Martinez Rocks Sox

The question was simple. If you were defensing Edgar Martinez, what kind of a shift would you use?

Lou Piniella thought a moment.

“You’d start with five outfielders,” he said. “And maybe six infielders.”

Constrained by the rules of the game, the Chicago White Sox were forced to use nine men against Martinez on Sunday, and as the American League has discovered, nine is rarely enough.

Martinez’s three-run double - an opposite-field bullet just inside the first-base line in the fourth inning - brought Seattle from behind again, and when the pitching of Blas Minor, Lee Guetterman and Mike Jackson made a one-run lead hold up the final three innings, the Mariners had beaten Chicago, 7-6.

“I should say that nothing Edgar does surprises me,” Piniella said. “But occasionally he still does. He’s one of the few hitters in baseball who can hit the ball as hard down the right-field line as he does down the left-field line, and he can hit the ball out to any field. He’s amazing.”

Which is what the White Sox felt about this three-game series after losing twice. Amazing - Chicago led in all three games and came away feeling lucky to get one victory.

“That team just keeps coming at you,” Robin Ventura said.

Usually, it has to, and Sunday was no different.

Seattle trailed 1-0 in the second inning, and with a Kingdome crowd of 34,588 stirring restlessly, starter Bob Wells gave up a three-run home run to … Ozzie Guillen? The shortstop’s second home run of the year had enough juice to get into the second deck in right field, and when he’d circled the bases, Seattle was behind, 4-0.

But not for long. As befitting a team that has had to come from behind in 19 of its 36 victories this season, the Mariners commenced rallying almost before Guillen’s home run stopped rattling around in the seats.

And for the first time in what seemed to him to be a long time, Rich Amaral was part of it.

Amaral singled to lead off the third inning - the first of his three hits - then stole the first of two bases. Ken Griffey Jr. blooped a single into center field, with Amaral stopping at third base. Martinez scored him with a fly ball.

An inning later, Joe Magrane collapsed. Leading 4-1, he walked Andy Sheets, hit John Marzano and then walked Manny Martinez, a rookie still looking for his first big-league hit, to load the bases.

Amaral singled home two runs and, with two outs, Chicago walked Griffey to load the bases again.

Martinez walked to the plate, took a couple of pitches and then rifled his 35th double of the year into the right field corner to put Seattle ahead, 6-4.

Mariners 7, White Sox 6

Chicago AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Phillips lf 5 0 0 0 0 2 .311 DLewis cf 4 0 0 0 0 3 .257 c-Martin ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .400 FThomas 1b 5 0 1 0 0 1 .347 Baines dh 3 1 2 0 1 0 .318 Ventura 3b 4 1 1 1 0 0 .276 DaMartinez rf 4 1 2 0 0 1 .350 Kreuter c 4 1 2 2 0 1 .220 Durham 2b 2 1 2 0 2 0 .280 Guillen ss 4 1 2 3 0 0 .279 Totals 36 6 12 6 3 8

Seattle AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Amaral lf-cf 5 2 3 2 0 1 .234 ARodriguez ss 4 1 1 0 0 0 .357 Griffey Jr dh-cf 4 1 2 0 1 1 .304 EMartinez 1b 3 1 2 4 1 0 .359 Jackson p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —- BRHunter rf-lf-1b 3 0 1 1 1 0 .395 Sojo 2b 3 0 0 0 0 0 .218 b-Cora ph-2b 1 0 0 0 0 0 .257 Sheets 3b 3 1 2 0 1 0 .267 Marzano c 3 1 0 0 0 0 .206 MMartinez cf 1 0 0 0 1 0 .000 a-Bragg ph-rf 2 0 1 0 0 0 .280 Totals 32 7 12 7 5 2

Chicago 040 002 000 - 6 12 0 Seattle 001 600 00x - 7 12 1

a-grounded out for M.Martinez in the 5th. b-flied out for Sojo in the 6th. c-grounded out for Lewis in the 9th. E-BRHunter (2). LOBChicago 6, Seattle 9. 2B-Kreuter (6), EMartinez 2 (36). HR-Ventura (14) off BWells; Guillen (2) off BWells. RBIsVentura (42), Kreuter 2 (13), Guillen 3 (22), Amaral 2 (12), EMartinez 4 (60), BRHunter (9). SB- DaMartinez (6), Amaral 2 (5). S-ARodriguez. SFEMartinez. GIDPPhillips, Ventura, Griffey Jr.

Runners left in scoring position-Chicago 3 (Phillips 2, Ventura); Seattle 4 (Amaral, EMartinez, BRHunter, Cora).

Runners moved up-ARodriguez, Bragg.

DP-Chicago 1 (Keyser, Guillen and FThomas); Seattle 2 (Sojo, ARodriguez and EMartinez), (Cora, ARodriguez and EMartinez).

Chicago IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Magrane L,1-4 3-2/3 6 7 7 4 1 84 6.47 Keyser 3-2/3 6 0 0 1 0 49 2.85 LThomas 1/3 0 0 0 0 1 5 3.06 McCaskill 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 3 6.58

Seattle IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA BWells W,7-1 5-1/3 7 6 6 2 6 107 3.28 Hurtado 0 2 0 0 1 0 12 7.48 Minor 1 1 0 0 0 0 9 13.50 Guetterman 1 1 0 0 0 1 9 5.40 MJackson S,3 2/3 1 0 0 0 0 12 5.16

Hurtado pitched to 3 batters in the 6th.

Inherited runners-scored-Keyser 1-1, LThomas 1-0, McCaskill 1-0, Hurtado 1-1, Minor 3-0, Guetterman 1-0.

IBBoff Keyser (BRHunter) 1. HBPby Magrane (Marzano).

T-3:11. A-34,588 (59,166).