Brrrrr-ing it on! Chilly weather can't cool excitement of M's fans

Pity the baseball fans in Tampa or Phoenix or any other warm-weather city.

Seldom will they know the joy Edie Graf and her family experienced Monday, preparing for the Mariners' opener by donning not one, two or even three -- but four layers of Mariners wear.

"Shirt, Windbreaker, sweat shirt and jacket," Graf, 31, recited as she waited for the gates of Safeco Field to open, ticking off the articles of clothing attesting to her allegiance.

And that didn't count the Mariners cap on her head, the Mariners stocking cap she brought for later, and the fuzzy Mariners blanket her husband, George, carried to shield the Yakima County couple and their two small children from Seattle's 40-something-degree March weather.

"It's part of opening day," Graf said. "We're used to it."

As fans arrived for what would become a 5-2 Mariners victory over the Texas Rangers, it was clear the only thing warmer and more enveloping than Mariners fans' clothing is the irrepressible optimism they bring to the beginning of another 162-game season.

"This is when the anticipation meets the adrenaline ... ," said Joe Dugger, 30, of Seattle, who got to Safeco Field more than two hours early to soak up the ambience.

"Right now, I'm feeling better about them than I have in the last 10 years," Dugger said, basing his confidence partly on the offseason acquisition of starting pitchers Erik Bedard and Carlos Silva.

For sheer emotion, Dugger will never forget opening day 1996, when the Mariners, then in the Kingdome, hoisted their first "American League West Champions" banner, won at the end of the 1995 season.

"It was about 30 minutes of a nonstop, deafening roar," Dugger said. "They brought all the players out, one by one, and then [manager] Lou [Piniella]."

Another early arrival Monday was Elizabeth White, 30, at the park in plenty of time to get "Go M's" and a flaming baseball painted on her cheek.

"I think it's going to be a great season," White said. "On opening day, how can you not?"

White, who grew up in the Seattle area and recently moved to Vancouver, B.C., said the Mariners teams of the past decade have been a sharp contrast to the ones she grew up with.

"When I was in high school, you got made fun of if you liked the Mariners. That's how bad it was," said White. "Now they're really good."

Perhaps no other sport marries such a fascination for hard statistics with the opportunity for unfettered personal emotion. A faithful fan might recite a favorite player's batting average against left-handed pitching and then turn around and wax philosophic about his or her team's chances to "win it all."

"I always visualize the World Series at the start of the season," said Donna Sorensen, 56, of Olympia, whose hat bears more than a dozen collectible Mariners pins, including tiny bobblehead dolls of two of her favorites: catcher Kenji Johjima and former catcher Dan Wilson.

Never mind that the Mariners are among only four existing teams never to have played in the World Series. What matters now is potential, said Sorensen, and she's convinced the team has it.

Not only is she an opening day regular, she also religiously attends each year's final home game. "Then if they haven't made the playoffs," she said. "I go into mourning."

Jack Broom: 206-464-2222 or jbroom@seattletimes.com