Two things strike me on another drop-dead-gorgeous night at Safeco Field:
—If there has been a better night for baseball since this park opened in 1999, I can’t remember it. The first-pitch temperature was 85 and the Western sky has just enough haze to make for a burnt-orange sunset within the hour.
—How in the world was that a foul ball that Aubrey Huff hit in the first inning? I don’t have the best angle from where I sit at least 400 feet away, but to the naked eye it looked like Huff’s long fly curled around the fair side of the foul pole in right field.
First-base umpire Chris Guccione immediately signalled home run, although the entire right side of the Mariners’ defense thought it was foul, along with Orioles baserunner Nick Markakis, who started to walk back to first base.
The umpires huddled and reversed the call, making it a foul ball, and Orioles manager Dave Trembley sprang from the dugout to call for what probably should have happened in the first place — a video review.
While the umps adjourned to a video monitor just off the field, the replays I saw on the press box TVs made it look like the ball passed the foul pole on the fair side. Other writers said it looked fair to them, too.
When the umps returned to the field, they stuck with their reversal — it was a foul ball, finally and forever.
And now, on to a topic that truly intrigues me. The Mariners’ relievers, quirky bunch that they are, have become so infatuated with the movie “300” that they’ve got a replica of King Leonidas’ warrior mask/helmet prominently displayed on a pedestal atop the drink cooler next to the bullpen bench. Something about the warrior mentality they all share.
It’s mostly the work of Mark Lowe, who downloaded the movie a few weeks ago and apparently won’t stop shopping for gear until he has an entire suit of armor.
“Being the idiots that we are, we’ve taken it to extremes,” Lowe said.
Yes, the relievers now have nicknames. Bullpen coach John Wetteland is a natural as King Leonidas. Lowe is Astinos, Brandon Morrow is Stelios and Sean White is Theron. There’s also Garrett Olson, known as Ephor because — according to Lowe — he struggled so badly during spring training fielding drills.
There are other meanings behind the nicknames, none I can repeat here.
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