Everyone has their own favorite flavor of game. Some like the laughers. Some love the pitching duels (those are way up there for me, to be clear, 1-0 being perhaps my favorite score when it doesn’t come after 18 innings in the playoffs). Some want a slugfest. I like an extra-inning chess-game with lots of lead changes and plot twists. This was probably the single most satisfying game of the year for me.

Did it hurt that it was loaded with redemption? Absolutely not. The Mariners were coming off the most painful back-to-back losses of the year, both times getting absolutely scorched in extra innings after holding a 3-run 9th inning lead (Friday) or a tie throughout the 8th and 9th (Thursday). In Thursday’s entry, Colin Snider was tagged for SEVEN RUNS (5 earned) and only got one out in the 10th before giving way to Bazardo to finally shut down the Nats in a 9-3 extra-inning loss. Last night, Snider pitched two scoreless extra innings, stranding the Manfred Man each time, albeit with some help from Julio Rodriguez firing a nonchalant missile right to Mitch Garver to make a dramatic first out at home in the 10th.

Did it hurt that JP Crawford hit what should have been the game-winning home run in the 7th with an absolutely epic bat flip, taking a one-run deficit to a one-run lead with a swing that took out lights that highlighted his platoon splits against righties? It’s one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen in a baseball game and all by my favorite current player so no, it did not hurt one bit.

There were mistakes aplenty in this game too. The strike zone was consistently inconsistent. Bryce Miller started for the Major League club instead of getting a rehab start or four, and as a result budding superstar Logan Evans wasn’t in the game instead (forgive me for thinking we would have won 4-1). Carlos Vargas was tapped to get the save with Munoz down after back-to-back appearances (that we both lost, badly) and promptly chucked a ball into right field instead of pocketing it, allowing Minnesota’s fastest man to reach third with less than two outs in a one-run game. Remember the game Bryan Woo threw away on such a play in Houston? It was deja vu all over again.

But thanks to rookie Cole Young’s nifty little line-hugging grounder on a contact play in the 11th with PR Miles Mastrobouni (unfathomably still with the big club instead of Leo Rivas, who hits better, fields better, is a switch-hitter, and is faster) dashing home, the Mariners won it all in the 11th and all is forgiven. Houston got trounced and so we are back in first place after a disastrous first day outside of it. And now we have a chance to ride Luis Castillo to a win this afternoon that would mark our first home series win in four tries, dating back to the two-game mini-sweep of the Angels in April.

I love baseball.

Mariners Stats:
Comeback Wins: 16
Wire-to-Wire Wins: 15
Comeback Losses: 14
Wire-to-Wire Losses: 12

Multi-Homer Games: 16-7
Single-Homer Games: 13-6
No-Homer Games: 2-13

One-Run Games: 11-7
Extra-Innings Games: 4-5
Shutouts: 1-3

Record When Scoring >5 Runs: 14-4
Record When Scoring 2-5 Runs: 17-12
Record When Scoring <2 Runs: 0-10

Total Games in First Place: 29
Consecutive Games in First Place: 1

Personal Stats:
Watched on TV: 7-13
Listened on Radio: 8-4
Mixed TV/Radio: 12-7
Followed on Gameday: 3-2
Limited/No Engagement: 1-0