Mariner Moose Allegedly Better Hitter Than 2010 Mariners

I know we’ve heard and seen a couple tales of mascot assault before, but I’m not sure I’ve read a more entertaining account than Victor Aguilar’s take on being assaulted by the Mariner Moose.

⇥Victor Aguilar, 32, said he attended the game against the Detroit Tigers with his cousin and uncle. Aguilar’s cousin, who was visiting from Texas, wanted to take a picture with the mascot, he said, so the group approached the Moose.⇥⇥“He was walking towards me. I was walking towards him,” said Aguilar, who never expected what came next.⇥

⇥⇥“I was going to go like this (showing an embracing arm) to take a picture with him (the Mariner Moose) when he pushed me out of the way, and hit my arm and neck, and hit my stomach,” he said.⇥

⇥⇥The Moose then walked off, Aguilar said, leaving him and those around him completely baffled.⇥

⇥⇥“I was like, ‘What’s going on?’” he said. “There were more people there, and they were like, ‘What’s his deal? Why’d he do that to you?”’⇥

Apparently, the shot to the gut aggravated pain from a recent abdominal surgery for Aguilar, who went back to the hospital for it. He doesn’t want much in return.⇥“I don’t want to get any money out of this,” he said. “I just want them to pay my bill, discipline the Moose, and do a little more investigation. Maybe he was drunk, on drugs, who knows the way he was acting.“Putting aside the ludicrousness of a man accusing another man in a moose costume of being drunk or on drugs, this would certainly seem to be another headache for the M’s. A spokesman for the Mariners said the Moose has no recollection of the incident, and that “the mascot’s large headpiece sometimes limits his vision and causes him to bump into things with his antlers,” which is one of the funnier sentences I’ve read in a while.Not that this makes things any better. The Mariners, one of my preseason darlings, are 18-28, despite playing only marginally worse than the NL West-leading Padres, and now their mascot is accused of being a better hitter than their punchless offense. Somewhere in the Emerald City, someone’s wishing for the days when Ken Griffey, Jr. was snoozing.

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