AL West Shootout Down to a Runoff

The Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics spent Saturday afternoon throwing haymakers at their opponents, combining for 44 runs and 46 hits and adding new meaning to the term West Coast offense, but at the end of the day, neither team had its arm raised by the referee.

The Mariners battered the Angels, 21-9, before a crowd of 35,238 in Edison Field, and the A’s pummeled Texas, 23-2, at Network Associates Coliseum in Oakland. For all the activity on the basepaths in the two stadiums, the American League West and wild-card standings stood still.

Entering the final day of the regular season--at least for Seattle and Cleveland--the A’s (90-70) remained half a game ahead of the Mariners (90-71) in the West, and the Mariners remained a game ahead of Cleveland (89-72) in the wild card after the Indians’ 6-5 win over Toronto.

The Mariners play the Angels, the A’s play the Rangers, and the Indians play the Blue Jays today. Oakland will travel to Tampa Bay for a makeup game Monday if necessary.

Numerous playoff scenarios could emerge from today’s games, but for the Mariners and A’s it can be reduced to simple terms: Win today, and both go to the playoffs. A Cleveland loss would also send Seattle and Oakland to the postseason.

“Now, it’s down to the final day,” Seattle Manager Lou Piniella said. “It’s amazing how you play 162 games in a season and you still have work to do on the final day.”

Actually, this will not be the final day for the Mariners, because no matter what happens, they are assured of extending their season beyond game No. 162 with a one-game playoff to determine the division or wild-card winner or a division series game.

“Oakland may have to take a long ride to Tampa Bay . . . maybe not, I don’t know, I don’t think so . . . who cares?” Piniella said. “I don’t want to hear any of the scenarios. All I know is I packed for seven days, and I want to use all of my clothes.”

You’d need a six-piece luggage set to store all the hits and runs the Mariners amassed Saturday. They raked six Angel pitchers for 22 hits, including five home runs, and they scored in eight of the nine innings, including five in both the sixth and seventh innings.

Shortstop Alex Rodriguez, who may have lost the AL most-valuable-player award to Oakland’s Jason Giambi in the last 10 days, broke out of a three-for-29 slump with four hits, including two home runs, and a career-high seven runs batted in. First baseman John Olerud added four hits and five RBIs.

Rodriguez sparked the offense with a two-run homer against Angel starter Tim Belcher in the first, and he had a three-run homer, his 40th, against Kent Mercker in the sixth. His 131 RBIs are a career high.

Edgar Martinez, Jay Buhner and David Bell also homered for Seattle. The Angels set a franchise record for runs allowed, breaking the previous mark of 20, set on July 8, 1990, at Milwaukee. The 4-hour 2-minute hit-fest was the longest nine-inning home game in Angel history.

“When [Rodriguez] is swinging the bat well, you know he’s going to be on base and driving in runs,” Olerud said. “He’s such a big part of our offense that when he struggles, it’s real noticeable. By him having a big game, it takes some pressure off the rest of our lineup.”

The Angels hammered the Mariners, 9-3, Friday night, and they put up a bit of a fight Saturday when Troy Glaus hit his league-leading 47th homer in the third, a two-run shot that pulled the Angels to within 4-2.

And after falling behind, 11-2, the Angels rallied for four runs in the sixth before left-hander Arthur Rhodes relieved Jose Mesa and retired the dangerous Darin Erstad on an inning-ending fielder’s choice with runners on first and second.

Erstad almost knocked Mariner starter John Halama out in the first inning when he lined a single off Halama’s right knee, but the left-hander remained in the game and went 5 2/3 innings, giving up five runs--two earned--and five hits to improve to 14-9.

“I was scared, because he’s a big-game pitcher, a winner, and he finds a way to get people out,” Rodriguez said. “For him to stay in the game and pitch with a lot of pain was a big lift for us.”

The heavy work continues today.

PLAYOFF SCENARIOS

AMERICAN LEAGUE

DIVISION LEADERS

* Central: Chicago (95-66)

* West: Oakland (90-70)

* East: New York (87-73)

WILD CARD

* Seattle (90-71)

IF SEASON ENDED TODAY

Seattle at Chicago

New York at Oakland

LATE OFFENSIVE

Oakland maintained its half-game lead over Seattle with a 23-2 victory over Texas, the most runs in Oakland franchise history. D6

*

NATIONAL LEAGUE

DIVISION WINNERS

* West: San Francisco (96-65)

* East: Atlanta (95-66)

* Central: St. Louis (94-67)

WILD CARD

* New York (93-68)

THE MATCHUPS

St. Louis vs. Atlanta

New York at San Francisco

STILL WAITING

San Francisco’s 5-1 loss to the Diamondbacks prevented the Giants from clinching home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. D5