This was a wonderful week to be at Seattle Mariners games. The Athletics were in town, and a playoff race was just stirring to life. After losing the first game, the Mariners won the next three, including a 1-0 gem one night and Seattle's beloved Edgar Martinez homering the next when he returned to the lineup after a two-month absence. And up until Thursday, the weather was straight out of an Impressionist painting -- brilliant blue skies, puffy white clouds, crimson sunsets, midsummer temperatures -- the sort of weather that made you feel glad to be alive ... and thankful to have a job where your office is a ballpark.

	Richard Herzog should have shared in the excitement of Edgar Martinez's return.

King County sheriff's deputy Richard Herzog would have loved working these nights at his post along the upper deck at Safeco Field, where the fans who regularly sat there knew him by name. Herzog had been a fixture there ever since the stadium opened three summers ago, but he was not there this week. While responding to a 911 call Saturday afternoon in a Seattle suburb, the 46-year-old deputy was shot dead -- once in the leg and four times in the back of the head -- with his own gun. He leaves behind a wife and two teenage children.

"I get goose bumps just thinking about it," said King County deputy Steve Borkan. "You wonder what he was thinking, what he was going through when that happened. When a cop dies, you try to put yourself in their place and what they went through at the time.

"You try to imagine your own family suddenly not having you there."

Borkan worked alongside Herzog at Mariners games for years in a uniformed off-duty role. As police work goes, it's a very good gig. They make sure the fans don't get out of control, break up fights, arrest the occasional drunk, keep an eye open for suspicious activity and enjoy the ballpark atmosphere.

"This is a pretty good assignment. A lot of people want to work here," Borkan said. "It wasn't like that years ago at the Kingdome. I can remember working Mariners games then, and we considered it a big crowd when they had 5,000 or 7,000 fans, and no one wanted to work the game. It was four hours of hell.

"After 1995 (when the Mariners won their first American League West Division title) and then after this stadium opened up, though, word of mouth got around, and this became a coveted off-duty job."

"(Herzog) really enjoyed working this type of event to provide extra money for his family," Seattle police officer Jim Hansen said.

Hansen works in Seattle's arson/bomb unit and before that was with the SWAT unit. "I still believe that the guys on the street responding to an unknown situation are facing the most risk. With us, we're usually coming in after the fact with some good information on what's going on. But with a 911 call, the information is very sketchy and it can be just plain wrong.''

		For the past five days, relatives, police officers, friends and people who never knew Herzog have been setting flowers on the site of the slaying. I drive past it several times a day and there is always someone there, even late at night. I rode past it Tuesday and saw a police officer kneeling by the side of the road and crying.

Herzog responded to reports Saturday afternoon that a naked man was ranting in the road and pounding on cars near a small shopping center. He attempted to reason with the man, to no avail. He doused him with pepper spray, but it had little effect. The man, allegedly whacked out on crack cocaine, attacked Herzog and grabbed him in a bear hug. During the struggle, Herzog's gun apparently fell to the ground and the man somehow grabbed it. According to police reports and eyewitnesses, the man dropped Herzog with a shot to the leg, then walked over to his body, pointed the gun at his head and squeezed the trigger four times. He left him dead in the road.

Ronald Keith Mathews later surrendered to police and was charged with first-degree murder. If convicted, he faces life in prison or the death penalty.

For the past five days, relatives, police officers, friends and people who never knew Herzog have been setting flowers on the site of the slaying. I drive past it several times a day and there is always someone there, even late at night. I rode past it Tuesday and saw a police officer kneeling by the side of the road and crying.

This man's death had a profound effect on the community. More than 1,000 people attended Herzog's memorial service Thursday, and the funeral motorcade stretched for four miles.

Herzog should have been at the games, feeling the warm summer air, smelling the garlic fries and hearing the crowd roar when Edgar went deep. Instead, fans and fellow officers could only mark his absence when the Mariners honored him with a moment of silence before a game.

"What was I feeling?" Borkan said. "Mostly I was glad that the organization gave him that recognition, being that he worked here. That was my only real emotion. I was happy they recognized him.

"It's unfortunate that it takes a tragedy like this for some recognition and a thank you for being here."

When we returned to our stadiums after Sept. 11, a little fearful of more terrorist attacks, we looked to officers such as Herzog for protection and a measure of security. Herzog is gone but the rest are still there. While cheering the home team, find a moment to let them know you appreciate what they do, too.

This was a wonderful week to be at the Mariners games, except for one thing. Someone special couldn't be there.

Jim Caple is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at cuffscaple@hotmail.com.