Lesley's parents gave us tickets to a Mariners game as an anniversary present, so this past Friday Lesley and I had the privilege of going to the game.

The visiting team was the Texas Rangers, so this game was between two of the three MLB teams that have never played in a World Series. Our tickets were in the lower level behind home plate and the section we were in was pretty full.

We didn't get to the game early enough to get one of the Felix Hernandez bobbleheads, but we were there to see J. R. Celski throw out the ceremonial first pitch.

This game happened to be Cliff Lee's first as starting pitcher for the Mariners. He was acquired in the off-season and has been injured lately, but he's been a very good pitcher, so we were excited to get to see him pitch. He pitched a very good game, but so did the Texas pitcher, and the game went into extra innings and stayed scoreless through the 11th inning. It was an entertaining game and the crowd was on their feet rooting for a Mariners rally.

The Rangers have done well at finding ways to lose games this year, but the Mariners outdid them. The Mariners had the bases loaded with only one out in both the 11th and 12th innings and failed to score. In one inning they hit into a double play, in the other they failed to bunt in order to execute a suicide squeeze that would've scored the winning run.

To add to the entertainment, Texas' manager argued with the umpire on a call and was ejected from the game.

And, near our seats, someone tried to steal someone else's bobble-head and was arrested for it.

To end the game, the Mariners had an error and then threw a wild pitch that allowed the Rangers to score two runs.

It was a deflating end to what had been an exciting game. Click here for ESPN's story on the game.

Anyway, despite the loss, I still consider the Rangers my second favorite team in baseball, and some of my friends love the Rangers, so I suppose I can be happy that they won. And I'm glad Lesley and I were able to go to a game together. Of the 9 Mariners games we've been to, this is the 8th time they've lost. Hopefully next time we can see a Mariners victory.