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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Piniella Hints Angels Have Edge

Larry Larue Tacoma News Tribune

Surrounded by the Boston press, manager Lou Piniella could have taken the easy way out Tuesday. He didn’t.

Asked to pick the best of the three division-leading and presumed division-winning teams in the American League, Piniella insisted he was being honest, not diplomatic, when he swore he couldn’t pick the best of those three teams.

“They are, without question, the three best teams in this league,” Piniella said of Cleveland, Boston and California. “No one else is close. I remember telling (Angels owner) Gene Autry in May, ‘This team of yours is better than people think,’ but I didn’t think they’d be 20-25 games above .500.

“All three teams have the same essentials - power, speed and pitching. Left-handed pitching might give the Angels a slight edge, but I couldn’t pick a winner. They all match up very well.”

Over the course of a long season, Piniella said, none of the wild card contenders would fare well against the division winners. But once the season ends, that’s a moot point.

“In a short series, a couple of hot players or pitchers can decide those short series,” Piniella said. “The team that’s hottest at the right time can play six of seven good games and be in the World Series.”

No more bunting

Andy Benes and Tim Wakefield have squared off before, but Benes probably appreciates the differences in the American League more than Wakefield. “I don’t have to bat against him here,” Benes said.

As Benes recalls it, he and Wakefield faced one another in 1993, when Benes was the San Diego ace and Wakefield threw his knuckleball for Pittsburgh. “I had to try and bunt that thing,” Benes said of Wakefield’s specialty pitch. “I put it in play and went 0 for 2.”

Notes

First baseman Greg Pirkl, having served his time in Tacoma on his rehabilitation assignment, joined the team in Boston and will work out with the Mariners for three days before Seattle activates him Friday - the day major-league rosters expand. … Expect the Mariners to make at least one and perhaps two moves Thursday, when they must finalize postseason personnel lists.