Print

Mail

wiki links

Mariners lose compass amid some stormy seas

They've been one of baseball's top teams in recent years, winning a remarkable 116 games only three seasons back.

So far in 2004, however, the Seattle Mariners are one of the worst clubs in the majors.

"I don't think anybody expected this," catcher Dan Wilson said.

At 15-28, Seattle came out of the weekend stuck at the bottom of the AL West, trailing first-place Anaheim by 13 1/2 games. The Mariners avoided a home-field sweep against Detroit with a 3-1 win Sunday, their third victory in 14 games.

"We came out of spring training with high hopes," Wilson said. "We played very, very well in spring, then we got off to a rough start. In our division, that's tough to bounce back from."

There are plenty of reasons for the struggles.

Jamie Moyer and the starting pitchers had a rough start, going a combined 3-9 in April. While each has shown signs of recovering recently, Seattle's usually reliable bullpen -- missing Kazuhiro Sasaki after his return to Japan in the offseason -- has been inconsistent.

The biggest problem, though, has been at the plate. Seattle is getting little production offensively, putting additional pressure on pitchers to work with less room for error.

Edgar Martinez, Bret Boone, John Olerud, Rich Aurilia and Randy Winn are all hitting .240 or worse.

"It's not just the bullpen," manager Bob Melvin said. "It's not just the starters, though all them are coming around and pitching a lot better. It's been the offense. It's been everything."

The Mariners rank last in the American League with 29 home runs and 106 extra-base hits. Seattle just concluded a 2-4 homestand that offered a microcosm of what's going wrong.

The Mariners hit .249 and collected 50 hits against Baltimore and Detroit -- only nine for extra bases. An 11-0 win over the Orioles was fueled by a six-run inning that featured seven singles.

"It's been pretty miserable, going on two months here," said Olerud, a career .297 hitter who's at .229 this season. "We've just got to forget about what's happened the last six or seven weeks and concentrate on playing good baseball from here on out."

The rallying cry in the clubhouse has been that it's still early. Indeed, 19 teams in baseball history have come back from at least 10 games behind to finish first.

Seattle did it in 1995, winning the AL West in a one-game playoff against the Angels after wiping out a 13-game deficit on Aug. 2. The M's were victimized two years ago when Oakland rallied 10 games back on May 30.

That year, the Athletics used a 20-game winning streak in August and September to overtake Seattle, which won 93 games but missed the playoffs. The Mariners also won 93 games and stayed home last year.

Seattle's 393 wins from 2000-2003 were the most in baseball, which only makes things tougher to swallow this year.

"We have been used to winning," Wilson said. "We still go on the field expecting to win. I don't think that part of it ever changes, but that probably adds to the frustration."

Chris Gomez scored the winning run in the 10th inning when nobody covered home plate during a rundown, and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Anaheim Angels 6-5 Monday night.

Gomez reached on a fielder's choice and Ben Weber (0-2) walked Eric Hinske before Simon Pond hit a sharp grounder to first baseman Casey Kotchman, who knocked the ball down with a dive.

Second baseman Adam Kennedy picked up the ball and threw to catcher Bengie Molina, who got Gomez in a rundown between third and home. Molina chased Gomez up the line before throwing to Alfredo Amezaga, who didn't have anybody to throw to at the plate.

Gomez slid across with the winning run, and Pond was credited with an RBI single.

Jason Frasor (2-1) pitched two scoreless innings for the win, helping the Blue Jays end a four-game skid.

Vladimir Guerrero, Jose Guillen and Jeff DaVanon hit consecutive homers in the third for the Angels, who still have the best record in the majors (29-16).

Anaheim starter John Lackey and manager Mike Scioscia were ejected in the sixth inning after Lackey brushed back Pond, then threw a pitch that grazed his jersey.

Both benches had already been warned, so plate umpire Jim Reynolds immediately ejected Lackey. Scioscia then got into a heated argument with Reynolds.

Toronto starter Justin Miller tied a club record by hitting three batters, including Guillen in the top of the sixth.

Juan Pierre drove in four runs, Ramon Castro broke out of a season-long slump with three RBIs and the Florida Marlins beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 13-5.

"I'm usually on the other end," said Pierre, who came in with 11 RBIs on the season. "It's nice. It feels good to drive some in.''

The victory was Jack McKeon's 100th as Marlins manager and it pulled Florida into a tie with Philadelphia atop the NL East.

Jeff Conine homered and Carl Pavano (4-2) pitched seven solid innings for the Marlins, who took three of four from Arizona.

"It's always nice to get some runs, but it goes hand-in-hand," Pavano said. "With the plays they made behind me in the other games, I can't complain."

Steve Finley hit his major league-leading 14th homer for the Diamondbacks. Brandon Webb (2-4) allowed seven runs and five walks in 5 1-3 innings.
This story has been viewed 1627 times.