Oh, things started out so well.

The Mariners played their first home American League Championship Series game in a quarter century Wednesday, under a perfect baby blue sky before a sellout crowd starved for winning baseball.

They led 2-0 before you could blink.

The streets of Sodo, before the game, were a buzz of nervous hope.

Joe Cox leaned on a planter next to the Ken Griffey Jr. statue. His T-shirt said “maybe next year” and had a big, red slash through it.

He brought granola bars to give to anyone who was hungry, and baseball cards to give to kids.

Cox calls himself “as avid a baseball fan as you will find.” He and his daughter camped out in 1999 to be the first ones into the first game at what was then Safeco Field. He worked security at the field for a decade.

He speaks about

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