This is only the 14th time this has happened in MLB history. The play itself is relatively easy for the fielder (as seen in this video). It is so rare because the conditions leading up to a potential unassisted triple play situation are very rare.

Quoted: Asdrubal Cabrera makes a diving catch steps on second then tags the runner going to second

More on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unassisted_triple_play

An accurate comparison imho...

Quoted: Should we be worried the Mariners are baseball’s equivalent of the Bush Administration? Fiscally undisciplined with negligible positive returns? Check. Marketed as veteran leadership despite any veterans with leadership experience? Check. Sloppy management reinforced with sloppy execution on the ground? Check.

If J.J. is not 100%, this season is over.

Quoted: J.J.'s clearly not healthy. Fuck this season.
I even thought this just felt like a win. I smiled knowingly when Richie hit it out in the 10th. I had felt confident the entire later innings. I was confident with J.J. I was sure he was going to come up and put the fears instilled in that Oakland game to rest. And for one batter he did. Kudos to Batista, Rhodes, Morrow, Richie and Ichiro.

Yay, especially re: Clement...although I wish they had waited 7 days in order to get the extra arbitration year.

Quoted: There is official confirmation, finally - catcher Jeff Clement and outifelder Wladimir Balentien are joining the Seattle Mariners in Cleveland on Wednesday.

Yesterday's game exposed the M's weaknesses this season:
- Weakened bullpen (due to loss of LHP George Sherril)
- Black holes in our offense, specifically Sexson, Wilkerson
- To a lesser extent - lack of a power hitter

Quoted: Six pitches, all of them out of the strike zone. Joaquin Benoit did everything he possibly could to walk in the go-ahead run, and Sexson just wouldn’t let him. If the Mariners continue to hit Sexson cleanup and ask Lopez to bunt Ichiro over every time he gets on base in high leverage situations, we’re going to see this a lot - Ibanez walks and Sexson leaves the man on.
...
There’s just no reason a team that wants to be a contender should be hitting Richie Sexson cleanup in 2008.

This random blog thinks (generously?) that the M's are the 9th best team in baseball.

Quoted: 9. Seattle Mariners
They aren’t a great team, but they have a spattering of great parts in their closer, pair of aces, and a lineup centered around Ichiro. The Angels begin the season with a hurting rotation, and this Mariner team will pounce on the chance to gain an early lead in the division.

John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar (of the Angels) will open the season on the disabled list.

Quoted: Probability is that these injuries - assuming their given timelines are correct - make the Angels a win or two worse. And that, in turn, improves the Mariners' chances of winning the division by roughly 6-12%. That's pretty substantial. I'm still deathly afraid of watching our offense, but even so I feel like we're getting closer and closer to pulling up right alongside the preseason favorites.

(As first observed by Jon Stewart) How did even this become a partisan issue?

Quoted: Democrats appeared to back McNamee, who stated in the Mitchell report that he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone on numerous occasions between 1998 and 2001. Many Republicans appeared to side with Clemens, with one Republican calling McNamee a “liar” and a “drug pusher.”

Quoted: Yesterday, we covered the win value of the entire roster, and came to the conclusion that this team is built to win about 82-83 games, if everything follows the projections. Well, we know that nothing ever follows the projections completely, and there is always room for variance in pretty much any statistical model. So, today, let’s look at a few of the potential opportunities the roster presents for improvement, and how those potential improvements might help push this team closer to the 90+ wins it needs to contend this year.