Mariners Want Angels to Spoil for a Fight

Seattle reliever Mike Jackson was ready to strangle Angel pitcher Jason Grimsley in the ninth inning Wednesday after Grimsley’s fastball hit most-valuable-player candidate Alex Rodriguez in the ribs.

Jackson popped out of the Mariner dugout, screamed at first baseman J.T. Snow and had to be restrained by Manager Lou Piniella.

A few minutes later, after Seattle completed its 11-2 thrashing of the Angels in front of 17,160 in Anaheim Stadium, Jackson and his teammates became the biggest Angel fans in baseball.

The Mariners are 2 1/2 games behind the Texas Rangers and 1 1/2 games behind Baltimore in the wild-card race, and Seattle’s slim hopes of winning the West title hinge in part on the Angels’ season-ending, four-game series at Texas.

The Angels must win at least two games for Seattle to have any chance, but the Mariners would love to see the Angels win at least three.

“It’s strange, but that’s the way the game goes,” Snow said afterward. “Ten minutes ago, they were screaming at us; now we’re going to Texas. We want to throw a monkey wrench into their plans, make them sweat it out a bit. . . . The same thing happened to us last year.”

The Angels extended the 1995 season to overtime, losing to Seattle in a one-game playoff to determine the West champion. The theme for ‘96: Is it over yet?

Wednesday’s loss, in which Seattle scored six runs in the ninth, assured the Angels of a last-place finish and dropped them 17 1/2 games behind the Rangers.

The Angels’ final home game of the season got interesting in the ninth when Grimsley, who found a way to give up three earned runs without a hit, drilled Rodriguez with a pitch that did not injure the shortstop but raised the ire of the Mariners.

“That’s just not a zone you should throw in,” Jackson said. “You’re not going to throw at my teammates. I’ll remember that. I know Grimsley probably wasn’t trying to do that, but you shouldn’t throw at people’s faces.”

Grimsley, who leads the league with 13 hit batters, said there was no purpose to his pitch.

“I’m not a machine out there,” he said. “My pitches have been known to sometimes get away from me.”

Some getaway day this was for the Angels. Nine rookies, as part of an ongoing hazing process, had to wear dresses for the trip to Texas. Atop the worst-dressed list was Darin Erstad (pink one-piece mini with sequins) and George Arias (plain, orange one-piece mini that showed too much thigh).

“If Arias was my daughter,” bench coach Joe Maddon said, “I wouldn’t allow him out with that on.”

On to Texas, uh, men.