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Mariners Musings

Musings about, um... well, the Seattle Mariners as well as a love affair with this game baseball. By Peter J. White

Saturday, September 27, 2003

Umm, thanks, but no


In New York, 3,380,504 fans have come to Yankee Stadium this year. As thanks for such loyalty, the Yankee organization has won its sixth division crown in a row and will be making its ninth consecutive playoff appearance this upcoming week.

In Boston, 2,724,165 fans have visited Fenway Park. The Red Sox are expressing gratitude to their fans with their first playoff appearance in just the second year of new ownership.

In Minnesota, though just 1,946,011 individuals pushed the turnstiles in the Metrodome, the Twins are showing thanks with their second consecutive division title.

In Oakland, 2,216,596 fans filled the Network Coliseum, and the Athletics are rewarding those fans with their third division title in four years and fourth consecutive playoff appearance.

Meanwhile, in Seattle, 3,177,307 fans flocked to Safeco Field, the second highest total attendance in major league baseball. The Mariners organization only sees fit to show its appreciation to "The Greatest Fans in Baseball" by... giving each fan at last night's game a team photo.

I think I'm going to be sick to my stomach.
|| Peter @ 9/27/2003

Friday, September 26, 2003

The end (finally)


That's it, folks. That's it. It's all over. That last Golden Ticket has been found. It's official: The Mariners will be watching the playoffs at my house. (Thank you, Red Sox, for the mercy killing.)

Edgar's in charge of bringing the bean dip. Carlos will handle the drinks (just not the driving home). And we'll have Jeff Cirillo be in charge of the neighberhood valet parking.

Seeing my name on the website of P-I's website had a certain thrill to it. So maybe I'm a bit narcissistic, maybe I didn't receive enough attention as a child, but seeing it on Baseball Prospectus was a nice shot of adrenaline, too, early yesterday morning. Did you see it?
Peter (Manassas, VA): Do you see Edgar Martinez returning in 2004? If not, how do you anticipate the Mariners filling that hole in the lineup? That's a nice chunk of change the Mariners would save without Edgar, but would they spend it? Are Raffie Palmeiro and Junior Griffey serious options to consider? Do you think the Mariners might make an effort to acquire Carlos Beltran?

Derek Zumsteg: I don't, but I hope he will. There is a lot of buzz about Rafael Palmeiro, who has been a Mariner-killer for his whole career, but that's a bad decision. Still, it's an easy decision and he's a name player.

It'll be an important test of whoever they hire to replace Gillick.
I was really hoping I could coax more out of him, but I do suppose it was like 15 questions in one, and any answer would be mere speculation. Although, Derek did answer several other winter-Mariner questions. Everything does revolve around 1) Who replaces Gillick? (provided it's not a Lincoln/Armstrong "yes" man: slim, slim chance) and 2) Does Edgar trust said new-GM enough for one more shot of glory?

Particularly after what will go down in Mariner history as the "Bus Fiasco" or "Stand Pat's Last Grumpy Stand," I don't see Edgar very motivated to stick around. And I don't blame him one bit.

So if/when he leaves, that leaves a nice wad of bills in the Mariners to go spending with (or stuff in their pockets).

Objectives on my Mariner Christmas Wish list would go something like this:
Younger (good) players
Third baseman
Left-handed power
Bench
Leftfielder/centerfielder
Left-handed relievers
Kaz Matsui (more on that in the future)

I don't like the idea of Palmeiro. He may have left-handed power, and think that Safeco is really Coors, but he's old and most certainly won't be worth the asking price. And to me, that refusal to accept a trade to the most-likely playoff bound Cubs to stick around with the last place Rangers says a lot. But that's just me.

I don't like the idea of Griffey. (Never thought I'd live to see the day I'd write that.) Again, old, and nobody knows just what he can do, or how much he can do without getting hurt. Whoever the disgruntled Seattle fan that put the hex on him is, please take it off already.

I love the idea of Beltran. He's young. He's a switch-hitter. He hits for power. He plays center like nobody else but Cameron. And he steals an absurd amount of bases without getting caught. He is a Scott Boras client, so there's that to keep in mind when a long-term contract is due, and he would certainly cost a Soriano, Nageotte, Blackley, any combination thereof, or all of the above. The Mariners have the money to sign a great player through his peak seasons.

But hey, we've got all winter to nit-pick such ideas.

And by the way, there are some new additions on the right. I've added Doug Pappas's business o' baseball blog and Will Carroll's brand-spankin' new blog. There's the link to that ever so important subject to the Mariners' Hot Stove, Japanese Baseball. The Baseballblogs.org's clone with a twist, Sportsblogs.org.

But most importantly, there's the Guest Map. Stick a post on it. I double dog dare you. Go on. All the cool kids are doing it. At least they would if they knew about it. You could be the first. It would make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. And secondly, I've finally discovered the joy (maybe it's joy, maybe it's something else) of half.com, so be a sport and take some of my stuff off of my hands, for a small fee. Or look at it another way, make a generous contribution to Mariners Musings and I'll give you a free book, or something. How's that?

And lastly, thank you all for joining me on this ride of a season. 20,000 of you since June? I'm flabbergasted and humbled. Thanks. Some ride, huh?
|| Peter @ 9/26/2003

Tuesday, September 23, 2003

The hunt for blue October


NY Yankees   97 59  --


Oakland      94 63  3.5


Boston       92 64  5.0


Seattle      90 67  7.5


5 games of Cammie left. And Edgar?

2 - combination of A's wins and Mariners losses that will eliminate the Mariners from the Division Title.

4 - combination of Red Sox wins and Mariners losses that will elminate the Mariners from the Wild Card.
|| Peter @ 9/23/2003

Monday, September 22, 2003

Pythagorean Rankings: Week 25


(last week's rank in parentheses followed by runs for and against)

1. Seattle (1) 764-620 The last team to lead baseball in run differential and miss the playoffs was the '92 Brewers, who finished 4 games back of the eventual World Series winning Blue Jays. And they had the third best winning percentage in the AL back in the day that just two teams made the playoffs. With six more to play, the M's are 4 back for the division and 2.5 back for the Wild Card. It ain't over. At least mathematically.

2. Oakland (2) 742-609 Who needs Mark Mulder when you've got Ted Lilly? He's working on a string of 19.1 scoreless innings. He hasn't given up more than two runs in a game in over a month, and his ERA since the beginning of August is 2.69. Meanwhile, a 5.96 September ERA isn't helping Tim Hudson's Cy Young chances.

3. Houston (3) 776-637 The 'Stros have a half-game lead with a three-game set in San Francisco and then four in Milwaukee. Now that it's September Jeff Kent is finally hitting like Jeff Kent .360/.422/.587 for the month with 11 XBH in 75 AB, while Richard Hidalgo is hot, hot, hot hitting .389/.483/.792 with 16 XBH in 72 AB.

4. NY Yankees (6) 841-693 Remember back in April when the Yankees were 20-6 and outscored Tampa Bay, Toronto, Minnesota, Texas and Anaheim 170-95, and they were being hailed as the greatest Yankees ever? They're at it again in September against a similar schedule of the Devil Rays, Blue Jays, Tigers, Orioles and White Sox. They're 13-6, outscoring these guys 102-76. Alfonso Soriano had five home runs just this week.

5. Atlanta (5) 876-724 A 9-10 September isn't exactly the momentum you want going into October. How long before they rename the Cy Young Award the Greg Maddux Award? Congratulations to Mr. Maddux on 16 years of 15+ wins. His ERA currently stands at 3.97, which will be his worst since his 5.61 season back in his first full major league season in 1987. That's still not too shabby.

6. Boston (4) 920-779 The Red Sox have four at home against Baltimore and three in Tampa Bay. Just five wins, regardless of whatever Seattle does, eliminates the Mariners. Scott Williamson, since being acquired, has allowed 14 in 18 innings, an ERA of 7.00. That's almost as many as Pedro Martinez has allowed (19) since the break in over 80 innings (a 2.12 ERA). Pedro is also up to striking out more than 10 per nine innings.

7. Philadelphia (7) 768-661 The Phils trail the Wild Card by half a game with three against the rival Marlins and three against the Braves. That's an uphill climb. Bobby Abreu has a .477 on-base percentage with runners in scoring position. He's third in the NL in walks (105) and 8th in OBP (.410). He's scored 97 runs (it helps taking those walks in front of Jim Thome). He's also stolen 22 bases in 31 tries (71%). Why this Phillies team won't score 1000 runs and why they're fifth in the NL in runs scored are questions Larry Bowa needs to be held accountable to.

8. San Francisco (8) 710-618 Super Barry has more singles (6) than homers (4) this month. He has nearly as many walks (27) as total bases (30) for a gaudy OBP of .575. Now that it's September, Edgardo Alfonzo is finally hitting like Edgardo Alfonzo .304/.429/.589 with 8 XBH in 56 AB. He has an .830 OPS since the All-Star break.

9. St. Louis (12) 845-777 Edgar Renteria, Albert Pujols and Scott Rolen could all reach the 50-double mark this week. Look no further in the NL for a premier shortstop than Renteria: He's hitting .330/.395/.484 with 64 walks to 52 strikeouts and 34 stolen bases in 41 tries (83%).

10. Los Angeles (11) 552-511 The bums trail the wild card by two and a half games with four against the Padres and four against the Giants. It's not out of the questions, particularly if they could sweep the lowly Friars and the Phillies can take 2 of 3 from Florida.The Dodgers' 3.05 ERA is all the more incredible when you consider they don't get to pitch against the NL's weakest offense. Has Rickey finally run out of gas? His .321 OBP would say yes.

11. Florida (9) 715-664 The Fish lead the Phils by half a game with one more against Atlanta, three against Philly and then three against the Mets. Pro Player Stadium is where my eyes will be this week. The Braves have not been kind to Braden Looper. His last two outings have resulted in two blown saves, a total of 7 runs as he couldn't finish the inning in either game, costing the Marlins two critical games against the Braves. Add to that 6 runs in 8 innings against the Phillies this year, and this week comes down to Looper vs. Mesa: Who will blow it first?

12. Toronto (14) 857-797 Hey, it's against the Yankees, Devil Rays and twice against the Tigers, but a 36-inning scoreless streak against anybody is pretty impressive. That's four complete games in a row for Roy Halladay, averaging 100 pitches each. That's most impressive. His ERA in September is a measly 0.24 in 37 innings.

13. Chicago Sox (10) 738-688 Talk about choke. The Sox dropped five in a row to the Twins, effectively ending their season. They then dropped two of three to the Royals, and now they'll be battling just to avoid third place with three against the Yankee Monster and three more against KC. Estaban Loiaza sees his Cy Young chances slipping with a 6.85 ERA in September, losing his last three games against the Twins and Royals. The Sox hit an embarrassing .247/.296/.419 as a team against the Twins this year.

14. Arizona (13) 680-637 Jose Valverde could make a very nice closer with his 1.69 ERA, 0.98 WHIP and 12.5 K/9. Since the break, the Snakes' team ERA is 3.35. Since becoming a Diamondback Raul Mondesi is hitting a respectable .308.382/.500. Yeah, like that will last.

15. Minnesota (16) 773-728 This month the Twins have four hitters with OBPs over .400: A.J. Pierzynksi (.438), Doug Mientkiewicz (.427), Corey Koskie (.408) and Michael Ryan (.410). Ryan leads the team in homers with 4 in just 36 at bats. Stop the Shannon Stewart and his .827 OPS for MVP. Stop it right now. He's not even the most valuable player on the team. Not even close. That would be either the catcher or first baseman with the Scrabble triple-score names. Stewart has 8 Win Shares as a Twin. Those two have 20 each. And Koskie has 19.

16. Chicago Cubs (15) 691-667 They trail Houston by half a game with three in Cincinnati and three against Pittsburgh. The Central is still theirs to lose. And if they blow it, point the finger at Sammy Sosa, who is hitting .205/.267/.410 this month. As a team, the Cubs' staff is striking out nearly a batter an inning, 8.69 K/9.

17. Montreal (17) 701-699 Where was this guy two months ago: Todd Zeile leads the Expos in homers (5) and RBI (14) in September. That line of .290/.348/.581 is mighty dandy as well. Have we mentioned that Vlad Guerrero just torches left-handed pitching? Yeah, .398/.490/.819 with 9 homers in 83 AB.

18. Kansas City (19) 802-804 Where was this guy two months ago: Rondell is hitting .333/.382/.600 as a Royal, and that's without seeing Arthur Rhodes or Jeff Nelson. Maybe the Royals should send him out to pitch, too. Allan Baird never saw a starter he didn't like. Remember Jamey Wright, cut by the Mariners in spring training and seemingly a half dozen other teams this year? He's thrown two complete games in three starts for the Royals with a 1.57 ERA.

19. Anaheim (18) 717-721 Ouch. Aaron Sele boasts a 6.32 ERA the second half and Ramon Ortiz 6.61. As Garrett Anderson goes, so go the Halos: Anderson has hit a paltry .257/.282/.351 with just 5 XBH in 74 AB in September. As the team, the Angels are hitting .249/.321/.359 this month. No Angel has more than two homers.

20. Pittsburgh (22) 740-781 Who needs Brian Giles when you've got Jason Bay? Bay took the Cubs on single-handedly driving in 8 runs with 2 homers and a double earlier in the week. The Pirates have four regulars posting +1.000 OPS's since the break: Reggie Sanders (1.036), Craig Wilson (1.038), Rob Mackowiak (1.084) and Matt Stairs (1.052). As a team, the Pirates are hitting .282/.355/.461 in the second half.

21. Colorado (20) 803-854 Only in Coors Field can a pitcher be 8-1 with a 4.64 in his home park as Jason Jennings does. On the road the Rockies are hitting .237/.313/.381, which is dangerous Tiger/Dodger territory.

22. Baltimore (21) 715-768 Melvin Mora first half: .349/.443/.560 in 275 AB. Melvin Mora second half: .188/.317/.275 in 69 AB. Larry Bigbie's .930 second half OPS with 21 XBH in 194 AB is a great sign for the O's. Luis Matos' 14 walks and 52 strikeouts in 231 AB is not.

23. Cleveland (23) 688-759 So who cursed second base in Cleveland? Brandon Phillips has hit .207/.242/.309 this year. When he was demoted, his replacement, John McDonald, hit .215/.258/.280. Despite not allowing any more than 3 runs in any of his 8 starts, Cliff Lee has just 3 wins to his credit with a 3.10 ERA.

24. Texas (27) 801-941 You want your value, Mr. Stark? The Rangers have scored 804 runs. A-Rod has created 136.3 of those himself. That's 17% of the team's offensive production. By the shortstop, for crying out loud. Just suppose the Rangers replaced A-Rod with John Valentin, who give or take, is about par for AL shortstops. We'll replace A-Rod's 136 RC with Valentin's 70 and that costs the Rangers 66 runs. The Rangers instead score 738 runs, and using the Pythagorean method to approximate wins, the Rangers would be looking at 59 wins instead of their current 70. That's a winning percentage better than only Detroit, and tell me, please, what player in the AL is single-handedly worth 11 games in the standings? But what do I know, Mr. Stark, I'm just a number cruncher (and a messy one at that). A-Rod should not be penalized by Chan Ho Park.

25. NY Mets (24) 622-736 Art Howe minus Billy Beane equals a New York mess. Since the All-Star break, the offense has been atrocious. Only Jose Reyes has hit for on OPS above .800 with more than 100 AB (.339/.378/.471). Ty Wigginton has hit .232/.309/.348. Timo Perez has taken just 8 walks in 174 AB. Jeff Duncan has hit .177/.277/.210. And worst of all, Mike Piazza has "hit" .213/.318/.352.

26. Tampa Bay (25) 683-815 All looked rosy in Tampa about two weeks ago when the Rays took 4 of 6 from Seattle and Oakland. Then came an 11-game stretch against Yankees and Red Sox where they won just 2 games. In the second half, Aubrey Huff has 25 walks to just 18 strikeouts with 30 XBH in 252 AB. With a .269/.324/.379 second half, Rocco Baldelli isn't looking quite so special to me.

27. Milwaukee (26) 686-839 Scott Podsednik for Rookie of the Year. He leads the Brewers in hits (168), runs scored (95), triples (7), stolen bases (42) and OBP (.380). Then there's Brooks Kieschnick, who's hitting .333/.382/.683 with as many homers (7) as Podsednik in little more than a tenth of the at bats.

28. San Diego (28) 646-802 Rookie shortstop Khalil Greene is hitting .235/.304/.471 since being called up, but 6 of his last 7 hits have been for extra bases. In 17 innings the second half, Rod Beck is 2-0 with 12 saves. He's allowed just a pair of solo homers for an ERA of 1.06 and has a WHIP of 0.76 while striking out a batter an inning.

29. Cincinnati (29) 679-855 Good thing I'm not a Reds fan. The good people of Cincinnati deserve better than to have Barry Larkin run out of town to cap this debacle of a season. The Reds have used 30 pitchers this year; 15 different starters. The only one of those starters to have an ERA below 4.00 is Jose Acevedo, and his season ended back in the beginning of August. D'Angelo Jimenez has hit a respectable .301/.373/.441 in Cincinnati.

30. Detroit (30) 539-886 Zero to forty wins in six months. Maybe. If run differentials did in fact mirror win-loss records perfectly, the Tigers would still be 18 wins behind the Reds.


IF THE PLAYOFFS STARTED TODAY...
Minnesota at New York
Boston at Oakland
Houston at Atlanta
Florida at San Francisco

BARRY AWARD
AL - Alfonso Soriano (NY Yankees) 31 AB, 6 H, 14 H, 3 2B, 5 HR, 9 RBI, 1 SB, .452/.452/1.032, 1.484 OPS
NL - Edgar Renteria (St. Louis) 24 AB, 7 R, 12 H, 7 2B, 12 RBI, 7 BB, 2 SB, .500/.613/.792, 1.405 OPS

PEDRO AWARD
AL - Pedro Martinez (Boston) 2-0, 16.0 IP, 10 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 17 SO, 1.13 ERA
NL - Ryan Vogelsong (Pittsburgh) 2-0, 12.0 IP, 8 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 10 SO, 0.00 ERA

NEIFI AWARD
AL - Tony Batista (Baltimore) 25 AB, 2 H, .080/.080/.080, .160 OPS
NL - Juan Encarnacion (Florida) 19 AB, 2 R, 1 H, 1 RBI, 1 BB, .053/.136/.053, .189 OPS

LIMA AWARD
AL - Gil Meche (Seattle) 0-1, 2.1 IP, 7 H, 8 ER, 2 SO, 30.86 ERA
NL - Braden Looper (Florida) 0-1, 1.1 IP, 7 H, 7 ER, 3 BB, 0 SO, 47.25 ERA
|| Peter @ 9/22/2003

The hunt for blue October


NY Yankees   97 58  --


Oakland      93 63  4.5


Boston       91 64  6.0


Seattle      89 67  8.5


6 games of Cammie left. And Edgar?

3 - combination of A's wins and Mariners losses that will eliminate the Mariners from the Division Title.

5 - combination of Red Sox wins and Mariners losses that will eliminate the Mariners from the postseason.

Yeah, I pretty much feel like this little guy.

Don't know what else to add that. As it was on ESPN, I figured it would probably be the last Mariner game I got to watch on TV this year. I was pretty excited. They'd won the first two games of the series. In dramatic show-'em-who's-boss style. Of course, if they won, then today's match would be the biggest game of the year. Four o'clock rolls around and the father-in-law announces we're going to sushi. Bad timing, man. But when Pop offers sushi, you don't refuse. So I popped a tape in the VCR and was out the door, resolving to watch it as soon as we got home.

After stuffing myself full of raw tuna and salmon, I head down to the basement. It's 6 and the VCR is doing nothing. I panic. With the power outage it's reset to the default slow speed. Freakin' cheap VCR. I curse it several times and flip on the TV. As the score slowly fades into focus, my jaw drops, my shoulders droop and I fall into the couch. How could they do this to me. They kick Oakland around for two days, and the game shown on national TV they turn back into the bat-less Mariners. Embarrassing.

I watched Looper pitch the 7th and couldn't go on. I did catch this great line from Jon Miller: "Aaron Looper is the cousin of Florida's closer Braden Looper. And he's the son of Mariners' VP of Player Development Benny Looper. But last we checked, he's no relation to Joe Morgan." I threw in 13 Conversations (if there was ever a movie of Pedro the Lion's music, it's this) that I'd recorded of HBO and waited for Carnivale.

Speaking of Aaron Looper and Carnivale. I swear, he and Nick Stahl are the same being. Come on, the Dumbo ears, the droopy eyes, the round unshaven cheeks. They're twinkies.

I suppose I have the first six innings to go back and watch when the baseball withdrawls kick in about January. Then again, I can probably find something on TV to record over it.

Who's bright idea was it give Meche a 200-inning load this year? Just another one of many thoughtless decisions that cost the pennant.
|| Peter @ 9/22/2003

In the room the women came and go, talking of Ichiro


Mariners 9, Athletics 3 -- The second half has not been kind to Ichiro. He's managed to hit just .251/.293/.384. MVPs are not made of such numbers. That's Tony Batista territory. Carl Crawford. Mike Matheny. Bobby Higginson. Terrence Long. Not the guys you count on to carry your team to the finish line. Not the the guys mentioned in MVP talks.

But Saturday, if for just a day, Ichiro flashed his old self again:

In the first he struck out swinging to start the game. He just needed to get that out of his system.

Leading off the third, the doubled. And scored on an infield single to short by Boonie. Just absorb that a second. He scored from second on an infield hit to Miggy Tejada, who should be getting this year's AL shortstop gold glove. Athletics 2, Mariners 1.

With 2 outs, runners at second and third, Ichiro singles, driving in both runners. Mariners 3, Athletics 2.

One out in the sixth, runner at first, Ichiro again doubles. Ben Davis scores. Mariners 5, Athletics 2.

With one out in the eighth, Ichiro flies out to center.

Two outs in the ninth, again both Winn and Cameron in scoring position, Ichiro again doubles. Mariners 9, Athletics 3.

So that's a day of 4 for 6 with 3 doubles and 5 RBI. Combine that with Boone's 3 for 5 with 2 RBI, that every Mariner hitter garnered a hit and five of them had more than one and I thought it was June or something.

I was watching the game on GameCast while I worked, and saw Jo-El go a full count of Billy McMillon (.335 career OBP) and walk him. I then saw the full count on Rubes Durazo, and he walked him. Then a full count to Tejada and a single. Who knows what Chavez was thinking swinging on the second pitch. But by this time I'm hyperventilating. Two on, two runs in and Pineiro still hasn't recorded an out. He tossed 34 pitches the first inning and just 18 for strikes. On that pace, he wasn't going to survive the third inning. But suddenly he seemed to find his Superman cape, and he allowed just three more baserunners before finishing the 7th inning. He threw 125 pitches, 85 for strikes (68%), which is pretty amazing when you figure that horrendous first inning.

So yeah, I survived my first hurricane back Thursday night. It was so thrilling I slept completely through it. Growing up in Oklahoma, I've seen my share of tornadoes. I missed the Seattle quake; it being about four months before I moved west. But this was my first hurricane. Severe weather doesn't really faze me. But the way the DC area was preparing for Isabel left me feeling a bit like Owen Wilson's character in Armageddon: "I'm, like, 98% excited, and maybe 2% scared. Or maybe it's backwards. Maybe I'm 98% scared, and, like, 2% excited. But that's what makes it so great...-I'm so confused!"

After a couple of late nights, I passed out watching Three Kings about 7:30, woke up about 9:30. The lights were still on so I figured I better go to the bathroom. We're on well water that runs on electricity, so Corinne was preparing for a third world experience. Then I crawled in bed and missed the whole storm. Didn't wake up until 6, when I usually start work. But the power was definitely out, which meant no work as I work from home over the net. An oak tree and a pine tree were downed in the front yard. The oak missed the house by about three feet. I took some pictures, but I really can't be bothered to figure out how to post them with Blogger. I spent the morning and afternoon chopping wood with my father-in-law. We managed pretty much all the branches off the oak by 1 o'clock when the power came back on, and we were much exhausted by then. But power meant I had to go back to my "real" job and sink hunkered over the computer till about 11. We got the trunk chopped up yesterday, and rolled out of the way, but I still don't know what we're going to do with the roots that are sticking five feet in the air. One thing is for sure: We've got enough firewood to last till the Mariners actually win a World Series.

I'm not at all a fan of Larry Bowa. Pretty much anything you find in the media on the Phillies manager portrays him as a raving lunatic. But Thomas Boswell's column last week paints a different picture. Kinda makes me wish Bob Melvin, in the face of the Mariners' insipid, uninspired play the last couple months, would just lose it, just once. Show all us fans that the cares, that he's as frustrated and disappointed as we are. Come on Bob, just let all out and throw a base Piniella-style. I just want to know you care. Instead I read the same chipper, cliche sound bytes.

LET us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherised upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question ?…
Oh, do not ask, ?“What is it??”
Let us go and make our visit.
--Elliot
You'd be hardpressed to convince Mr. Elliot was writing about the Sodo District right around an hour after Safeco clears out. God, I miss that.
|| Peter @ 9/22/2003