When the rubber meets the road: Mariners at Oakland
Attention A’s fans.
If the A’s comeback in the
second part of the season
and win the West by 2
games over the Mariners
please invite the Padres
to your party.
By Amaury Pi-GonzálezIt would be tough to find those
complaining souls A’S fans
the ones that could not
stand the interleague
schedule. These people
were very upset that while
the A’S where playing the
N.L Champion first place
San Francisco Giants the
Mariners(team with the
best record in baseball)
was playing 6 games against
the lowly San Diego Padres,
who’s only “positive”is that
next season they will
play in a brand-new beautiful
downtown stadium.
By-the-way a very good
positive to have considering
there are cities out there that
would love to build a downtown
stadium but they do not have
the resources.
Well, the San Diego Padres
and mainly veteran leftfielder
Rondell White took 4 games
out of 6 from those fearless
Mariners. The Mariners could
easily have an 8 game lead
of the A’S, but because of
the Padres the lead is 6
games at the time when
the Mariners arrived in
Oakland for a 4 game set.
Note: Rondell White hit
3 Homeruns in the 6 games
against the Mariners, two
were Grand Slams and drove
in 13 runds against the Mariners.
The incredible performance
by veteran Rondell White, who
came to the Padres via Yankees
for journeyman Bubba Trammel
was to be in the 9th inning.
A walk off Grand Slam in
San Diego beating the Mariners
and a Grand Slam this Sunday the
29th of June at Safeco Field
also in the ninth ining to tie
the game 6-6. Padres then
went on to score 2 more runs
in the ninth and steal the
game from the Mariners 8-6.
The Mariners are the typical
veteran team, managed by
a rookie manager. Bob Melvin
(41)on his first season. He
knows that guys like Edgar
MartÃÂÂnez, John Olerud,Dan
Wilson,Bret Boone,Mark McLemore
Jeff Cirillo. Mike Cameron
and Jaime Moyer have been
in the majors for a long time.
The number one enemy
of his team is age/injuries.
The Mariners pithing is on
top of the American League
and their defense is the best
in both leagues as we start
this series today in Oakland.
Recently Edgar Martinez surpassed
Ken Griffey Jr as the #1 RBI man,
in Mariners history and in
May Edgar reached 2,000 hits on
his 17-year career with the M’S.
John Olerud reached the
2,000 hit plateau also,
Mark McLemore the 1,500 hits
in his career and Bret Boone
is looking like the MVP of
this team.
Freddy GarcÃÂÂa pitched to win this
past Sunday against the Padres
in Seattle but the famed Mariners
bullpen (shorthanded without
closer Kasushiro Sasaki) exploted
giving 6 runs in the top of the
ninth to the Padres turning
what GarcÃÂÂa left as a 6 to 2
victory into an 8 to 6 defeat.
Freddy was going for his
6th win in the month of June,
a record for a Mariners pitcher.
Also was going for his
seventh consecutive victory
and his 10th of the season.
Wanting to join fellow starters
Jaime Moyer and Gil Meche
who have 10 wins each.
Mariners General Manager
Pat Gillick, one of the most
respected GM in the game said
that the M’S are not in the
run for Texas closer Ugueth
Urbina (who might be going
to the Giants) since the Mariners
excellent closer Kasuhiro Sasaki
remains in the disabled list
with a hairline fracture in his
ribs while lifting a suitcase
a flight of stairs in his home
in Seattle. Sasaki will not
work this week in Oakland
or next weekend when the
Mariners play in Texas. More
than likely he will comeback
in the second half after the
All Star break. With Sasaki,
Jeff Nelson,Arthur Rhodes
and Shigetoshi Hasegawa
the Mariners have the best
bullpen in the American League
and one of the very best in
both leagues.
The Mariners starters have
gone deep this season and
all have positive records with
Jaime Moyer and Gil Meche
10 wins each, Joel Piñeiro,
Freddy Garcàand Ryan Franklin
pitching .500 or best.
Usually a team like the Mariners
with a world of experience
does not collapse, but this
week is a big test for Melvin’s
boys in Oakland against an
A’S team that is eager to
make some ground heading
towards the second half of the
season.
This past weekend in Seattle
I asked Bob Melvin about his
team. Is a trade in the works?
“No, I don’t think so, we like
the team we have here and
I do not like to break the
chemistry of this team right
now”
Both teams Mariners and
Athletics recently lost their
weekend series to interleague
rivals. A’S saved the last of
3 games at Pac Bell against
the Giants and Mariners
dropped 2 of 3 to the Padres
for the second weekend in
a row. This time it hurts much
more since this past weekend
they lost the series in Seattle.
Ichiro is up to his old tricks
with the second highest
batting average in the A.L
only Baltimore’s Melvin
Mora has a higher average
at the plate. Ichiro has
stolen 21 bases. Carlos Guillen
who hits second and plays
shortstop has improved the
last 2 years consistenly
and loves to hit in-between
Ichiro and Boone.
Bret Boone is the most
dangerous hitter on the
Mariners and Edgar MartÃÂÂnez
continues to be pure clutch.
As good of a hitter as
you would see. If the M’S
have a runner at first base
with less than 2 outs Edgar
usually hits to the right side
‘behind the runner’.He really
is an amazing hitter.
With Olerud and Cameron
the Mariners have some
added power. Jeff Cirillo
continues to be a big
dissapointment as well
as Randy Winn who started
hitting second but was moved
to seven in the order by manager
Melvin.
It is not a “life or death”series,
although for Oakland they
need to make a statement
show they still have that
push at this part of the
season. The way the Mariners
see it, it is early yet and all
they have to do in Oakland
is win 2 of 4 and leave town
with a 6 game lead.
———————————————————
Amaury Pi-González is the Spanish
play by play announcer for the new
Seattle Mariners Spanish Radio
Network, 6 stations in Washington
and Oregon. Flagship in Seattle-Tacoma
is KKMO 1360 Radio Sol.
While Amaury continues(9th season)
to be the Spanish Play by Play announcer
for the San Franciscc Giants over
KZSF 1370 AM La Caliente,San José
and Bay Area for Giants home wekend
games.
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