Mariners in Race, Not Runaway

The Seattle Mariners didn’t have to travel to Southern California for an interleague weekend series with the Padres to hear the Angel footsteps more clearly.

After all, as Lou Piniella tells it in the visiting manager’s office here, he had insisted all spring that the Angels were the American League West’s most improved team, that his team knew it was unlikely to play at a 116-win pace again and that the division shaped up to be the tough race it has become, which is “the way it should be and is great for baseball.”

How great it is for Piniella’s blood pressure is another matter.

The mid-June reality is that the Angels, 41 games behind the Mariners last year, were only one behind through Friday and already had Piniella thinking about his strategy when the teams next meet.

“I’ll tell you this,” the Seattle manager said, “if that David Eckstein comes up with the bases loaded, he’ll get walked intentionally. I’ll give up the run and go to the next guy.”

Piniella laughed, but who knows?

The 5-foot-8 Angel shortstop has three home runs and a triple when batting with the bases loaded this season, growing in size, strength and stature.

His team was 10 1/2 games behind the Mariners on April 23, and it looked like a sequel to 2001.

The Angels were 6-14, the Mariners 17-4.

Since then, the Angels began the weekend having played at a .744 pace, the Mariners .511, and roaring up behind the Angels were the Oakland A’s, who were five games behind Seattle after winning eight in a row through Friday.

Footsteps?

“If you’re hearing footsteps in June, you’ve got a problem,” veteran Mariner Mark McLemore said. “The only thing that matters is where you are on Sept. 30. They don’t hand out trophies in June, and everybody on this team knows that.

“I mean, last year was last year and this year is this year. We’re not surprised that it’s a two- or three-team race, and we’re not disappointed. We’d like to be playing a little better, but it’s not like we’re 10 games behind and looking up.”

Indeed.

As torrid as the Angels have been, the Mariners were still in first place as they arrived in San Diego, boasted the league’s third-best record and were on a pace to win 100 games, which might not be 116 but still represents a challenge to the Angels and A’s.

In addition, the Mariners have had to battle through the extended absences of three key players--Hall of Fame-caliber designated hitter Edgar Martinez, who was activated Friday after having surgery for a ruptured knee tendon on April 13; starting pitcher Paul Abbott, who was 17-4 last year and should be activated next week after going on the disabled list May 5 for a shoulder inflammation, and right-handed set-up man Jeff Nelson, who is also about a week away after having elbow surgery on May 10.

“Looking at it realistically,” said Piniella, “we’ve lost more valuable pieces than any team in the division, and not just for short periods, either.

“We said going into the season that one thing we had to do was stay healthy. We don’t have the depth we’ve had at some points in the past.

“I mean, ours and the Angel statistics mirror each other, but the one difference is they’ve stayed healthy and we haven’t.”

The Friday mirror showed that the Angels and Mariners had the same fielding percentage, the same earned-run average and were virtually tied or in close proximity in virtually every offensive category.

Now, however, the return of Martinez (“you feel guilty when you’re sitting and watching and your team is losing,” the DH said) should bolster what Piniella, forced to juggle, described as the “crossword puzzle” of a lineup.

It’s a lineup in which Ichiro Suzuki is on his way to a second straight batting title but Bret Boone (on pace for 20 homers and 100 runs batted in after hitting 37 with 141 RBI last year), Mike Cameron (despite those four homers in one game) and Jeff Cirillo have all been inconsistent.

Similarly, Abbott’s return should bolster a rotation in which Freddy Garcia and Jamie Moyer are a combined 15-6 and Joel Pineiro, in his first full season, is 5-3 with a 3.10 ERA, but the Mariners have otherwise struggled trying to replace the 32 wins and 379 innings that Abbott and Aaron Sele, now with the Angels, produced last season.

General Manager Pat Gillick has been scouring the market for a starting pitcher--he would settle for a hitter--but teams are reluctant to give up a front-line player this early in the season, and Gillick, who has said he would trade anyone except Suzuki (“it would also take a hell of a deal to get Garcia”), can’t take his $90-million payroll much higher, although the Mariners are expected to draw more than 3.5 million fans.

Piniella reflected on the status of the race in the West and said he is convinced that the Mariners, Angels and A’s can reach the playoffs only by winning the division because the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox are both likely to compile better records in the less competitive East, the runner-up capturing the wild card.

“As far as last year’s pace,” he said of the Mariners’ 116 wins, “we knew that wouldn’t happen again. I mean, it happens ... what, once every century? Our objective was to get off to a good start, and we did. Since then, we’ve been treading water, but we should be at full strength again by the All-Star break.

“I made the point in the spring that it would be a tough race and the Angels were the most improved team in the division. They added two veteran starting pitchers and a full-time DH and we knew Tim Salmon and Darin Erstad wouldn’t have two off years in a row. Look at their personnel. They probably have the deepest starting pitching in the division, a legitimate closer and an offense that can beat you with both power and creativity.”

They also have that slugging shortstop Piniella is fearful of pitching to with the bases loaded.