During the Richie Sexson years, nearly every time the big guy would strike out and make that slow walk back to the dugout, I often turned to a cohort in the press box and said, “Get used to it.”
What we got used to not only were all those strikeouts, but a style of baseball that didn’t work at Safeco Field. The Mariners would get runners on base, but they wouldn’t move them around. And invariably, whether it was Sexson or someone else feeling the pressure to hit the six-run homer, they would strike out.
Once upon a time, the Mariners got runners on base, moved them into scoring position with bunts, steals and smart hitting, then drove them home. That was 2001, and it was no accident that they won 116 games and the division going away. OK, maybe the 116 victories were a little fluky, but that team played a style that worked at Safeco Field.
Today, that game returned in the Mariners’ 3-2 victory over the Angels. Yuniesky Betancourt’s sacrifice bunt turned into the winning play in the 10th inning when Angels pitcher Steve Shields threw the ball away, allowing Franklin Gutierrez to score from second base.
Two of the Mariners’ three runs scored in small-ball fashion. In the first inning, Ronny Cedeno drew a one-out walk, was running on the pitch and easily reached third when Ken Griffey Jr. looped a single to right field, then scored on Adrian Beltre’s fielder’s-choice ground out.
Combined with Carlos Silva’s seven strong innings and some tightrope relief by David Aardsma, Brandon Morrow and Roy Corcoran, and the Mariners find themselves 6-2. That includes five straight victories, four of them over AL West opponents.
The Mariners did strike out six times, but when they got baserunners, they did the little things necessary to creat scoring opportunities — Cedeno running on the pitch Griffey hit in the first inning, Gutierrez dropping a sacrifice bunt that put Kenji Johjima on second baes with one out in the seventh, and then Betancourt dropping a gorgeous bunt that forced the Angels into the decisive mistake.
Manager Don Wakamatsu said from the first day of spring training that this is the type game the Mariners need to play in order to succeed. But we’ve heard that from every manager since Lou Piniella,, and the Mariners went on to make the least of so many opportunities because of poor at-bats and a lack of ability — or maybe interest — to play the situational game.
We’re only eight games into a162-game season, so it’s way too early to say a pattern has been established.
It’s not too early, however, to say how much fun this is to watch.
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