Must see: Mariners' Dee Gordon works out after midnight on sprinkler-filled Safeco Field. That's dedication
Dee Gordon played his second game removed from the disabled list with a fractured right toe. Timing issues come with the territory.
So few batted an eye at his 0-for-6 performance at the plate in Friday night, especially when he wasn’t the only Seattle Mariners player struggling offensively.
Gordon is a former All-Star. He’s got a Gold Glove. He’s a consummate team player, being completely open by all public indications from him and the Mariners’ staff to taking on a new position this year in center field despite having never played that position in a major league game, and then being open to moving back to second base after Robinson Cano’s suspension despite that Gordon had been focusing solely on outfield work.
And that 0-for-6 night still had the 30-year-old batting .292 for the season.
Yeah, no one complaining.
Except it apparently wasn’t good enough for Gordon.
He spent most of the afternoon and evening preparing for Friday’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays, then played 4 hours, 16 minutes of a 13-inning baseball game – the Mariners’ longest of the season – before a 4-3 walkoff victory on Mitch Haniger’s home run.
And well after midnight, with the Safeco Field lights off, sprinklers turned on in the outfield and seats empty, Gordon emerged from the Mariners’ dugout in workout clothes with a cart of baseballs, a bat and tee.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It is 12:43 a.m., Dee Gordon finished a 13-inning game for the Mariners ... and he’s out hitting off a tee. Just after he shagged all of the balls he already hit out of the outfield sprinklers. <a href="https://t.co/7745DzEHGC">pic.twitter.com/7745DzEHGC</a></p>— TJ Cotterill (@TJCotterill) <a href="https://twitter.com/TJCotterill/status/1002818418330890241?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 2, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">And here’s Dee Gordon jumping through a sprinkler to shag some of the balls he hit off tee past midnight here at Safeco Field. <a href="https://t.co/uGfpngVJwn">pic.twitter.com/uGfpngVJwn</a></p>— TJ Cotterill (@TJCotterill) <a href="https://twitter.com/TJCotterill/status/1002820996754071553?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 2, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
If you were wondering how Gordon became this good, this respected – this is why.
He went through the entire bin of baseballs, working on correcting his swing and by the time he was through Gordon then hauled his cart into the outfield through the sprinklers to pick up all the balls he had hit.
He returned to home plate, set another ball on the tee and hit again, flaring the ball to left field.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The way I work is the reason I’m where I’m at and your hate is why you’re where you’re at! I would hate on me too</p>— Dee Gordon (@FlashGJr) <a href="https://twitter.com/FlashGJr/status/1003016123019694081?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 2, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
By the time he sauntered back out to retrieve the ball and haul the cart back into the Mariners’ clubhouse, it was 12:48 a.m., with a game to get ready for Saturday.
Mariners manager Scott Servais said he turned on the radio on his way home and heared about Gordon still on the field.
"That's just how he's wired," Servais said. "Everything he does. He feels like he's letting the team down and not doing his job, so to speak. Guys deal with it in different ways. That's his way of dealing with it.
"I don't have a problem with it as long as he's getting enough sleep and he's good to play tonight."
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">At 12:48 a.m. after a 13-inning game and hitting off of a tee to get extra work, that is a day. Well done, <a href="https://twitter.com/FlashGJr?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FlashGJr</a>. Respect. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Mariners?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Mariners</a> <a href="https://t.co/yTGWTqXYG2">pic.twitter.com/yTGWTqXYG2</a></p>— TJ Cotterill (@TJCotterill) <a href="https://twitter.com/TJCotterill/status/1002819476591505408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 2, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
TJ Cotterill: 253-597-8677
Twitter: @TJCotterill
This story was originally published June 2, 2018 at 3:22 PM with the headline "Must see: Mariners' Dee Gordon works out after midnight on sprinkler-filled Safeco Field. That's dedication."