MINNEAPOLIS – Reggie Jackson used to hold court on most anything in his playing days, from politics to the standings.
If you were within five games of first place at the All-Star break, he said, you were a contender. If you were eight games back, you had some soul-searching to do.
And if you were more than 10 back?
“Road kill,” Reggie said.
A few minutes before 10 p.m. here Wednesday, the Seattle Mariners officially became road kill – losing to the Minnesota Twins, 4-3, to drop 101/2 games behind the American League West division leader.
Catcher Dan Wilson, in his 11th season with Seattle, was asked if he’d been through a more frustrating start.
“Never,” Wilson said. “Never like this.”
There were no late bullpen collapses in this one. The Mariners began the game with back-to-back singles – putting Ichiro Suzuki at third base and Jolbert Cabrera at first – and never took a lead.
Until the ninth inning, they didn’t score.
When they did, Edgar Martinez moved a little deeper into baseball history with his 300th home run, a three-run shot off Brad Radke in the ninth inning.
What did that home run mean to Martinez?
“Right now, not much,” he said quietly. “When you’re off to a slow start, when you’re not winning, it upsets the whole deal. Later, I’ll enjoy it. But not right now.”
Freddy Garcia pitched another solid game, burned by a home run on a hanging changeup and an error that turned a double-play into a two-run rally in the second inning.
Given four runs by the third inning, Radke shook off a few early Seattle threats and bore through the Mariners lineup – retiring 10 hitters in a row heading into the ninth inning.
“We didn’t get big hits early on, we didn’t put any pressure on them,” manager Bob Melvin said.
The only opportunity Seattle converted came in the end, when Scott Spiezio singled, John Olerud singled and Martinez hit a 3-2 pitch out to right field.
There was no one out and the Mariners were suddenly only one run down. All those early wasted chances danced before them, and against reliever Joe Nathan they were helpless.
Nathan threw 16 pitches, got three outs and the Twins were 19-13. And the Mariners were 12-21.
”You can analyze it, over-analyze, under-analyze it,” Wilson said. “There’s no magic formula in baseball. Every game gives you a new opportunity to change things. It can change just that fast.”
The Mariners badly want to believe that, from Melvin to his players to the Seattle front office. Yet for every small light they find, they produce more dark results.
* Suzuki has an 11-game hitting streak, yet in those games he has scored in three of those games.
* Despite a three-run home run in the ninth inning, Martinez is batting .260 with two home runs and 16 RBI.
* Garcia has an earned run average of 2.51 through seven starts – that ranks him third in the league – yet in those games, Seattle has scored nine times while he was pitching. He’s won once.
“You have to put blinders on to get through times like this,” Raul Ibanez said. “You have to focus on each day, believe that anything can happen. You don’t look left or right, just straight ahead.
“It’s not frustrating, it’s worse than that. There’s not a guy on this club it’s not killing right now. There’s not a guy in here who probably couldn’t have done more this season – and I’ll put myself at the front of the line – to help us win more games.”
On a night when all the runs they scored came on one swing, all three of the other teams in the AL West won. So not only are the Mariners 101/2 games behind Anaheim, they’re five games behind third-place Oakland.
“It’s as miserable a time as I’ve ever been through here,” Bret Boone said. “As miserable a time as I’ve been through, anywhere. It’s just unbelievable.”
Melvin was left to ponder the possibilities. Take that first inning – please!
Suzuki at third base, Cabrera at third, no outs. Spiezio struck out, and with Olerud at the plate, Cabrera tried to get a quick jump, strayed too far and is picked off first. Olerud grounded out.
Seattle put their leadoff hitter on in each of the first four innings without ever getting him past third base.
“We got lots of hits early but none when we needed one most,” Melvin said. “We got six, seven early hits and didn’t have anything to show for it. So Edgar hits one out in the ninth and we come up a run short.”
“I don’t know what to say about us right now,” Wilson said.
Reggie Jackson had a term for it.
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