Part Two

Well, I did jinx it.  All it took was my indirect comment and the M's three-game winning streak ground to a halt.  In the last game of the first half of a gut-wrenching season, Milone was cruising along until he gave up a three run blast, then the bullpen started this half pretty much like they finished  the first, yielding five more runs to the O's, allowing them to pull away.  Except for some hot hitting from Santana, the offense never seemed to get in gear, certainly not enough to catch up.

Seattle hadn't won three in a row since April 20.  Four in a row hadn't occurred since the unbelievable games of the 13 and 2 start, so with or without my jinx, a fourth win was a longshot, even against the hapless O's.  But if this season has taught me anything, baseball is a game about hope.  As Sondheim said, "could be, who knows?  It's any day, out of reach, down block, on the beach, maybe tonight!”

Actually, today.  Seattle goes for a series win, sending Kikuchi to the mound in hopes (there's that word again) he'll get back on track after two miserable starts.  Heard Dipoto offer an interesting hypothesis on Yusei recent drubbings:  he likes to experiment with things.  Pitches, deliveries, that sort of things.  Sometimes his new efforts work; sometimes they don't.  And when they fail, he can have a hard time getting back to what he does right.  This would explain the radically different outings we've seen this season.  Here's hoping we see the learned, tested Kikuchi today.

Second half of the season starts today.