Time Running Out for Mariners

By the time they got to Anaheim Stadium Tuesday afternoon, the Seattle Mariners already knew Texas had ripped another day off the calendar with a victory over the Athletics in Oakland.

The sense of urgency enveloping their late-season quest for the American League West title raised yet another notch, the Mariners couldn’t have been happy about facing Dennis Springer, a frustrating knuckleball pitcher.

And when the Angels chased starter Bob Wells, scoring seven runs in the first three innings en route to an 11-6 victory in front of 18,891, the anxiety attacks must have been rampant for the Mariners, who are now three games behind the Rangers with six remaining. Texas has four games left.

“He had command of the knuckleball and didn’t get too deep into many counts,” Manager John McNamara said. “And when he keeps it below the belt, he can be very effective.”

And very frustrating.

By the fifth inning, everyone in the eager-to-produce heart of the Mariner lineup--Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez, Jay Buhner and Paul Sorrento--had struck out, flailing wildly at Springer’s floaters.

Seattle’s first two batters, Joey Cora and Rodriguez, blooped singles to right to put runners on first and third with no outs. But Griffey (136 runs batted in) popped up, Martinez (103 RBIs) struck out and, after Buhner walked, Sorrento (91) also waved at a third strike.

“That was a huge confidence booster for me,” Springer said.

Meanwhile, every Angel had at least one hit, seven had scored and five had driven in at least one run . . . and it wasn’t even the fifth inning yet.

“At this point, any win is fun for us,” said Tim Salmon, who drove in a season-high four runs, “but, yeah, beating these guys is extra special.”

Salmon had a two-run double in the first. Gary DiSarcina tripled to right-center and scored on a single by George Arias--who hadn’t driven in a run in three weeks--in the second. And the Angels scored four times in the third, thanks to a two-run single by Jorge Fabregas, another RBI single by Arias and Darin Erstad’s run-scoring double off the wall in center.

Randy Velarde’s 13th homer in the fourth and a three-run sixth--keyed by Salmon’s two-run single--put the Angels ahead, 11-0.

Springer had retired nine in a row after Griffey’s third-inning single up the middle and when he struck out Griffey leading off the sixth, it was the Angels’ 1,011th strikeout of the season, breaking the club record set in 1973, a year Nolan Ryan had 383.