M’s perfect winning when it doesn’t matter

There are a lot of reasons to rail against the Seattle Mariners this season. But there is one thing you can never take away from them. They know how to win when it no longer matters.

Since Jim Riggleman took the helm as interim manager, the M’s have won 7 of 11 games including a road series sweep of the equally sad San Diego Padres. Last night, bench player and hometown boy turned Mariner Willie Bloomquist singled in the game winning run in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Blue Jays 7-6.

The M’s are feeling good about themselves -- like they may have finally put some of the pieces together. You know, by the time the season is in the books, the Mariners may even cut their games back number down to single digits. The Mojo is definitely rising!

The Mariners mastery of winning when it doesn’t matter stretches back to the “winning” season of 2007. The M’s dropped 15 of 17 games from mid-August to September after climbing within one game back of the first-place Angels.

When they were no longer in contention and the pressure was off, they were able to focus on playing baseball without the burden of winning meaningful games. By the time the crew of the U.S.S. Mariner put out the flames they were 9.5 games back, but rallied off seven wins in their last 10 games to finish the season just six games back. A moral victory for all Mariner fans!