One of the most vilified Mariners in Lookout Landing history. The organization loved Thornton because he was left-handed and threw hard, but the community hated him because he couldn't throw strikes to save his life. Entrusted with an important role in 2005, Thornton inherited a 4-2 lead from Gil Meche in his first game of the season and allowed three singles and a home run in the span of four hitters to put his team behind 7-4. That was just the beginning. Much later in the season, he was called on to face Jason Giambi in relief of Ryan Franklin and promptly allowed a three-run homer to put the M's behind for good. His trade to Chicago the following offseason was greeted with unanimous cheer, and LL sponsored his Baseball Reference player page with the line "He gone!"
Throughout the season, Thornton inspired several images that appeared on LL. One of these was the Matt Thornton Death Spiral, shown below, which contains all the feelings that typically accompanied a Thornton appearance.
Another was of Mike Hargrove coming out to the mound and sticking a finger in Thornton's chest during an in-game lecture. This took place during the infamous Giambi-homer game, as Thornton walked Bernie Williams on four pitches after surrendering the long ball (this appearance is documented in this thread, widely considered one of the best in LL game thread history).
Due to several occurrences like those mentioned above, anytime Matt Thornton made a relief appearance, it was proclaimed that Mike Hargrove was throwing in the towel because no matter the game situation, all was surely lost once Thornton entered. With Thornton gone, that mantle has passed to Julio Mateo.
Although Thornton has gone on to have a little success with the White Sox, no one in Seattle misses him. Especially fans of George Sherrill, whose MLB career was delayed for the better part of 2005 since George had options and Matt didn't.
