Sunday’s marathon game against the Athletics reminded me of somethhing Glenn Schwarz, an old colleague who went from covering baseball to becoming the sports editor for the San Francisco Examiner and Chronicle, used to say: “Each team scored (so many runs) in the (such and such inning).”

It rarely happened the way he said it would, when the Athletics scored three runs in the top of the 13th inning in the series finale, I looked to my left at Bob Sherwin, a freelancer extraordinaire, and said, “Each team scored three runs in the 13th.”

And guess what happened?

Of course, that is not something I would have said a year ago. The come-from-behind spunk shown by the ’09 team already this season makes it much more interesting team to watch and follow.

As veteran Mike Sweeney said after the Mariners pulled out the 8-7 victory, “It was tough falling behind the way we did, but there was a rumbling in the dugout, and a feeling, that we are not going to give up. Even when were down by three runs in extra innings, we never quit. We showed a lot of character.”

The Mariners have come a long way from the team last season…a “team” that had players leave the dugout in the middle of the game and go into the clubhouse to watch the NBA Playoffs.

— Jim Street