Joe Berger Inc's Corporate Outing

All in all, not a terrible week for The Crew, which kept its head above water, avoiding the blood bath everyone -- including us -- thought was coming after being red hot last week. Yeah, we were under .500 and lost a couple units, but we were expecting the gambling gods to come at us in full force, causing us to flameout entirely and lose our bankroll. It didn't happen, we're still here, so we'll take it.

Couple things before getting to the Super Play of the Day...

The Mariners gave us -- and about 1,500
other drunk people in a nearby bar  --
exclusive access to Felix's bullpen session

Joe Berger Inc. held its first corporate outing of the year Saturday, treating all of its employees and their families to a night on the town. It started with a complimentary hot dog, prepared flawlessly by one the finest street vendors in all the Northwest. Then, it continued to Safeco Field, as the Twins and Mariners played something resembling a baseball game and culminated with an all-expense paid trip to Lil Woody's, perhaps Seattle's best late-night burger artisan.

Though the calendar said May, the air outside said something else entirely. Our meteorologist reported a game-time temperature near 20 degrees, or thereabouts. Other outlets like the agenda-driven National Weather Service said it was in the 50s, a veritable impossibility. Whatever the case, warm is was not.

The chill in the air, however you want to measure it, could not put a damper on anyone's spirits, as all two of us in attendance had a lovely evening.

The Mariners actually got a hit with a runner in scoring position and Felix Hernandez was absolutely filthy, holding the Twins to one hit over eight shutout innings, striking out nine, while Seattle came away with a rare easy victory, 7-0.

Minnesota didn't hit the ball hard all evening and only sniffed the scoreboard in the fourth, when King Felix battled some wildness, surrendering two consecutive one-out walks to load the bases. Otherwise, dude was in control all night.

Hernandez ran his record to 3-1 and lowered his ERA to an impressive 1.89. It's worth noting, however, that any time he's a big favorite, like he was Saturday, when he went off at -200, you have to think about fading him.

On the whole, bookmakers afford far too much respect to elite starting pitchers, and given the Mariners' offense is obnoxiously bad, taking a run at him from time to time is not a terrible idea...

The Crew, despite a putting into place an innovative though rarely utilized system, came away empty on The Derby Saturday. Taking a cue from an old friend who knows far more about the ponies than anyone we know in the industry, we stared cross-eyed at the list of horses for a couple moments and picked the first one that came into focus, which turned out to be Alpha.

It's something that we have used in the past and though we don't have any hard numbers to back it up, it's delivered at a high rate of success. It was, however, not to be for us, or, for that matter, Alpha, who finished a distant 12th. Maybe next time...


Super Plays of the Day

Boston -145, San Diego +110, Colorado +110