Getting home goes a long way for M's

Opening day.

For some, it’s a fresh start to a season. One that some even hold out hope could be the year their favorite team makes a deep run in October.

For the Seattle Mariners, especially after a 1-6 start to the season, it was just best for them to get back to the Northwest.

WHETHER IT was the idea of being away from home for the last six to seven weeks, the Mariners had been in Arizona for spring training since mid-February and just as quickly went on the road to Houston and at the Los Angeles Angels to open the 2017 season.

Some games they looked like they’d be fine, even in defeat to Houston, which took three of four games in that series.

Then the wheels, well they came off in Los Angeles on Sunday, the Mariners blowing a six-run advantage in the bottom of the ninth inning to fall 10-9 to the Angels.

But for as bad as that was, fans were still at the stadium bright and early on Monday, even in some rain and sunshine as the gates opened for the first time in 2017.

Things didn’t seem like they were going to turn around on Monday either, as a dark rain cloud hovered over the stadium for a good part of the day before the sun finally came out right as they peeled the roof back for pregame introductions. When they introduced the team, Seattle manager Scott Servais stumbled out of the dugout, but managed to catch himself before falling, and after a few innings — and injury to a key player — the team started to put runners on base, and score runs to get a much-needed win.

It didn’t end all that great for the Mariners on Monday however, as they lost Jean Segura to right hamstring strain for at least the next 10 days.

Whatever this team winds up doing this year, he’ll definitely need to be a big piece of that.

NOT THAT being at home made much of a difference for them on Monday, but it sure seemed like it.

It could have been playing relaxed, or in familiar territory, but when they needed a clutch hit, they got it. When they needed a big out, they got that too.

And who knows where this team is really headed now.

They’ve proven that offensively, they can go into a funk that is tough to climb out of when they’re away from home.

But for at least three hours on Monday, the Mariners didn’t seem as if it mattered.

They played well — at times — and did what they needed to do to get a win.

Now, they’re not going to go undefeated at home this year, pretty far from it.

But for at least a few hours on Monday, that stinker of a game on Sunday was the furthest thing from a fan’s mind.

Whether or not that leads to the postseason down the road, there’s still a lot of baseball to go.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at (208) 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JEPressSports.