Short Season Will Cost Mariners In The Record Books
If this were a regular 162-game season, Seattle would have hit the midway point Sunday, with a handful of Mariners on pace to shatter franchise records.
In their first 18 seasons, no one in Mariners history has had more than 116 runs batted in, more than 46 doubles or more than 19 victories.
Were this a full season, Tino Martinez would project out to 144 RBIs.
Edgar Martinez would finish the year with 62 doubles.
Randy Johnson’s final win-loss record would be 20-2 and he’d strike out a team-record 352 batters - the third highest total in major-league history. Three players, Tino Martinez (144), Edgar Martinez (126) and Jay Buhner (108) would break the 100 RBIs barrier, each for the first time in his career.
It doesn’t end there. Reliever Jeff Nelson’s earned run average (1.18) is far and away the lowest of any reliever in franchise history. Bill Swift finished the ‘91 season with a 1.99 ERA out of the bullpen, the club record.
Edgar, whose .343 average in 1992 led the American League and was the best in Seattle history, is batting .363 after 80 games and his projected full-season hit total - 202 - would be 10 more than any single-season total in Mariners history. If … if … if.
The Mariners will play only 144 games this season. And they are on pace to finish at .500, a level which they have bettered only twice in the franchise’s 18 seasons.
Notes
Seattle has won nine times this season in games when the Mariners have scored three runs or fewer. Last year they won just five of those games… . In his last seven appearances, reliever Nelson has pitched 12 scoreless innings… . Though his average (.235) is 54 points lower than it was a year ago, Mike Blowers has batted .270 with seven home runs and 33 RBI in his last 51 games. … Rookie Chris Widger will probably catch in games when the opposition starts a left-handed pitcher. Dan Wilson is hitting under .200 vs. lefties this season… . Tino Martinez’s home run against David Cone on Sunday was just his third hit in 19 career at-bats against the right-hander… . Since June 6, Bob Wells has made 10 relief appearances and has a 2.00 ERA in 27 innings pitched. He doesn’t want to talk about it. “I’ve had pretty good success not talking about it, so I’m not going to start now,” Wells said. “Maybe at the end of the seaosn.”