It’s Wild, This Race M’S Are In Mariners Load Up For Wild Card Run, Then Find Themselves In A Pennant Race

Six games from the end of a season that could produce their first pennant, the Seattle Mariners may win the division championship because they were willing to spend money to remain wild-card contenders.

Two months ago, not even an optimist held out much hope that the Mariners - still without Ken Griffey Jr., and with Bill Krueger and Salomon Torres part of their starting rotation - were going to catch the California Angels in the American League West.

On July 29, a loss to Cleveland dropped the Mariners a full 10 games behind the Angels. General manager Woody Woodward had already gone to team CEO John Ellis and laid out the last, best hope for a franchise that had never been close to a postseason.

“I told John that these chances only came along so many times, and we ought to roll the dice and go after a pitcher,” Woodward said. “John listened, consulted with ownership and said ‘Go get a pitcher.”’

The next day, the Mariners traded Ron Villone and Marc Newfield to San Diego for Andy Benes. Two weeks later, the Mariners traded Jim Converse to Kansas City for Vince Coleman.

By the time Benes made his first start for the Mariners on Aug. 3, Seattle was 13 games behind the Angels. The day they got Coleman, Aug. 14, they were 11-1/2 games out.

What Woodward and manager Lou Piniella pitched to ownership wasn’t a pennant race, it was a wild-card race - believing if they stayed in one, they might creep back into the other.

“Without the wild card, I doubt ownership would have committed to spending more money,” Woodward said. “In fact, it might have gone the other way - we might have had to move salary, trade away players.”

Tonight, when Benes opens Seattle’s two-game series with California in the Kingdome, he’ll take a 6-1 record to the mound. Leading off for the Mariners will be left fielder Coleman, who has a .301 batting average since his acquisition.

Seattle will open the series with a two-game lead on the Angels with six games to play.

“Where would we have found a pitcher who was going to go 6-1 down the stretch for us?” Piniella asked. “We needed a pitcher, the teams we were contending with were going after help and ownership let us go after people.”

Seattle inquired about Benes, about Toronto’s David Cone, about Detroit’s David Wells, about Chicago’s Jim Abbott.

Abbott went to the Angels. Cone to the Yankees. Wells to Cincinnati.

Hours before the July 31 trading deadline, the Mariners got Benes.

“We went to ownership this spring and asked them to let us keep this team together,” Woodward said. “I made my pitch and then Lou talked to them, and Lou probably did more of a selling job. And for the first time in my seven years here, not only did ownership agree to let us keep what we had, it let us add - we traded for Tim Belcher.”

As the trading deadline neared, however, the Mariners had only legitimate wild card dreams floating in their heads. California was hot and Seattle faced major problems.

Randy Johnson’s left shoulder was ailing - after his Aug. 1 start, he missed 10 days with tendinitis. Griffey was on the disabled list with a shattered left wrist and at least 2-1/2 weeks away from playing again.

The wild card.”The wild card race did a lot this season for fans, for teams and for players,” Piniella said. “It gave fans another race. It gave teams a shot at the playoffs that otherwise seemed out of it by August - like us. And it led to trades that never would have been made without the wild card.”

Given permission to pursue two late trades, the Mariners got Benes and Coleman. Griffey returned and, after another bout with tendinitis, Johnson picked up where he left off.

Seattle is 9-1 in Benes’ first 10 starts. Coleman has been an impact leadoff hitter.Griffey then won the game with a dramatic two-out, two-run home run. He played a key role in an Aug. 24 win, and the Mariners have gone 21-8 since then.

“We’re in the position teams want to be in this time of year,” Piniella said, “in that we control our own destiny. If we win our games, no one can catch us. And we’re in that position because of what happened two months ago.

“We focused on the wild card race, and I told this team ‘Don’t worry about the division race. If we do well in the wild card, the division race might tighten up.’ But our focus had to be the wild card race.”

And now? Piniella beamed.

“Now, it’s different,” he said. “Now it is a pennant race.”