Tonight's Key At Bat

We were frickin' *there* so we speak some from authority on this subject--the key at bat of tonight's 5-2 Mariner win (even bigger than Sexson's funk blast) was Brandon Morrow facing Jermaine Dye with one on and two out in the eighth.

M's pitching coach Rafael Chavez visited the mound before the ab, and we suspect they planned a little trickery. Since Morrow had walked the previous batter on four pitches, Dye would be expecting Morrow's mid-90s gas--to surprise him, Morrow threw a first pitch 84 mph slider in for called strike. Dye had to be looking dead red there.

On the next pitch, Morrow did the obvious thing--a fastball high and tight. Pitching really hasn't changed much in 80 years--soft stuff away, hard stuff in. Dye spun violently away from the 0-1 fastball, which appeared to be aimed at his brain.

The next two pitches were fastballs, both balls, leading to a 3-1 count. Here, Morrow threw a high fastball that Dye couldn't lay off--it was a ball, but he swung anyway, leading to a 3-1 count.

Here--and we think this was the masterstroke--Morrow changed the plane on Dye, throwing a 97 mph fastball at the knees that froze him.

Beautiful stuff.

The M's are over .500 on May 1st? Mission Accomplished.