Fans whoop it up at Safeco Field on Father’s Day. Mike Dashiell photo




An open letter to the Seattle Mariners:

(Hopefully this doesn’t sound like those Mariners ads that have people calling Safeco Field for that “great time” last night … just wrong …)

On behalf of myself, a stepfather, and my own dad and the thousands of dads and their families at Safeco Field last Sunday, thank you.

Thank you for the win, despite its ugliness. A ninth-inning victory and what turned out to be a decent, dramatic, come-from-behind W was exactly what we were all hoping for.

Thanks for putting Felix Hernandez on the mound. I hope to be able to tell my grandkids someday that I saw the greatest Mariner pitcher ever toss seven-and-a-third innings of scoreless ball (until that mistake to Mark Reynolds) and strike out eight Padres in the process.

Thanks for keeping Ichiro in the game long enough to collect three hits and that half-awesome/half-awkward moment where we all stood and celebrated his 1,900 career MLB hit — not exactly a stirring milestone, but hey, he was cool enough to tip his hat to us. Right on.

Thanks for the sweet double play from third baseman Chris Woodward in the second inning, that got us out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam. That was cool. And even though the dude couldn’t get a critical bunt down in the ninth inning, he seemed to shrug it off. Walk-off wins tend to do that for a young player.

Mariners, thanks for whatever you shouted at Tony Clark in the ninth to make him drop that throw to first base, allowing the game-winning run to score. I’m sure they weren’t words of encouragement. We didn’t care what they were, so long as the 15-year vet couldn’t find the handle and turn what could have been a real downer to see the team lose in extra innings turn into a “what was that? I can’t believe they won like that!” kind of a game.

For me, this was pretty sweet. I got to hang with my dad and my sister, my wife and brother-in-law and my niece, little Chloe. Thanks for making it special.

Oh, and tell Safeco Field “hi” for me.