During the past 29 games the leading

Mariners have scored three or fewer

runs 19 times.

Yet General Manager Pat Gillick

says their is no panic here in

“coffe town”.

This weekend Lou Piniella

is in town, the best Mariners

manager in history.

By Amaury Pi-Gonzalez

Seattle“We need to score more runs,

no doubt about that: said prior

to the last game against

the Orioles here in Safeco

Field Mr. Pat Gillick, veteran

General Manager of the M’S.

But when a local reporter asked

Gillick if a trade was in the making

Gillick responded: “No, not really

our ballclub is built around

pitching and defense, this

team is not an offensive club.

It’s a diferent style and I think

we are doing pretty well”.

The Mariners are really banged

up. Shortstop Carlos Guillen

who has been enjoying one

of his best seasons and doing

exceptionally well hitting second

between Ichiro and Boone has

not played for over a week, with

groin problems. Veteran

firstbaseman John Olerud

is also suffering from body

aches and the Mariners

cannot wait for the All Star

break to

‘lick their wounds’.

The Orioles showed up here

in Seattle next to last but played

very well and pitched very well.

We saw the two best average

hitters in the league in

O’S Melvin Mora and M’S

Ichiro Susuki.

Sidney Ponson pitched his

fourth complete game in

the third and final game

of the series and now has

12-5 with 4 complete games.

The story here this weekend

is Lou Piniella.; His return for

the first time over a decade

with a deifferent team.

Lou Piniella put the Mariners

in the map for 10 years and is

resposible for much of the

success of players that were

very young when Lou was here,

like Boone,Garcia,Martinez and

Cameron. All looking

forward to shaking hands with

their old boss.

Television camera crews

waiting for Lou at the

airport when he arrived on

the team’s charter into

Sea-Tac International

Airport. He looked different

with his blond hair, but it is

the same old Sweet Lou.

What concerns people here

with the Mariners is that

although they have won 18

series and lost 10, they have

lost the last 3 series to either

cellar teams or next to the

cellar teams. San Diego,

Texas and know Baltimore.

For the first time in their

history the Mariners have

3 pitchers with at least 10

wins prior t the ALL Star Game.

Jaime Moyer is 11-5 and is

pitching tonight(Friday July 11)

against Jeremi Gonzalez and

Tampa Bay. Also, Joe Pineiro

and Gil Meche have 10 wins

apiece. Last night Freddy

Garcia was after his 10th

win of the season. He

pitched well allowing just 2 runs

but Sidney Ponson had it

‘all going’and won.

The Mariners are not in

panic mode, not yet anyway,

they know the Oakland A’S

have a very good team and

a super trio of starters, but

they also believe this is

their best starting pitching

they have ever had since they

began play here in 1977,

plus they lead the Majors

with a wonderful defense.

They do not believe the A’S

are going to win 20 in-a-row

again thus they(M’S)believe

they have enough deep

pitching with a good bullpen

and Kasuhiro Sasaki the

great closer coming back in

a couple of weeks that

they believe the are going

to win the West.

A total of 5 Mariners are

going to Chicago for the

All Star Game. Starters,

Ichiro Susuki and Edgar

Martinez,plus Bret Boone,

Shigetoshi Hasegawa and

Jaime Moyer.

It would be a big surprise

here if the Mariners

get another hitter

(which I think’they

can use)prior to

July 31, trade deadline.

When manager Bob

Melvin was asked about

another hitter into his

lineup he responded:

“I like our club the

way it’s made up

right now…would

we like to have a Manny

Ramirez or Albert Pujols.

Who wouldn’t ?”

-He continued: “We have a

5 game lead, every team

in the American League

would like to be where

we are. I think we will

win with this team”.

So now the Tampa Bay

Devil Rays with their

collection of players like

Grieve, Baldelli and company

are ready to take batting

practice here at SAFECO

Field, the Mariners fans

are asking. “Is their team

going to die this weekend?”

Are they going to drop

another series to a last

place team ? However,

Lou Piniella will love

to sweep the Mariners.

The A’S could not sweep

Tampa in Oakland recently,

so I will expect Seattle to

take 2 of 3 this weekend,

predicting anything else

would be silly.

Are the Mariners collapsing?

I do not think so. They are a

tired veteran team, but they

should be ready for the

second half of the season

after the All Star break.

The Mariners(best road record

in MLB)will open the

second half in Kansas City

for a 4 game series the

17th, then go to Minnesota’

for a quickie 2 game set and

then they return home

for the longest homestand

of the season: 2 vs Oakland,

4 vs Texas, 3 vs Detroit and

3 vs Chicago.

———————————————————-

Amaury Pi-Gonzalez is the Spanish

Radio Play by Play Announcer

for the new Seattle Mariners

Spanish Radio Network

see: www.spanishmariners.net

for all 81 home games at SAFECO

on KKMO 1360 AM Radio Sol in

Seattle and other 6 stations.

Plus, Amaury is on his ninth season

as Spanish Play by Play for the

San Francisco Giants on home

weekend games on KZSF 1370 AM.