Mariners salvage finale

07/19/2006
NEW YORK -- By the time Gil Meche emptied his arsenal of pitches on Johnny Damon on Wednesday, the Yankees leadoff hitter was still standing in the batters box, looking none the worse for wear.
Already 10 pitches into a vexing at-bat in the sixth inning at Yankee Stadium, Meche had no luck in running a fastball past Damon, nor did he have much success in trying to tempt Damon with a tantalizing slider, either.
It almost got to the point where Damon was simply flipping his bat at pitches he was not keen about, fouling them off until he got something he wanted.
"Your mind goes a little blank," Meche said. "When you throw seven, eight, nine pitches to a hitter, you don't know what to throw next. You get to a point where you just throw it down the middle."
So that's what Meche did, he floated a changeup right down the middle that Damon didn't get much of as he flew out to left for what would become an important out in Seattle's 3-2 victory over New York.
Meche's trying sixth inning -- where he threw 36 of his 112 pitches -- became the perfect metaphor for the team's six-game road trip through Toronto and New York that ended the same way it started, though there were plenty of hurdles in between.
Seattle (45-50) went 2-4 against the Blue Jays and Yankees, though all four of the losses were decided by two runs or less. To make matters worse -- or better, if you want to see how close the Mariners were to going, say, 4-2 -- three losses were extra-inning setbacks.
Much like Meche's duel with Damon, nothing came easy for the Mariners, who return to Safeco Field on Friday but not before enjoying a day off that will give Mariners manager Mike Hargrove's bullpen a much-needed rest.
Hargrove squeezed 2 2/3 innings out of rookie Mark Lowe, Rafael Soriano and his closer J.J. Putz to get Seattle its 45th victory of the season. Lowe -- who continues to impress by the minute -- got the last two outs of the seventh for his first Major League victory.
Soriano and Putz -- both who threw the day before in the Mariners' 5-4 loss in 11 innings -- weren't even going to pitch, but Hargrove needed them desperately to finish what Meche started.
"It was a game when you're on the edge of your seat the whole game," Hargrove said. "This has been a tough road trip. One break in any of those games and we could have won four of six. But these guys showed up. After last night it was good to see them show up."
It wasn't easy. The loss Tuesday -- well, early Wednesday morning -- came roughly 13 or so hours before the start of Wednesday's afternoon game on another hot day in the Bronx.
What the Mariners needed most was for Meche to work deep into the game. The way that the right-hander started, it looked like Seattle's relief corps might get the whole day off.
Meche -- who hasn't lost since May 30, a stretch of five victories and four no-decisions -- retired the first 13 hitters that he faced. He showed good command of his fastball, slider and changeup even though his best pitch, the curveball, worked infrequently.
"He came out throwing 95 and kept that up the whole game," Hargrove said of Meche, who was denied a chance at his 10th victory. "I started to go out there in the sixth ... to give him a breather. Sometimes, you have to let guys go. He didn't back down."
Meche allowed his first run in that sixth inning when Derek Jeter ripped an RBI single to center field to score Nick Green, who walked to start the inning.
Meche started the seventh inning, but departed quickly after allowing an infield single to Alex Rodriguez on a ball that glanced off his glove and then an RBI double to Andy Phillips to tie the score.
Hargrove went to his bullpen for left-hander George Sherrill, who got the only batter of the inning he faced out when pinch-hitter Miguel Cairo dropped down a sacrifice bunt that put runners at second and third base.
Enter Lowe, the unflappable rookie from Houston who, with now four games of Major League experience, struck out pinch-hitter Bernie Williams and got Kelly Stinnett on a routine fly ball to right-center field to end the inning and preserve the tie.
"My job is to get two outs and leave that guy at third," said Lowe, who started the season at Class A Inland Empire before making his way quickly through the Mariners' Minor League system. "That's what I did. I just focus on making good pitches and getting batters out."
Lowe's brief but successful outing, coupled with Soriano and Putz's work, gave the Mariners' offense time to chase Yankees starter Randy Johnson in the eighth inning, not that they had too much luck before then.
Johnson, the former Mariner, allowed solo runs in the first and fourth innings -- the last on Richie Sexson's 19th home run -- but little else, as the left-hander struck out 11 and walked one in eight innings.
It was in the eighth inning when Seattle scored the go-ahead run using what amounts to the polar opposite of Sexson's moon shot of a home run.
Enter Ichiro, who had two hits to that point, both clean singles. Facing Johnson, Ichiro topped a ball about four feet out in front of home plate that looked like a routine out in the making.
But Ichiro is no ordinary runner, as the legged out an infield single as Stinnett's throw to first base arrived a split-second late. Ichiro then stole his second base of the day and went to third base when Stinnett's throw skipped into center field.
Left-handed hitting Raul Ibanez then got enough of a Johnson fastball to send it out to left field, far enough for Ichiro to tag-up and scoring the go-ahead run easily.
"He's explosive. He really is," New York manager Joe Torre of Ichiro. "He does a lot of things to distract, make the catcher hurry the throw. Good arm. He's the full package, there's no question."

Source: http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/

Fans can donate equipment Saturday

07/20/2006
SEATTLE -- If the amazing weather forecast for this weekend isn't enough to get baseball fans to attend a Mariners game, there is one other reason to attend Saturday's contest. And it's for a good cause.
Prior to Seattle's game against the Red Sox at 1:05 p.m. PT, the Baseball Tomorrow Fund will be accepting donations of new and used baseball equipment. All donations will be given to the Boys & Girls Clubs of King County.
To add to the donations by fans, the Baseball Tomorrow Fund will also award a grant of $5,000 to the local non-profit organization. Since it was founded in 1999, the BTF has given more than $9.5 million that has benefited almost 111,000 youths in more than 200 baseball and softball programs. The United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe and Asia have all benefited from the BTF.
Last season, Equipment Days across Major League Baseball raised $118,000 in new playing equipment and 5,000 used equipment items. Those proceeds were dispersed among 30 youth organizations.
The Boys & Girls Clubs of King County, one of the largest branches in the nation, includes 12 full-service Clubs and 28 before- and after-school program locations. Annually it serves more than 18,000 youth members.
Presenting the check to the B&GC of King County will be BTF Executive Director Cathy Bradley. That ceremony will take place before Saturday's game.

Source: http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/

Perez mentoring younger Mariners

07/20/2006
SEATTLE -- When the Mariners acquired Eduardo Perez from the Cleveland Indians on June 30, it was with the express intent he would serve the team as a right-handed hitting designated hitter.
In short, the Mariners wanted production from his bat -- not his mouth.
But following Wednesday's 3-2 victory over the New York Yankees, Perez has but 10 at-bats since joining the Mariners.
But that's not to say the well-traveled infielder hasn't made an impact on this new team -- it's just not where most people can see Perez's other value to the team: his presence inside the clubhouse.
In his short stint with the Mariners thus far, Perez has already become a de facto mentor to a handful of young players in the Mariners' clubhouse, like rookie center fielder Adam Jones, shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt and second baseman Jose Lopez.
Make no mistake, Perez wasn't brought to Seattle to mentor these 20-something players who are still cutting their professional teeth and doing it in the Major Leagues no less.
And no one sat Perez down after the trade and explicitly asked him to watch over these players, help guide or impart the wisdom that he's gathered during his career that started when he joined the then-California Angels in 1993.
Instead, Perez does all this on his own, offering a sympathetic ear to any player who is interested in talking or offering his opinion to anyone who wants to listen.
"I think this is my role," Perez said inside the clubhouse at Yankee Stadium earlier this week. "It was the role veteran players took with me when I came up to steer me in the right direction."
Perez, 36, is the first to admit that his situation is a little different, mostly because, unlike any of the players in the Mariners' clubhouse, he has a rich baseball pedigree.
"It was different for me, because I grew up in a clubhouse," said Perez, the son of Hall of Famer Tony Perez, who played in the Major Leagues from 1964-86 and later served two stints as a manager. "I grew up watching veterans take care of the young guys. When I came to the league, guys did that for me."
Perez counts former teammates Chili Davis and Barry Larkin as players who influenced him early in his playing career. Said Perez: "Every team needs guys like that."
Seattle has that in Perez, who recently sat down and talked with Jones -- the 20-year-old rookie -- in Toronto after Jones misplayed two fly balls that led to a big inning. Perez sat with Jones during an entire game in Toronto and talked. And he listened.
"Eddie Perez has been great," Jones said. "He's played for a long time and he knows the grinds about the game. He told me to have fun and that you can't win a game on one at-bat. Do what you do best and let everything else settle in."
One of the primary points Perez shares with young players is that mistakes are a part of the game, and that you can't be tentative because of them.
"I tell the young guys they do belong here and that they will make mistakes," Perez said. "But you have to learn from them. That's the key. No one is perfect. The more baseball you see, the more they learn from their mistakes. That's what I want them to learn."
Because his playing time has been infrequent for Perez -- he shares the designated hitter duties with Carl Everett, who gets the bulk of the playing time because he plays against right-handed pitchers -- Perez will often float around during a game to talk to players.
"I'm 36, and since I don't play every day, I have time to help Adam [Jones] or Betancourt," Perez said. "I guess I'm just trying to help them realize this is a tough league and to help them make adjustments.
"Sometimes guys don't want to hear the truth. But these guys are good. This is a good clubhouse."

Source: http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/

Baseball has a long history in Seattle

07/20/2006
SEATTLE -- The history of professional baseball in Seattle is a far-reaching and rich one. Sure, everyone knows about the Mariners and their recent success. But how many people know about Dan Dugdale, a man who has been referred to as the father of Seattle baseball?
Many other people know about the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. What those people may not realize, though, is that the world-renowned research center was named for a man who was named the Minor League Player of the Year by The Sporting News in 1938. Hutchinson, or "Hutch" as he was referred to by many, won 25 games at the age of 19 for the Seattle Rainiers that year.
Just recently, the Mariners on July 9 honored a team of Seattle's past -- the Pilots, a team that spent one ill-fated year in the Major Leagues. But that wasn't the first taste of big-time baseball for Seattle, and Mariners fans know it certainly wasn't the last.
The following is a brief look back at the teams, people and events that have helped to shape the game of baseball in the city of Seattle as it is known today.
Much of the information for this article and all of the historic pictures in the accompanying photo gallery were provided by the David Eskenazi Collection and can be found in a book titled Rain Check: Baseball in the Pacific Northwest. The photo gallery also includes photos of the current status of the sites of home fields of Seattle's baseball past.
PRE-SEATTLE RAINIERS
To tell the story of professional baseball in Seattle prior to the Seattle Rainiers is to tell the story of Dan Dugdale.
Although pro ball officially entered the city in 1890 with a team called "the Seattles," Dugdale's ties to baseball began six years before that in his hometown of Peoria, Ill. From 1884-95, Dugdale used his above-average talent as a catcher to play for 20 different teams in 13 different states.
In 1898, Dugdale arrived in Seattle seeking fortune from the Klondike Gold Rush. It only makes sense then that the first team he helped to build was the Klondikers. Later called the Rainmakers, Clamdiggers and Chinooks, the Klondikers were one of the pioneering teams in the Pacific Northwest League that became fully functional in 1901.
Keeping a baseball league in business at that time was no small feat, especially when there were other leagues competing for players and popularity. Dugdale was bought out in 1904 by the Seattle Siwashes of the Pacific Coast League and agreed to manage the Portland team in that league.
Then in 1907, Dugdale returned to Seattle and aligned the Siwashes with the Northwestern League. He also built Yesler Way Park on the corner of 12th Avenue and Yesler Way that year. While playing in that facility, the Siwashes were renamed the Turks and won the league pennant in 1909.
After another renaming, this time to the Giants, Dugdale again invested in a new stadium. Dugdale Park was located in Rainier Valley and was the first double-decker stadium built on the West Coast. The ballpark opened its gates in 1914.
In all, Dugdale's teams won five pennants and produced many future Major League players.
Then, in 1919, the Pacific Coast League returned to Seattle and formed a team called the Rainiers. The team was renamed the Indians two years later and won the first PCL championship for the city of Seattle in 1924.
Tragically, Dugdale Park was burned by an arsonist in 1932 on the Fourth of July. The act forced the Indians, who had previously called that park home, to move to Civic Stadium. Located where Memorial Stadium stands today, Civic Stadium was known for its concrete-hard infield and large wooden light poles that were in play if struck by a ball.
The next few years were tough ones for baseball in Seattle. It wasn't until 1937 when a man named Emil Sick came along that things started to turn around again.

Source: http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/