Hopefully, future is brighter

SEATTLE — The Seattle Mariners’ final game of 2011 was about as unimpressive as their record, a 2-0 loss to the Oakland A’s that left them 67-95 this season.

With A’s starter Gio Gonzalez holding the Mariners to two hits in eight innings Wednesday night at Safeco Field, they suffered their 16th shutout loss this season to set a franchise record.

Still, the Mariners took a step forward from 2010, not only by winning six more games but also in the hope for the future brought by young players compared with the fractured clubhouse that existed last year.

They played 18 rookies, including 12 who made their major league debuts.

“You never expect to run 18 rookies up here,” manager Eric Wedge said. “But when you look at our young people, they’ve handled themselves well for the most part. We’ve been in most of our games this year. It’s one swing, one play away many times.”

Wednesday’s game was the Mariners’ 84th this season decided by two runs or less. They were 26-28 in one-run games and 11-19 in two-run games.

“These players and the experience they’ve gained, it’ll come back to us,” Wedge said. “They’ll come in next spring knowing what the big leagues are about and not wondering.”

Left-handed pitcher Anthony Vasquez struggled more than any of the rookies who finished the season, going 1-6 with an 8.90 earned run average after the shortest of his seven major league starts. The A’s popped him for four hits in two innings, including Jai Miller’s two-run home run in the second.

Wedge turned to the relievers, who finished a solid season with seven scoreless innings.

“We were figuring we would do that,” Wedge said. “Our bullpen really finished strong. We’ve got a lot of young kids who are figuring it out and throwing better.”

Josh Lueke and Chance Ruffin each pitched two innings and Steve Delabar, Tom Wilhelmsen and Shawn Kelley one inning apiece.

All of them are rookies except Kelley, whose performance this month was a huge step in itself after he missed nearly a year because of elbow surgery. Pitching in back-to-back games for the first time since the injury, Kelley struck out the side in the ninth inning. It gave him 122/3 scoreless innings over nine relief appearances since returning to the big leagues this month.

The offense remains the area needing most improvement, and Wednesday night’s loss served as an example of what the Mariners have suffered through much of the year. Their final .233 team batting average was the worst in baseball.

Catcher Chris Gimenez’s third-inning single and third baseman Alex Liddi’s seventh-inning double were the Mariners’ only hits.

The biggest rise from the announced crowd of 20,173 came when the scoreboard showed the result of the Tampa Bay Rays’ victory to clinch a playoff berth over the Boston Red Sox.

The Mariners finished with a final attendance of 1,896,929 in 81 home dates (not including three games in June against the Marlins that were moved to Safeco Field). It was their smallest season attendance for an 81-game home schedule since 1992, when they drew 1,651,398.

And, for those into trivia, the Mariners officially closed baseball’s regular season when Mike Carp struck out to end the game.

Next year, they’ll be first to bat when they face the A’s in the opener March 28 at Tokyo. They look to be another young team in 2012, but one Wedge hopes will be better for the lumps they absorbed in 2011.

“A lot of times this year, we’ve put individuals ahead of the game,” Wedge said. “You want to answer questions as quickly as possible. Sometimes that can be painful. As we look at the big picture, it allows us to be much further along.”

Read Kirby Arnold’s blog on the Mariners at www.heraldnet.com/marinersblog and follow his Twitter updates at @kirbyarnold.