Bloomquist scored on a hot ground ball in the 9th right to Oakland second baseman Marco Scutaro with the infield drawn in, sliding around the tag of the Oakland catcher. On the radio, Red Fairly (Niehaus must have been using the head or something) sounded disappointed that Willie was even attempting to score on the play, then shocked that it actually worked. Something like "Hot shot to second, throw to the plate is... NOT IN TIME!" A gutsy play; as Takashi would say, "Marbles!"

The Mariners got a lot of breaks in this game. If anybody not named Eric Karros was manning first base late in the game for the A's, they probably would have lost. He was unable to handle a throw in the dirt to start the rally, and it sounded like Ichiro's single could have been handled (in fairness, I didn't see the play). Luck asisde, this bunch deserved to win one. It sounded like some players vented a little bit of their frustrations, namely Boone and Aurilia getting upset at a few called strikes, and maybe they'll string together a couple of wins now.

Hendu said during the broadcast that Speizio feels great and was swinging a bat today. The sooner he's back, the better. I still can't stand him, but this team really needs him in the lineup. Speak of the devil, as I wrote that, the radio aired that terrible "Hey now!" M's ad where the announcer introduces and welcomes Scott Spiezio. Whoa.