As the Slog pointed out yesterday, giant baseball nerd (God bless those of us that are left) Nate Silver uses some sort of math (snore) to project what he claims is non-biased polling data. Recently on the Colbert Report, he was asked to compare the candidates to baseball teams. He called Barack Obama the Tampa Bay Rays, not because of their all-secret Muslim infield, rather, because of his status as an up-and-coming power house.......

"jonas" by Seattlest Flickr contributor Doug Felts It could be worse. Somehow. We guess SoDo could have been swallowed up in a giant sinkhole. Or the Mariners could keep playing for another three months. Thankfully, their season ended Sunday, bumbling to a 61-101 record, and our long civic nightmare appears to be over, or at least delayed for a few months. Huskies: When the one superstar athlete on your team is less healthy than a......

1986 is probably the most overlooked Mariner season of all time. They were able to turn the league's worst record into number one pick Ken Griffey Jr. Their bottom of the barrel effort in 1992 led to Alex Rodriguez. Could 2008's shit-covered season lead to the next baseball phenom? With three games to play, the Mariners are locked in a tight race with the Washington Nationals for the much-hyped college pitcher Stephen Strasburg. A few......

"ichiro! wonders who will play right field tomorrow," by Seattlest Flickr contributor edgardiazrocks We knew that the Boys of SoDo had lost their mojo this summer. But we didn't realize how bad things really were at Safeco, especially concerning everyone's favorite nihonjin. Sure, we had heard the rumblings: Only wants to play certain positions. Stays in a different hotel on road trips. Demands separate planes. Pretends not to speak English. (It all reminds us of......

Safeco Field, courtesy of Grundlepuck Go ahead and scold us for loving the Yankees. This Seattlest's first baseball game ever was at Yankee stadium, and we just can't separate from the love. Yet, our new hometown team, the fightin' Mariners, actually kind of smacked the Yanks down. Nothing terrifically exciting happened—no super-dramatic plays, no bases-loaded homers, or anything. But, the Mariners managed to keep the Yanks down til the 8th inning, when they scored their......

IN A WU TANG WAY: Not being of the hip-hop persuasion ourselves, Seattlest asked our resident hip-hop guru Katelyn how relevant it may be to people that Gza of Wu Tang Clan fame is playing at Neumo's tonight. She basically said it was relevant "in a Wu Tang way." We don't know what that means, but if you do, then Neumo's is your place to be. 8 p.m. doors // Neumo's // $20 YOUR BRAIN......

Sometimes a Bee Jay every day gets you wanting more. Mike Hargrove, who resigned as manager of the Mariners last July, claiming that he had lost his passion for the job, told the AP that he wants back in the big leagues. Hargrove has been managing the Liberal (Kansas) Bee Jays, a summer team for college players, an experience that has re-awoken the fire within. "Seeing these college kids love the game as much as......

We present this classic Seinfeld clip:......

With the Mariners taking the rest of the summer off, Seattlest (along with some other local rag) is adopting the Chicago White Sox as our fake team for the rest of the season. This became official with last week’s trade of Ken Griffey Jr (number 17?!?!). Griffey, who last played in a playoff game on October 5, 1997, is now only half a game back in the AL Central. Plus the White Sox are totally......

Dave Niehaus will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on Sunday morning, and if you haven't started driving yet, well, we don't think you'll be able to make it to Cooperstown by then. Luckily for you, the 10:30 a.m. ceremony will be broadcast on ESPN Classic and over the radio on 950 KJR. The Hall of Fame may have some sort of live streaming on their website; however, this is the Baseball Hall of......

Two of these Jim Riggleman quotes are real, and one was made up by the Onion. Can you tell which is which? A: "I'm astonished to tell you the truth when I look up and I see [Jose] Vidro's average is what it is, because I feel like every time he goes up there I'm very confident that he's going to give us a good at-bat...And for the at-bats that he has, he's knocked in......

Red Sox Nation has left Seattle, taking with it their brand new hats and cheers of "Manny, I fawkin' love you, now hit a homah' you fawkin' queeah [Throws up on self. Passes out.]." And that was Doris Kearns Goodwin. Hate them or really hate them, they are on top of the sports world and enjoying every minute of it. However, what is it like when Mariner Nation invades some poor sucker's home field? Seattlest......

Gorgeous Mariners photo courtesy of Seattlest Flickr contributor Kyle Johnson When you think about it, a Major League ballgame must be a nightmare for folks who are super allergic to peanuts. Peanut allergies can be some of the most severe, where simply coming into contact with the shells can trigger a fatal reaction. Even if you choose not to get a bag, the shells and remnants are everywhere at a ballgame. And, considering the Mariners'......

ART FORUM: Art critic Rachel Kushner has written a novel, Telex From Cuba. It starts out like a painting, which only makes sense, considering. You can read the first chapter, or just head to Elliott Bay tonight and let her read it to you. 7:30 p.m. // Elliott Bay Books // Free YOU'RE SUCH A TEASE: Wanna get your burlesque on, but don't know how to get started? Join the Open Tease tonight at the......

On Saturday the Mariners blew a ninth inning lead to lose to the Atlanta Braves in Atlanta. The loss was disappointing to many, but shocking to few; the team with the worst record in baseball often finds ways to lose games in the ninth. On Saturday Seattlest drove south (not 35 hours south) to watch a baseball game and the team we watched also lost, 4-2. We drove forty-five minutes down I-5 to see......

Photo courtesy of Seattlest flickr pool contributor slightlynorth. After watching the M's go 2-9 in the past week and a half, King Felix has apparently decided to take matters into his own hands, becoming the first AL pitcher to hit a grand slam in three decades. While Seattlest hoped this was a divine omen of better weeks ahead for the team, our hopes were almost immediately dashed. Hernandez had to leave the game after......

First, hitting coach Jeff Pentland was fired, then General Manager Bill Bavasi was shown the door, and yesterday it was John McLaren's turn to up the state's unemployment rate. All casualties of the worst record in baseball. Since Lou Piniella got frustrated with the front office and left following the 2002 season, President Chuck Armstrong and CEO Howard Lincoln have hired a series of "yes men" which they could control. This is what they get.......

The Seattle Times is reporting that Mariner Manager John McLaren has been fired and replaced with bench coach Jim Riggleman. McLaren was named manager following Mike Hargrove's resignation last July. Riggleman becomes the fourth manager since Lou Piniella left after the 2002 season. Richie Sexson still has a job.......

KING 5 and the AP are reporting the M's have fired much-debated General Manager Bill Bavasi. Apparently, the booing worked. Bavasi has been replaced by Lee Pelekoudas, who will be acting on an interim basis, while a GM search is conducted. Under Bavasi this season, the Mariners were the worst team in baseball with a 24-45 record. Last weekend, the M's were swept at home by the second-worst team in the majors, the Washington......

Our beloved boys of summer (?) return to the friendly confines of RoBro after a 3-3 road trip to Boston and Toronto, cementing them firmly in last place in the AL West—16.5 games behind the Angels. It was a busy week for the M's, one which featured a star pitcher's arm falling off, while King Felix threw two gems, yielding only one unearned run in 14 innings pitched. The team was busy off the......

Last night the clouds parted and for a moment the sun shone down on Seattle as Ken Griffey Jr. became the sixth player in baseball history to hit home run number 600. The historic home run came off of Mt. Vernon's Mark Hendrickson, who as a Northwesterner of a certain age, grew up idolizing and cheering Junior on from the Kingdome bleachers (unless he spent his formative years writing love letters to the Taliban......

As our friend pointed out, between the weather, the Mariners, and The Love Guru, 2008 could go down as the worst summer in history. The Seattle Times took a big poop-poop all over everyone's lives by reporting that the cooler than normal temperatures could be with us through July. We understand that not all of you prefer blue skies and warm temperature, so enjoy this, it's your time. As for the rest of us,......

Photo by Anthony Macaluso/AnimalNY Gothamist was shocked when someone scaled the 52-story New York Times building's exterior on Thursday. And then Gothamist was shocked again when a second person scaled the building six hours later. Shanghaiist was amused by a wild and wacky publicity stunt by a Chinese acupuncturist who stuck 2,008 needles in his head to welcome the Olympics.Torontoist featured dozens of dramatic photos from Newmindspace's downtown pillow fight.Phillyist encouraged its readers to......

Safeco Field is a family park. Lesbian kissing, "Yankees Suck" shirts, and winning streaks are all frowned upon. Two smooching ladies found out the hard way last week when security asked them to stop kissing after someone complained. The increasingly demoralized Mariners fanbase isn’t exactly killing itself to buy into the Death Spiral that is the seventh straight year without a post-season appearance. Maybe singling out gay fans doesn't seem to be the greatest......

"We're playing our (BODY PART) off every day and got nothing to show for it. I'm tired of (VERB ENDING IN -ING) losing, I'm tired of getting my (NOUN) beat, and so have those guys. We gotta change this (NOUN) around and get after it. And only we can do it. The fans are (ADJECTIVE) off, and I'm (ADJECTIVE) off and the players are (ADJECTIVE FOR USELESS) off. And that's the way it is...I'm tired......

After yet another Mariners loss—and the final game of a three-game sweep by the Angels—manager John McLaren finally had a bit of a meltdown in his news conference yesterday: We're playing our (bleep) off every day and got nothing to show for it. I'm tired of (bleeping) losing, I'm tired of getting my (bleep) beat, and so have those guys. We gotta change this (bleeping bleep) around and get after it. And only we......

With news that long time Seattle Art Museum director Mimi Gates is retiring next year, we are hoping that the Mariners will fire current General Manager Bill Bavasi and hire Gates as his replacement. SAM Under Mimi Gates: Greatly renovated and expanded the downtown museum. Opened the Olympic Sculpture Park. Oversaw the acquisition of over one billion dollars in donated art. Bill Bavasi's Mariner Resume: Turned a team averaging 98 wins (2000-2003) into a......

There are quite a few things going on for the gays today, this week, and for the next month or so. First of all, there ain't gonna be any Pride on Broadway this year. For the first time since the year of this Seattlest's birth, there will be no Pride on Broadway. After the big gay mess of last year's debacle, the powers that be have opted to just keep it downtown. We dragged......

The Mariners won again last night by the skin of their teeth, shocking a Boston "Nation" whose presence has been hard to ignore throughout the series. The lowly Mariners are inconveniently getting in the way of a mighty "Nation" that strolled into the Emerald City expecting a sweep, and is now left licking its wounds after losing two straight to one of the most embarrassing teams in recent memory. It’s hard to know what......

You can read about last night's Mariners win in Kim's post from earlier, but the highlight was Jose Lopez's single in the bottom half of the 9th to drive in Balentien and end the team's seven-game losing streak. And then the people rejoiced. Well, maybe half of them. If you've ever been to a Red Sox game at Safeco Field, you know how strong of a fan presence they bring into a road game.......