I am Your Sunshine

First off, Piazza stays red hot! And I love Ellis (and his beautiful bare-handed catch.) And Haren looked steadier today. Pitched 7 innings, gave up 7 hits but had 7 strikeouts as well.

Oh, and an implausible IBB to Kotsay.

With above being covered, let’s turn to Nick Swisher, the person I have special feelings for, with whom I share the same birthday but not annual income.

It was a very sentimental night for Swish. In August 2005, his loving grandma Betty, who raised him after his parent separated, passed away after a long battle with cancer. One year after her passing, at Safeco Field, Nick hit a game winning homer against the Mariners for which he gave credits to Betty. Tonight at Safeco Field, though the date was different, brought back memories of the previous year, the series against Mariners, and the special memories of Betty. Nick swung another one out of the ballpark in the 5th inning, rounded the bases and pointed up to the sky, which now most people know it’s not a gesture of cockiness but a thank-you to his grandma in the heaven. My eyes were watery when him wiped his eyes and returned to the dugout where coaches and teammates awaited to high-five and even more so when I saw he did a miniature homerun dance with Scoot. Later in the interview, Nick confirmed that he was doing a little bit of homerun dance with Scoot, after all, he’s been learning, but they made it small so that Bradley wouldn’t think that they have forgotten about him.

But that’s not just it. In the 9th inning, when the Mariners are trailing 2-3, Nick hit a 3-run jack to make sure that his Safeco Field experience would remain a memorable dedication to Betty.

The Green and Gold’s came to Emerald city and took the first game 6-2.