M’S Set Table But Big Hitters Can’t Clean Up

The toughest part of being a professional has never been accepting success. It is the ability to embrace failure that often makes a good player a great one.

Edgar Martinez has won batting titles, won the biggest single game in Seattle history when he beat New York in October on national television to win a playoff series.

He has failed more times than he can remember, and lost things that mattered far more than games - like the grandparents who raised him.

And so when the Mariners 118th game of the season came down to a single confrontation Tuesday, Martinez embraced the moment along with 33,422 fans in the Kingdome.

And failed.

There were a half-dozen events that led to Milwaukee’s 5-3 victory:

A hanging forkball thrown by Jeff Fassero that became a three-run home run.

A ground ball up the middle in the ninth inning that somehow eluded pitcher Mike Timlin, giving the Brewers an insurance run.

A half-dozen strikeouts by rookie Steve Woodard - the same right-hander the Mariners had pummelled in Milwaukee less than a week ago.

In the end, however, the game came down to an eighth inning rally that put Seattle in position to win a key August game, and manager Lou Piniella orchestrated it to put Martinez in position to turn a loss into a win.

“He’s the cleanup hitter,” Piniella said. “We got the situation we wanted - bases loaded, one out - and we got the matchup we wanted. Edgar was hitting .455 in his career against (Bob) Wickman.”

The Mariners began that eighth inning trailing, 4-3, having climbed to within a run on home runs by Ken Griffey Jr. and Russ Davis. Lee Tinsley slashed a double up the alley in right center field and Joey Cora worked Wickman for a walk to bring up Alex Rodriguez.

The 22-year-old who finished second in the league’s Most Valuable Player Award voting a year ago, Rodriguez went to the plate in the eighth inning a man mired in a 4-for-31 slump, batting .301.

Piniella had him bunt the runners into scoring position, fully aware the Brewers would then walk Griffey intentionally.

“I have confidence in my fourth and fifth hitters,” Piniella said. “If they don’t drive in runs, we don’t win. Edgar was hitting .455 against Wickman. Jay (Buhner) was hitting over .300. I knew they’d walk Junior, but with one out, Edgar can tie the game with an out - put us ahead with a hit.”

And then Wickman fell behind in the count to Martinez, two balls, no strikes.

“I was looking for a fastball, maybe the middle of the plate out,” Martinez said. “He threw me a fastball, middle in. It was a pitch I should have done something with. Something more.”

What Martinez did was tap the ball to third base, where Jeff Cirillo fielded it and fired home for a force out that kept Seattle behind by a run. Up came Buhner, who worked the count full and then struck out.

Milwaukee added that extra run in the ninth inning, and this one slid away.

“If we’re one game out with two games to play, I like our chances,” coach Lee Elia said. “You can’t make too much of this game or that at-bat, that whole inning.”

Dressing quietly in his clubhouse cubicle, Paul Sorrento thought back over the years of his career to the great hitters he has played beside Kirby Puckett, Albert Belle, Griffey - and he smiled almost to himself.

“All of them failed at times, and all of them learned to let it roll off their shoulders,” Sorrento said. “You have to, because the next day it may be the same situation with the same guys coming up - and that’s what you want.

“Not doing your job is hard on everybody, no matter what your job is. When it’s baseball and you’re in first place, everything is magnified. But that’s the way you want it when you start a season. You get to this stage, you want to win every game, but it’s not going to happen. Not for anybody.”

For more than 90 minutes after the game, Martinez worked out in the weight room. Lifting, riding the stationary bike, thinking.

“I knew what was going to happen when Alex bunted the runners over,” Martinez said. “Teams playing us have one run. They don’t let Junior beat them. I knew it would come to me. It was up to me to do something. I didn’t, and we lost.”