Schooler Stays on Task for Mariners

Mike Schooler is definitely back.

Six months after first feeling the pain in his right shoulder, he has returned to his role of stopper for the Seattle Mariners.

There were some doubters, even a few in the team’s front office, but all along Schooler knew he would return.

On Sunday, Schooler picked up his third save since returning to the Mariners on July 8. He pitched one inning in a 12-inning, 5-2 victory over the Angels for career save No. 83--tops in club history.

“I feel great,” said Schooler, who played at Garden Grove High School, Golden West College and Cal State Fullerton. “The team’s winning. My arm is 100%. I’m hitting my spots. Everything has gone according to my plan.”

That plan began in spring training, when the twinge he felt in his shoulder turned out to be a strained triceps. The injury forced him to miss the first half of the season.

Schooler, 28, rested, lifted weights and waited to get the OK to pitch. It finally came in late May and he was shipped off to Jacksonville, a double-A team, for rehabilitation.

Life in the minor leagues was everything he remembered, and then some.

“It was certainly different than being in the major leagues,” Schooler said. “When you dropped your uniform on the clubhouse floor, no one was going to come around and pick it up. It would sit there until you picked it up.”

Not that Schooler minded, he was there to pitch. But even that wasn’t up to major league standards.

Schooler had several rough outings. In 11 games, he was 1-1 with a 5.56 earned-run average.

That raised a few eyebrows in the home office. Some wondered if Schooler had lost it.

“When they got the first stats, they got worried,” Schooler said. “They didn’t look at it the same way I did. My objective was to get my arm healthy.”

Schooler’s rehabilitation came with strict rules. He would go one inning or 20 pitches, whichever came first.

“If that meant giving up 20 consecutive hits, then that was the way it was going to be,” he said. “To me, stats shouldn’t even count when you’re on rehabilitation.”

Schooler was activated the day before the All-Star game. He has pitched in 11 games and has a 1.74 ERA.

The Mariners have been cautious about using Schooler, who missed the last month of the 1990 season with an arm injury.

They have alternated him with Mike Jackson in save situations.

“We’ve tried to bring him along slowly,” Manager Jim Lefebvre said. “We didn’t put him through rehabilitation just so we could burn him out.”

But Lefebvre has called on Schooler more and more of late. Sunday’s save was his second in three days.

On Friday, he pitched one-third of an inning for the save. Sunday, he retired the side in the 12th.

“Mike gives us stability in the bullpen,” Lefebvre said. “He has that killer instinct that a closer needs.”

And that, too, is definitely back.