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

Martínez, 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 García 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 García 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 Garcí and 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 Martínez

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.