Be bold: M’s will win World Series

SEATTLE – Measure the players’ ring fingers. Ice down the champagne. Start planning the victory parade.

Seattle is going to celebrate a World Series championship later this month.

The Mariners haven’t even played a game in the American League Division Series and already you’re looking for a grand marshal? You can’t start preparing too soon for these things.

When these guys want something, they get it. They wanted the American League West Division title, they got it. They wanted the American League victory record, they got it. They wanted the major league victory record, they tied it.

Now they want a World Championship. And they’ll get it.

They’ll get it because they have the best pitching and the best defense in baseball. And that’s what wins championships.

They’ll get it because these guys, as wonderful as the season has been so far, won’t feel complete until they win the World Series. “The ring,” Mark McLemore said. “It’s all about the ring.”

You hear that often in the M’s clubhouse. The 116 victories were awesome. But without the ring, they lose their luster.

The ring is within their grasp. All they have to do is win three series and 11 games.

These guys are resolved to do just that. You can see it in their faces, you can sense it in the way they go about their business.

The Mariners could have become complacent when they built a huge lead in the AL West at the All-Star break. There’s a natural tendency to do that. But this team is a cut or two above most clubs when it comes to pride in its work. Rather than kick back, it kicked tail, going 53-22 after the break, winning eight of its last 10.

That’s a credit to the manager, Lou Piniella. That’s a credit to the players, who get angry when they go 9-1.

That “one” gets to ‘em. You’ve seen their reaction in the dugout when they lose. They look as if they just dropped the seventh game of the World Series.

You win as many games as this team won and you get used to winning. It’s almost an insult when you lose.

It won every series but six. It went 59-22 on the road, the best record in baseball.

That’s why it won’t be intimidated when it goes to Cleveland for Game 3 of the AL Division Series, which begins this afternoon at Safeco Field.

There’s too big a deal made of the home-field advantage anyway. Maybe it’s important in football. But baseball? It gives the TV commentators something to fill air time.

There are things that can’t be measured in numbers that make the M’s so very hard to beat. They have a number of savvy veterans, Stan Javier, John Olerud, Jay Buhner, Dan Wilson, Bret Boone and McLemore, guys who not only know how to play the game properly, but bring an inner and outer strength to the field.

Wilson may look like a choirboy, but try to score with him blocking the plate and you find out just how gritty he is. Buhner has overcome injury after injury to get his old battered body back on the field. Don’t be surprised if he does something big in the playoffs.

Lampkin, coming back from elbow surgery, didn’t do much all season but lately has begun to hit. Javier quietly gets the job done when called upon. He’s retiring after the season, all the more incentive for him to want to win a ring. Olerud has two World Series rings and would like to get a third. What more can be said about Boone? He’s a strong candidate for league MVP. He’s as tough a competitor as you’ll find. McLemore is an intense as they come. A dirty uniform is a badge of honor for him.

Ichiro Suzuki has been around the American game only one year but has already established himself as one of the finest players in the game. There may not be a more focused player than he.

The pitching has been splendid. Freddy Garcia won 18 games, Jamie Moyer 20, Aaron Sele 15, Paul Abbott 17. Garcia proved his mettle in the playoffs last year, going into Yankee Stadium in Game 1 of the ALCS and shutting out the Bronx Bombers on three hits over 6 2/3innings in a 2-0 win. Moyer, always a battler, is itching to get back in the playoffs after missing them last year with a broken kneecap.

With him on the mound a year ago, the M’s might have gotten to the World Series. You don’t think he doesn’t know that? You don’t think that isn’t driving him this time?

Remember when the bullpen used to get lambasted? Now it gets praised.

M’s relievers were 33-15 with a 3.04 ERA. Opponents batted .202. All three marks led the league.

The M’s were 92-5 when leading after six innings and the bullpen had a huge role in that. Likewise, it could have a huge role in the playoffs.

Shortstop Carlos Guillen will miss at least the first round with tuberculosis, but McLemore is a very capable replacement. Rookie Ramon Vazquez could get some work there.

You worry that he might lose his composure in such a pressure-packed setting? Something tells me this kid won’t. There’s just something about him. “I can’t wait for this all to start tomorrow,” he said before Monday’s workout.

He has a chance for two rings this year.

He got one while playing for the Pacific Coast League champion Tacoma Rainers.

He’ll get another while playing for the World Series champion Seattle Mariners this month.

Count on it.