RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 2 sourcesSEATTLE, WASHINGTON - JULY 31: Cole Young #2 of the Seattle Mariners reacts after getting a pitch challenge incorrect during the fifth inning against the Minnesota Twins at T-Mobile Park on July 31, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Olivia Vanni/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Hello and welcome to Lookout Landing. If you’re new here and/or don’t hang out in the game threads, well, I can’t blame you, because this team is zero fun right now. Tonight the Mariners showed that home cooking isn’t any better and carried their miserable 2-6 road trip back to a long homestand, starting it off with a loss to the Twins where the Mariners scored all three of their runs in the first two innings of the game and then did nothing else. But for as much fun as watching this team is not, hanging out in the game threads can be quite fun, especially when the organic energy (read: specific kind of madness induced by watching hundreds or thousands of games of Mariners baseball) takes over and we get themed threads like the Night of 1000 Fart Jars or tonight, LL’s Poetry Corner.
Tonight’s game – and subsequently the game thread – started out well. Bryce Miller did what other Mariners pitchers have not been able to do lately, and spun a scoreless first inning. The Mariners hitters then did what the Mariners offense has not been able to do lately, and scored in the first inning. The Mariners were able to get some traffic early against Twins starter Zebby Matthews; after Cole Young struck out chasing after a slider, Randy Arozarena worked a four-pitch walk, punishing Matthews for refusing to put a fastball on the plate against him. Dom Canzone followed up with a sharp ground-ball double down the right field line, pulling a cutter at the top of the zone 106.7 mph, but Julio Rodríguez got too aggressive on the same slider that got Young and struck out, chasing after three pitches not in the zone. Matthews also seemed unwilling to give Josh Naylor anything on the plate, walking him on three pitches to load the bases, bringing up Cal Raleigh, who had one of his best plate appearances of the year: a nine-pitch battle where he fell down 0-2, fouled off a bunch of pitches on the plate, spat on the same slider that gave his teammates trouble as well as some high heat, and eventually got a changeup dead red that he almost hit out of the park, settling instead for a two-run ground rule double.
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Historians tell us the Poem Thread of 2026 began with JPSG’s pair of poems early in the game:
It’s always threading a needle to do a bit here on LL. Many people overcorrect and think the best way to get everyone on a certain train is to hammer the bit home. But we are not a Netflix series being second-screened against TikTok dances (although many of us might have had the Mariners relegated to a second screen lately), needing every beat sounded out. The best bits emerge organically, sweeping up some of the thread energy and encapsulating it, providing a baseline for other players to riff on.
Sorry, that poem should have come with a spoiler alert, as unfortunately, Miller gave those runs right back: one that was not his fault, as Josh Bell managed a weak-contact base hit on a splitter that was an infuriating at-bat to witness, and one that was: with two outs (argh), Miller suddenly started spiking balls up to seven-hole hitter Brooks Lee, falling behind 3-1 before grooving an absolutely awful cutter dead-red for a game-tying home run.
“The worst cutter I’ve thrown all year, down the middle” said the always-honest Miller, who also said he was working a lot on his splitter shapes trying to get it back below the zone, which might have explained all the balls in dirt (“bounce passes”) early on. Miller also said he woke up this morning with his back locked up on him, which might have explained why he took a little while to settle in.
Thankfully, Cole Young – Dutiful Young Man – read our series preview where Jake talked about how Zebby Matthews is grooving too many fastballs to be successful, and in the very next inning, pounced on a first-pitch fastball for what has to be one of the lowest home runs at T-Mobile Park by launch angle, at just 16 degrees. But ball hit low does not matter when ball absolutely scalded (110.2 EV).
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The only other good thing that can be said about the Mariners offense over the next seven innings was that they put some pitches on Matthews and by “they” I mostly mean Cole Young, who made sure Matthews ended the fifth at 93 pitches with a nine-pitch at-bat which unfortunately ended on a called strike three that also cost the Mariners their second challenge (it was a close one, to be fair to the Young Master). Unfortunately, Bryce Miller had pitch count issues of his own and pitched to only one batter in the sixth before being lifted for the lefty Jose Ferrer to face Kody Clemens, who promptly grounded out. Josh Bell turned around to bat righty (I always forget Bell is a switch hitter) and Ferrer made Bell—who is below replacement level when hitting as a righty—look very silly on a changeup, so that was fun. That would be all that was left of fun.
In the game, at least. Over in the game thread, we were still having fun.
Matthews came back out for the sixth and promptly gave up a broken-bat single to Julio, prompting Derek Shelton to go to the bullpen for Kody Funderburk, which is the most left-handed reliever name of all time, to pitch to Josh Naylor. Naylor, who is legitimately the smartest Mariner, went to bunt, getting in catcher Ryan Jeffers’s eyeline just enough for Julio to swipe second without a throw. Naylor then grounded out, meaning Julio got essentially two bases on one out, which is a tradeoff we’ll make every time. Unfortunately, with the lefty up, now it was the Mariners’ turn to have their switch hitter turn around, and while Cal Raleigh has been rough in all...
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