Sisyphus, Happy: Mariners Love The Rock, Win 5-4 Over Cardinals

“One must imagine Sisyphus happy” – Albert Camus

It’s not the first time philosopher Albert Camus has been mentioned in these electronic pages, nor will it be the last, because that’s what happens when you sign up for Mariners fandom and Lookout Landing, baby: a lot of depressing philosophy. Personally I’ll admit I’ve never had much truck with Camus and the existentialists in general, but there’s something appealing about the idea of ​​embracing the absurd as a way of dealing with a difficult situation; Something gleefully rebellious, too, about imagining Sisyphus, cursed to roll a boulder up a hill forever, having the audacity to enjoy the task. We’ve seen Marines over the years roll piles of rocks up many hills, only to sink them down and start the job anew, but tonight the crime banded together to roll their rock—“La Piedra,” their paver—5— 4 to the top of the mountain of victory.

“La Piedra” days are usually bankable wins, but rocks are human too (reference) Luis Castillo doesn’t have his best stuff today. He struggled with the zone, catching too much of the plate or missing well outside, and grinding with Cardinals batters for long stretches. The Cardinals are familiar with Castillo, a former member of their division with the Reds, and seem to have a good game plan against him despite having complete command of his pitches. They fouled off 19 of 100 pitches and forced him to throw more than five innings—almost one-fifth!—and make a lot of contact with him in the zone.

Lars Nootbar reached to lead off the game and made a change to left field off the plate, and Alec Burleson hit the first pitch he saw, a sinker in the zone, to pull another single up the middle and send in the speedy Nootbar. In the third, Nolan Arenado redirected a changeup into right field, scoring Nuttbar, to give the Cardinals an early 1-0 lead. They would add a third, which started on another hit on a changeup, this time from Burleson; He scored on a four-seamer double over Willson Contreras who held up the plate, who would score in turn when Nolan Gorman hit a first-pitch fastball in the zone but up the middle for a ringing double for the Cardinals. ‘The third run.

The Mariners offense, for its part, was mostly quiet against Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas. For the first five innings, his only run was a reminder that even when the weather warms up (ever so slightly), it remains Aprilenic:

The Mariners had a chance to have that fabled “big inning” in the inning that has proven so elusive for the offense this year, as AJ Pollock’s ringing double after Kalanick’s blast, and JP Crawford’s walk with two outs turned things around. , but a Julio groundout ended that rally. Kalanick also doubled in the fourth, but again, the Mariners weren’t able to get anything going around him. Jared may have been running up that hill, but it seemed none of his teammates were willing to make a deal to run by his side.

Of course, part of it could be the zone, which was atrocious tonight from home plate umpire Gabe Morales. Here is Castillo’s so-called strike:

And here’s Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas:

Two of those points—the yellow one in the bottom-right corner, and the orange one in the upper-middle extreme left—both belonged to Teoscar Hernandez, who was visibly frustrated at suddenly being down 3-2 instead of standing up. At first base after three consecutive bad misses from Mikolas. But Teoskar believes not in going crazy, but in getting even:

After the game, Teosker said he was moved by that home run because he was so intent on trying to get the rally going, he saw an opportunity to extend the inning with not just one, but two walks.

But sometimes, the universe is not full of nonsense, but full of delicious, delicious justice. Score that plus one for Teo, and minus one for both Camus and one John Trupin, as once again Teoskar countered by hitting a pitch deep into T-Mobile Park and getting out of it. Per tee, he only hits the ball when he feels his stroke is going well and he has his timing down: to center or right-center. “I don’t think about how big the field is, or how the ball doesn’t travel much here,” he said. “I just try to put my best swing at it and see the results.” Why move a rock when you can just blast it into the stratosphere? Someone gets Sisyphus on the phone, stat.

Matt Brash came in to work in the seventh against the top of the Cardinals order and was able to get the nutbar swinging out before hitting Burleson with a curveball. However, he then got both Goldschmidt and Arenado swinging swords on his slider for a strikeout to end the inning. It’s not just fun running into brash bending spoons to avoid airbenders, is it guys:

In the bottom of the seventh, the Mariners broke the tie and added two runs. Kolten Wong worked a walk off Zach Thompson, who came on in the inning before relieving Mikolas, and JP Crawford struck out two with no outs. Giovanni Gallegos came on and got a quick two outs, but couldn’t get past Eugenio Suarez, who took a 93 mph hit on the inside corner and lined it to left field, scoring both Wong and the pitcher, JP Crawford JP Crawford, taking off with a pitch. .

Postgame, Luis Castillo, speaking in praise of his longtime teammate, said that when things are going bad for him, the reason he’s able to stay focused is because he learned those skills from Suarez, who he calls the best teammate he’s ever had. says the player. . Hestia, goddess of hearth and home, is kind of overlooked in all the electricity and drama of the Greek gods, but having someone to monitor the vibes is important, and both Hestia and Eugenio know how to do that.

Justin Topa came on in the eighth to keep the Cardinals off the board, surrendering a base hit to Contreras, but then grounded Gorman into a double play and struck out Tyler O’Neill with 0 for the inning. If La Piedra is the Rock, then Topa(z) is the gem of the Mariners’ off-season bullpen acquisition.

Down to their last three outs, the Cardinals were hacking away against Paul Sewald to work the ninth and attempt his sixth save of the season. Seewald struck out Dylan Carlson on three pitches (getting some help on his own iffy edge call), but then gave up a first-pitch home run to Tommy Edman to bring the Cardinals within a run and turn the lineup around. Sewald struck out the nutbar, and then Burleson, hacking, flied out to Julio to end the game and give the Mariners a come-from-behind victory—a one-run victory, too. Last year’s team, however, has proven more elusive this year. Every time the Mariners get a win like this, Atlas will appreciate it, too.

If the Sisyphus metaphor strikes you as grandiose, I invite you to remember that outside of a disappointing Rockies sweep, the last time the Mariners strung together back-to-back wins was April 7-8. The rocks have been going down hill as often as they have gone up in a season where, yet, the team continues to search for an identity and struggles at a .500-or-worse clip. They may be borrowing from a different part of mythology with the celebration trident, but hey: one has to imagine Jared happy.

Photo by Alica Jenner/Getty Images