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Lookout Landing

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When I was younger, I had a parakeet. His name was Chirpy. When I got him, I had visions of training him to be a superbird. I would teach him to talk. I would teach him to hold a conversation. I would teach him to retrieve crackers from the cupboard. I would teach him to fly over on command and lean forward so I could pet him. Nine year old Jeff was aware of ordinary parakeets, but he had visions of turning his into the greatest parakeet of all time.

Chirpy never fulfilled the potential I projected onto him. Though I'd leave the radio on when I left for school, he never learned to talk. He'd just squawk in his own language at all hours of the night. He never learned to fly where I wanted him to, and in his older age he couldn't fly at all. And he never quite got the petting thing down. Instead of acting submissive, Chirpy would go on the attack, using any opportunity to climb onto my shoulder and bite my ear. To be sure, Chirpy was one of a kind, but he never became the fuzzy blue megakeet I dreamed he would be.

What Chirpy was, though, was a cute and idiosyncratic little ball of feathers that always knew just the right way to stare at me to make me feel better. He never did a whole lot, and I think he just annoyed visitors more than he did anything else, but no matter how down I felt or how angry I was at my brother or school or the New Jersey Devils, all I had to do was go to my room and watch Chirpy do whatever it was he was doing. It was impossible to see Chirpy scurry around the top of his cage or stare back at me with his head at an angle and not feel like laughing.

It's been a few years since I had to bury Chirpy in the yard. Sometimes I'll glance out back at the depression in the lawn. "Man," I think. "Chirpy was a great bird."

10_4_medium

Biggest Contribution: Franklin Gutierrez, +23.2%
Biggest Suckfest: Adrian Beltre, Jack Hannahan, -5.7%
Most Important AB: Lopez double, +16.4%
Most Important Pitch: Kinsler double, -11.8%
Total Contribution by Pitcher(s): +33.7%
Total Contribution by Lineup: +16.3%
Total Contribution by Opposition: 0.0%
(What is this chart?)

A few days ago, incidentally, I was in one of the worst moods I can remember. I bottomed out in a way that I haven't done in a couple years, and for two hours I laid in the bedroom and stared at the ceiling. Around 7 o'clock I looked at my phone, realized a game was about to start, and rolled out of bed to come to the computer. And by the third or fourth pitch I was right back to joking around and feeling good about everything that was going on.

LookoutLanding.com isn't a thing. I mean, it's not a thing that exists. I can't go anywhere in the world and open a door and point and say "look, there it is." But for something of intangible constitution, I can't begin to explain to you just how much this place means to me. Sometimes it even takes me by surprise. I love my girlfriend more than I've ever loved anything that wasn't the sour cream & onion corn puffs from Trader Joe's, and there've been times that I've just wanted her to leave me alone so I could write a post or participate in a comment thread. This place is a vital component of my lifeblood, and were it not for the community that built around some asshole writing fake AP captions and saying which starting pitchers look like they smell, I don't even know what I'd do. I don't know what I'd do, but I know I wouldn't be as happy.

Thank you to Matthew for his series previews. Thank you to Graham for his like three or four posts. Thank you to everybody in the blogosphere for providing links and material even though I suck at giving links and material back. And, of course, most of all, thank you to every single one of you guys who at some point or another decided to make LL a destination for reading about the team or participating in the banter. You have all given me so much more than I could ever give back.

Though there have been better teams than the Mariners, not one of them has had a better website. Thank you. Thank all of you. So, so very much.

P.S. Z I fuckin love you

2 recs  |  160 comments

Comments

You have no idea how much this place has changed the way I look at baseball.

And I can’t really put that into words, either.

Thanks a lot for everything Jeff

This site has made watching Mariners baseball a completely different experience for me. I’m sure I sucked at commenting for the most part, but I’ll try to get better during the off season.

Also, was at this game, and the Felix ovation / Junior curtain call were both fucking amazing moments.

Wish my camera hadn’t fucking died in the 5th inning

I have SOOOO much video of all of that.

Trying to get it taken care of now….

I'm going to post the ones I did get on my blog, but there isn't really anything special.
Tengo un regalo em mis pantalones para ti, Jefe.
em
A small mistake.
Is that what the ladies say about your "regalo"?
Geez

So much love for a season where our team that was outscored this year…

Kidding! Kidding!

We've won four straight season finales, all with saves

Three times against the Rangers!

Kinda wish that hadn't happened last year...
So...

Is it time to take Richie off the top banner?

Doesn't feel right now.
Richie is a reminder of what we once were and where we've come from.

Also, Depressed Richie is amusing so why change it?

Gotta move on sometime...
We move on when we win
We have, and will

Besides, I consider Jack Z’s beautiful bald head to be a much more appropriate talisman.

We won 88 games in 2007
Bavasi
The LLogo is pretty much the most perfect logo of all time to show how we felt for the 80% of this site's history
Funny that an Ms fan didn't make it.
I made it, someone else perfected it!
Jeff made the original.
I have to say the irony of becoming a Mariners fan amuses me to no end.

Back when I collected baseball cards any Mariner player card went strait to the junk bags, and we all made jokes about how badly the Mariners sucked. This was in the pre-Griffey days of course.

I feel that

My cousin who was living in Portland at the time came down to visit us in California. I was an Angels fan at the time. Don’t remember much from my childhood, but I do remember vividly seeing him walk up with his sky blue Mariner jacket with trident logo on it and laughing at him, shouting “The Mariners suck!”

My how the tables have turned…he’s the one living in LAAA right now and I’m in Seattle, with no team more precious to me than said Mariners.

Wondered who that was, thought it might have been Horacio Ramirez
NO AND STOP FUCKING ASKING
Grow up
Robert can do whatever the hell he likes
Then I suggest he grows up.

It was a question asked in jest and without a hint of bad feeling.

It's a question that the people that spend the most time on the site have grown tired of hearing long long long ago.
That's great.

Now if you had just led with that in the first place…

I don't think you understand the concept of Robert
It's just become an annoying question is all

I love that logo like a son

Which is fine

I don’t spend a ton of time here, so I honestly haven’t seen it asked before. I didn’t realize some harbored such strong feelings…

Don't worry about it

We’ll change the logo if we deem it fit.

I made a similar observation once ...

… and got banned for it. So yeah it’s pretty much the most sensitive subject around here.

I just realize how poor my English is in this post...
No no no.

Thank you!

This really was a great year. I haven’t enjoyed Mariners baseball this much since I was a much younger man. Damn my work schedule for making me miss so many games. Looking forward to next year already.

Anybody got a link to the AP photos of this game? Should be some good stuff.

Not a whole lot

but you can go with these

I love LL.

It saved a miserable season in 08, a good season with a bad front office in 2007 and gets me through a long off-season.

I love LL.

This offseason should be quite interesting.
Thank you Jeff and everyone else for making this site such an enjoyable read!

I have very few friends who are baseball fans (UT and the Cowbows dominate everything around here), and none who really follow the Mariners, so participating here is very special.

Thank you LL, especially Jeff

You all are fantastic, even Matthew and Graham

I can truthfully say that I'd be a casual Mariner fan at best if not for

the material and viewpoints that LL/USSM provide.

For once

Its not painful to be a Mariners fan, its actually quite fun.

For that I am thankful to the team and to everyone here.

Thank you Jeff, Matthew, and Graham for another season of wonderful analysis.

Here’s hoping we get to the playoffs soon so we can see this place go crazy.

Awesome write-up...

Can’t wait to read your write-up the morning after we win a World Series.

You're welcome!
And thanks also to you Graham,

I really enjoyed your work as well. That article you recently linked to regarding batter’s thought process was a fun read.

I love this place

Thanks to Jeff, Matthew, and Graham along with all those who helped make this place what it is. I didn’t think it was possible to have this much fun and not make the playoffs. Cheers!

I really miss Lookout Landing when I go away from home for whatever reason

I can’t think of a better compliment than that. Thanks a bunch to J/M/G for your amazing effort in keeping this site one of the best places on the internet.

Thanks to all involved for yet another great season

You guys have all contributed to making me enjoy even the most low points of being a Mariners fan, and for that I have nothing but appreciation.

I'm really glad that one day I decided that the 2nd baseball blog I should visit daily should be LL.
LL used to be 3rd for me but once I got integrated into the community it moved up to my favorite website period.
If I ever get fired, I'll be happy to say that LL was the reason.

I spend more time here than any other website, and even if I tried to cut down, I’d start sweating nervously and wouldn’t feel right. It’s an addiction, and it’s so fucking good. It’s like a cigarette (or a nicotine patch!) after a stressful day. I need it.

Thanks, Jeff. And thanks to Matthew, Graham and all the regulars who have taught me so much about baseball in the past three years that it’s hard to even talk about the sport with anyone else. I’m gay for you all.

Love you Jeff.

What’s special about LL to me is that before finding this site, I had never really met people who cared about the Seattle Mariners as much as I did.

I’ve been trying to get Robert to read Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch for a while now, because it’s the best writing I’ve come across about what it means to be a sports fan. Here is Hornby perfectly encapsulating my experiences in high school and college with other “M’s fans”:

“You must meet my friend,” I am always being told. “He’s a big Arsenal fan.” And I meet the friend, and it turns out that, at best, he looks up the Arsenal score in the paper on Sunday morning or, at worst, he is unable to name a single player since Denis Compton. None of these blind dates ever worked; I was too demanding, and my partners simply weren’t interested in commitment.

To find like-minded fans, including those who seem to care even more than I do, has been a very cool thing. Thank you J/M/G for making it all possible.

I really do want to commend Jeff,Matt, and Graham on the superb job they do every single day with this site.

I can’t believe that I’ve been following the mariners since 04’ and never found this site. I want to thank everyone here, but especially the mods for supporting me even when I didn’t return the favor. It was a great first year for me, and I look forward to following this site into the off-season, into next year, and for many years to come.

I really can’t say thank you enough!

I'd also like to thank you Jeff, Matthew and Graham.

As far as I am aware, I am one of two Mariner fans in the southern half of the earth. My friend is a big USSM fan – which I also like – but I am firmly an LL man.

I really appreciate all of the time and effort you guys put in. I can’t believe I don’t have to pay for access to this site. You guys are massively funny. I regularly take your insights and regurgitate them as my own when talking with Americans I meet here in New Zealand. For the record, not one of these people has heard of advanced defensive metrics – which makes me feel all smart and well-informed*.

So, once again, thanks heaps for making being a Mariner fan better than it would be if I didn’t know you were here. I look forward to leaning heavily on LL for my off season baseball fix.

  • - Fortunately no-one has asked me to explain these metrics yet because I would be unable to do so…but they don’t know that.
I did not realise that putting an asterisk at the start of a line meant it would come up as a bullet point

Preview button much?

Thank you so much for all of your hard work.

I don’t comment very much, but I am a dedicated reader of LL the past two years. As a college student on the east coast hearing from die-hard mariner fans on a regular basis makes me care about the Ms even more. I’ve become a much more knowledgeable baseball fan because of this site. I can’t wait for more moves by Z and your coverage of it.

Thank You!

and Thank you jeff

without LL I would have given up on the Ms after last year’s hell.

*Sobs*

It’s just so difficult! Breaks down

So, uh, thanks Jeff, Graham and Matthew for putting up with me all season.

I know I can be a hassle. : )

Goddammit, man, I only just got the lump in my throat to go away a half an hour ago or so

What is it with sports-related tears of joy today? BAH

For the last four years LL has played a major part in my life

It went from being a site where I learned more about the team I loved, to the site that made me hate the team that I loved to the site that is slowly making me love them again. Along the way I have picked up some of my closest friends that I will ever make. While putting out incredible content night after night you are also positively affecting so many of your users lives. Thank you for the time that you put into this place. If you ever stop writing here I will hang myself.

This is probably the most serious comment by Robert ever.
Not quite

http://www.lookoutlanding.com/2009/7/26/963400/7-26-open-game-thread#18720938

Try again

http://www.lookoutlanding.com/2008/6/29/561488/the-acme-approaches#7069810

I wonder what the next wildly untrue lie about your life I will come up with and have half the site believe.
I'm glad the season ended since Jeff has to go back for his national guard service soon

and I don’t want to have to take up writing recaps.

I gave it a posthumous rec
I don't write here anyway
Thank you Jeff

I’m one of the many lurkers who rarely posts here, but I just want to express my thanks for all the work you put into this site. This season has been fantastic, largely aided by my happening upon this site.

I hope you’ll continue to keep us up to speed in the off season and can’t wait for next year.

I only found LL in the second half of this season

and even though I’m mostly a lurker and don’t know much about statistics or analysis, it’s already become hard to watch or listen to a game without following along with the game threads. I’m so glad this place exists.

Baker

joins in

It’s been a fun season. More fun than 2008 ever was and a lot more fun interacting with many of you. We’ve heard a lot about the "trust factor’’ going on with the Mariners and I want it to be that way with us.

I want you to trust in what you read here. And I want to be able to trust in some of you to keep up the good rapport we’ve had going these past eight months. This blog has grown into something special the past three seasons and you’ve all helped that happen. We don’t always agree, but I think we’ve reached an understanding of sorts about where we’re all coming from.
And not just on this blog. I’m talking about others in the Seattle blogosphere, like U.S.S. Mariner and Lookout Landing. I think it’s been a fun year, a better year of understanding for all of us.
And now, it’s time to go home. I’ve got someone waiting there for me and she’s had to share me with the rest of you for the past eight months.
Until the next time.
Yay, Geoff!
Baker and I went the whole season with tiffing, too.
without* tiffing, even.
I like how Baker directly responds to criticism from commenters.

It seems that most other beat writers just ignore it (I would too if I was in their situation).

I do find him passive-aggressively making fun of Pedro Calderon to be somewhat amusing.
Yesyes. Definitely a highlight.

I also liked his characterization of Mr. X as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

The whole Stats Dept. article this morning seemed intended to get some of them all riled up
I'm sure it was at least somewhat written to piss off Pedro.

It succeeded.

Mariners have the best bloggers anywhere.

There’s just nothing like checking up on LL, USSM, Baker/Stone, Divish/LaRue, Drayer (and anyone else I’m missing) on a regular basis for my Mariner fix.

Thanks to all!

It's a total fucking lovefest right now.

Jeff, Matthew, Graham, y’all are awesome. Between the sheer amount of content and the complexity of the analysis and the ridiculous sense of humor that you all (and we) seem to share, I can think of no finer website to risk myself getting fired over.

I just can’t figure out what I’m going to do until the Winter Meetings.

I'd just like to say thank you to the sexy people who run this site, especially Jeff.

Also to all of the commenters who obviously make this site what it is. I’m going to be commenting on winter ball in a few weeks in order to improve my comments. I’m looking forward to spring training when hopefully you all won’t have to roll your eyes when my name shows up on the right side of the screen.

You're such a lil bitch
The season may be over, but LL must go on!

I am amazed both by the quantity and quality of content here at LL. And knowing it’s done without monetary gain makes it even more amazing. Thanks for all the work.

We could easily equal that hug-a-thon

were we in the same place, at the same time, right about now.

I cannot thank you guys enough for broadening my understanding of the game and just being awesome in general.

This applies to Jeff, Matthew, Graham and everyone else that’s put up with my ~3000 posts of largely irrelevent drivel.

The vastly improved team is definitely not the only reason I’ve enjoyed my second full season as a baseball fan so much more than my first.

Best recap ever
Not only is this community a fucking awesome place to hang out on the internet

It has taught me a little about the Mariners, a little about statistics, a little about life, and a lot about beer. You guys are awesome.

The fact that Bleed Cubbie Blue gets significantly more traffic

than this site is a crime.

The Cubs are slightly more popular than the Mariners and Al appears to a broader but generally worse sort of person
So it goes most often.
I guess SBN probably doesn't want me saying stuff like this
Nothing at all harmful there.
XXXOOO

Y’all fuckin rock. Yes, even you Matthew. Graham, I love the centre, the tonne and the colour. Mr. Sullivan: may your inability to recognize a Felix splitter nor anything else ever hinder your wildest dreams. Cheers to a job well done.

Also, you are all a bunch of gay racists
Don't forget about the xenophobia!
Thank you all for a great full season of baseball. I loved it. You made it make sense.

This was my first full season of Mariner’s baseball and I can now say I passionately love something that didn’t mean much to me in the past. What a year! Thank you all for being like a family of people who love the “team” that was the M’s this year. (I didn’t put the quotes on the team because they were suspect, but because they were fluid.) I missed Endy and Bedard and Branyan but enjoyed Snell, Langerhans, Hannahan, Saunders and the Wilsons. In the end it was fun and today it was wonderful to watch the celebration of men who seemed to really enjoy each other and who became a family themselves.

I love Lookout Landing because I learn something new and fascinating every time I visit the site.

Among the authors and commenters, there scores and scores of engaging, wonderful people here who have made watching baseball a new experience for me, even though I’ve been a Mariners fan for 14 years. Thanks to everyone here for the most fun I’ve ever had following sports (I’d even take LL over my being introduced to baseball – I mean my first game game EVER – by going to the 1995 Yankees vs. Mariners ALDS. LL is that cool).

Comprehensive list of sports/baseball websites better than this one:
Those "...and now I'm here" guys think they're so cool
Justifiably.
Since I'm not a raging sap...

If I were to thank you for anything, it would be getting a large community in and around Seattle to spell correctly with some type of consistency. Holy fuck it is nice to come to a place online that isn’t riddled with a language made up solely of abbreviations and lower case “I’s.”

Yes, I agree. Once you get used to "no chatspeak", it's really great
A thousand times yes.
We love you too, Jeff.

And I hope Z is your girlfriend, not Zduriencik.

4 1/2 years as a member of this site, and this was by far my favorite year.

I’ve loved the Off-Tops (getting to know a good portion of you guys), Matthew’s season previews, the motherfucking 85 wins, Felix’s debutante ball (can he sneak away with a Cy Young this year?), Branyan’s muscle-y dongs, trading Yuni, the sexiness that is Franklin Gutierrez, Ichiro’s continued awesomeness, Hannahan’s adorableness, Aardsma’s out-of-nowhere dominance, Rick Rizzs’ guttural giggle as Mike Blowers’ home run prediction came true, Junior’s antics, Mike Sweeney’s “suck it” gestures, Eyebrows’ now-defunct animated gifs of the day in the Off-Tops…

…and some of the best baseball analysis I’ve read anywhere.

Thanks everybody. And don’t ever change. This place fucking rules.

I know I'm late

but I just wanted to join in and say thanks. As a M’s fan who lives away from the team and works with people who don’t really follow sports, having this site to come for the writing and everything else really makes the baseball season that much more enjoyable.

Keep it up.

Thank you Jeff for not just this year, but for the past three years I have been here.

You make me laugh and for that I can never repay you, but someday I need to try with a few beer purchases.

Special thanks to Matthew and Graham also not only for your work here but for being awesome guys to hang out with in person.

I also thank all of you that I have had the chance to get to know in person a little bit this past season. There are too many of you to name, but you have all made this a great season for me. Thanks for joining me at games and for drinks at Temple.

Most of all thanks for letting an old fart like me play with all of you kids.

yeah no doubt what the hell are you doing here old man

oh wait

Thanks for helping me see Ronny's last game as a Mariner.

:(

I know it looked like I was crying, but that was really just the sweat from the 100 degree weather.
'Cause it was so humid that day, right old timer?
Sooo I have been out of computer-shot for the last few days

But finally managed to get back here to see the final celebration by the M’s.. I must say, I had a bit of that “tearing up while laughing and feeling joyous” feeling while watching them. I then slowly came to the realization that the season is over.

In the past when the season was over, things got a bit depressing. There was little to no content in the papers, and clearly most of the sports networks were not going to pay much attention to baseball.

Then LL came along – and I, as well as probably most people here – are better for it… Well.. Maybe better might not be the best word for it.. ANYWAYS, to have content, friends, baseball, GIFs, comments, fanposts (remember when we switched from diaries to fanposts? Interesting few days..) fanshots, the best blogosphere in baseball and much much more, the offseason is a bit more tolerable.

So.. Thank you to LL for the fun times this season, thank you to Jeff, Matthew and Graham for the content throughout the season, thank you to everyone here – it’s been a helluva ride for an 85 win season and should be even more entertaining during this offseason.

Thanks, Jeff

I don’t ever post anymore (and didn’t even post much when I did), but I still visit LL every day during the season. For every one of these wonderfully fanatical M’s fans who call this place home, there are probably ten more equally fanatical M’s fans who experience the LL community vicariously through them. Thanks for making every day just a little bit brighter!

What a year.
Thanks JMG and all the regulars

My Mariners fandom would be radically different if I had never found this place.

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