M’S: Been There, Done That Bullpen Hands 10-9 Win To Tribe

The largest regular-season crowd in franchise history couldn’t squeeze into the Seattle clubhouse Tuesday - so a massive gaggle of media types asked questions so grating that even the paying public might have fled them.

Someone asked Lou Piniella if, in light of his bullpen’s failure to hold an opening-night lead, he envisioned major changes soon.

Someone asked Randy Johnson if it was frustrating watching the 10-9 loss to the Cleveland Indians after having a 9-3 lead earlier.

And then someone asked David Segui, who spent all last year in Montreal, if the way the Mariners lost this game looked familiar. Segui pondered that for a moment and shook his head.

“The only thing that looked familiar was that crowd,” he said of the 57,822 who had crammed into the Kingdome. “In Montreal, that was an entire homestand.”

If it wasn’t a sterling night for journalism, it wasn’t much of an evening for the Mariners, either. They slammed four home runs. They pounded Indians ace Charles Nagy for a career-worst 12 hits and nine earned runs in 4-2/3 innings.

They handed the ‘Big Unit’ a 9-3 lead with a six-run fifth inning.

And then it went bad for Seattle. And for those with memories extending back a year, it went familiarly bad.

“It’s one game,” Piniella said. “We will get it taken care of and we have 161 games left to do that.”

On a night when Johnson wasn’t his dominating best, the Mariners responded by pummeling Nagy. Edgar Martinez, Ken Griffey Jr., Jay Buhner and Russ Davis all homered, and those long balls accounted for eight of Seattle’s nine runs.

“You’d think that nine would be enough,” Davis said. “But their third-base coach (Jeff Newman) told me ‘It ain’t over!’ And I told him, ‘I know.”’

Johnson couldn’t shut Cleveland down, and by the time he left in the sixth inning, that 9-3 lead had been cut in half. Bobby Ayala struck out Dave Justice to strand a Johnson baserunner at second base, but the inning ended with the Indians trailing 9-6.

From there, it was a simple problem that Mariners fans pondered all last year. Which would come first - nine outs or a bullpen meltdown?

This time, the lead didn’t get to the ninth inning. This time, no one could blame Heathcliff Slocumb. Or Norm Charlton.

“Frustrating? All losses are,” Griffey said.

That doesn’t mean all losses are equal.

Ayala walked the first man he faced in the eighth inning and, one out later, gave up a triple to Kenny Lofton that made it 9-7. When Ayala followed by walking Omar Vizquel, Piniella brought in left-hander Tony Fossas to face the left-handed hitting Dave Justice.

Fossas walked Justice to load the bases.

“What I did tonight you teach young pitchers not to do,” Fossas said. “My job is make him put the ball in play, get two outs. I do that, you’re not talking to me - you’re talking to whoever got the save.”

Piniella went to Mike Timlin.

“I wanted a ground ball there, I got a ground ball, it was just hit where nobody was,” Timlin said.

His first pitch - a sinker in on outfielder Manny Ramirez - became a two-run single when Ramirez hit a grounder just inside the third-base line that tied the game. When Ramirez scrambled to second base on the throw to third, Piniella ordered pinch-hitter Brian Giles walked intentionally to set up a double play.

Timlin then walked Travis Fryman to push home the go-ahead run.

“I guess that’s the beauty of baseball,” Piniella said tightly. “You don’t win until you get the final out.”

Among the ironies was that as the Mariners tried and failed to exorcise the demonic memories of 27 blown saves from a year ago, the Indians won with the reliever - Jose Mesa - who lost a lead in the ninth inning of the seventh game of the ‘97 World Series.

In an off-season in which Seattle tried and failed to improve its pen, the Indians tried and failed to trade Mesa. On Tuesday, Mesa and his fellow Cleveland relievers weren’t merely good, they were perfect.

From the moment Nagy departed with two outs in the fifth inning, the Mariners never put another man on base. Not against Paul Shuey or Mesa or Paul Assenmacher or Mike Jackson.

“Give them credit for coming back and for shutting us down,” Piniella said. “But the bottom line is, nine runs ought to be enough.”

Indians 10, Mariners 9 Cleveland AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Lofton cf 5 1 2 2 1 1 .400 Vizquel ss 5 2 3 1 1 0 .600 Dunston dh 3 0 0 0 0 1 .000 a-Justice ph-dh 1 1 0 0 1 1 .000 Ramirez rf 4 0 2 3 1 1 .500 Berroa lf 4 0 0 0 0 0 .000 c-Giles ph-lf 0 0 0 0 1 0 — Fryman 3b 4 0 0 1 1 2 .000 SAlomar c 5 2 3 1 0 0 .600 Manto 1b 3 1 1 1 0 2 .333 b-Thome ph-1b 1 1 0 0 1 0 .000 EWilson 2b 5 2 3 0 0 0 .600 Totals 40 10 14 9 7 8 Seattle AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Cora 2b 5 0 1 0 0 0 .200 ARodriguez ss 5 0 0 0 0 3 .000 Griffey Jr cf 3 2 1 1 1 1 .333 EMartinez dh 5 1 1 2 0 0 .200 Segui 1b 4 2 2 0 0 1 .500 Buhner rf 4 1 2 3 0 1 .500 GHill lf 3 1 2 0 1 0 .667 Gibson lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 — DWilson c 3 1 2 0 0 1 .667 RDavis 3b 4 1 1 3 0 0 .250 Totals 36 9 12 9 2 7 Cle 002 103 040 10 Sea 200 160 000 9 a-struck out for Dunston in the 6th. b-walked for Manto in the 8th. c-was intentionally walked for Berroa in the 8th.

E-ARodriguez (1), Johnson (1). LOB-Cleveland 10, Seattle 4. 2B-Ramirez (1), SAlomar (1), EWilson 2 (2), Segui 2 (2). 3B-Lofton (1). HR-RDavis (1) off Nagy; Buhner (1) off Nagy; Griffey Jr (1) off Nagy; SAlomar (1) off Johnson; EMartinez (1) off Nagy. RBIs-Lofton 2 (2), Vizquel (1), Ramirez 3 (3), Fryman (1), SAlomar (1), Manto (1), Griffey Jr (1), EMartinez 2 (2), Buhner 3 (3), RDavis 3 (3). SB-Lofton 2 (2), Vizquel (1). CS- Vizquel (1). S-DWilson. GIDP-Berroa, SAlomar, EMartinez.

Runners left in scoring position-Cleveland 4 (Lofton, Vizquel, Justice, Ramirez); Seattle 2 (Cora 2).

Runners moved up-Lofton, Vizquel.

DP-Cleveland 1 (Vizquel, EWilson and Manto); Seattle 2 (Johnson, ARodriguez and Segui), (RDavis, Cora and Segui).

Cleveland IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA

Nagy 4-2/3 12 9 9 2 3 91 17.36 Shuey 1-1/3 0 0 0 0 1 21 0.00 Mesa W,1-0 2-1/3 0 0 0 0 3 29 0.00 Assenmacher 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.00 MJackson S, 1 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.00

Seattle IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA

Johnson 5-2/3 11 6 5 2 7 103 7.94 Ayala 1-2/3 1 3 3 2 1 34 16.20 Fossas L,0-1 0 0 1 1 1 0 5 -Timlin 2/3 1 0 0 2 0 7 0.00 Spoljaric 1 1 0 0 0 0 15 0.00 Fossas pitched to 1 batter in the 8th.

Inherited runners-scored-Ayala 1-0, Fossas 2-0, Timlin 3-3.

IBB-off Timlin (Giles) 1. HBP-by Nagy (Griffey Jr).

T-3:07. A-57,822 (59,084).