Yuniesky Betancourt Rules.

Yuniesky Betancourt Rules.
Originally uploaded by PACNWTXN

Since I have been following Seattle Mariners baseball, I've been a big fan of Ichiro Suzuki. He is a solid, efficient hitter and baserunner, and is not all about swinging for the fences (although he does hit them out of the park.) To me, he is the anti-Bonds. He is even popular enough in Seattle to have a sushi roll named after him - the Ichi-Roll. When I first stepped into Safeco field six years ago, he hit a homerun right as I stepped up to the field.

This week, I went to the game with my company and client, expecting to see Ichiro add to his stats. Unfortunately, I think I talked him up too much to one of my coworkers who doesn't follow baseball. As is normally the case when I open my mouth, I jinxed Ichiro, and he had a sub-par game. Thankfully, the story doesn't end there.

After the Mariners beat the Red Sox soundly and repeatedly (good thing I don't know any Boston fans), and approached the division lead in August, Seattle lost some steam and went on a losing streak. We badly needed a win to get back into the running.

Thanks to Yuniesky Betancourt's walk-off hit in the bottom of the ninth, we got that win, and we saw a rare display of emotion from the team. The M's dugout cleared, and the players ran out to pick up Betancourt onto their shoulders. Walk-off hits are my favorite plays in baseball, and Betancourt may be my new favorite baseball player.