Mariners Bats Became Strangely Silent Fine Pitching Stops Powerful Hitting As Usual

Maybe the Mariners used up all their big hits in the regular season.

This much is certain: the Seattle team that regularly pounded the other guys just wasn’t the same in the playoffs.

The Mariners won 90 games for the first time, hit a major league record 264 home runs and scored more runs than any team in baseball. In their 3-1 A.L. division series loss to the Baltimore Orioles, they scored just 11 runs and managed only three homers in the final three games.

“It’s going to be a long winter, no doubt about it,” third baseman Mike Blowers said after Sunday’s 3-1 loss. “Good pitching usually beats good hitting. They’ve got a lot of it over there.”

Ken Griffey Jr., who hit .304 with 56 homers in the regular season, went hitless Sunday and 2 for 15 (.133) in the series without a homer. He wasn’t alone - Edgar Martinez hit .188, Jay Buhner batted .231 and Joey Cora went 3 for 17 (.176).

Then there was Dan Wilson, who was 0 for 13 with nine strikeouts.

“We just didn’t do what we wanted. We didn’t hit the ball,” Griffey said.

The Orioles just weren’t going to let Griffey beat them, and his numbers at the plate indicate they did a pretty darn good job of it.

“They didn’t give in to him, that’s for sure,” Seattle manager Lou Piniella said. “They kept the ball away from him most of the time and once in a while they ran it off the plate. Even when they were behind in the count, they pitched him very carefully.”

Buhner said the Mariners’ successful regular season, combined with their playoff disappointment, left him with a “bittersweet” feeling.

“We did a great job all year long. It was just unfortunate that we got in here and they shut us down. That’s why they won 98 some games,” he said.

“We knew coming that we were facing three tough pitchers. I expected it to be a tough battle,” he said. “But the first two got away from us.”

By failing to win either of the first two games at the Kingdome - dropping both by 9-3 scores - the Mariners were put in a position of having to win three straight at Camden Yards. No team in baseball has ever won the final three games of a division series on the road, and the Mariners weren’t up to the task.

But when Griffey looks back at the 1997 season, he expects to think first about the Mariners’ success from April to September rather than their failure in October.

“This is a bonus to get into a situation where you can play in the playoffs and go on to the World Series,” he said. “What we did in the regular season doesn’t mean anything here. You can’t take away our season with this. This is totally different. We had a great season. We just didn’t finish like we wanted to.”

While the Orioles doused each other with champagne in their clubhouse, the Mariners were thinking about the long trip home.

Backup catcher John Marzano was crying at his locker. Alex Rodriguez sat motionless, staring at his cubicle before rising and hugging each teammate. Paul Spoljaric, who gave up a key hit in Game 2, was near tears as players said goodbye.

“We had high expectations. Coming out of spring training we felt like we were good enough to win the West and to hopefully move through the playoffs,” Blowers said. “Although we knew Baltimore was going to be a tough task, we’re all very disappointed we didn’t get through this series.”