Raul and the Blowout

In last night's game, we got to see why Raul Ibanez is a valuable commodity, even to a flailing team like the Mariners, and beyond even the good-but-not-great numbers he puts up. During the seventh inning, when Ibanez had a chance to take a swipe at history, with his team already ahead three runs in a game amid season that's lost virtually any meaning, he put his team first.

Let's set the stage. With the Mariners trailing 6-1 and one out in the bottom of the seventh, Ibanez stepped to the plate with the sacks jacked, and promptly emptied them with a moon shot Grand Salami to right. This ignited a Mariners rally--to put it mildly--and Seattle began to plle on the runs. They burned through four Minnesota pitchers and put up ten runs before the third out was tallied, setting a season record for most runs in an inning, and putting the first-place Twins out of commission.

In a rally that was mostly singles and walks, the Mariners batted around, bringing Ibanez back up to the plate with the bases loaded once more, and the score at 9-6, with two outs. Only Fernando Tatis, he of the precipitous career path that has suddenly bounced back up as sharply as it once dove down, has hit two grand slams in the same inning, a feat he achieved with the Cardinals in 1999. 

Nobody would have blamed Ibanez if he took two, or even three, monstrous swings to try and match Tatis' record. Mariners fans would have forgiven him a monstrous Sexsonian whiff, in an effort to give them something memorable and historic in a historically unmemorable season. Even two huge uppercuts to try and park another ball in the Safeco right field bleachers would have been fine, before cutting down his swing with two strikes to deliver a less devastating blow.

But before the crowd and the announcers could even assimilate what could be happening and begin to really get excited about it, Raul took a smooth, level swing at the first pitch and lined a ball between first and second base for a clean single, scoring two more runs. Willie Bloomquist was thrown out at home trying to score on an overthrow to third, but the game was now five runs out of reach. The Mariners would go on to win by the same score, 11-6, leaving their own often-downhearted and downtrodden fans almost as amazed as the red-hot Minnesota Twins, who lost only their second game in the past five, and third in the last ten.

I don't want to make too much of one at-bat, but there are plenty of guys in the league who would have taken those mammoth swings. Ibanez didn't even seem to consider the possibility. He saw a pitch--the first pitch--that looked good and smacked a frozen rope into short center field. No huge cuts, no uppercut swings (which would have produced either a deep fly ball, foul, or a pop-up). He knew that the team just needed a hit in that spot, and he delivered.

Raul may be gone next year, or he may decide to stay with the club who has stuck with him in spite of a projected age decline (that hasn't really come yet) and subpar power for a corner outfielder. It's easy to see why Seattle likes a guy who rarely gets into trouble on the field, never off it, and sets such a good example for players.

Hopefully they don't break the bank to sign a 36-year-old to a long-term deal in 2009, but it's nights like last night that show why he's so valuable, and gives them an excuse for offering him at least a bit above market value when this season's over. In today's game, things like modesty and putting the team above oneself are rare and valuable (if not priceless) commodities.