M’s work out at Safeco, but their hearts not in baseball

Published 9:00 pm Friday, September 14, 2001

By Kirby Arnold

Herald Writer

SEATTLE – Back in their comfort zone on the baseball diamond at Safeco Field, the Seattle Mariners’ spirits hung as limp as the American flag beyond the center field fence.

Images of the terrorist attacks on the East Coast remained so vivid in their minds, playing baseball seemed like a trivial activity on Friday.

The Mariners worked out at Safeco Field as they tried to bring a baseball feeling back to their bodies after having not thrown a ball or swung a bat since Monday.

It’s their minds that will take some time to heal.

Nobody was more subdued than manager Lou Piniella, who spent 15 years in New York as a player, manager and executive with the Yankees.

“This could have happened anywhere,” Piniella said. “Unfortunately, the city of New York is the symbolic strength of this country, as is Washington. Your heart and thoughts and prayers go out to the people who have suffered the brunt of the tragedy.”

Piniella often measures his words carefully, but these were truly hard for him to speak.

“I’m sure I know people there,” he said. “But whether I know the people or not, it’s been a terrible, terrible tragedy. The baseball season seems rather irrelevant now.”

Piniella has felt this way before.

One of his best friends with the Yankees, catcher Thurman Munson, died in a small-plane crash on Aug. 8, 1979, and the team struggled to find a purpose the rest of that season.

“I remember the emotions after Thurman got killed and how difficult it was to go out and play,” Piniella said. “This is such a worse tragedy.”

Relief pitcher Jeff Nelson was on four World Series winners in New York, and he took part in victory parades that started near the World Trade Center.

“You feel so much for the policemen and the firemen,” he said. “As players we probably got to know them better than anyone because they were at the ballpark so much.

“I don’t feel like playing anyone right now. Our magic number is 2, but these things don’t mean anything now.”

Japanese relief pitcher Kazuhiro Sasaki, who continues to learn about the culture in this country, says it may take a while to achieve the adrenaline rush that a major leaguer needs to perform at his highest level.

“When baseball resumes again, I’m sure we’ll be as competitive as we can,” Sasaki said. “But we’ll always remember what happened and that feeling will never leave us. That will always be a part of our lives from now on.”

The Mariners can clinch the American League West Division championship on Tuesday when the season resumes if they beat Anaheim and Oakland loses at Texas.

If it happens, nobody will feel like partying, they said.

“We’re not going to celebrate,” Piniella said. “There’s nothing to celebrate.”

Second baseman Bret Boone said the players will meet to decide how to observe their championship. Knowing there will be nationwide coverage of the moment they clinch the division title, Boone says the team may use it to make a gesture for the victims of the tragedy.

“I think that’s going to be what we decide,” Boone said. “Being in the position we’re in, with the coverage we get, that is something we’re going to talk about.

“I’m not worried about this tarnishing our season. I think this tarnishes life as we know it.”