The world is full of many good things, none of which were contained in today\u2019s Mariners 7-1 loss to the Rangers, but many good things nonetheless. In praise, then, of goodness, of beauty, of things that are not watching the 2026 Mariners continue to fail and frustrate and fail again. (That\u2019s right, readers, we have reached the part of the season where I\u2019m in my Mary Oliver era. It\u2019s a summer benchmark: Solstice parade, Fourth of July, the Mariners play such bad baseball Kate cries into her MFA degree.)<\/p>\n
Realistically, this game was over in the first inning, which at least frees up a lot of time for thinking about nicer things, like the life cycle of cicadas or how the beauty of every flower is also a reminder of the fleeting nature of life. Right after Angie opined, very poetically herself, that part of healing is returning to the site of the wound\u2014in this case, the place where Woo\u2019s road troubles began, in big old, mean old Texas\u2014in a flash of poetic injustice, Woo left a fastball right in Wyatt Langford\u2019s kitchen for a one-out double. Ezequiel Duran followed, taking advantage of a sweeper in the same location for an RBI \u201ctriple\u201d that was mostly some poor fielding by fill-in center fielder Luke Raley and poorer backup by Dominic Canzone.<\/p>\n
Perhaps the game would have taken a different path had Woo been able to cap the damage there, but Woo instead made things harder for himself, losing Brandon Nimmo to a walk despite having him in an 0-2 count. He then gave up a bad-luck ground ball double down the left field line to Evan Carter that allowed Duran to score and pushed Nimmo to third; Nimmo would later score on an RBI groundout to put the Mariners in an early 0-3 hole.<\/p>\n
But have you considered: the perfect orb of a bumblebee nosing along in beachside bull thistle? A clutch of tiny wild huckleberries, jewel deep and plump? Or the bright blue of a mussel shell, barnacled and broken but still shining in the summer sun? Or perhaps the inky emerald green of seaweed fluttering gently on the waves, sea-tossed and shimmering? Because these things also exist in the world with the 2026 Mariners, and are much nicer to contemplate.<\/p>\n
The Rangers continued to pour it on in the second inning, despite a quick two outs. Joc Pederson singled, and then, humiliatingly, stole second, which allowed him to score on a Langford double, because once again Woo tried to pitch him inside and Langford just pulled it down the left-field line. Duran followed with his second hit of the day, an RBI single to put the Mariners in a 0-5 hole.<\/p>\n