This is kind of an odd weekend as I first head out to Spokane for my sister’s graduation from Gonzaga, and then onto Missoula—getting home for the first time in a week and a half. So, I’ll just loop you in on what I’m doing right now on the ferry over from Bainbridge, scanning through the reactions to last night’s game.

I was catching this game mostly on the radio before settling into my favorite bar on Capitol Hill. I had my radio shut off as I walked into a shop to grab a gift for a friend then got to the bar with the score having changed from 1-1 to 2-1. Of course, the change being Montero’s homerun. My thoughts were the same as Jeff’s over at LL:

Montero’s home run gave the Mariners a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning. At that point, it didn’t feel secure, but it allowed us to think ahead to how great a storyline it would be for Montero to drive in the winning run in his return to Yankee Stadium. Michael Pineda is out for the year. I wish that he weren’t, but them’s the facts. Jose Campos is on the minor-league disabled list with an elbow problem. If Montero’s homer could’ve been the difference, it would’ve been aggressively sweet, just really driving the point home that, yeah, the Mariners are pretty fond of that trade right now.

Of course, we didn’t get long to savor Montero’s home run because Raul Ibanez—Raul Ibanez!—hit a three-run shot in the bottom half of the inning. Felix told Geoff Baker of the Seattle times that he threw a non-sinking sinker. Those are bad.

“That was a mistake,” he said. “I tried to throw a sinker, the ball didn’t move and stayed in the middle of the plate. One pitch, game over.”

[…]

“That pitch, if I could take it back, I’d take it back,” said Hernandez, who didn’t turn around to watch the ball leave the park after it was hit. “I’d just hit my spot, outside the zone next time.”

We all knew when it went out that the game was likely over. Or I did, and I think that most Mariners fans did. I was hopeful that the Mariners would make some kind of rally late, with it being in Yankee Stadium (feels like I could almost throw a ball out of Yankee Stadium), but it wasn’t happening. Ibanez on his home run to the New York Times:

“When you’re facing an elite pitcher like him, historically, sometimes the first pitch is the best one he’s going to throw you,” Ibanez said. “Whatever you see that’s good to hit, try to jump on it.”

Even with the win, Newsday columnist David Lennon still wrote on how lopsided this trade is looking early.  In it, JZ has some good quotes on the trade.

This trade has turned out so lopsided in the Mariners’ favor that no one would have blamed Zduriencik if he showed up with a lawyer for Friday’s impromptu chat with reporters. It’s not easy to make Brian Cashman and the Yankees come off as sympathetic figures, but that’s what Zduriencik has done, albeit unintentionally.

“I feel bad for Brian. I feel very bad for the Yankees,” Zduriencik said. “I wish this thing would have been a little different. But the fact that [Pineda] is so young and the fact that he’s strong, he should bounce back from this. They just have to wait a little bit for their rewards.

On the whole “damaged goods” thing, and the subject of “winning a trade”“

“You can’t control what people think or say,” Zduriencik said. “In this case here, there’s nothing. Brian knows this, and I know it, and everybody involved in the deal knows it. It’s just one of those unfortunate circumstances that just happened. Players get hurt. Pitchers get hurt.”

[…]

“I never try to win a trade,” Zduriencik said. “I don’t think you enter a deal thinking that you’re going to win a deal. I think what you do is you have common sense and respect for all parties involved, and say I hope this helps both organizations.

“I thought for sure, this is exactly what the Yankees needed. Who could predict? Nobody could. And Jesus is what we needed.”

The column goes onto note Jack traded away J.J. Putz, and it was later found that he’d require surgery for bone spurs in his elbow, an injury Putz claims the Mariners knew about but didn’t. New York!

Today it’s Phil Hughes against Hector Noesi. It’s a bummer when Felix loses, but even more-so when it’s to open a series against a good team. Get that first one and—obviously—you only have to pick up one more to take the series. Alas, let’s hope we can steal one tonight.

Go M’s.