MARINERS BE MARINERS

I finally made it to a Mariners playoff game! ... It was not fun. SETH SOMMERFELD PHOTO

THE NUMBNESS OF NOTHING

The Seattle Mariners delivered the most Mariners game imaginable in their first home playoff game in 21 years

BY SETH SOMMERFELD

Ireally don’t know how I didn’t see that coming. All the signs were there. I’ve watched this same cruddy story play out for two decades straight, and I thought there was a sliver of hope that this time might be different? Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. And on Saturday at T-Mobile Park — the site of the first Seattle Mariners home playoff game in 21 years — the M’s were doomed.

After losing Game 1 of the American League Division Series on a crushing walk-off home run by Houston Astros slugger Yordan Álvarez, and blowing a midgame lead in Game 2 thanks to another Álvarez dinger, the Mariners faced a do-or-die game on Saturday. And they chose to die in the slowest, most painful way imaginable — playing the longest game in Major League Baseball postseason history and somehow never scoring a single run, losing 1-0. After waiting 21 years for a home playoff game, Mariners fans were treated to two games for the price of one… and got shut out in both of them.

This is no fault of the die-hard Mariners fans who packed T-Mobile Park. Despite being down 0-2 in the series, the atmosphere was electric. Most fans had made it into the stadium at least an hour before the first pitch (many two hours prior), and they hung on all the tension-packed pitches for as long a humanly possible. Even as the game dragged past six hours of scoreless ball (including a 14th inning stretch), the loyal supporters — many of whom had now been there for eight-plus hours — were still getting on their feet and cheering every time an M’s pitcher would get two strikes. They did their best to will their team to victory, but the Mariners refused to not Mariners.

The ominous signs were all there for those looking to see them. Most notably, Mariners legend “King” Felix Hernandez returned for the first time in years to throw out the first pitch. While it was an awesome moment, it was also a precursor. The signature Mariners game during King Felix’s reign was him throwing an absolute gem only for the Mariners’ hitters to provide absolutely no run support, often resulting in a pitching gem being a team loss. The ALDS game was just a Felix game on steroids. Apparently the Mariners somehow find new depths of ineptitude anytime he throws a pitch of any sort in this ballpark.

After a thrilling Wild Card series win versus the Blue Jays, it’s hard to really process the Mariners after the ALDS disaster. Sitting in the upper deck, it wasn’t that I was angry or super tense for six hours of the game. I’d been in this park for dozens of less meaningful versions of this game before. At a certain point around the eighth inning, I sort of became numb to it all. I was still on my feet cheering, but the utter hopelessness of the Mariners every time they came up to bat just made me sort of dissociate from reality. The Mariners hadn’t scored a home playoff run in 21 years. Despite finally making the postseason again, that streak is going to be at least 22 years.

Mariners fans should feel optimistic about the future. They’ve still got a great young core ( Julio Rodríguez, Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Cal Raleigh), and I don’t know if a team that got swept has ever been closer to actually sweeping a series. But after spending a full day at the ballpark watching absolutely nothing, it’s hard to feel anything at all. n

THE BUZZ BIN

BACK TOGETHER FOR THE KIDS

Well I guess this is growing up? BLINK-182 is back together again. Singer/guitarist Tom DeLonge left the pop punk titan in 2015 (in part to focus on his UFO research), but it was announced last week that the trio is once again back at full strength, planning an extensive tour for 2023-24 and releasing a new single, “Edging.” The fresh single isn’t on the level of peak Blink hits like “Dammit” or “All the Small Things,” but it’s also good enough to keep nostalgic fans — now in their not-very-pop-punky 30s and 40s — excited for the reunion. It might be too late to fall in love with the girl at the rock show, but falling in love with the divorcee at the Blink-182 show is still in play. (SETH SOMMERFELD)

A PLACE FOR PEACE

Hate groups have grabbed headlines in downtown Coeur d’Alene for decades, from the 1999 Aryan Nations’ parade to the recent arrest of Patriot Front members before a Pride 2022 celebration. That makes a new sculpture installed in the “four corners” area near the Human Rights Education Institute so apropos. With its spiraling ribbons of metal, “THE MONUMENT TO PEACE AND UNITY” by Ai Qiu Hopen resembles a DNA model. Cutout birds appear to lift off from their metal backgrounds, while cutout words reiterate the familiar aspirations of our democracy, including that all persons “are created equal.” (CARRIE SCOZZARO)

THIS WEEK’S PLAYLIST

Noteworthy new music arriving in stores and online Oct. 21:

TAYLOR SWIFT, MIDNIGHTS. Maybe this is the album the scrappy singer-songwriter finally breaks through and gets some media attention…

TEGAN AND SARA, CRYBABY. The greatest music twins on the planet (sorry, Good Charlotte) have gone from folky punks to indie powerhouses to dance pop mavens and have rarely missed a beat along the way.

Kate Lebo talks behind the scenes of her latest book. YOUNG KWAK PHOTO

When Life Gives You Durian…

Kate Lebo defies genres and tackles fickle ingredients in The Book of Difficult Fruit, Spokane Is Reading 2022’s featured title

For many, fruit is an easy snack to take on the go. Often, it resides in a Ziploc bag or a Tupperware container that’s passed around the car on a road trip or at a picnic.

For local author Kate Lebo, fruit is more complex than that.

Lebo’s 2021 nonfiction collection, The Book of Difficult Fruit, doesn’t discuss strawberries or grapes. Instead, she uses lesser-known fruit like aronia and medlar as literary devices in her memoir-esque musings. After each chapter, Lebo shares a recipe that uses the fitful fruit in a creative way. She’s not just making pies and tarts, she’s also making body scrubs and medicinal syrups.

Recently, Lebo won the Washington State Book Award in creative nonfiction for Difficult Fruit, which was also chosen for this year’s Spokane Is Reading communitywide read. I sat down with Lebo to discuss her inspiration, the vulnerability that oozes from every page, and more.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

INLANDER: Where did the idea for Difficult Fruit come from?

LEBO: It’s kind of a few stories in one. When I was writing my first book, Pie School, there were just elements of being a baker and the sweet treat I was making that I wanted to include, but couldn’t because it was simply a cookbook. When I was in high school, I became known as “pie girl” because I would always bring pies to gettogethers. So I eventually wondered what it was about cooking, particularly for women, that provides so much sustenance — spiritual, emotional, physical, all of that — and is also this thing that obscures them and their labor.

Then, while I was at the University of Washington for graduate school, my officemate Katherine brought in a bag of quince. They looked like pears and they were beautiful, but you can’t eat them [raw]. It blew my mind to know that there were these enticing fruits out there, but they defy us.

BY MADISON PEARSON

What was it like learning that Difficult Fruit was chosen for Spokane Is Reading?

It’s been the most amazing thing. Just knowing that my community is reading my book is absolutely incredible. This book feels very rooted in this place. That was important to me as I was writing it.

How long did it take you to compile all of this information for the book?

From beginning to end, the book took seven years to complete. I can no longer remember when I stopped failing at writing. I finally found the form about two years in and then everything took off from then.

Was it nerve-wracking incorporating elements of memoir into your writing? Did you feel vulnerable?

Yeah, definitely. I went through many months of being like, “Wow, I can’t believe this.” I felt like I had no skin. Now, it feels a bit more normal. As I went through the process of writing all of that really personal stuff, my family was extremely supportive. That’s all that really matters, it’s the most important thing to me.

And was winning the Washington State Book Award rooted in the same feeling? Similar, yes. In that same vein it just feels incredible to be recognized by my peers and my community like that. When I got the email I SPOKANE IS READING: KATE LEBO kind of just sat with it for a few days. I didn’t even tell my

Wed, Oct. 26 at 1 pm (North Spokane husband. I was like, “Did this Library, 44 E. Hawthorne Rd.) and 7 pm really happen? Is this real?” It’s (Central Library, 906 W. Main Ave.) so fun to win. You don’t want Free • All Ages • spokaneisreading.org to get wrapped up in the axle of winning awards, but how can you not? It was an incredible field of other books in my category so it felt great to be recognized like that. If you had to choose a fruit from the book to represent Spokane, which would you pick? Durian, definitely. I think it’s very representative of Spokane because people have a lot of preconceived notions about it until they “try” it, then they absolutely love it. n