Living On Edge Has M’S Feeling Far From Sharp

After living close to the edge of disaster for more than four months, the Seattle Mariners took a long step in the wrong direction - resulting in an August plunge that may have mortally wounded their postseason ambitions.

For those who look at the team’s record in its last nine games (1-8) and ask “Why?” the Mariners’ response might be the old laugh-line epitaph: “I told you I was sick.”

Few would have been surprised had this slump come in May, when the team lost Randy Johnson. Or in June, when the Mariners lost Ken Griffey Jr. Or in July, when Seattle lost Edgar Martinez. “That last homestand reminded me of a long-distance runner who cramps up in the first mile,” one American League scout said. “He keeps telling himself if he can just get to that last mile, and by the time he gets there he’s exhausted himself fighting through the cramps.

“The Mariners shouldn’t have been within a game of Texas - not with all the injuries. I think everybody believed when they got healthy they’d blow past the Rangers. What happened? They exhausted themselves just staying close.”

Manager Lou Piniella doesn’t disagree with the analogy.

“We’ve been dancing close to the edge for months, trying to stay close in the division, stay close in the wild-card race,” Piniella said. “The tank has been on empty for a couple of weeks, and when we went to the reserve tank, there was nothing there.”

The strain is beginning to show most in the Seattle offense, which even the team’s pitchers acknowledge had kept the Mariners close in the A.L. West.

“If we hadn’t scored six runs a game in the first half, how many games would we have won?” asked Norm Charlton. “Put it another way - how many times have we won this season when we didn’t score at least four runs?” The answer: five times.

What has happened since the All-Star break is that some hitters, such as All-Star catcher Dan Wilson and first baseman Paul Sorrento, have seen their production decline. That’s hardly without precedent - both at one point in July were hitting more than 50 points above their career averages.

Then the team lost cleanup hitter Martinez to cracked ribs, and saw Johnson’s late July return delayed again.

When the seven-game losing streak began against Cleveland last week, former Seattle shortstop Omar Vizquel was asked to evaluate the Mariners.

“They’re a good team, but no one in baseball could lose players like Randy and Junior and Edgar and win,” he said. “You can lose one key player, but nobody can lose two and be the same. They lost three - their two best hitters, their best pitcher. You can’t replace those guys.”

A year ago, the Mariners survived the loss of Griffey for half a season, in large part because of career seasons by Johnson, Jay Buhner, Tino Martinez, Mike Blowers, Charlton and an MVP-type year from The Edgar.

They also had a bench that produced, and Piniella’s handling of the team resulted in his winning the A.L. Manager of the Year award.

Has he gotten dumber in a year?

He has lost some of those clutch bats from a year ago and some of the players he has to call upon - players who did the job in 1995 - haven’t been nearly as successful this season. And that has applied even more pressure on a lineup decimated by injury.

A year ago, Luis Sojo batted .289. This season, he’s hitting .215.

A year ago, Doug Strange batted .271. This season, he’s batting .234.

A year ago, Alex Diaz had a marvelous season defensively and batted .248. This season, he’s been on the disabled list twice, unavailable most of the time and batted .218.

In the bullpen, the Mariners have been plagued by similar drop-offs. Charlton set a team record with a 1.50 earned run average in ‘95 - it’s 5.26 this season. When they signed free agent Mike Jackson, the Mariners thought they had the setup man whose ERA last season was 2.39. This year, Jackson has been inconsistent and that ERA is 4.10.

The team earned run average last season was 4.50. This year, including the numbers of all 24 pitchers Seattle has used, the staff ERA is 5.39.

“They’ve used as many pitchers as Detroit this season,” one Royals coach said this week. “Teams that have to spend the regular season filling in, searching for answers, don’t usually contend - they rebuild.”

“The hardest part of managing this club this year,” joked Piniella last week, “has been making out the lineup every day. You’ve got to ask ‘Who’s hurt?’ before you start. We’ve lost our third baseman, our shortstop, our center fielder, our designated hitter. We’ve had to go without Randy Johnson, without Chris Bosio, without Bobby Ayala and Charlton and Sterling Hitchcock … “Every time we’d start to get healthy, someone else would go down. Look at this team - I’ve had five regulars most of the season on our best days. We’ve had to platoon at first, use everybody at third base. When Joey struggled against left-handed pitchers early, we platooned at second base. How many guys have we used in left field?”

The bottom line? The toll of injuries, inconsistent offense and poor pitching finally seems to have caught a team that has been trying all season to outrun reality.

“What more could I ask from guys like Buhner and Edgar and Junior and Alex (Rodriguez) and Danny Wilson?” Piniella said. “Guys like Cora and Richie Amaral, Sorrento and Bob Wells? They’ve given all they have all year.”

“Pick any team in baseball and take their best three players away,” Vizquel said. “What happens? I don’t see anyone over there who’s quit. They could have won two of the three games against us. But when you’re short-handed, bad things keep happening and the frustration grows. Sooner or later, it breaks down.”