Rays of hope

It's been pointed out to me by a fellow inhabitant of the baseball desert that all this focus on the big East Coast rivalry means that I'm missing out on what's happening in the Pacific Northwest. I guess that the Mariners' collapse this season, coupled with the 9-hour time difference that makes following any team from the West Coast a tough job for me, has had me looking elsewhere for captivating baseball, but two good stories surfaced this weekend: the first is the Mariners' fourth straight win, all of them comback victories; the second is the historic season that Ichiro is having.

Individual brilliance in the midst of mediocrity (whether it's Ichiro or Walter Johnson's 25-win season on a Washington team that went 64-90 in 1911) always seems like such a waste when placed in the bigger picture, but at the same time I'm grateful for the rare opportunity to focus on the individual outside of the team context. Now that I've been called to order I'll try to keep a closer eye on Ichiro and the Mariners between now and the end of the season.