Keep On Keeping On

Welcome back Ichiro Suzuki.

Suzuki hit a grand slam in the seventh inning of Wednesday night's game against the Angels, his first game of the year after his first-ever stint on the disabled list with a bleeding ulcer.

It was his first grand slam in six years and the hit tied him with Isao Harimoto for the Japanese record with hit No. 3,085.

While his was the biggest moon ball and perhaps the most impressive shot of the night, it was Ken Griffey, Junior's home run blast in the fifth that had me going completely nuts.

Safeco Field saw Griffey smack career homer number 613 into the right field gap on a 2-1 pitch for his first home run back at the Safe since signing with the M's and his 400th as a Mariner (a team record).

Griffey rounded the bases and came out for a curtain call for the 18, 516 in attendance.

Heck, even tiny Endy Chavez went yard Wednesday! He stayed hot and questions of which player will bat where with Ichiro back in the lineup were answered, with Chavez hitting second behind the Japanese superstar and Franklin Gutierrez rounding out the lineup from the nine-hole.

I like to call the Venezuelan Gutierrez just 'G,' because really, he looks like one - as in a smooth cat like Warren G, not some gangster.

G wasn't much at the dish, with two walks, a run and an RBI, but the leaping catch he made crashing into the center field wall late in the game justified the drunk people sitting by us in the center field bleachers that were heckling him and calling him Griffey all night long.

He must have heard them, because the catch had Griffey written all over it.

Torii Hunter homered for the second straight night, moving him high up the list of Mariner killers, but perhaps a highlight of the night for me was while the Angels were on defense the half-inning before. Hunter was scoping out the crowd when the M's hit a major-league pop-up to center that he never saw. It turned into a double and a run. Awesome!

Jarrod Washburn picked up his 100th career victory despite giving up the Hunter blast. Aside from Miguel Batista, the staff looked very good. Batista seemed to struggle to throw strikes, something we don't need if we're going to stay competitive.

With the M's 7-2, I'm hoping more than 18,516 people will come out for these weekday games, although parading out of Safeco last night was just as much fun as it was for the opener.

First place feels super right now, but our boys will need all the support they can get over the course of this long season.

One thing is for sure: I will be there.