Mariners Have A Magic Number: It’s 5
Lou Piniella is emphatic.
“We haven’t won anything yet,” the Seattle Mariners’ third-year manager said.
No, but they’re getting close.
When the Mariners play California in the Kingdome today and Wednesday, they will be in position to virtually close out the Angels and move within one victory of wrapping up the American League West.
With six games to go, the Mariners hold a two-game lead over the Angels, who appeared to have the division wrapped up at the start of September.
The Mariners overtook the Angels because a California collapse came at the same time Seattle is playing the best baseball in the team’s 19-year history. Seattle has won 21 of its last 29 games.
“We’ve been playing well,” Piniella said. “We’ve been playing with a lot of intensity. We’ve been hitting the ball well. We’ve been getting the good pitching.”
But he cautioned, “there’s nothing to get euphoric about yet. We’ve got some work to do.”
The Mariners will pitch Andy Benes (6-1) against Shawn Boskie (7-6) today and Tim Belcher (10-10) against Mark Langston (15-6) on Wednesday.
For the first time, the M’s have a magic number. Any combination of Seattle wins and Angels defeats that total five would give the Mariners their first division title.
After the Angels, Seattle winds up the regular season with a four-game series in Arlington, Texas, against the Rangers.
The Mariners have caught the city’s fancy. For the three-game weekend Oakland series, crowds of 51,500, 54,589 and 46,714 crammed the Kingdome.
“There’s a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of excitement, a lot of anticipation,” Piniella said. “If there was a doubt about Seattle not being a viable major-league city, I think this should remove it.”
The Mariners have been particularly hot at home. They’ve won 14 of their last 16 games in the Kingdome, scoring 121 runs in those 16 games with 35 home runs.
Edgar Martinez is hitting .355 and will win his second A.L. batting title after two injury-filled years. He has 29 homers and 111 RBIs. Jay Buhner, Tino Martinez and Mike Blowers are having career years, too.
Randy Johnson, who is 16-2 and a leading Cy Young contender, won the A.L. player of the week award after going 2-0 with a 0.59 ERA and 25 strike outs in 16 innings. He leads the league with a 2.56 ERA and tops the majors in strikeouts for a fourth straight year with 275 .
And Ken Griffey Jr., Seattle’s six-time All-Star, is back in form after coming back from a broken wrist Aug. 15.
“Right now, they are really hot,” said reliever Rick Honeycutt, a former Mariners pitcher, who was acquired by the Yankees from the A’s on Monday. “They’ve put the pieces together.”
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