Angels Put Martinez In Jeopardy Anaheim Registers 18-3 Victory To Seal Veteran Pitcher’s Fate

It was not the way he wanted it to end, although Dennis Martinez realized weeks ago that his dreams and his abilities were no longer on the same path.

After 241 victories and more pitches than a man could keep track of, Martinez faced the moment he knew would come and had spent the past two months trying to avoid - the moment he could not get a struggling major league hitter out.

Wednesday night, in what likely was his last start for the Seattle Mariners, Martinez was tagged with an ignominious 18-3 loss to the Anaheim Angels, who chased him with seven runs before the game was two innings old.

And when he looks back at the soft line drives, the bloops and the walks that marked what likely was his final start for Seattle, Martinez will know precisely when the end came.

The game was tied at 1 after the first inning, and Martinez gave up two singles and a walk to load the bases to open the second inning. At the plate was shortstop Gary DiSarcina, waiting with a bat and a .234 average, and Martinez quickly jumped in front in the count, 0-2.

And couldn’t put DiSarcina away.

No balls, two strikes - and Martinez couldn’t get the out. He threw a ball out of the strike zone, then another. And on a 2-2 pitch, DiSarcina lined a clean single to right field that put the Angels ahead for good, 3-1.

The scoring didn’t stop there. Martinez couldn’t get out of the inning and by the time reliever Mark Holzemer did, Seattle trailed 7-1.

Lou Piniella had watched it crumble from the dugout. Pacing early on, running a hand through his graying hair, finally flinging a wad of gum into the night and heading toward the mound to remove Martinez.

It wasn’t that he was being hammered - the Angels weren’t banging balls off the fences, were not even crushing line drives. But they were getting good wood on virtually everything Martinez threw, good enough to softly single over the heads of infielders.

When a man has made his living getting outs for more than 20 years and suddenly cannot, a major league mound is no place to hide. Two weeks ago, Piniella promised Martinez two more starts before re-evaluating his future.

Martinez has gone 0-2 in those two games and in this one he faced 14 batters. Ten of them reached base safely, and two of the four outs he recorded came on a sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly.

A proud man who was the first Nicaraguan to make the big leagues, Martinez needed two more victories to tie Hall of Famer Juan Marichal for the most victories by a Latin-born pitcher. Only 44 men in major league history won more games.

If he ever wins another, it will likely come in a new uniform.

For the Mariners, now 45 games into the season, Martinez is a problem easily handled - an experiment that failed. Of far more critical concern are issues not so easily resolved.

Pushed to his limit by Russ Davis’ struggles at third base, Piniella inserted veteran Mike Blowers at third, tried Edgar Martinez at first base and put Davis in the game as the designated hitter. The result? Blowers made a throwing error and Martinez wasn’t able to lay his glove on the ball in the dirt, and it caromed off his leg.

If that’s not enough for Piniella to worry about, Alex Rodriguez and Jay Buhner also committed errors - for Buhner, his first in 174 games.

Along with the league’s worst defense, Piniella must deal with a bullpen that has imploded. Scott Sanders returned to relief and quickly gave up two more home runs and has now yielded 11 homers in 37-2/3 innings. Bob Wells followed Sanders and gave up five runs in the sixth inning. Josias Manzanillo followed Wells and gave up a home run to Craig Grebeck - his first of the season.

Lost in the swirl of poor pitching was another home run by Buhner, his third in as many nights, and an RBI single by Joey Cora, who extended his hitting streak to 17 consecutive games.

Such numbers tend to get overlooked when a team falls from first place by losing seven of 10 games, as the Mariners have. The Mariners now find themselves tied for second place in the A.L. West with Anaheim, 1 games behind the Rangers.

Langston out

Angels pitcher Mark Langston will miss at least one start because of inflammation is his left elbow, the second time that has sidelined him this season.

Angels 18, Mariners 3 Seattle AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Amaral lf-cf 5 0 0 0 0 1 .308 ARodriguez ss 3 0 1 0 0 1 .320 Espinoza ss 1 0 0 0 0 0 .231 Griffey Jr cf 2 0 0 0 1 1 .337 Ducey cf-rf 1 0 0 0 0 1 .214 EMartinez 1b 4 0 1 0 0 1 .320 Buhner rf 3 2 2 1 0 1 .226 Gates lf 1 0 0 0 0 0 .245 Blowers 3b 4 1 2 0 0 1 .233 DaWilson c 3 0 0 0 0 1 .304 Marzano c 1 0 1 0 0 0 .278 RDavis dh 4 0 1 1 0 1 .283 Cora 2b 4 0 2 1 0 0 .351 Totals 36 3 10 3 1 9

Anaheim AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Phillips rf 3 2 1 0 2 0 .300 Erstad 1b 6 2 2 3 0 0 .290 Hollins 3b 3 1 2 3 1 1 .314 1-Grebeck pr-3b 1 2 1 1 0 0 .211 Edmonds cf 4 3 3 2 0 0 .317 a-OPalmeiro ph-cf 1 1 0 0 1 0 .212 Leyritz c 5 1 2 0 1 1 .328 GAnderson lf 6 1 3 1 0 0 .362 Howell dh 5 2 1 1 1 1 .359 Alicea 2b 5 1 2 2 1 1 .288 DiSarcina ss 6 2 4 4 0 0 .252 Totals 45 18 21 17 7 4

Seattle 010 101 000 - 3

Anaheim 160 235 10x - 18

a-safe on error for Edmonds in the 6th.

1-ran for Hollins in the 6th.

E-ARodriguez (9), Buhner (1), Blowers (2). LOB-Seattle 7, Anaheim 12. 2B-Blowers (2), Hollins (6), Edmonds (10), DiSarcina 2 (10). 3B-Hollins (1). HR-Grebeck (1) off Manzanillo; Buhner (8) off CFinley; Howell (3) off SSanders; Edmonds (10) off SSanders. RBIs-Buhner (27), RDavis (19), Cora (20), Erstad 3 (24), Hollins 3 (24), Grebeck (3), Edmonds 2 (32), GAnderson (22), Howell (8), Alicea 2 (13), DiSarcina 4 (17). SB-Phillips (5), Erstad 2 (9). S-Phillips. SF-Hollins. GIDP-Griffey Jr.

Runners left in scoring position-Seattle 2 (Amaral 2); Anaheim 8 (Erstad 2, Hollins 2, Leyritz, GAnderson, Howell, DiSarcina).

DP-Anaheim 1 (Alicea, DiSarcina and Erstad).

Seattle IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA DeMartinez L,1-5 1-2/3 7 7 7 2 0 50 7.71 Holzemer 2 3 2 2 2 2 41 4.91 SSanders 1-1/3 3 3 3 2 0 38 7.45 BWells 1 6 5 3 0 1 34 9.72 Manzanillo 1 2 1 1 1 0 22 5.84 Charlton 1 0 0 0 0 1 15 5.84

Anaheim IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA CFinley W,23 7 7 3 3 1 7 105 4.87 Hasegawa 2 3 0 0 0 2 35 5.70

Inherited runners-scored-Holzemer 2-1, SSanders 3-2.

T-3:18. A-20,295 (34,687).