About Last Night: Welcome to Seattle, Jared Kelenic
Last night I was working at section 312 making pizzas for around 10,000 eager fans, hypothetically. As soon as I heard the cheers I knew it was Jared. There was a hearty roar in the first for Seager's home run, but I could hear Sims's voice in a tizzy and the crowd was truly going wild. I jogged out of the concessions stand and took the short walk to the view of the field. Sure enough, everyone was on their feet, and Kelenic was crossing the plate. I let out a hearty roar, high-fived the ballpark usher i had just met, and went back to my pizzas.
For the average cynical Mariners fan, it could be easy to look at Kelenic's performance last night and not be too eager to see what he would do tonight. This hypothetical fan probably hadn't payed attention to Kelenic's career to this point; being drafted at 6th overall, the large trade package we gave up for him, him being the #4 overall prospect in baseball, and the 2 dingers he hit in his Tacoma debut. I was not this hypothetical fan. I knew there was a good chance entering this game, my first shift working at T-mobile, that I would see this kid do something special. And something special he did.
I was born in 2001, the last year the Mariners made the playoffs. I have known winning, playoff football from the New Orleans Saints; but I have not known winning, playoff baseball. 2014 and 2018 were our best chances as of recent, and the Mariners have blown those chances in intriguingly new and heartbreaking ways. Looking at Kelenic cross home last night, however, I felt a feeling that no Mariners fan should feel. Hope. Hope that Dipoto has put together the master plan we thought him capable of. Hope that our few veterans will teach our many youngsters how to play right. Hope that said youngsters have the talent we all believe them to have. Hope that, when I make a pizza in October, it will be for a father and daughter that eagerly rush off to eat their pizza in front of playoff baseball. Hope that I will jog out of the concessions stand and look out to Kelenic crossing the plate bringing in the go ahead run to bring the Seattle Baseball Mariners to their first World Series.
Until then; play ball, Jared Kelenic, Logan Gilbert, Julio Rodriguez, and all the rest. We're all counting on you, to give us hope.