I just got home… the game’s over?!?!? I was hoping to catch the last couple innings : (

No walks – it helps that the M’s love to hack away, but still, he was very sharp.

What do you think? Do we have a shot?

and if I walk down to the end of my street I can hear the music too.

He’s doing a great job…even though he’s seeing a truckload of lefties (expanded September roster has alot to do with that). Cool under pressure!!!

a bit late because of the very colorful but muted music fireworks — anyone else notice that the music was much harder to hear than usual?

Highlights of the game were Eveland and Buck. Lowlights included several plays that Crosby missed, and of course Cust setting the American League record for strikeouts.

Over 30,000 fans attended — and unfortunately started the Wave in the eighth inning.

For the Mariners, Felix and Ichiro were impressive as usual. The rest of that team looks as beaten down as any I’ve seen.

As the season comes to a close, I’d like to offer my thanks to everyone for this joyous evening…

• Thank you to the random strangers, who jumped out of their car and offered their remaining free parking passes to the cars waiting in line to get into the parking lot. Saved me $15. Awesome.
• Thank you to the random stranger who gave me a Buy One, Get One Free thing to buy my tickets for Sunday’s game.
• Thank you to my friends for remembering to bring their IDs so that they could buy my beer for me after we stood in line for a while, only to realize that my ID was in my car.
• Thanks to Poppy, for the Ellis jersey from last weekend, and the free parking pass that I can use on Sunday.
• Thanks to my sister, for allowing me to call in the top of the fourth inning to say “No hits, no walks, no runs”, only to call back seconds later to say “jinx worked, buck hit a homer”.
• Thank you to the really really loud group of kids behind me that were just really really excited and shrieky about everything. I thought they were going to pass out when Stomper came out to dance. “Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!! Stomper!!!!!!!!!!!!”
• Thank you to the kids in that group who kept running up and down the space between the seats. I really enjoyed having my beer spilled onto my socks. Oh and the nachos? Yeah, I guess I was done with those, you can step in them.
• Thank you to that same group of kids, for reminding me why I am not ready to be a parent.
• Thank you to the over-sexed high school kids who were sitting next to me on the grass for the fireworks. Okay, “next to” isn’t quite accurate. If I’m laying on my blanket, and you have your own blanket, then how can you explain your ass parked on my lap? But thanks, it’s been a long time since these jeans have been anywhere near a make-out session. But please, did you really need to grab my ass?
• Thanks to the same group of kids for the contact high. Next time, can you bring some brownies? I’m kinda hungry now.
• Thanks to the PA system during the fireworks. Couldn’t really hear the music, but that’s okay, the fireworks were awesome. Major kudos on the finale.

Is Barton hurt? This is no different than if Emil Brown were playing over the other young guys. I don’t understand why it’s not Barton at first and Baisley at third for the remaining games.

Mmm, I love being herded into BART cars with hundreds of other people and being rammed into by those who have had too much to drink. But other than that, it was a great night. The fireworks were wonderful, as always, and I especially enjoyed the heart fireworks to go along with that 1998 classic, “Tearing Up My Heart.” Other notes:

*I was in 216, so I heard the Crosby girl (“Bobby, you’re hot!!”), but I only remember hearing it his first at-bat. Maybe after that she realized he sucks.
*I had two questions when I was there, which could probably be answered by reading the game thread but I’ll just put them here first: Why did Dana come out after 7? He didn’t have very many pitches and was doing so well. Also, why did Baisley start instead of Dale again? I feel like Dale would’ve made a few of those plays that Baisley didn’t… but who knows.
*I really would like to see Huston closing again. Nothing against Ziggy—I love the guy—but I miss Huston’s glory days, and he’s been pitching well lately, and I feel bad for him, so let’s have him close, shall we?
*After the fireworks, I considered rolling myself up in my green blanket and hiding under the bullpen bench so I could camp out on the field overnight. I just love it out there.
*It wasn’t as cold as I thought it would be, which was nice. And the hot chocolate vendor came back in the later innings, which was perfect.
*I heart Travis. And Ry Ry. And Zook. Hooray for little bits of offense!
*The lineup was kinda funny—all 3 outfielders at the top, then DH and catcher, and then all 4 infielders at the bottom. Yep, that seems about right.
*I forgot about the strikeout record until an old guy near me started cheering for Cust to strike out during his 2nd AB. There were actually a lot of cheers when he did set the new record… gotta appreciate what we have.
*I got a tshirt for 50% off (hooray!) but they didn’t really have any good sizes in the player tees, just XL and youth larges. Ah well, maybe next year.
*The field looks sad. :( Stupid football.
*On the giveaway team photo, Chavy was quite obviously photoshopped in; Huston looks angry, exhausted, and scruffy; Emil looks pissed; Ellis is smiling big; and Mike Sweeney is there and smiling (obviously before his release). I wonder when they took the pic… it’s not that great of quality, but it’s kinda funny to see all the guys like that.
*I heart my boys, and I will miss them when they’re gone. Why must they leave? :(

Howard missed by one SO in a previous season, and won’t get enough walks this year. Jack’s got the BoBs in the bag, but lacks 1 HR and 13 SOs, with 8 games to go.

Let’s go Jack! They’re out there!

Dana looked strong. Loved Buck hitting one out. I can’t wait to listen to todays game, stupid Fox blackout rule. The M’s are a mess. GO A’S!

I agree…stupid Fox blackout rule. Drives me insane on Saturdays. Boooooo. But Go A’s!