#willie bloomquist

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"Willie Bloomquist provided the offense" is a phrase that usually indicates disaster for Bloomquist's team. On Saturday, however, his two-run double in the third broke a 1-1 tie and propelled the Mariners to a 3-2 win at Toronto.

The Mariners got help from the Blue Jays' outfield defense. With one out, Chris Taylor lofted a fly ball to right. Chris Colabello broke late, and Taylor's drive landed over his head before bouncing into the stands for a ground-rule double.

After Rickie Weeks drew a walk, Bloomquist hammered a ball to left. Danny Valencia got back to the wall in time, but it was the wrong part of the wall, so what might have been the second out became two runs instead.

The next inning, Bloomquist nailed Valencia trying to stretch a single into a double. Justin Ruggiano dove for Valencia's blooper to center and missed, but Bloomquist alertly backed up the play, retrieved the ball, and fired a strike to second. Valencia wasn't exactly running hard out of the batter's box, so it's hard to take pity on him there. You like to see lack of hustle rewarded.

The Mariners started an outfield of Weeks, Ruggiano, and Bloomquist. That sounds like a punch line to some terrible joke, but nope, it really happened.

What also happened was Kyle Seager's sixth homer of the season, a second-inning solo shot off Mark Buehrle into the second deck in right field. Half of Seager's home runs have come off lefties despite the fact that he's had three times as many plate appearances against righties. Only four of his 25 bombs last year came against southpaws.

James Paxton pitched well again. He worked from behind in the count early before finding his groove.

Paxton performed a slick escape act in the first. After a double, wild pitch, and walk (to Jose Bautista, who hit a ball eight miles but foul before taking his base) to start the frame, the Jays had runners at the corners with no out. Paxton allowed just the one run on a sacrifice fly. After that, the only blemish was a Colabello solo homer in the fourth that ended the day's scoring.

The bullpen was fantastic. Tom Wilhelmsen in the seventh, Carson Smith in the eighth, Fernando Rodney in the ninth. No excitement at all. Wilhelemsen walked Colabello, the first man he faced. Then the last nine Blue Jays went down without resistance, with five of them failing to make contact.

He looks like any old regular guy. One that could be your neighbor or coworker. At 5'11" and 190 pounds, he's not some hulking athlete. It's easy for a lot of people to be able to relate to him in that regard.

As much shit as he gets for his "gritty hustle" and "veteran presence," those are really great attitudes to have. He's not good enough to play every day, nor should he be playing every day. But with the chances he gets, he's going to make damn sure to make the most out of them. I feel like a lot of people that pull for him feel like they would want to have that same attitude if they were in his shoes.