Baseball : While the Mariners Swing and Miss, Cottier Twists in the Wind

The Mariners should try oars. They can’t seem to make contact with their bats.

A Seattle team that was thought to be blessed with some of the best young hitters in baseball has been striking out so frequently that Manager Chuck Cottier may be the next to fan.

Cottier’s job is reportedly in jeopardy after a 9-15 start that included a six-game losing streak and an average of 9.6 strikeouts a game.

The Seattle pace projects to 1,555 strikeouts, which would break the major league record of 1,203 set by the New York Mets in 1968.

Last week alone, the Mariners set a record for futility, then broke it within 24 hours.

The record revolved around Roger Clemens’ 20 strikeouts in Tuesday night’s game at Boston.

The 20 represented a major league record for a nine-inning game. Combined with the 12 strikeouts Oakland had recorded against Seattle Sunday, the 32 gave Seattle a dubious record for strikeouts in consecutive games.

The Mariners, however, weren’t finished.

Still dazed by Clemens, they struck out another 16 times Wednesday night.

Said Oil Can Boyd, before facing the Mariners Thursday night: “I’ll have to get some double figures myself to show I belong on the team. Everyone’s Nolan Ryan.”

Boyd went the distance in a 12-2 Boston victory but struck out only 5.

The Mariners, who were hitting .290 as a team after assaulting Don Sutton for eight runs in the first inning of an April 15 victory over the Angels, now are at .208.

K rations:

--Of the 12 major league hitters who had struck out 20 or more times through Thursday, five were Mariners: second baseman Danny Tartabull, third baseman Jim Presley, left fielder Phil Bradley, center fielder Dave Henderson and designated hitter Gorman Thomas.

--In their nine previous seasons, the Mariners had never struck out 16 or more times in a game. They did it four times in April, fanning 16 times twice, 18 once and 20 once.

And the inevitable names of Billy Martin and Jim Fregosi surface as owner George Argyros, despite reported opposition from his front office, considers the inevitable change.

How close was Clemens to striking out all 27 Mariners?

This close: He had two strikes on 5 of the 10 Mariners who made contact.

He will need 13 strikeouts against Oakland today to break the two-game record of 32, shared by Ryan, Dwight Gooden and Luis Tiant.

Only last August, Clemens’ career seemed jeopardized by a shoulder injury that was repaired on Aug. 30 by a Georgia orthopedist, Dr. Jim Andrews.

Said teammate Bob Stanley, in the wake of Clemens’ 20 strikeouts: “Now you’re going to have nine guys running for the same operation.”

Is there any real doubt that Dale Murphy should wear an ‘S’ on his uniform and a cape on his back?

Murphy required nine stitches after cutting his right hand on the outfield fence at Atlanta Stadium Tuesday night. His consecutive-game streak appeared over at 675.

Wednesday night, however, Murphy talked Manager Chuck Tanner into allowing him to pinch-hit.

Fifth inning, first pitch: home run.

The pitcher? Only the formidable Dr. K, Gooden himself.

Thursday night? Murphy was back in the lineup, of course.

Sparky Anderson has been solidifying his role as the new Casey Stengel.

The Detroit manager was asked the other day if he had considered holding Frank Tanana out of a start against Kansas City, considering Tanana’s 6-20 record against the Royals.

Said Anderson, after Tanana had defeated the Royals with a complete game:

“What was, was was.

“What is, is is.”

And of his 20 lineups in 20 games, Anderson said, “It has nothing to do with nothing. A hamstring here, a day off there. We don’t have a set lineup.”

National League owners are said to be pressuring Commissioner Peter Ueberroth in an effort to bring the Giants’ stadium situation to a head. They make two points: The lingering uncertainty has delayed expansion and 14-team equality with the American League, and their still thin cut of Candlestick Park attendance fails to cover the increased travel costs.

Catcher-infielder Bob Brenly, on the Giants’ revived attack: “Last year, a rally for us was a 3-and-0 count.” . . . Veteran Dan Driessen snapped a pinch-hitting slump, during which he had been 0 for 31, with a single Wednesday, then was released by the Giants on Thursday.

The Atlanta bullpen is 1-4 with a 5.21 ERA and has lost four leads after the seventh inning. Bruce Sutter, with one save in three chances, was expected to join the disabled list this weekend, still plagued by shoulder problems in the wake of his winter surgery.

“It’s hit or miss,” Sutter said of his pitching. “I don’t know what to do. It’s killing me and I know it’s killing the team.”

Pete Incaviglia, the struggling Texas rookie, has been instructed by Manager Bobby Valentine to stop a weekly diary he was writing for the Dallas Morning News.

“I want him to react,” Valentine said. “I don’t want him going up there thinking about how he’s going to describe it in his diary.”

Incaviglia’s preseason boasts apparently prompted Cleveland pitchers Don Schultze and Jim Kern to take aim at him this week. Schultze dusted him off. Kern nailed his wrist.

Incaviglia responded by flipping his helmet toward the mound. Teammates interceded.

Said Cleveland outfielder Joe Carter: “You can’t come into this league popping off like that. There’s a rule. Rookies should be seen and not heard.”

The Cleveland Indians, who in 1985 never reached .500 after opening the season with a six-game losing streak, rebounded this year and had only their second winning April since 1966.

The Indians were 11-8 last month, the return of relief pitcher Ernie Camacho providing a foundation.

Camacho, who saved 23 games in 1984, missed almost the entire ’85 season with elbow problems. He ultimately had two operations and spent much of the winter receiving psychiatric help for anxiety attacks related to his competitive return.

Now it is the hitters who are experiencing anxiety. Camacho converted all 6 of his April save opportunities, was 7 for 7 protecting leads and did not permit any of the 8 base runners he inherited to score.

On Dwight Gooden, Whitey Herzog said: “At his age, others had just as good an arm, but no one had his poise and control.” . . . How good has Houston’s pitching been? The Astros went 4-2 last week despite a .176 team batting average. . . . Last week’s knuckleball duel between New York’s Joe Niekro, who went six innings, and Cleveland’s Tom Candiotti, who went 5, produced 14 walks, 4 passed balls, 3 wild pitches, 3 unearned runs and the groundwork for a 3 hour 43 minute game won by the Yankees, 10-3. . . . When former Red Dann Bilardello returned to Cincinnati with the Montreal Expos the other day he was wearing a beard to flaunt the Reds’ rule against facial hair. Said Bilardello: “You were lucky if they let you have eyebrows around here.”

Wally Joyner’s six home runs in April were four more than Rod Carew hit last year and one more than Carew totaled in his last two years with the Angels. Joyner’s 16 RBIs were almost half as many as Carew produced last year. Carew had 39. . . .Kansas City, which failed to address its obvious offensive weaknesses over the winter, scored two runs or fewer in nine of its first 19 games and had five hits or fewer in 8 of 19. A rumor has Kansas City parting with some of its touted pitching in exchange for Montreal’s Andre Dawson. . . . Pete Rose experienced the first hitless April of his career, going 0 for 10 after leaving the disabled list. . . . Philadelphia third baseman Mike Schmidt had 19 RBIs in April. Last year, unhappy over the move to first base, he didn’t get his 19th until May 27. . . . Comebacks? How about the Angels’ Rick Burleson with a .349 batting average and Kansas City’s Dennis Leonard with an 0.90 ERA after 30 innings in four starts. Burleson missed almost three seasons with shoulder problems and Leonard missed more than two with a leg injury similar to Pedro Guerrero’s. . . . Baltimore outfielder Mike Young, who had 28 homers last year, had none through his first 55 at-bats of the new year.