In A Word, Tmftb Spells M’S

So The Most Feared Team in Baseball scared you to death in this first homestand, didn’t it?

The control of Scott Sanders. The rocket shots in Bob Wolcott’s first start. The health of No. 3 starter Jamie Moyer. The 16 runs allowed in the ninth inning by the bullpen in the season’s first five games.

This was hardly the kind of start that creates lusty visions of pennant races and parades.

Admit it, even Wednesday, when the Mariners jumped to a 7-0 second-inning lead, you still wondered if Wolcott could hold it.

You worried about what might happen in the sixth, seventh or eighth inning, if the lead shriveled to two or three runs and Bobby Ayala or Norm Charlton started warming in the bullpen.

Well, here’s a tip.

Relax. Look at the batting order.

This team could have Diego Segui and Odell Jones as its Nos. 3 and 4 starters. Manny Sarmiento or Tom Niedenfuer could be the closer. And the Mariners still would win 90 games.

The past two games, the Mariners have scored 10 first-inning runs. They’ve scored 25 runs in those two games, and they’ve won three of their past four.

So you’re worried about the pitching? Yo, Seattle, nobody in the American League has a dependable fourth or fifth starter. Nobody has dependable middle relief.

Look at Tuesday’s box scores. In three American League games, 61 runs were scored. In contrast, 30 runs were scored in six National League games.

Offense wins in the American League, and nobody has more of it than The Most Feared Team in Baseball.

Look at the depth in the order. Sure, this is the team of Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez and Jay Buhner.

But in Wednesday’s 11-1 victory over Cleveland, Paul Sorrento, Russ Davis and Lee Tinsley each had two hits. And the offensive star was a backup catcher who went 0 for 3.

In a bottom of the first inning that lasted so long the Mariners could have optioned Wolcott to Tacoma and recalled him before the top of the second, John Marzano, with the bases loaded and two out, faced 15 pitches from Cleveland starter Bartolo Colon.

With the count at 3-2, he fouled off eight pitches, including several fastballs clocked at 98 mph. Finally, Colon’s 61st and last pitch of the afternoon was ball four.

A run was walked in. Two more runs scored. Wolcott went back to the mound with a 6-0 lead.

This is Mariner baseball.

The Mariners (4-4) open a series in Boston today. Randy Johnson looks healthy. Wolcott pitched six innings that reminded us of October 1995. His outing was the highlight of this homestand.

Griffey already has six home runs. Buhner is finding his stroke. And Rodriguez and Martinez are as dependable as high tide.

The bullpen will work itself out. Maybe it won’t be Charlton and Ayala. Maybe it will be Edwin Hurtado and Greg McCarthy, or Mike Maddux and Rafael Carmona.

So relax, The Most Feared Team in Baseball is beginning to look very frightening.