Mariners win 10th straight
Published 9:00 pm Saturday, June 2, 2001
By Kirby Arnold
Herald Writer
SEATTLE – Today’s history lesson takes us back to 1955, when the only things more impressive than poodle skirts and hot rods were the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Don Newcombe won 20 games, a kid named Koufax broke into the major leagues, Johnny Podres shut out the Yankees to win Game 7 World Series, and six men off that team found their way into the Hall of Fame.
It’s difficult to equate the 2001 Seattle Mariners with that Brooklyn team for the ages, but after 54 games it’s impossible to ignore the comparison.
The Mariners continued to make like the ‘55 Dodgers Saturday night when they beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 7-4 at Safeco Field. It gave the Mariners a 42-12 record, a start to the season accomplished by just eight other teams in history, the last being the lads from Brooklyn.
The Mariners scored five runs in the first inning to climb out of a 2-0 hole, then held on to win a game that included two hits by Ichiro Suzuki (who is hitting .356), 11 walks and three hit batters by both pitching staffs and a streaker in the seventh inning.
OK, so it wasn’t a night that rekindles the greatness of Koufax, Roy Campanella, Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider or manager Walter Alston – all ‘55 Dodgers who are in the Hall of Fame – but a W is a W no matter the era.
The Mariners won their season-best 10th straight game, tying the franchise record set in September, 1996, and went 30 games over .500. The victory also clinched the Mariners’ 15th series victory of the 18 they’ve played, and they can record their eighth sweep with a victory today.
Most important, the M’s lead the American League West Division by 16 games over Oakland and Anaheim.
“This is a remarkable start,” said second baseman Bret Boone, who had two hits and drove in a run, giving him 54 RBI this season.
Nobody, Boone says, is getting too full of himself.
“Everybody’s being humble and keeping their wits about them,” said Boone, who didn’t seem impressed with the chance to set a club record today with an 11th straight victory. “I’m sure if you ask anybody else here, nobody even knows that.”
Just like Friday night, the Mariners needed four innings of relief pitching to complete a victory that gave starter Paul Abbott a 4-2 record.
Five days after he pitched the first complete game of his career, Abbott showed the effect of those 119 pitches at Kansas City with a difficult five innings Saturday. Greg Vaughn gave Tampa Bay a 2-0 lead in the first inning with his 14th home run and, while he didn’t allow another run, Abbott struggled the rest of his time on the mound and left after throwing 99 pitches.
He left with a 7-2 lead, thanks to a five-run Mariners first that featured RBI singles by John Olerud and Bret Boone, a two-run base hit by Carlos Guillen and an RBI by Mike Cameron when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
“That’s the way this team is,” Abbott said. “We keep digging and scrapping.”
Edgar Martinez drove home two runs with a double in the fourth inning for a 7-2 lead, and the game plodded to a finish with enough nuggets of drama to keep the sellout crowd of 45,473 interested.
Ryan Franklin relieved Abbott and labored into the seventh, when he hit Vaughn on the ear flap with a fastball that stunned the slugger but didn’t knock him from the game. It ended Franklin’s night, as manager Lou Piniella brought in left-hander Brian Fuentes, who got two outs in his major league debut before right-hander Jose Paniagua took over.
“He got his feet wet,” manager Lou Piniella said of Fuentes. “He got some outs and left on a positive note.”
The Devil Rays finished the game without manager Hal McRae, who was kicked out by first base umpire Scott Higgins while arguing a fan interference call in the fifth inning. Russ Johnson hit a fly near the railing in foul territory near the right-field line and, as Suzuki leaped for the ball, a fan leaned over and caught it.
“I was going to catch the ball,” Suzuki said.
Higgins, who missed a call on Friday when he said Mark McLemore trapped a sinking fly in left field, immediately called interference and ruled Johnson out. McRae sprinted from the dugout and spoke his mind, including just enough for Higgins to give McRae his third ejection in 41 games as manager.
He could have saved his breath.
For the second straight night, the Mariners bullpen kept the margin comfortable, holding the Devil Rays to single runs in the sixth and eighth innings before closer Kazuhiro Sasaki finished with a 1-2-3 ninth for his league-leading 22nd save.
