Sunday, April 8, 2012

I Don't Believe What I Just Saw: Chone Figgins' Revival

Is Chone Figgins back?

First of all, back to what? Well, I guess back to his Angels form. Back to when he used to annoy the crap out of Mariner fans when he wore a different uniform. Undoubtedly, Figgins has disappointed in a big way so far in his Mariner career. He flat out sucked for two years. .259 in 2010, .188 in 2011? Yeah, thats bad.

So maybe "back" isn't the right word. Maybe the better question is something like will Chone Figgins contribute regularly in 2012? So far, he has played well. Well by Chone Figgins standards at least. Friday and Saturday's games didn't come anywhere close to clearing his name with M's fans, but what it did do is get M's fans to stop trashing him for a bit.

Figgins probably couldn't have played better on Friday. Sure, he struck out looking in the first and missed played a ball in the lights that cost Tom Wilhelmsen a run, but everything else he did legitimately contributed to the Mariners' victory. A sac bunt turned into a sort of RBI bunt single in the third. Then he scored on a sac fly from Jesus Montero. In the fourth, he stepped up with Michael Saunders at third and ripped (yes, ripped. Check out the replay, he ripped it.) an RBI single up the middle for the M's fifth run. In the sixth, after the M's chased McCarthy, Figgins laid down a beautiful safety squeeze scoring Michael Saunders and landing him on first base with a multi-hit night. In the eighth, he gave the "oh shit, really?" face after looping a ball the other way to left field for his third hit of the game. He stole a base to put a cherry on top of a great game.

Sure that's just one game. But that's just it. It's one game. Figgins doesn't have games like this. It usually takes him a week to get three hits. For a three hour period, we saw a glimpse at what we paid for two years ago. Scrappy situational hitting. A few timely bunts. Hard, line-drive singles. Stolen bases. The only thing missing was a triple.

Then saturday happened.

Chone must have known I started this story early, because he kickstarted the M's attack by whacking a triple off of Bartolo Colon's fossil. The Mariners never get off to a good start offensively. Mostly, this thought comes from not having a leadoff hitter that delivered consistently. Apparently they have that now. At least for a little while. Thanks to Figgy's triple, the Mariners led for good two batters into the game.

Figgins struck out in the third, but then came to the plate with two out in the fourth with his team leading 5-0 for the second straight game. Old Chone Figgins definitely strikes out here. he wouldn't care about giving the M's a run that they didn't seem to need. New Chone? He ripped a two-run double to right field. Those two runs really came in handy, especially when Felix started struggling and the game ended 8-7. Figgins added another hit off of Oakland closer Grant Balfour in the ninth inning to close out his second consecutive three-hit night.

Just in case you're playing at home, over the past two games, Chone Figgins is six for 10 with a double, a triple, a stolen base, four RBIs, and two runs scored. He has showed the ability to hit the ball to the gap, lay down multiple types of bunts, and most importantly, put runs on the board.

Chone Figgins isn't back. It would be inappropriate to characterize his slight resurgence as a return to anything. But maybe he can contribute. He could play a role in M's offense. Eric Wedge frankly expects him to do so. My expectations are still tempered, but Mariner fans can always hope. Go M's.

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