go Mariners!

My wife and I call Seattle our hometown. But sometimes it's just heartbreaking to be a Mariners fan (cough.377cough).

But thanks to Orrin Judd, tonight I have some reason to cheer. (Well, besides this, I mean.)

Politically, the Mariners bat from the right.

In a completely unscientific poll with a margin of error of 100 percent, we polled Mariners who are U.S. citizens and were handy, and asked who they supported for president. The results: Bush 13, Kerry 2, undecided 2. […]

“I wouldn't say I'm a hard-core conservative, but I don't like a lot of Democratic views,” second baseman Bret Boone said. “I don't like big government. I like small government.”

“I think about what happened on 9/11, and I think about what would have happened if Al Gore had been in charge,” said reliever J.J. Putz, who hails from the important swing state of Michigan. “This country would be in shambles.”

“I'm not a big politics guy, but Kerry doesn't convince me,” pitcher Joel Pineiro said.

Perhaps the most surprising Bush endorsement came from manager Bob Melvin, who attended the famously liberal University of California in Berkeley.

“I was the lone member of the Young Republicans at Cal,” he joked.

One would think that a reporter covering the statistics-mad baseball beat would know better than to claim a “margin of error of 100 percent.” Anyways.

Last month the retiring Edgar Martinez exchanged autographed baseballs with a rather prominent political figure:

It's been quite a week for designated hitter Edgar Martinez.

The 41-year-old Martinez announced his retirement on Monday [9 August], effective at the end of the season.

Then Tuesday against Minnesota, he drilled a home run in his first at-bat since his announcement.

On Friday, things got even better. Martinez got to meet President Bush, who was in town for a Republican fund-raiser.

Martinez, accompanied by team president Chuck Armstrong, went to visit Bush at Boeing Field on Friday afternoon. Armstrong said Bush wanted to meet Martinez.

“We talked about all the years I beat on the Rangers,” Martinez told reporters later at Safeco Field.

Bush is a former managing partner of the Texas Rangers.

President Bush congratulated Martinez on his retirement and the two exchanged autographed baseballs.

Martinez refused to discuss his presidential preference.

“No politics!” he told reporters.

Edgar is a true class act. The Mariners will miss him sorely.

As will we.

It will be hard to see Edgar go. But it was a nice surprise to see the Right tilt of the team. Too bad it doesn't reflect the majority of the state. That makes AZ a better fit for me.

I still find it surprising that Oregon is (somewhat) more likely to tilt R than Washington is. Must be all the relocated Californians.

(Eventually, us WA expats will have to stop using that as an excuse.)