SWEET (AND SOUR) LOU

SEATTLE —  Lou Piniella went all last winter without smoking a cigarette, and the Seattle Mariner manager made it through a stress-free spring training without lighting up, as well. But four days into the regular season, the habit came back and kicked Piniella in the pants.

It was April 5 in the Kingdome, and a 6-4 ninth-inning lead over Boston had suddenly turned into an 8-6 loss when Piniella’s closer, Norm Charlton, gave up a two-run homer to Nomar Garciaparra.

Reporters filed into the manager’s office and there was Piniella, taking a drag from his first cigarette in more than five months.

“This is not the right kind of job to quit smoking on,” Piniella said last week, recalling his early season lapse.

Little did Piniella know that he would eventually need a blindfold to go with that cigarette. The Mariner bullpen tormented Piniella all season, blowing a major league-high 27 save opportunities and getting cuffed around for a 5.48 earned-run average.

While his relievers squirmed, Piniella’s stomach churned, and the manager wore a path on the Mariner dugout floor with his late-inning pacing.

When new closer Heathcliff Slocumb walked two batters in the ninth inning with a two-run lead against Oakland last week, the television camera focused on a rare sight--Piniella actually on the bench as things began to crumble.

“Lou may be sitting down,” the announcer said, “but his stomach is still up and pacing.”

That is the kind of season it has been for Piniella, who now has the third-best winning percentage, .526, among active managers, behind Baltimore’s Davey Johnson and Atlanta’s Bobby Cox, and whose Mariners open the American League division series against Baltimore Wednesday night in Seattle.

If 1995 was “The Magical Mariner Tour,” with Seattle riding the emotion of one of baseball’s greatest comebacks to overtake the Angels for the West title and the Yankees in a dramatic, five-gave division series, then 1997 was “A Hard Day’s Night . . . after Night after Night after Night.”

The Mariners were overwhelming favorites to win the division title and were picked by many to reach the World Series, but because of their weak bullpen, they couldn’t put away the pesky Angels until last Tuesday night.

Instead of drenching Piniella in champagne after Seattle had clinched, Mariner relievers should have doused him with Pepto-Bismol.

“I don’t feel bad about what he puts up with--he’s the manager, and that’s what he’s paid for,” said Charlton, the team, uh, leader with 11 blown saves. “Then again, it’s hard for us to see him put us out there time after time and not get the job done, because he has confidence in us. I do feel bad for what he’s gone through. A lot of it falls on my shoulders, because I’ve had the worst year of my career.”

Charlton and his bullpen mates are also primarily responsible for a tradition that evolved last season. Normally candid and accessible to reporters, Piniella has taken to closing his office door after particularly tough losses, not to be seen or heard from until the next day.

“When I’m upset, I might say something foolish that I may regret later,” Piniella said. “The press has a way of asking telling questions and I have to be careful. So I just close the door, have a beer, talk with a coach or two.

“Then I’ll go home, do a crossword puzzle, read the bible or spend time with my family, and come back fresh the next day. I’ve learned more and more to leave this at the park. When I started, I was more of a what-could-I-have- done-differently kind of guy. But if you’re a worrywart, you’ll have something to worry about every day in this job.”

Piniella is hardly a zip-your-lips kind of guy, though. When he managed at Cincinnati, he once got into a clubhouse fight with reliever Rob Dibble. And this season, after left-handed reliever Mark Holzemer had walked a left-handed batter, Piniella chewed out Holzemer on the mound, for fans and television viewers to see. A few days later, Holzemer was sent down.

“He expects you to do your job, and I didn’t do it,” said Holzemer, who later was recalled. “It’s not like you don’t know where he’s coming from or where you stand. You’ll know how well you’re doing by the way he’s reacting. He wants to win every game. He does not like it when he loses.”

Mariner players, even those on the receiving end of one of Piniella’s tirades, say his explosive reactions are part of his appeal.

“The biggest thing with him is, everything is black and white--there’s no gray area,” pitcher Jamie Moyer said. “To me, that’s a breath of fresh air. If he likes or dislikes something, he tells you to your face, not behind your back. He treats you like a professional.”

Piniella manages the way he played--with passion, grit and determination. He was not one of the game’s most gifted players but he made the most of his talents, hitting .291 over 16 years with the Royals and Yankees, helping New York win World Series titles in 1977 and ’78.

Yankee owner George Steinbrenner saw something Piniella didn’t and hired him as manager in 1986. Piniella guided New York to 90-72 and 89-73 seasons in ’86 and ’87 but finished second and fourth, and you know what that gets you in the Bronx--fired.

Piniella was named Yankee general manager in October 1987, replacing his current GM, Woody Woodward, but he returned to the field midway through 1988 to replace Billy Martin as manager. He was canned again after that season.

Piniella moved on to Cincinnati in 1990, where a three-year stint included a stunning four-game sweep of Oakland in the 1990 World Series. But when owner Marge Schott dragged her feet on a contract renewal after the 1992 season, Piniella left to join Woodward in Seattle.

“A lot of people told me not to come to Seattle, that it was a big mistake,” Piniella said. “This club had no history, no tradition of winning. But I saw it as a big challenge . . . and it proved to be quite fruitful. This is a great baseball town.”

The Mariners drew 1.2 million fans in Piniella’s first season, but four years and two division titles later, Seattle topped the 3-million mark this season.

The Mariners have the game’s best all-around player in center fielder Ken Griffey, one of the best pitchers in Randy Johnson, one of the best young players in shortstop Alex Rodriguez, the league’s best designated hitter in Edgar Martinez, and a prolific power hitter in right fielder Jay Buhner.

“He has a lot to do with the types of players who are here,” Charlton said. “You heard [Dodger catcher Mike] Piazza talk about how important character is, and this is what he means. They had a bunch of superstars who weren’t playing well as a team [at the time. ].

“Lou has managed to assemble people who are not only superstars, but they have a knack for playing well together as a team. Yes, we have one of the best lineups in baseball, but Lou manages it well.”