Last base reached by a batter when the winning run crosses the plate. Game ends as soon as the runner is called safe.

Then, if RAUL had been on 3rd, and scored before WILLIE reached first – an RBI, but no hit?

No doubt about it — the M’s obsess over the dumbest things, like “the face of the organization” and a “fan friendly experience.”

Uh…just win, baby.

And by the way — nice hit, Willie. That had double written all over it.

If I was making a list of stupid things about the Mariners, Willie wouldn’t be in the top ten.

Right. He’s a professional baseball player on our team and he’s performing to the best of his abilities. You can’t have a problem with that.

The problems you can (and I think MUST) have a problem with include:

**Putting Willie in the starting line-up on a regular basis (unless forced to by unfortunate significant injury to a player of starting line-up ability.)

**Constructing a team where Willie is your best option to do anything other than be the 25th player on the bench.

**Elevating Willie’s perceived value versus his true value, exhibiting the poor thought processes that go into putting this team together (in regards to overvaluing unmetricable qualities versus predictive statistical metrics.)

**Feeding into the somewhat dangerous self-perpetuating myths of the fan base (that it’s more important to have guys we love rather than guys who help us win…because the guys we’re supposed to love have local ties, are good guys, really hustle out there, show veteran grit, are scrappy, etc.)

Last night was a perfect Willie storm. I cheered like a fan last night. We won the game in dramatic fashion…and that’s always fun.

Today…we wake up to the light of day…and the fact that this team has the same problems it’s had for far too long.

(PS–I, too, watched very carefully to see if Willie ever touched second base before the mob got to him. He never did. It’s like the other players recognized that in a lost season like this one, we need our “in pursuit of Sisler”-type of distraction.)

WFB has two full seasons worth of at bats in the majors. He’s proven that he’s a terrible hitter, no matter how much some may deny it. (He has value on defense and base running and is a fine 25th man on a roster.) While his short term success helps the Mariners, it also increases the chance that the Mariners start to believe he’s a valuable player and do something stupid like signing him to a $4M/2 year extension or playing him every day. And both of those things are bad for the Mariners future.

Rulebook or not, I think common sense says you can’t get a double if you don’t touch second base.

You’re absolutely right. You don’t know the rulebook.

Occasional late-inning substitutions with a timely hit good. Regular starts in CF bad.

As fans, shouldn’t we be pulling for him succeed?

My commentary. I don’t know the rulebook, but that hit last night should have been ruled a double. If it hadn’t ended the game it would have been a double, with possibly another base on a fielders choice.

Even if he does break the record (which I doubt if he continues to get consistent playing time), it should go in the books with a big fat asterisk.

He wouldn’t crack my top ten either.