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Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Refuse To Lose 2007 

Hot streaks are fun, but they are even more fun when your team shows resilience, mental fortitude, sticktoitiveness, or what have you. Essentially, the M's are taking games they would have lost over the past three years, dialing the clock back to 2001 and Refusing to Lose.

The M's have now won 8 of their last 9 games, but what makes the streak even more impressive is how they have won these games. In each of these games, the M's either trailed or had lost so much momentum, that the 2005 version of the team would have rolled over and died. But not the new Refuse to Lose M's of 2007:

June 3rd - the M's trail the Rangers 4-1 in the bottom of the 4th when they use a Jose Lopez double to score 5 in the 4th and roll to a 11-6 victory giving Ryan Feierabend his first professional victory.

June 4th - Down 4-3 with 2 outs in the 8th, the M's rally on singles by Yuni, Willie and Vidro before Ichiro blows things open in a 7-4 win.

June 5th - trailing Baltimore 4-1 in the bottom of the 7th a "hungry" Ichiro again finishes off a 4-run rally, and gets home early so he can eat.

June 6th - M's run out of gas and give up a 4-0 lead in 9-6 loss to Orioles.

June 8th - Raul Ibanez rediscovers his power and hits the game-winning homer as the M's win 6-5 in 11 innings

June 9th - M's score 3 in the 7th, add a Sexson solo blast in the 8th and score on a Jose Lopez single in the ninth to rally from a 5-1 deficit to a 6-5 lead. Not only that, but Jeffy Weaver gives up fewer ER (1) than innings he pitched (4)!

June 10th - Down 3-1 in the 7th, the M's rally to tie it, and win the game by scoring a run in the ninth against one of the greatest closers of all time.

June 11th - The M's slowly and painfully give up a 7 run lead, but manage to stay tied heading into the ninth. Raul Ibanez finishes up a monster ninth with a run-scoring double to go with 2 HR and a triple to give the M's an 8-7 crushing defeat of the Indians.

Two constants in these nine games. In every game the bullpen kept us close, and almost always once we got the lead they shut down the opposition. And more importantly, the offense is relentless, knocking out 8,9,10+ hits in every game and putting forth its best at bats in the late innings. You know that the M's are not out of any game.

If you're not watching the Mariners right now, you are missing a fantastic show. Somehow, out of nowhere, this team is channelling the spirit of 2001, and baseball is fun again in Seattle!

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