"Way too late to make a difference in the season, the Mariners nevertheless have found a formula for success:

The Don-Chone Donnybrook!

Whenever things start to get sideways with the win-loss record, manager Don Wakamatsu and second baseman Chone Figgins know now to throw down.

Doesn't make much sense, I know. This season, what has?

Nevertheless, it is inarguable that since the Friday night televised dugout dust-up, the Mariners are 2-0, both over the Boston Red Sox, who leave Seattle with a mere series split, as well as a notion of what it feels like to be gummed to death.

Sunday at Safeco, the Mariners deployed a two-bunt, two-bloop barrage in the eighth inning to score three runs and beat the Sox 4-2.

The tear equals their best winning streak since June 29-30, when Felix Hernandez and Cliff Lee shut down the Yankees. But neither pitcher was a party to the latest outburst, which makes it all the more remarkable.

How much of the current dizzying heights is a response to the unpleasantness of the fifth inning Friday, when Figgins and Wakamatsu had to be separated before more harshness was exchanged, is hard to know.

But here's a guess from one outside observer:

It's hard to play baseball on tiptoes.

This franchise is so image-conscious that it regularly attempts to convince rational observers that a slag heap is actually sunshine, lollipops and rainbows. The truth of major-league baseball is that it is a hard, cruel game played many times by dysfunctional personalities who often dislike their teammates and bosses more than opponents."