So Eddie Guardado has decided against shoulder surgery that would surely wipe him out for a year, opting instead to rehab the torn rotator cuff in hopes he’ll return to full strength by spring training.
If you missed the huge sigh of relief from the Seattle Mariners, that’s because there wasn’t one.
Just because their prized closer is sidestepping surgery – for now – doesn’t mean the Mariners feel a greater sense of security about Guardado going into the offseason.
Nobody knows if the rehab attempt will work. If it does, it’ll be the best thing the Mariners could have hoped for.
But if he needs the surgery, it will prolong the one-year window that’s the typical recovery time from such an operation.
Either way, the Mariners are in limbo.
They still consider Guardado their closer for next year, although nobody will know for sure if he can do it until gets back on the mound at spring training and cuts loose a few times in the bullpen.
The bottom line is this: The Mariners can’t depend on Guardado being healthy next spring any more than they could count on Norm Charlton’s return from shoulder problems each of the last three years. The only thing Charlton threw this year was the ceremonial first pitch at the season opener.
What does a baseball team do?
The Mariners will be forced to take the same approach as last winter, when they weren’t sure if Kazuhiro Sasaki would come back healthy, if he came back at all. Kaz eventually decided to stay in Japan, but he delayed that decision so long that the Mariners went out and signed Guardado as insurance.
It gave them an established closer in the event Sasaki didn’t come back healthy, or at all. When Sasaki stayed in Japan, Guardado conveniently stepped into the closer’s role.
The Mariners should save their notes from last winter because they’re facing a similar situation. There’s a great chance Guardado won’t be ready for 2005 and the M’s may need to follow that plan again.
Judgment calls
* Last week’s ceremony to induct Jay Buhner into the Mariners Hall of Fame proved that the M’s can pull off a ceremony with all the right touches.
As nice as it was, where is the permanent recognition for the club’s three Hall of Famers – Buhner, Alvin Davis and Dave Niehaus?
The Mariners say they are working on it, which is nice. Fans deserve to see a constant reminder of the men who made such great memories.
* Who’s next for the Mariners’ Hall of Fame?
It’s only a matter of time before Edgar Martinez and Lou Piniella make it, and Ken Griffey Jr. will be high on everyone’s list.
Others?
Ichiro Suzuki and Jamie Moyer off the current team should be no-brainers. Bret Boone, if he can rebound into the player he was two years ago, would make a strong case, too.
And on the “When Hell Freezes Over” list are Randy Johnson and Alex Rodriguez.
* Everett baseball fans may remember Terry Mulholland’s two weeks as a member of the Everett Giants in 1984. But did you know that 20 years later, Mulholland officially was a member of the Everett AquaSox?
In a classy move by general manager Bill Bavasi in April, the Mariners assigned Mulholland to the AquaSox roster after they decided following spring training that he wouldn’t make the team.
It was an on-paper move only because the AquaSox season didn’t start until mid-June. It gave Mulholland a chance to work out at Safeco Field while the Mariners explored trade possibilities.
On April 13, they found a taker – the Twins – and traded him to Minnesota for cash considerations … which amounted to $1.
Mariners sweep Royals
Young pitchers shine as Seattle takes both ends of doubleheader from Kansas City
By Kirby Arnold
Herald Writer
SEATTLE – Amid another milestone from Ichiro Suzuki, three more examples of hope for the Seattle Mariners emerged from 21 innings of baseball Saturday at Safeco Field.
Matt Thornton, Bobby Madritsch and Cha Seung Baek can pitch with poise despite their inexperience at the major league level.
The Mariners swept the Kansas City Royals, 9-7 and 5-3 in 12 innings, and the rookie pitchers all played key roles.
Thornton pitched three innings of scoreless relief in the opener and got his first big-league victory; Madritsch rebounded from a difficult first inning in the second game and held the Royals scoreless the rest of the way; and Baek, hours after he’d been called up from Class AAA Tacoma, won his first major league game with two scoreless innings.
Then there was Suzuki.
He defied belief, logic and the record book again when he got four hits in the two games, including a leadoff single in the 12th inning that set up Randy Winn’s winning home run in the second game.
Suzuki’s final hit was his 50th in August, making him the only player in major league history to get 50 hits in three different months. He got 50 in May and 51 in July, and there are two more games this month to pile on.
“Getting 50 hits a month is harder to do than getting 200 all year,” said Suzuki, who reached that level on Thursday. “It’s something you just can’t imagine.”
Suzuki, 4-for-10 in the two games, is batting .366. He also stole a base in the second game, making him the first player in Mariners history with four straight 30-steal seasons.
“It’s hard to keep up with that guy,” said Winn, who is doing it better than any other Mariner. He went 5-for-10 Saturday to raise his average to .289. “It seems like every time I come up, he’s on base, so I know he’s getting a lot of hits.”
Bucky Jacobsen was the Game 1 hitting hero, belting his ninth home run in the fourth inning and a two-run double in the fifth that helped the Mariners come back from a 4-0 deficit.
Thornton relieved Game 1 starter Clint Nageotte in the fourth inning and pitched three innings without giving up a hit, allowing the Mariners’ offense time to find itself against Royals starter Darrell May.
Madritsch started the second game and looked for an inning like he forgot to warm up. He left pitches up in the strike zone that the Royals popped for four hits and three runs before the Mariners came to bat.
It was the last thing the Mariners needed. Their bullpen was so worn down that they called Baek up from Tacoma between games and had him ready for long relief.
Madritsch, though, regained his control and lasted eight innings, allowing only three hits and no runs in the final seven.
“Once you get the ball down, it’s pretty much a matter of throwing strikes,” Madritsch said. “I was throwing good pitches but they got a chance to put the bat on the ball and that’s what they did.”
The Mariners came back with a run in the third inning on Raul Ibanez’s RBI single, another in the fourth on Jolbert Cabrera’s home run and the tying run in the ninth when Bret Boone led off with a double and scored on Cabrera’s double.
Shigetoshi Hasegawa held the Royals scoreless in the ninth and 10th innings and the Mariners had no choice but to put the game into the last reliever standing, Baek.
Like Thornton and Madritsch earlier in the day, the 24-year-old Korean showed poise and overwhelmed the Royals with his fastball and changeup. Alberto Castillo’s ground-ball single in the 12th was the only hit off Baek, who struck out Ruben Gotay and Aaron Guiel to finish the inning.
“Matt throws three shutout innings and Cha Seung, with no margin for error, throws two scoreless,” pitching coach Bryan Price said. “Pretty impressive.”
The Mariners’ day of success didn’t come without cost.
Nageotte struggled again and fell behind 4-0 in the opener, then hurt himself when he slipped on the mound in the third inning and experienced back spasms. The Mariners put him on the 15-day disabled list between games, creating the roster opening to bring up Baek.
And because they used Baek on Saturday, the Mariners’ bullpen is even more fragile for today’s series finale. They really could use a complete game from starting pitcher Ryan Franklin today.
“It’s Frankie’s game,” Melvin said. “We don’t even have a bullpen.”
That’s not entirely true.
The Mariners are prepared to use Ron Villone, who is scheduled to start Tuesday at Toronto, if Franklin runs into trouble.
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