Abbott Looking Ahead to New Start

Jim Abbott is not happy about the circumstances surrounding his return to the rotation--he would rather it not come at the expense of injured teammate Mark Langston--but he’s excited about Tuesday night’s start at Texas.

“I hope Mark is all right--that’s first and foremost,” said Abbott, who is 1-11 with a 7.60 earned-run average. “I’ll just try to fill in, give the team a quality start and go from there. I don’t want to make more out of it.”

Since being demoted to the bullpen June 22, Abbott has made three relief appearances, giving up five earned runs, 10 hits and nine walks in 9 1/3 innings.

Manager Marcel Lachemann believes Abbott has made some progress toward regaining the form that made him one of the more consistent left-handers until this season.

“He wasn’t throwing the ball before--he was trying to guide the ball and hope,” Lachemann said. “But at least now he seems to be throwing the ball.”

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Jason Grimsley, who was roughed up for eight runs on nine hits in 3 1/3 innings Sunday, is 0-1 with a 14.68 earned-run average in his last three starts. But Lachemann said Grimsley will remain in the rotation that now includes Shawn Boskie, Chuck Finley, Ryan Hancock and Abbott.

“There were three balls in that [six-run third] inning that couldn’t have been thrown out there any better,” Lachemann said of Edgar Martinez’s infield single, Dan Wilson’s looping single to center and Luis Sojo’s two-run triple, a popup that landed just inside the right-field line.

“But you’ve got to work yourself through those innings. Those big crooked numbers really hurt you.”

Grimsley’s performance left him practically speechless. “I can’t get any more frustrated than I am now,” he said. “I can’t get anyone out, that’s not hard to see . . . I don’t want to talk no more.”

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Seattle center fielder Ken Griffey Jr., who had a two-run homer and RBI double Sunday in his first game back from a wrist injury, asked his 2-year-old son, Trey, in the clubhouse, “Who the man?” Replied Trey: “You the man.”

Griffey wasn’t the man in the seventh inning, though. With the bases loaded and two out, Griffey grounded out on a 3-2 pitch by Mike Holtz, who was making his second big league appearance.

“I just tried not to put any added pressure on myself,” said Holtz, whose wild pitch in the 12th inning allowed Seattle to score the winning run in Thursday’s 5-4 victory. “I was fortunate to be successful.”