M’s focus on manufacturing
Published 9:00 pm Monday, February 26, 2007
PEORIA, Ariz. – Too often last year with a man on first base and nobody out, the Seattle Mariners hit a can-of-corn fly ball when they could have moved the runner to second base with a grounder to the right side.
There were times they’d misfire on a bunt and fail to put a runner in scoring position. Or they’d get a runner on third with less than two outs and leave him there.
Situational hitting was an issue for the 2006 Mariners that the 2007 team is trying to do something about.
The Mariners spent a good part of their work Monday on situational hitting – driving the ball to the right side, dropping bunts, hitting sacrifice flies and swinging for the fences only when the situation dictated.
“Situational hitting is part of being a professional,” left fielder Raul Ibanez said. “If you go around the room and ask everybody if they could have done more last year, they’ll all say yes. We didn’t do what we were capable of doing.”
The numbers weren’t horrible when compared with the 2001 Mariners, whose ability to move runners and score them seemed uncanny in their record-tying 116-victory season.
The 2001 Mariners batted .296 with less than two outs and runners in scoring position; the 2006 M’s batted .295. The 2001 team’s 367 RBI with one out and a runner in scoring position far exceeded the 294 RBI in the same situation last year.
It takes discipline and unselfishness to be an effective situational hitter.
“You have to go up there expecting for the situation to present itself,” he said. “Sometimes, just because there are two outs and you’re the fifth hitter down the order doesn’t mean that you won’t come up in a big situation.
“And once you get in that situation, you have to know what to do and expect to get it done right. Everybody is going to fail because this is a game of failure, but you have to give a legitimate effort and be willing to give up your at-bat for the team.”
Ibanez played for the Kansas City Royals when they were among the American League’s offensive leaders in 2003, and a big reason for their success was situational hitting.
“I’d put that team up against anybody,” he said. “Carlos Beltran hit third and I hit right behind him. It could be the first inning, but if there were runners on first and second with nobody out, Carlos was dropping down a bunt on his own. That was the mindset of that club. Everybody had expected us to finish below the cellar that year, but we were in first place on Sept. 1. We didn’t make the playoffs, but we still overachieved, and a lot of it was because everybody was willing to give up their at-bat. There was a lot of unselfishness.”
The 2007 Mariners could use that.
Of note: Reliever George Sherrill is taking a cautious approach to the early part of spring training as he deals with soreness in his left elbow, the apparent residue of his elbow problem from midseason last year. “As far as I’m aware of, it’s not anything that hasn’t been there for most of George’s career,” manager Mike Hargrove said. “He pitched with it last year and was pretty effective.” … The Mariners will play their first game today, a four-inning intrasquad affair. Among pitchers going an inning apiece are starter Jeff Weaver and bullpen candidate Cha Seung Baek. Miguel Batista will start Wednesday’s intrasquad game. … Hargrove said Horatio Ramirez and Felix Hernandez each would pitch two innings when the Mariners play the Padres on Thursday in the annual charity game. … In addition to split-squad games March 4 against the Giants and Diamondbacks, the Mariners will play three other exhibitions against National League teams – Thursday and Friday against the Padres and March 11 against the Giants.
