With A Mighty Swing Of The Bat, Blowers Kisses Recent Slump Goodbye

Mike Blowers was patient long enough. It was time to start swinging.

“Against New York, I wasn’t as aggressive as I needed to be,” he said. “So I knew I had to be more aggressive this series.

He was that indeed, hitting a two-run homer Tuesday night that helped send the Seattle Mariners to a 3-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians in an A.L. playoff opener.

“Against the pitchers when you get to this stage of the season, you’re not going to be successful if you’re too patient up at the plate,” Blowers said.

Blowers was 3 for 18, all singles, in the Mariners’ first-round victory over the Yankees that ended in Game 5 Sunday night.

On Tuesday night, he kept reminding himself of that in his first at-bat in the second inning with Jay Buhner aboard.

There were two outs, the count was 1-1, when Blowers found a Dennis Martinez fastball to his liking. He hit it 417 feet over the center-field fence. Still, he wasn’t sure if Kenny Lofton was going to pull off a miracle catch. Lofton leaped high, his body hanging over the fence, but couldn’t snare it.

“With Kenny out there, you never know,” Blowers said. “He’s taken so many hits away from me I wasn’t really sure until I rounded second. What a relief that was.”

Hitting seventh behind Buhner, he studied and timed Martinez’s pitches while Buhner was at bat.

“I felt like Dennis was going to go after me with two outs,” said Blowers, who had 23 homers and 96 RBIs this season.

“So I knew I was going to hack at it if I got a pitch to hit. I just wanted to put a good swing on a fastball and, fortunately for me, I did.”

Blowers’ home run - his first since Sept. 18 against Texas at the Kingdome - gave rookie Bob Wolcott a 2-0 lead after Wolcott struggled in the first two innings, walking the bases loaded in the first.

“When you ask a Bob Wolcott to start a game like that, you’re putting a lot of pressure on his shoulders,” Blowers said. “So anything you can do to help him is such a big plus.”