My mother wasn’t the type to overly guilt me into finishing all the food on my plate, but she definitely taught me not to let things go to waste (once I had a can of SPAM for a skit at theatre camp and was dismayed when it found its way into a casserole later on that week). Maybe the Mariners’ mothers similarly instructed them in the importance of not being wasteful, if not in the art of being prompt, as the team managed to pull out of its tailspin long enough to preserve a memorable debut day for George Kirby.