M’S Hot In Deep Freeze Despite Unbearably Cold Weather, Seattle Wins Again To Go 6-1 On Trip

In the clubhouse between innings, Alex Rodriguez turned to Ken Griffey Jr. on Thursday and said what almost everyone with the Seattle Mariners has been thinking.

“I told him, ‘Junior, you’re on fire,”’ Rodriguez said.

Griffey’s reply?

“He smiled and shook his head and said, ‘No, you’ll KNOW when I’m on fire.”’ In what Lou Piniella described as “the coldest game I’ve ever been a part of,” the Mariners rallied from a three-run deficit behind big hits - including Junior’s eighth home run - to sweep a two-game series with Detroit, beating the Tigers 8-6.

When it began, it was snowing. And when it ended, 3 hours and 41 minutes later, the wind-chill factor was 22 degrees.

“We got behind 3-0 and a lot of teams might have played dead today,” starter Jeff Fassero said. “It was the kind of day where once you’re behind like that and it’s so cold, guys might go up, swing at the first pitch and think, ‘Let’s get the heck out of here.”’ Fassero shook his head. “This isn’t that kind of team.”

The kind of team the Mariners are at the moment is torrid, and the come-from-behind victory over Detroit completed a 6-1 trip - the best seven-game swing in club history.

When the Mariners left, Norm Charlton was struggling and the team was at .500. Seven games later, Charlton has four saves, Fassero is a flawless 3-0 and the entire offense seems to be in high pursuit of Griffey’s start.

“We played great defense today, we got good pitching under the worst possible conditions and our offense came back on a bad day for hitting,” Piniella said. “I’ll take 6-1 in any seven games, road or home or inbetween. I’ve never been any colder than that at a ballpark.”

How cold was it? Between innings, players ran up the tunnel to the clubhouse to try to warm up. Rodriguez and Jay Buhner wore headgear that made them look like terrorists - cut-away stocking caps - and no one could get loose.

“You couldn’t sweat, you couldn’t feel the ball, you couldn’t stay loose,” catcher Dan Wilson said.

In those conditions, Wilson went 4 for 5, Rodriguez went 2 for 6 with three RBIs and Junior went 3 for 5 with a game-tying HR and two RBIs.

No one showed more tenacity than Fassero. Warming up, he broke open a small cut on his throwing hand and began bleeding on the ball. The Mariners used a tiny Band-Aid to close the wound and he kept going.

Tigers manager Buddy Bell complained and the M’s had to take the bandage off - so Fassero had the trainer apply super glue to close the cut.

And then he pitched five innings, bobbing and weaving out of trouble, before lateraling to his bullpen.

Mariners 8, Tigers 6

Seattle AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Cora 2b 4 2 2 1 0 0 .163 a-Espinoza ph-2b 2 0 0 0 0 1 .222 ARodriguez ss 6 0 2 3 0 0 .343 Griffey Jr cf 5 1 3 2 1 0 .396 EMartinez dh 4 1 2 0 1 0 .358 Buhner rf 2 0 0 0 3 1 .235 Sorrento 1b 5 0 0 0 0 3 .288 DaWilson c 5 1 4 1 0 0 .306 RDavis 3b 3 1 1 0 2 0 .292 Tinsley lf 5 2 2 1 0 1 .236 Totals 41 8 16 8 7 6 Detroit AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Easley 2b-ss 5 1 1 0 0 0 .245 BLHunter cf 4 1 2 0 1 1 .194 Fryman 3b 4 0 0 0 1 2 .339 ToClark 1b 4 1 1 3 1 1 .344 Trammell dh 4 2 2 1 1 1 .317 Nieves rf 3 0 1 0 1 1 .275 BJohnson c 4 1 2 1 0 1 .273 Higginson lf 3 0 0 0 0 0 .255 b-Nevin ph 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 c-Pride ph-lf 1 0 1 0 0 0 .357 DCruz ss 3 0 1 0 0 0 .264 d-JoReed ph-2b 1 0 0 0 0 0 .313 Totals 36 6 11 5 5 7

Seattle 000 041 300 - 8

Detroit 010 210 200 - 6

a-struck out for Cora in the 7th. b-announced for Higginson in the 8th. c-singled for Nevin in the 8th. d-popped out for Cruz in the 8th.

E-Cora (4), Easley (2). LOBSeattle 13, Detroit 8. 2B-Cora (1), EMartinez (8), Tinsley (3), BLHunter 2 (2). HR- ToClark (6) off Hurtado; Trammell (2) off Fassero; Griffey Jr (8) off Lira. RBIsCora (5), ARodriguez 3 (10), Griffey Jr 2 (18), DaWilson (6), Tinsley (4), ToClark 3 (18), Trammell (5), BJohnson (9). SB-Cora (1), ARodriguez (3), Griffey Jr (2), RDavis (2), Tinsley (2), BLHunter (9). GIDPEMartinez, Buhner, RDavis, Fryman, ToClark, Higginson.

Runners left in scoring position-Seattle 10 (EMartinez 2, Buhner 2, RDavis 2, Tinsley 4); Detroit 5 (Easley 2, ToClark 2, Higginson).

Runners moved up-ToClark.

DP-Seattle 3 (ARodriguez and Sorrento), (ARodriguez, Cora and Sorrento), (ARodriguez, Espinoza and Sorrento); Detroit 3 (DCruz, Easley and ToClark), (Lira, Easley, DCruz and ToClark), (DCruz, Easley and ToClark).

Seattle IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA

Fassero W,3-0 5 7 4 3 3 4 91 3.00

Hurtado 2 2 2 2 1 1 30 3.72

McCarthy 1/3 1 0 0 0 1 9 1.59

BWells 2/3 1 0 0 0 0 13 10.80

Charlton S,4 1 0 0 0 1 1 17 6.00

Detroit IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA

Lira 4-1/3 7 3 3 2 2 84 8.44

Bautista L,0-1 2 7 5 5 3 1 47 7.56

JCummings 2-2/3 2 0 0 2 3 51 3.24 Inherited runners-scored-BWells 1-0, JCummings 2-2.

IBBoff Fassero (Fryman) 1, off Bautista (Griffey Jr) 1, off Bautista (EMartinez) 1. WP-Fassero, Hurtado, JCummings.

T-3:41. A-8,973 (52,416).