Guardingers

I invented a new word!

Guardinger, n., gar-DING-er

1. A game-winning home run.
2. A home run off Eddie Guardado.
3. A game-winning home run off Eddie Guardado.

Examples:

"Carl Everett hit a Guardinger in the eleventy-first inning of tonight's game and the Mariners won, 10-9."

"We knew it wasn't good when Eddie came out serving cookies to the plate. Shortly thereafter, Jason Kubel launched a 404-foot Guardinger into the right-field stands."

Ichiro went 4-for-6 tonight; added with his 4-for-5 last night, that's 8-for-11 on the series so far. Joe Mauer, however, went 2-for-4 tonight, and with his 4-for-4 last night, that's 6-for-8 on the series. Mauer also walked twice and hit some doubles, but not to be outdone, Ichiro hit a home run today. Whooosh. Still, they're the leaders in the MLB batting average race, with Mauer at .371 and Ichiro at .358, and Alex Rios on their heels at .351.

It was definitely a homer-happy day for the Mariners, as they were hit by Ichiro, Big Richie, Betancourt, Ibanez, and of course, Everett. But the Mariners fell short of the home run cycle, only hitting solos, 2-run, and 3-run homers. Mike Cuddyer outdid them all by hitting a grand slam, only to be done in by Everett's Guardinger.

That's just how it goes. If you watched the game, feel free to go contribute to Jeff's caption contest.

As an aside, and this has nothing to do with Guardado or game-winning home runs, but yesterday (Wednesday), in Japan's interleague play, every Pacific League team won. Even Rakuten. I think this has only happened one other time this year, mostly with Rakuten being the limiting factor. One of my friends scored great seats to the Chunichi-Lotte game and promised me pictures, including one he described as "Matt Watson? Who the hell is--*CRACK* HOME RUN"

In other Japanese baseball news, WBC slugger Hitoshi Tamura is probably out for two months with a fractured rib, they note that with Ichiro's 1278 hits in Japan he now has 2500 for his career on both sides of the Pacific, and Chunichi's Kenshin Kawakami nearly pitched a no-hitter on Tuesday against Lotte. Combine that with the 16-0 blowout last night and I swear, my friend pretty much saw the only Dragons-Marines game this week that didn't feature the Dragons totally devouring the Marines. Go figure.