Lou Piniella hates clubhouse meetings and isn’t much on managerial speeches – figuring things he disliked as a player probably haven’t changed over a generation.
Still, after a Tuesday loss in which the Seattle Mariners ran the bases badly enough to cost themselves a game, Piniella had something to say and said it to his team.
“I didn’t expect we’d have a problem running the bases, we have pretty good athletes here,” he said Wednesday. “I don’t know if it’s lack of concentration or guys trying to do too much.
“Whatever the reason, it’s got to stop. It’s cost us three or four games already this season – and it really shows up in one-run games.”
Piniella was irritated enough that last week in Tampa Bay he had coaches discuss it with players.
Then against Oakland, the Mariners cost themselves at least three rallies – and one player – with poor base-running.
The manager closed the doors to his clubhouse afterward and was short and to the point.
“It had one topic,” Piniella said.
“Pitching and defense go together, so do hitting and base-running. You get 14 hits and two runs? We should have had six or seven runs that game. If it was the first time, you’d chalk it up as one of those games. But we’ve had one of those games a lot already.”
The last base-running mistake of the night had come in the 10th inning, when Ichiro Suzuki tried to score from second base on an infield out – getting thrown out by plenty at the plate by reliever Billy Koch.
“It was an aggressive play,” Piniella said. “You keep stranding baserunners all night, you get kind of anxious. What I told them all was if it’s not there, take what is there.
“Try to do too much and you run into outs.”
Specifically, he addressed a pair of mistakes on the bases that cost the Mariners outs and runs.
On the play in which Jeff Cirillo singled, only to be called out after runner Ben Davis – racing back from second base – returned to first thinking the ball had been caught.
“You’ve got time when an outfielder dives for the ball to watch the umpire for the call,” Piniella said. “If he signals ‘safe,’ you’re at second base. If it’s ‘out’, you go back.”
On Mark McLemore’s one-out single that didn’t score a run, though Desi Relaford was at second base.
“You’ve got to know where the outfielder is when the ball is hit,” Piniella said. “I thought we’d have one run home and runners at first and third, and we never did score that inning.”
“Lou was mad, and he had every right to be,” Davis said. “That was just embarrassing.”
Abbott to pitch in Tacoma: Tacoma fans will get a look at right-hander Paul Abbott before his return to the Seattle rotation. He’s scheduled to start for the Rainiers Saturday night. It’ll be Abbott’s second minor league start on a rehabilitation assignment that will probably include a third.
After using 63 pitches to work five innings in Class A San Bernardino on Monday, Abbott will be on a pitch count this time around of about 80.
“It was a little strange facing all 21-year-olds,” Abbott joked of his first start. “And I probably confused them a little. I’m working on pitches I’ll need in big league situations – like a 2-0 slider – and they looked a little surprised when I’d throw that. But I have to work on specific things to get back.”
Kingsale replaces Snelling: Outfielder Euguene Kingsale was brought up from Tacoma to replace rookie Chris Snelling on the roster. Snelling was placed on the 60-day disabled list with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
Short hops: Ruben Sierra started in left field and Mark McLemore was the designated hitter Wednesday because McLemore’s left leg has been bothering him. … Carlos Guillen had hoped to return to the lineup Wednesday, but his sprained left ring finger remained tender and he had to cut short a session of hitting off a tee.
“The way it looks now, we’re probably looking at getting him back Friday or Saturday,” Piniella said.
Today’s Game: Seattle concludes its roadtrip with a 12:35 p.m. game in
Oakland that will not be televised. Probable starting pitchers: James
Baldwin (4-4, 4.67) vs. Barry Zito (6-2, 3.25).
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