hit of 2004:

Tim posed with the Peanut Man memorial:

I sure wish Rick could have been here to toss us some peanuts at this game.  He will be forever missed at Safeco Field.

The Mariners Hall of Fame is small.  But there are some cool things to see in there.  Tim posed with a display showing the innards of a baseball:

They had a Safeco Field inaugural game ball from 1999…

…along with an Ichiro game-used bat.

Accompanied by a list of Mariners gold glove winners, they had Harold Reynolds’ 1988 Gold Glove Award:

This Alvin Davis game-used bat is nice…

…, but the 1977 Mariners inaugural game ball was even better.

Just before grabbing our ice cream helmets, Tim posed with “Bone”:

When we returned to the stands, I took a panorama from our seats in section 144:

I got these tickets on stubhub for cheap, cheap, cheap!  Cheap tickets on stub hub is the best thing about the end of the season.

Tim thoroughly enjoyed his mint chocolate chip ice cream helmet:

But it made him hyper and cold.  So we threw on my sweatshirt:

We were really hoping to see at least one more hit from Ichiro.  But it wasn’t in the cards.  He flew out in his second to last at bat of the season…

…and he finished the season with 184 hits and a .272 average.

Paul has incredibly awesome season tickets just a couple rows behind the Mariners dugout.  This results in him not exploring the stadium much.  All season, he had never been out to “The Pen.”  So I took him out there so he could check it out:

As the game rolled on, we did a lot of scoreboard watching.  By the end of the night, at lot of people were claiming this was one of the best days of baseball ever.  The Red Sox folded in the ninth and ended up losing to the Orioles.  Meanwhile, the Rays marched back from a 7-0 deficit to beat the Yankees 8-7 on a Evan Longoria homerun that punched the Rays’ ticket to the post-season, and ended the season for the Red Sox.

Mike Carp went down swinging in the bottom of the ninth to end the season for the Mariners.  After the game, Paul got a season-ending shot of me, Tim and my dad:

And my dad got one with me, Tim and Paul:

And that was our 2011 baseball season.  Great times!  Bring on 2012!

2011 C&S Fan Stats

33/8 Games (Tim/Kellan)

22/11 Teams [Tim – Mariners,   Orioles, Rangers, Brewers, Nationals, Phillies, Mets, Rays, Braves,   Diamondbacks, Astros, Royals, Cubs, Angels, Indians, Reds, Giants, Tigers,   Yankees, Marlins, Pirates, Athletics; Kellan – Mariners, Orioles, Angels, Mets,   Indians, Yankees, Phillies, Braves, Marlins, Nationals, Athletics]

24 Ice Cream Helmet(s) (Mariners   (1), Orioles (3), Nationals, Phillies (2), Rangers (2), Mets (1), Reds (1),   Tigers (1), Marlins (2), Braves (2), Rays (3), Pirates (1)).

108 Baseballs (25 Mariners,   7 Rangers, 8 Orioles, 5 Umpires, 4 Nationals, 2 Brewers, 6 Phillies, 2 Mets, 6   Rays, 8 Braves, 2 Diamondbacks, 1 MLB Authenticator, 2 Easter Egg, 1 Glove   Trick, 2 Royals, 2 Cubs, 5 Angels, 4 Indians, 2 Giants, 1 Tigers, 9 Marlins,   1 Pirates, 4 Athletics)

14/6 Stadiums [Tim – Camden   Yards, Nationals Park, Citizens Bank Park, Minute Maid Park, Rangers Ballpark   in Arlington, Citi Field, Great American Ball Park, Comerica Park, Yankee   Stadium, Sun Life Stadium, Turner Field, Tropicana Field, PNC Park, Safeco   Field; Kellan – Camden Yards, Citi Field, Yankee Stadium, Citizens Bank Park,   Nationals Park, Safeco Field]

19/10 Player Photos* [Tim – Felix   Hernandez***, Adam Moore, Garrett Olson, Chris Seddon, David Aarsdma, Michael   Pineda, Miguel Olivo, Ryan Langerhans, Greg Zuan, Mark Lowe, Michael Saunders,   Chad Durbin, Russell Branyan,   Brandon League***, Brendan Ryan, Mike Cameron, Brandon Guyer, Russ Canzler,   Rich Harden; Kellan – Luke French, Milton Bradley, Franklin Gutierrez, Justin   Smoak, Matt Tuiasosopo, Ryan Langerhans, Michael Saunders, Tony Sipp, Chad   Durbin, Rich Harden]

3/1 Management Photos* [Tim – Howard   Lincoln, Jack Zduriencik, Eric Wedge; Kellan – Jack Zduriencik]

24 Autograph(s) (Michael   Pineda, Michael Saunders, Mark Lowe, Felipe Paulino, Aroldis Chapman, Jack   McKeon, Brandon League, Jaime Navarro, Brendan Ryan, Dan Cortes, Josh Lueke,   Blake Beavan, Jamey Wright, Jack Zduriecik, Carl Willis, Tom Wilhelmsen,   Casper Wells, Mike Cameron, Brandon Guyer, Russ Canzler, Scott McGregor,   Steve Delabar, Rich Harden, Kyle Seager)

1 Bat* (Milton   Bradley)

9/2 Mascot Photos* [Tim –   Mariner Moose, Teddy Roosevelt, The O’s Bird, Mr. Redlegs, Gapper, Slider,   Sebastian (U. of Miami), Homer, Raymond; Kellan – Mariner Moose, The O’s Bird]

3/0 Divisions Closed Out** [Tim – A.L.   West (Safeco Field, Oakland Coliseum, Angel Stadium & Rangers Ballpark in   Arlington), N.L. East (Citizens Bank Park, Shea Stadium, Citi Field,   Nationals Park, Sun Life Stadium, & Turner Field), A.L. East (Oriole Park   at Camden Yards, Yankee Stadium (1923), Yankee Stadium (2009), Fenway Park,   Rogers Centre, Tropicana Field); Kellan – N/A]

2 Line-up Cards (Royals vs.   Rangers; Indians vs. Orioles)

*includes Spring Training**divisions where we have seen each team play a home game. ***2011 All-Star

Written by Cook & Son Bats Posted in Safeco Field, Tim Tagged with A's, Gio Gonzalez, Ichiro, Justin Smoak, mariners, Oakland Athletics, Safeco Field, season finale, Seattle Mariners