DRUNKEN COVERAGE OF MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL FOR NO GOOD REASON >>>

Quick show of hands... How many Father's Days were ruined by the Tacoma Rainiers (33-38) yesterday, and that rough first inning?

Anyone? Anyone?

OK, good. Sure, Rainiers starting pitcher Seddon may have thrown six balls to start the game according to the News Tribune's account of yesterday's sold-out Father's Day action, but chances are he doesn't need the weight of having ruined any Father's Days added to his burden. (My old man's alcoholism always did the trick...).

As far as Seddon is concerned, after that one rough inning -- which included the pitcher being struck in the forearm by a comebacker off the bat of Alexi Amarista, not to mention all three of the runs the Salt Lake Bees would score in their eventual 3-2 victory- Seddon's performance was generally solid.  He finished the day with seven innings pitched, three earned runs allowed on six hits, and tallied five strikeouts and one walk. The Father's Day Debacle of 2011 at Cheney Stadium wasn't Seddon's fault as much as it was the fault of Tacoma's sleepy offense. Ryan Langerhans - auditioning as my new favorite Rainiers player since the departure of Mike Carp, mainly because #LangerhansTrampStamp seems almost as funny on Twitter as the original #MikeCarpTattoo -- poked a homer in the fifth, and Jose Yepez (who doesn't see a ton of action, but had a monster game last week against Fresno on Wednesday) scored a run in the seventh. But that was all Tacoma's boys of summer could muster. And it simply wasn't enough to notch the victory. The Rainiers are currently eight games back of Reno in the PCL Pacific North division.

Notes ...

- Luke French - or Lucas Stephen French to be specific --- is scheduled to get the start for the Rainiers when they close out a series with Salt Lake tonight at Cheney Stadium (7:05 p.m. start time). French is no stranger to Mariners fans, as he's done some time in the Bigs. He was also born in 1985, which totally makes me feel old. According to his Wikipedia page, French was a fan of the Mariners while growing up - citing players like Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, Alex Rodriguez (booo!) and Jay Buhner (yay!) as his favorites. In the past he has been quoted as saying that when he was in the fifth grade he made a future timeline for his life that included him playing for the Mariners. Speaking of things that make me feel old, French was in fifth grade in 1995 or 96. That's just wrong.

- Did you hear about the Rainiers getting stuck in Fresno late last week - at the ass end of a grueling two-week road trip? By all accounts it was horrendous. Rainiers announcer Mike Curto even created a "whining" tag in his Mike ...Off-Mic blog specifically to describe the ridiculous ordeal.

- Finally, speaking of Mike Curto, since the publication of last week's article on the Rainiers announcer in the Weekly Volcano a couple unrelated yet strangely related things have happened. First of all, most of my hardcore baseball fan friends have had one question: Why didn't you ask Curto about the possibility of him joining the Mariners broadcast booth someday soon, especially since Dave Niehaus's monstrous roll is currently being filled by a string of notable personalities from the Mariners' past? It's so obvious!

Naturally, I try telling these friends, "The kids wanted a Lachey quote!" and "That would have squeezed out the Pavement!" and, more seriously, "I made the conscious decision to avoid that angle because I thought it would easily dominate, and wanted to do something different." But, unfortunately for me, we're talking about real baseball fans here -- and they remained curious even after these excuses. I have very persistent friends sometimes.

Then, Ryan Divish from the News Tribune went and published this fairly awesome and totally dead-on endorsement of Curto Sunday, calling for the Mariners to make their next call-up the Rainiers broadcasting stud. The opinion piece from Divish - a friend of Curto's, by his own admission -- naturally brings the topic of Mike Curto possibly joining the Mariners the forefront.

I emailed Curto Thursday night, basically following up on the Mariners angle in hopes of getting my hardcore baseball fan friends off my back. His reply hit my inbox Sunday morning ... I read it moments before reading Divish's piece on the very same topic.

Honestly, it was kind of weird and a little eerie.

But it also produced some good quotes from Curto, like the following ...

"It's always been my goal to reach the majors, but unlike, say, ten years ago, I no longer think or expect that it will happen. I have no idea what it takes to get an opportunity at the highest level, and I'm not sure anyone else knows, either," says Curto. "The chances are very, very slim. It's not just the Mariners - it's all 30 teams; I would move to any city for the opportunity." 

But, specifically, what about the Mariners, and what about the possibility of this happening sooner rather than later, given the perceived opening?

"There is no expectation that the Mariners would ever give me an opportunity just because I'm with Tacoma - I work for the Rainiers, not the Mariners, and the Mariners have no involvement in my employment," says Curto. "The one advantage with Seattle is that they are familiar with my work, they know I'm here, and they should know what they would get if they gave me an opportunity."

"But, if it doesn't happen, it's no big deal. I'm long past feeling that I have to reach the major leagues in order to have a successful life," he continues. "There's a whole world to have fun in out there, and most of it has nothing to do with baseball."

What would Curto miss about T-Town if he does someday leave?

"I don't know. MSM Deli, for sure. Cloverleaf. I'm supposed to say the Weekly Volcano, huh?"

No pressure, Mike. No pressure ...

LINK: The "Rainiers Minute" collection