Games 69 and 70: Blue Sox Baseball goes to Seattle to see the Reds; Reds' offense doesn't make the trip

I’m on the plane to Oakland from Seattle looking at snow caps below and the Pacific Ocean on the horizon. Beautiful. We headed west on Saturday (we were supposed to leave Friday, but that didn’t quite work out -- I blame the Cubs) to see the Reds take on the Mariners and A’s in interleague play.

The Reds were swept in Seattle. Good pitching, but no offense. They lost two games 1-0 and only scored one run in the three game series. I’m not sure they even got an extra base hit. Safeco Field lived up to its reputation as a pitchers’ park; the ball did not carry at all. The Reds hit a lot of deep flies that were easy outs for the terrific Seattle outfield, mostly Ichiro and Franklin Guiterez.

The Reds’ pitching was solid, with Cueto and the pen combing to give up only one run on Friday, and Harang and the pen repeating that on Sunday. LeCure gave up 5, but three were on a three-run homer to the next-to-last batter he faced.

Seattle was fun. I swear the sun peaked out once, the entire time we were there, and just as we were taxiing down the runway to take off for Oakland. I’m not exaggerating.

We got in just in time to get to the ballpark early on Saturday afternoon (about 17 hours after our planned arrival). We stayed at the Westin and walked down First Ave. all the way to the ballpark. About a 35 minute walk. After the game it was right back to the hotel, which was really nice and centrally located.

On Sunday morning we met some friends at the Public Market for breakfast at Lowell’s. I got the breakfast fish tacos and Rachel had Seattle Joe’s omelet. Good food with a good view of Elliott Bay. Our friends were there for the game Friday, and then heading down the coast to the beach and Oregon wine country.

After the game Sunday, we did the Underground Seattle tour which was cool. We realized, however, that we were basically walking around in our basement at home, which is just a couple years younger than Seattle after the 1888 fire. We’re going to start an Underground Covington tour.

This morning, we stopped at Starbucks (when in Rome) and walked the other direction (north) to the Space Needle. I always love to get the lay of the land and the Space Needle was a great way to do that. We got a great view of the awe-inspiring Husky Stadium. Then it was off to the Public Market for some cheese and more chocolate covered cherries.

Three games in Oakland; let’s hope the offense makes the trip with us.