While the Seattle Mariners ( 46-24) were thoroughly blasted by the Boston Red Sox (49-24) 9-3 Sunday afternoon at Safeco Field, the home side lost the battle but won the war. The loss to the RedSox concluded a 7-day,7-game homestand in which the Mariners went 5-2.
The Mariners started the homestand with a three-game sweep of the Anaheim Angels and ended with the four-game split of the Red Sox undoubtedly one of the best teams in the Major League.
What made this home stand special was not only the wins but the fact that the Seattle Mariners had buts in the seats. A crowd of 46,462 fans- the second sell out the season and the seventh largest crowd in Safeco Field history was on hand to celebrate Fathers day at the park and cheer the Mariners take on the Red Sox. The attendance numbers for the other three games with the Red Sox were just as impressive. Thursday had 30,479 fans, while Friday’s total was 44,459 and Saturday crowd was slightly less at 44, 151.
On Sunday the Mariner season attendance surpassed the million mark as Sunday’s crowd brought the season attendance tally to 1,014,321. What has people believing in the Mariners is the team’s ability to stay in every game until the end? The Mariners lead the league in one-run wins (33) and come back wins ( 21). On Sunday the Mariners looked like they would pull off another come back when they loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth inning only to see the rally fall shot and the Marines collect just two runs.
” We had some opportunities,” Mariners Manager Scott Servais said after the game. ” We had some guys in scoring position and didn’t put a big inning together I say all that, and its’s 5-2 and with the way we’ve been going we still felt we had a chance. We get the bases loaded and you think we have a chance to pull some magic out.”
