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.

Feeling the Love

Art Thiel said it best in his column on seattlepi.com today.

It wasn't Thiel's masterful keystrokes about the weather, nor any of his first 852 wise words about Ken Griffey, Jr. and the Seattle Mariners.

It was the first half of his last sentence that captured perfectly what took place between Edgar Martinez Drive and Royal Brougham Way on 1st Avenue in Seattle last night, April 14th, 2009.

"Indeed, he (Griffey) and Seattle partied like it was 1999...," Thiel wrote.

Boy, did we ever!

Outside, it was mayhem hours before while the feeding frenzy was in full swing, with vendors cashing in on a Griffeymania rivaled only by Griffey's own popularity in the 1990s.

Sellers of the Grand Salami, a popular independent game day program that featured Griffey on a golden cover, hollered over the thousands of ants that swarmed all over 1st Avenue.

Many of the thousands had any of hundreds of varieties of Griffey's jersey on their backs. Nike cashed in with new t-shirts welcoming the Kid home - in about five different varieties. The posters that Nike added for a purchase of $25 or more (which would have been sweeter if t-shirts weren't $20 leaving you to have to buy more than you wanted to get them) were simply amazing for any fan of Junior's.

On the way into the park, employees handed out 2009 magnetic schedules with Ichiro Suzuki and Griffey on them. Smiles were everywhere.

There was Griffey on the Mariners Magazine.

I haven't experienced a more electric scene in my life as a sports fan. Griffey's return with the Reds in 2007 was the only thing for me that even came close.

When he was introduced, when he first came to the plate, when he got his hit that first at bat, when he broke up the double play leading to the M's first run, shoot, when he struck out, fans went nuts.

There were high fives everywhere. Chanting fans sounded like they were at a soccer game.

I thought the night would end when Griffey hit one out in the bottom of the 10th to win it. It didn't happen, and perhaps that was for the best.

My girlfriend's favorite new favorite Mariner Franklin Gutierrez hit a double and scored on Scot Shields' throwing error. Safeco erupted. More high fives. Griffey was smiling.

We filed out hollering up 1st Avenue. Nike got us on the way out with 'Hit it Here Junior' advertisement cards. We stopped at a bar. I've never seen anything like it. Not in 1999, not ever.

With the M's 6-2 and in first place, I say let's continue this feel-good tour. Let's win 100 games after losing that many. Let's dream big.

When I was a 15-year-old and Junior was doing his thing in the '90s, that's what he inspired me to do. His huge smile. His backward hat. His play-like-it's-your-last-game-attitude.

He's inspiring a new generation now, and he's taking the M's with him.

More than once last night I heard World Series whispers, and frankly, it felt great.