The Mariners "called in an emergency order" of grasshoppers after a Safeco Field concession stand sold out of the item after the first three games of the season, and the club is "imposing a per-game order limit for the rest of the season," according to Darren Rovell of ESPN.com. Mariners Dir of Public Information Rebecca Hale said that the team "sold 901 orders of the insects over the first three home games." Rovell noted the grasshoppers are "toasted in a chili lime salt and come in a four-ounce cup for $4." Poquitos, which sells the grasshoppers as an appetizer, is "one of the new concession stands at Safeco Field this season as a part of the Mariners' and concessionaire Centerplate's strategy to add more of a local flair." Hale said that the grasshoppers were "added to the ballpark menu as a novelty, but the team didn't expect them to be that popular." She added that the club beginning this past weekend planned to "limit sales to 312 orders per game in honor of the team's longtime great Edgar Martinez's career batting average (.312)" (ESPN.com, 4/14).
THIS BUGS ME: In Tacoma, John McGrath noted the Washington Post "published an article involving the Mariners last week," which is "unusual." Between the club’s "lackluster start and the tendency of many East Coast pundits to see the Pacific Northwest as an isolated region 3,000 miles removed from relevance, Seattle’s big-league baseball team is not an obvious subject for a national story." The Mariners were "not on the national radar screen when the season opened, and now, thanks to toasted grasshoppers, they’re on the national radar screen." That sports fans across America are "talking about something associated with Safeco Field is an encouraging development," but it also "frustrates." McGrath: "In my version of a perfect world, sports fans across America are talking about the powerhouse team that plays baseball in Safeco Field" (Tacoma NEWS TRIBUNE, 4/16).
