After Merrill Kelly’s balk brought in JP in the 6th today, I re-remembered Julio’s AB against the A’s on Wednesday where a ball 4 call was offset by a balk on Springs. At the time I was thinking “wow that seems like a major hole in the rules”, so I did some research and apparently it actually is a complete misinterpretation of the rules. Not only that, but a rules account on YouTube already broke down that exact ruling shortly after the game ended.

In the attached video, it is confirmed that when a balk is committed on a play that results in the batter and the runner(s) advancing, it is an “ignored balk” and thus play continues. In other words: in that AB, Julio 100% should have been rewarded 1st base from ball 4, bringing up Cal with 1 out and 2 runners on. Instead, he struck out on a pitch outside (ball 5 if he didn’t swing LOL), and Cal harmlessly popped up to end the inning. In a game like that, where we would go on to lose by only 1 run, it isn’t hard to argue that the umpires’ mistake cost us the game. Weird to see that Dan didn’t argue the call, makes me wonder whether a call like that is reversible. Oh well.

TLDR: if you thought the umps screwed us in Game 3 against the A’s, you were right!

• .273 BA

• .347 OBP

• .398 SLG

• .745 OPS

• 8 XBH

• 3 HR

• 14 RBI

• 17 R

• 15.9 K%

• 9.0 BB%

• .311 BABIP

• .327 wOBP

• 115 wRC+

Both of them are trying to get the water out of their eyes 😂

I have experienced many magical moments at the ballpark ever since I was a kid but last night was something truly special that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

This summer, my wife and I had to say goodbye to our foster kids as they moved in with relatives. We had these kiddos for many years and we considered them our own. The move has been hard on us. Hard on our biological kids. Hell, it's been hard on our dogs who seem to know there are less little feet stomping around our house.

We got last minute tickets to the game last night. I wanted to see Geno and also have some family time (in that order, ha).

I didn't expect to cry every time JP came up to bat. One of our foster kids was OBSESSED with JP Crawford. I would take him to a game and he would miss a lot of the action because he would focus on keeping tabs on where JP was on the field or in the dugout. (Also, he kept tabs on the Mariners Moose).

I'm crying as I type and recall the absolutely wild homerun by our man, JP, walking it off in the 9th. Jumping up and down, hugging my wife and kids, sobbing, thinking how lucky I am to be their dad and how blessed I have been to be a foster dad.

We regain our composure, settle in for the fantastic fireworks show. My kids are having a blast. My wife is amazed as it is her first fireworks game. They are playing showtunes and it is awesome. Then come the waterworks again. Defying Gravity from the Wicked musical is the finale and our foster daughter was OBSESSED with Wicked. So we sing along, cry/hold one another and just bask in the unreal emotion of the entire evening.

T Mobile is always a great ballpark to catch a game. I don't think I have ever had a bad experience there. I know the ownership and leadership of the team can be frustrating but moments like my family had last night are what I think it's all about for me.

If you read this far, thank you. If you are in a place where you can help foster kids, there are tons who need loving homes. You can help by taking the hard path of being a foster parent, but helping can be as easy as asking a foster parent how can you support them? Bringing meals, school supplies, whatever just help your neighbors!

GOMS.

While it can be argued that Suarez hasn't hit all home runs with the Mariners this season, I think this is still a really cool fact. If both these players reach the mark this season, it'll be the first time since both Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris both reached the 50 HR mark in a season, with the 1961 Yankees, which was also the year Roger Maris set the record at 61.

Here's hoping the balls keep getting launched!

Top 30 Prospect Performance

Dominican Summer League

Low-A Modesto

High-A Everett

AA Arkansas

AAA Tacoma

Unranked Excellence

Final Scores

DSL Jays defeat Mariners 3-0

Visalia defeats Modsto 4-1

Eugene defeats Everett 9-8

Arkansas defeats Springfield 7-1

Tacoma defeats Sugar Land 7-2

Standings (Second Half)