Not much to say tonight
Tonight’s game and events revolving around tonight’s game were perfect examples of why I maintain pessimism as a way of life. If you don’t expect or want much,* life is still easy and peaceful when you don’t get it. May was fun. June was fun. Now we’re back to normal, and I’ve completely accepted it. All is right with the world. I will save my whining about everything for tomorrow night after I’m a few beers in and away from the internet. As things are now, I’ve got a few tossed back because it’s Friday, and I like to pretend that still matters to someone who works Tuesday to Saturday. It doesn’t make watching this game easier, but it puts me a little more at peace with it.
Doug Fister pitched 7 &2/3 innings with 108 pitches, 71 of which were strikes. He should have gotten run support from the team, but he didn’t. He shouldn’t have been charged with the loss,** but he was. He doesn’t at all deserve this season, but he’s getting it anyway. And it kills me. The last guy to get this treatment was Jarrod Washburn; and I started out not really liking Jarrod Washburn very much. I have never disliked Doug Fister, so this year has been a bit of a sting. Whenever a Fister game starts, I always think, ‘Maybe…’ but then reality swoops in, rips the head off my dreams, and feeds it to its young. Loving and following the Seattle Mariners is sort of like being pushed into the Sarlaac Pit. We’re on year 34 of a thousand years. Hold your breath.
To make matters even worse – and it’s been all over Twitter tonight so I’m not going to bother linking to any one thing – any hope of getting David Aardsma back this year was clipped short tonight upon the announcement that Aardsma, like so many before him, is going to have to have Tommy John surgery. Via Twitter, Aardsma said that all avenues were tried before this decision was made. It’s just not to be this year. There are two bright spots out of this; Brandon League has been a perfectly acceptable closer this year, so it’s not as if we had Aardsma and “lost” him mid-season, and we’re not really doing that great anyway, so the closer position is not really a high-pressure position lately. For whatever wins are left in the season, I am confident that League can take care of us when it’s necessary. I am also aware that this may mean that Aardsma won’t be with us again. I don’t know how the organization feels about him, but after over a year of recovering from this surgery and then likely being out for the first two months of the season and you know they rarely come back 100% right away…well I hate to say it, but perhaps 2010 was our Aardsma moment.
This is a terribly bummer post. I, however, am determined to have a good time at the park tomorrow, regardless of whether we win or lose. Mostly because I’m pretty sure we’re going to lose, but also because a lot of people I know will be there, and friends (and beer) always cushion the blow. Or at least make it a little more tolerable.
