King Felix

Seattle Mariner’s all-star pitcher Felix Hernandez has been on the DL (disabled list) since April with an injured leg. He’s been rehabbing and is almost ready to begin pitching for the Mariners again. Part of that rehab is pitching at the AA and AAA clubs for the Mariners. Sennet and I bought tickets to see the Tacoma Rainiers, Seattle’s Triple-A club, on Friday when Felix was pitching.

We drove down to Tacoma and had dinner at a little Puerto Rican place (OSJ International) that was recommended to me by co-workers – it was delish. Sennet had quesadilla and rice & beans that he kept commenting on how good they were. I had Mofongo with fried pork – which I had never tried before. It’s an Afro-Puerto Rican dish made with mashed green plantains that had chicharróns, olive oil, broth, and garlic. It was great.

Mofongo

Then we drove over to Cheney Field to take in the game. The tickets included free Felix shirts, but by the time we got to where they had them, they only had large and XXL. Sennet will have to wait a few years to grow into his. They also gave out signs to hold up, on one side it said “We R Felix” with the Rainiers R logo as the R, and on the back side a “K” to hold up when he threw a strikeout.

The Rainiers won 4-1 with a two-run homer and a double that scored two runs. Felix looked good, pitched about 6 innings, gave up one home run, and got the win. A couple other Mariners were playing for the Rainiers also, as part of getting back to the majors – catcher Mike Zunino and outfielder Nori Aoki – so Sennet was very excited to see them too.

In between innings as the teams run off the field, they flip the ball into the stands to a fan. At the end of the second inning Sennet ran down behind the dugout and held his glove up and when the player flipped the ball he jumped and caught it in his mitt right in front of a guy. People yelled, “Great grab, kid!” He was beaming from ear-to-ear!

It was a beautiful night, about 72 degrees, and sunny until the sun went down. And we didn’t realize that it was fireworks night! So after the game we stayed to watch the very decent fireworks show. That’s two ballpark fireworks shows we’ve made it to this year.