Lookout Landing

7:07: I don't know if I should be doing this, but I'm doing this. I'm making a commitment. See, Andrea? I told you. You just think you know everything about everybody. Newsflash: you don't. You don't even know how to keep your dog alive.

7:08: The Royals beat the Rays with Brian Bannister. I don't know what everyone's all afraid of.

7:10: "I'm going to tell you, there is no man higher in Safeco Field right now than Cliff Lee." Try again, Dave.

7:12: IT'S HERE! And two minutes late. Joe West wouldn't be happy.

7:14: Cliff Lee comes out throwing an easy 93. Until now I didn't even realize how accustomed I'd become to slop-throwing lefties until just now. Hey this is starting just like Erik Bedard's debut did.

7:18: Eight pitches from Lee to Hamilton. All of them in a good place, none of them missed a spot. Big giant curve for the swinging strikeout. By the way, Lee also works fast. <3

7:20: 17 pitches for Lee in the first. Fastballs at 92-94, cutters at 88-89, and curves at 78-79. I think he's recovered.

7:22: Wait a second, Vladimir Guerrero's playing right field? I'm sensing triples.

7:25: Cliff Lee, Ichiro, and Ken Griffey Jr. are finally playing together in the same game. One guy who got Mariner fans excited in the 1980s, one guy who got Mariner fans excited in the 2000s, and one guy who got Mariner fans excited in the 2010s. Just missing a little Buhner.

7:28: Mariner Cliff Lee makes Ranger Vladimir Guerrero ground out to Mariner Chone Figgins. Baseball is so weird. Why do we root for teams again?

7:30: Ryan Garko isn't an "old friend," Dave. If anything, he's just a guy we knew once who sold us bad weed.

7:32: Now Ryan Garko's starting to piss me off with these damn foul balls. Sit your fat ass down.

7:33: Thanks, Ryan.

7:34: Griffey hears some boos as he strikes out on three pitches, and Milton Bradley is greeted by an audible round of applause as he steps to the plate. This is a sentence I'm typing about a game in Seattle.

7:36: Red is in attendance, visible behind left-handed hitters as usual. That beard he's working on has been going for two years, by the way. The buzzcut is fresh. Red is the least vain person I have ever met.

7:39: I couldn't tell what Jack Wilson's walk-up music is, but if it's anything other than the Munchkinland song, I'm disappointed.

7:44: Lee has thrown 39 pitches. 16 of them have been fouled off.

7:45: Erik Bedard's curveball gets all the attention, but while Lee doesn't throw his as often, it's comparable in velocity and movement. High-70s, ton of drop, real sharp break. I love this pitch. I love all of his pitches. Cliff Lee is the complete pitcher. He might be the one guy for whom even the anticipation may not have prepared us for the arrival.

7:47: Adam Moore drops an easily catchable fastball. Ball hits his glove and rolls away. This is what happens when the other guy sets an example.

Nine up, nine down for Lee so far. 36 strikes out of 50 pitches. Only problem are all those damn fouls. 18 already, which is more than twice the league average. It would be cool if every single one of those fouls turned into a swinging strike. So many swinging strikes!

7:51: I can't believe I get to watch Cliff Lee tonight and Felix Hernandez at noon tomorrow. It's like watching a documentary about the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull, followed by a documentary about the probable eruption of Katla. 

7:55: Wicked unibrow about eight rows back. Somebody on MLB.tv, help a brother out.

7:57: Jamie from Malcolm In The Middle looks like a baby Patton Oswalt.

8:00: Andrus leads off the top of the fourth with a bunt attempt. It rolls foul. Knock it off you guys.

8:02: Lee gives up an opposite-field single to Michael Young, and there's a groan from the crowd. That's how good he's looked. People thought he was going to throw a no-hitter. Gotta admit, I kinda got that feeling too, although there's no way he was going to last all nine innings. You know, because of all those GOD DAMN FOUL BALLS

8:06: 68 pitches through a scoreless four for Lee. 68 pitches and 49 strikes. That's 72%. Cliff Lee is like if you took Shawn Kelley, made him left-handed, made him a starter, and then made him 10% better at everything. I wonder if I will ever not have confidence in Lee's ability to throw a strike when he has to.

8:10: That's a foul pop out and a swinging strikeout for Griffey in the same at bat. He's so bad he's condensing.

8:14: Colby Lewis is also pretty good.

8:15: The Phillies are paying Jamie Moyer $8m in 2010.

8:17: Patton Oswalt looks like a baby Lou Reed.

8:18: Phenomenal track and over-the-shoulder catch by Jack Wilson in center field. Never underestimate how clumsy that play can make a guy look. Wilson handled it like a professional. There is just so little room for a hitter to place any ball up the middle.

8:20: Seven pitch inning for Lee. All of a sudden he's at 75 after five, which gives him an outside shot at seven. Wouldn't be surprised if the sixth is his last, however, as he only threw 68 in Tacoma last weekend.

8:22: Adam Moore lines a ball deep down the line to right field, and it's run down by...Vladimir Guerrero? Guerrero must take the longest strides on the planet, because to the eye it looks like he takes one step every ten seconds.

8:23: Cliff Lee is always smiling. Whenever there's a camera around, he's smiling. Even when he's throwing a pitch. That is a happy man. And he's probably happy because he has everything. Cliff Lee is like what people think Matthew McConaughey is.

8:24: And a five-pitch inning for Colby Lewis as he decides to play one-upsmanshipsies. Right back out there for Cliff. I bet that makes him smile.

8:25: Cliff Lee throws balls like Tom Glavine threw strikes. If a pitch misses the zone, it's either on purpose, or it misses by two inches.

8:26: Looked like Matt Treanor might've beaten out that chopper to first, but he should be embarrassed to try to reach on that anyway. That's an Ichiro hit. Matt Treanor plays catcher.

8:28: Every time I look up, Cliff Lee has a two-strike count.

8:30: The Rangers have three hits, and all of them have gone the other way. Has any Ranger hitter pulled the ball yet? I can't remember any. Maybe a grounder or two.

8:32: Brandon League is up in the bullpen, but Lee's only thrown 89 pitches through six, and he's cruising. 74% strikes. Tough decision coming up, and I'm glad I don't have to make it.

8:33: Via Larry Stone:

Tonight's crowd: 34,055, with Cliff Lee debut and Felix bobblehead as lures

Not gonna lie - that's kind of disappointing, what with the whole generically Mexican-looking Felix bobblehead giveaway. Lee's next home start is next week, midweek, against the Rays. I'd like to see it draw.

8:35: Shot of Lee in the dugout, smiling.

8:37: Only 77 pitches for Lewis through a scoreless six, besting Lee by 12. Know why? TWENTY FEWER GOD DAMN FOUL BALLS

8:40: Lee's back out there for the seventh, and he induces a first-pitch pop out off the bat of Josh Hamilton. With the hack-friendly Vlad up now, seven shutout innings is looking like a good bet.

8:41: Lee gets Vlad to line out to deep right. That's another opposite-field ball in play for the Rangers. Lee flashes a big smile after Ichiro runs the ball down, because he was probably thinking double off the bat. Welcome to Seattle, Cliff. You take care of us, and we'll take care of you.

8:42: Lee strikes out Ian Kinsler looking to end the top of the seventh. Big, sweeping, low-inside curve. That's 98 pitches for Lee, so you know he's done. But, man, what an outing. Some numbers:

73 strikes (74%)
9 swinging strikes (9%)
30 MOTHERFUCKING FOUL BALLS
0 walks
8 strikeouts
0 runs

Great command of his fastball. Great command of his cutter. Great command of his curve. Great command of his changeup. Lee didn't throw a perfect game, but he pretty much just threw a perfect game. Could not have gone better. Now we just need to score him a flipping run. Unfortunately, Griffey's leading off.

8:46: Shot of Lee in the dugout talking to Felix. Sexy. Lee not smiling. Not sure why, but could be related to Rob Johnson sitting nearby.

8:47: Griffey lifts a high fly to left-center off an outside fastball. Looks good on TV. Hamilton casually jogs in to make the catch. Not sure why I was surprised. Please retire. In five minutes. Please retire in five minutes so we can give your next at bat to someone else.

8:50: Weak tapper in front of the plate for Casey Kotchman. Treanor throws the ball wide of first base and it sails away, but Kotchman gets called out for running out of the basepaths. Only he wasn't out of the basepaths, at all, at any moment. Wak argues to no avail, because no umpire's first impression or instincts have ever been wrong. With Moore on deck, though, I suppose missing a two-out opportunity with Kotchman on first base doesn't really cost us that much in the end. 

8:53: And Mark Lowe's in the game for the 8th. End of the night for Lee, who was spectacular. Some of the crowd is still booing whichever complete retard umpire prematurely ended the seventh.

8:55: Still booing. Loud booing. God bless this crowd. Add "Jim Wolf" to the list. For the record, the win expectancy impact of that blown call is -4%.

8:56: Ryan Garko's power is gone. Completely gone. Pulled a meatball and popped it up. Justin Smoak and Matt Treanor, however, have pulled a couple long flies just foul, which makes me nervous. Nobody keeps track of long foul flies, but they should, because I feel like they might have some predictive usefulness.

8:58: Lowe gets ahead of Treanor 0-2 and then doesn't throw anything close for the next four pitches. Craig Gentry is a total nobody, but he's up now, and I'm nervous that Lowe's slip-up is going to cost us bigtime.

8:59: And now Lowe throws a wide slider to the backstop, sending Treanor to second base. Gentry's going to hit a bloop single and win the Rangers the game. This is the worst Friday ever.

9:01: Disaster averted as Lowe gets Gentry to whiff on a low fastball. Strange inning - Lowe just kind of lost it all of a sudden and struggled to find the glove. Given all the balls Lowe threw in the dirt, if this game were a cross country meet, the eighth inning was Adam Moore's hill. Somebody just lost five pounds.

9:06: Shot of Lee talking to RRS in the dugout. For those five seconds, I didn't have a girlfriend.

9:08: By the way, Colby Lewis is still pitching. We should try hitting some foul balls.

9:09: Still booing.

9:10: David Aardsma coming in to throw the ninth. Not too afraid of Andrus or Young, but Hamilton looms as the third bat due up in the inning. This makes me uncomfortable. I'd really like to see League come in instead to throw five, six innings.

9:12: Elvis Andrus hits a grounder to Jack Wilson, and Wilson picked it up and slings it to first in one motion. Didn't even take a step. Relax, Jack. Elvis is lazy.

9:13: David Aardsma just threw the worst splitter I've ever seen in my life. I think it went 20 feet. Lawn dart?

9:14: Perfect, perfect job by Aardsma against Hamilton to end the top of the ninth. Two outside fastballs just off the plate - fouled off - and then a flawless splitter down out of the zone for the swinging strikeout. Hamilton has good opposite field power, but Aardsma did good to avoid the inner half. I was nervous, but Aardsma proved me wrong by locating three straight pitches for the first time in his career.

9:16: Colby Lewis is still in for the ninth. He's thrown 102 pitches. Season high is 117, so he's good for another four innings.

9:17: Figgins takes an inside slider for a borderline strike and the crowd boos Jim Wolf. I'm digging it. There are few better ways to stay alert and involved than by holding a grudge for a minor infraction.

9:19: Some fan just won an autographed Felix Hernandez bobblehead. What an awkward thing to autograph. "So just where on the little voodoo doll representation of my body would you like me to write my name?"

9:21: As of 9:21pm - two hours and nine minutes after the first pitch - we're headed to extra innings. Two hours and nine minutes into a Red Sox/Yankees game, Darnell McDonald would be leading off the bottom of the third. Two hours and nine minutes into a Montreal Canadiens game, we'd be wrapping up a pregame ceremony.

9:23: Ten strikeouts and 116 pitches for Lewis through nine shutout innings. 16 foul balls. We gotta hit more foul balls. Brandon League's in for the tenth now, by the way. Two pitches in, he has yet to allow a foul ball.

9:26: There's the Brandon League inning we all had pictured in our heads when we first traded for him. A couple balls hit low to the ground, and a swinging strikeout on a lethal splitter just off the dirt. Kinsler saw three splitters and a 96mph running fastball. He didn't have a chance.

9:28: Pump-up music as Griffey leads off the tenth. This is sad.

9:29: Griffey's ahead 2-0 on lefty Darren Oliver. All I want is a walk. I know you're terrible. Just walk. If you do anything, walk.

9:29: 2-2 on Griffey. All I want is a beanball. I know you're terrible. Just get beaned. If you do anything, get beaned.

9:30: Griffey beats the Griffey Shift with a slow roller the other way that Andrus just has to eat. The Kid! And here comes Eric Byrnes making Griffey look like a lazy son of a bitch by sprinting out of the dugout to pinch-run. Eric Byrnes makes toast at high speed.

9:31: Bradley, batting right-handed against Oliver, drops a double down the line in left, bringing the winning run to third base with nobody out. Problem: groundballing Kotchman at the plate, followed by Moore and Wilson. If Kotchman can't get it done, I'm thinking it's Mike Sweeney's turn to be a hero!

9:33: Oliver spins and fakes a pickoff to second base. Nobody buys it, Darren. You're not going to try a pickoff to a weird base with the winning run on third.

9:34: Kotchman ahead 2-0. I'm thinking foul ball. They'll never expect the foul ball.

9:35: And Kotchman pops out on an excuse-me swing. Not surprising, with the lefty Oliver on the mound, but that's a big blow. They'll intentionally walk Moore, and now MIIIIIIKE SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEENEY

9:36: Win expectancy impact of that intentional walk: -0.4%. Neat.

9:37: Clever but annoying managing by Ron Washington - Sweeney comes up against the lefty with Darren O'Day warming up, so Washington tells Treanor to go talk to Oliver for a little while to buy O'Day some extra time to throw. Once the mound meeting breaks up, Treanor takes his time returning to his position, and then Washington comes out to make the pitching change. That's both the neat thing about baseball, and the stupid thing.

O'Day, by the way, is a sidearming righty, which makes me think we very well may blow this golden opportunity. Squeeze bunt would be some kind of ballsy.

9:41: O'Day gets so much sink on his fastball that I can't believe he isn't an extreme groundballer.

9:42: Well he was a groundballer right there. What an obvious outcome. Second and third with none out, and we pretty much needed Kotchman to come through, because none of the other guys were going to. Can you imagine if we had a real hitter at the plate instead of Mike flipping Sweeney? That double play is one of the most negative Mariner plays of the young season.

9:44: And now, with extreme groundballer League still on the mound, Matt Tuiasosopo is playing short, because Mike Sweeney blows. Ichiro was standing on deck. Sweeney swung at a first pitch slider. Sweeney shouldn't have been swinging at all. Sweeney shouldn't ever take another swing in his career.

9:48: Quick 1-2-3 inning for League, and it only took him ten pitches. With 17 through two frames, could we see a third? May it never come to that, of course. Let it be known that League threw three more splitters in that inning, and topped out at 97mph. Looks like himself again.

9:52: Ichiro lines a single by third and Figgins lays down a bunt just as I'm thinking "why not just send Ichiro to steal?" The bunt, though, is perfect, and Figgins beats it out, and now we're back in another run-scoring situation. KNOCK THE DOOR DOWN I WANT TO EAT DINNER

9:54: Guti's bunting. Jose Lopez is on deck. Aw christ we're going to do it again.

9:55: Does anyone else think it's weird that the Money Tree caterpillar traveled the world? How did a caterpillar go to Europe? How did a caterpillar afford to go to Europe? Does he own a passport? Is he a documented American caterpillar?

9:56: I hate when I see the catcher stand up from his crouch behind Lopez because I know what pitch is coming, and Lopez doesn't stand a chance.

9:57: Everybody clap your hands! clapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclap

9:58: Lopez draws a superb base on balls, which brings Eric Byrnes to the plate with the bases loaded and one out. Byrnes is unlikely to touch Francisco and I would really like to see the squeeze here. I don't care if the Rangers see it coming. Byrnes is basically hopeless if he swings. He'd just strikeout or pop up.

10:01: Byrnes attempts the squeeze and Francisco decides to throw a splitter in the dirt. Boy is there egg on my face. I'm sorry guys.

That's a tricky to play to score on the win expectancy spreadsheet, by the way. Technically, nobody did anything wrong. Byrnes couldn't have bunted that pitch, and Ichiro was dead meat the whole way.

10:02: Now Ron Washington gets tossed as he argues that Eric Byrnes should get charged a strike for attempting to bunt. Replays show that Byrnes clearly pulled the bat back. Washington argues exactly as you'd expect a 125 year old man to argue. Complete with "AW GOSH" double arm pumps.

10:04: Eric Byrnes strikes out to send us to the 12th. Byrnes was batting because he pinch-ran for Griffey. He pinch-ran for Griffey because Griffey is slow. Griffey is slow because Griffey is old. Go to hell, Griffey.

10:07: Sure enough, League gets a third inning. Our win expectancy reached 92.5% in the 10th, and 83.1% in the 11th. Remember when Cliff Lee pitched today? I don't.

10:10: Infield single for Andrus, infield single for Young, and a throwing error on Tui. The Rangers are going to win this game playing Mariners baseball, since the Mariners couldn't.

10:11: Wild pitch scores the first run of the game. Mariners baseball. Tonight we get to see how annoying it is when this team loses, and how annoying it is when this team wins. Kudos to Texas for giving us a couple jars of our own medicine.

10:13: Mild boos as Brandon League gets pulled having given up two runs. League's inning: weak groundball, weak groundball, wild pitch, intentional walk, weak groundball. League was awesome tonight. We deserve to lose.

10:19: Ryan Garko might be more terrible than Griffey.

10:22: Bradley/Kotchman/Moore(/Tui) due up against Neftali Feliz. Surely Feliz won't make us look like flailing idiots.

10:27: I think I am going to take a walk.

10:58: Per usual, when you lose a close and eminently winnable game to a division rival, there's going to be a lot of people freaking out. That's fine. If any regular season game deserves a freakout, it's a game like this. The M's wasted a flawless outing from Cliff Lee, and couldn't cash in on either of two absolutely glorious opportunities to score in extra innings. To say nothing of their futility against a good-but-not-this-good Colby Lewis through the first nine. Yeah, it's really annoying that we got beat the way we did in the 12th, but can you honestly say we didn't deserve it? Can you honestly say we didn't have it coming? That's how we beat the A's on Opening Day, and the Rangers turned it around on us tonight. That inning was basically the baseball god saying "okay the Mariners clearly don't want this game so let's just get some kids home for their bedtimes."

Remember, though, that, while the M's couldn't score through 11 frames, neither could the Rangers. This game featured nearly as many positives as negatives.

Much of the negative comes down to the fact that our bench and DH situations are complete jokes, but that's nothing new. We'll continue to get burned by these problems for as long as they go unaddressed. The good news is that games like this bring the team closer to making a move. I won't say something'll happen tomorrow, but the Mariners obviously aren't going to take a whole year of this disaster. They're smarter than that. They know that we need a better everything. They know that we can't keep sending this version of Sweeney and this version of Byrnes up against righties in big situations. They know that we can't send this version of Griffey up ever.

The negatives have been here all along, and it sucks when they show themselves. But we've known that these could be major problems since the season began.

Go to bed and think of the positives. Nobody wants to be in a foul mood on Felix Eve. The Mariners lost a frustrating game, but it's one game, and it's a game in which Cliff Lee looked fantastic, David Aardsma looked fantastic, and Brandon League looked fantastic. For every lousy half-inning of this game, there was a good one, and if Cliff Lee didn't send shivers down your spine as he threw the best start of the year, then you weren't paying attention.