Passionate Tales of a Blue Kitten

Ken Griffey Jr is retiring.

It's time, but it's sad, too. He'll probably always be my favorite Mariner player and so many of my childhood baseball memories revolve around him.

ETA: Junior's statement. I feel like I should have more to say, but I don't. He's the reason baseball still even exists in Seattle. I'm just going to be quietly bookmarking all the articles that are sure to come out about what he's meant to the Mariners. It wasn't without drama, but that never seemed to matter to me.

YOU GUYS!

So the Mariners game started off all lame! Felix Hernandez was giving up a lot of walks and the guys were making a bunch of errors. Russell Branyan did get a home run, which excited me because it was his first one in a while and it made a new career high for him. But the Mariners were down 5-1 going into the bottom of the 7th (and that's a lot for them).

Ken Griffey, Jr. was up first. And it was his bobblehead night. And the thing about him is you just know he's going to hit a home run on that kind of night. He just does. He's older now, and there's a good chance this is his last year, but he's still magic. SO. Yes. He hit a home run. And that set off a rally, and they tied the game.

And it was just one of those nights where you can feel that energy. I mean, I could feel it from the TV. It was the first game of the homestead. It was Junior's bobblehead night, and fans love him. And a lot of fans were wearing gladiator helmets since they're still banned from the bullpen. And I guess it's a form of superstition that I always believe we're going to win those games. Once they tied it, I believed.

But I must admit my belief wavered when the Rays got a home run in the top of the 11th. We had the bottom of the order coming up, and they've been doing pretty well, but . . . it's still the bottom of the order. We got a man on base and managed to move him over, but we were down to the last out, and Ryan Langerhans was up.

AND HE HIT A WALK OFF HOME RUN. First one of his career and only his second home run of the year! I mean, he was in the minor leagues until we got him from the Nationals! But he's been awesome for us! Jack Zduriencik (our GM) is amazing at picking up guys like him.

(This isn't my best Mariners post. I'm tired. But I wanted to remember it.)

ETA: LOL, what? Checking MLB.com--Did everyone get walk off home runs tonight???