Mariners ready to move on after meetings over "accountability" and dugout incident

Before batting practice this afternoon, the Mariners — manager Don Wakamatsu, the coaches and the players — held a five-minute meeting and discussed such topics as accountability and coming together as a club.

It was the direct result of Friday night’s angry incident in the dugout when Chone Figgins became upset after Wakamatsu removed him from the game, leading to what I call a spirited case of “separation anxiety” that broke out. By the time everyone had calmed down, Figgins was backed into one corner and Wakamatsu had gone the other way, with Jose Lopez and Russell Branyan so determined to push the arguing factions apart that Branyan was using a lot of muscle and Lopez wound up with his jersey pulled over his head like he’d been in a hockey fight.

If you’re wondering if there was more to the incident than Figgins and Wakamatsu trying to go nose-to-nose in the heat of the moment, I’m told there wasn’t. It did look bad that Lopez had lost his jersey and Branyan was leaping on the bench and over people, and that the contact was rather physical, but again, I’m told everything that went on was with the intention of breaking up the original argument.

When the Mariners gathered at the ballpark this afternoon there was:

A meeting involving Wakamatsu, Figgins and general manager Jack Zduriencik. Zduriencik wouldn’t divulge even generalities about the meeting.

Of last night’s dugout incident, he said, “We’ve had our discussions, we’ve had our talks. It’s behind us and we’re going to play baseball. I don’t have much more to say about it. These instances are in-house instances, we handle them internally and we move on and play baseball. I don’t have much more to say about it than that.”

A five-minute team meeting in which last night’s situation and accountability were discussed. “We touched on some things that happened last night, obviously,” Wakamatsu said. “But also touching on some things like accountability and coming together as a club.”

A lineup that has Figgins batting second and playing second base. “I said it last night when I was asked about a suspension,” Wakamatsu said. “What you’re trying to do is manage the club the best way you see fit and there is accountability to some of the mistakes. Nobody wants to go out there and mess up, whether it’s baserunning or it’s a physical thing. You have to make that decision and we made it last night.”

Figgins’ side of the story? He wouldn’t talk with reporters. Wakamatsu, in answering whether he and Figgins are “on the same page” since their meeting with Zduriencik, said this: “Jack and Chone and I all sat down and we talked about what happened. Again, it’s more abou the play and not so much about the individual. But there’s some accountability. When there’s tight ballgames and one or two plays affect the outcome, it seems to be more critical.”