SEATTLE – With jobs at stake, not to mention the faith of their fans, the Seattle Mariners need a hot start this season.
Nobody has to remind first baseman Richie Sexson.
“It’s extremely important,” Sexson said at Safeco Field, where he appeared over the weekend at the Mariner’s annual FanFest. “There’s something about getting that lead, whether it’s Tiger Woods getting a four-shot lead in the first round of a golf tournament or this, that allows you to relax. We want to jump out there and scare people.”
If the Mariners don’t, consequences could be dire. After the Mariners’ third straight last-place finish in the American League West last year, team CEO Howard Lincoln said that general manager Bill Bavasi and manager Mike Hargrove were on the hot seat.
Sexson might as well be on that same perch, because the Mariners will need his production from the get-go and can’t afford a season like he had last year, when he struggled early before finding his stroke.
Sexson finished last season with 34 home runs and 107 RBI, but had only six home runs and 29 RBI in the first two months.
He knows the Mariners’ early success this year will depend on him, and he changed his offseason workout regimen because of it. He hired a personal trainer for the first time in his career and has spent more time working on his legs and core muscles.
Sexson also jumped back into the batting cage just days after last season ended, hoping to maintain the feel for hitting that finally came back to him late in the season.
“Two weeks after I got home in the offseason, I started hitting again just so I could remember the feeling,” Sexson said. “I’ve watched a lot of tapes from last year. I had a slow, slow start last year and I constantly was on an uphill battle.”
He sees a positive in all the negatives of his hitting woes early last season.
“The fans don’t like to see it, but in the end I think it helped me out,” Sexson said. “The mental side, I realized that I could be at my worst and still come out of it and have a good year. When you hit rock bottom like that, you tend to learn a lot about yourself.”
Sexson said he followed the Mariners’ offseason changes with keen interest, and wasn’t surprised to hear his own name numerous times in trade rumors. Much of the talk focused on whether the Mariners would open room in their payroll by trading Sexson and the $28 million left on his contract the next two seasons.
“I was getting all kinds of calls from people telling me what they’d heard,” he said. “But it was no different than any other year. That seems to part of my career and I’m used to it. I know that money is what makes the world go around, and I don’t take it personal. Heck, with the money clubs are spending this year, I’d be a bargain.”
The additions of designated hitter Jose Vidro and right fielder Jose Guillen should boost the offense, but Sexson believes he and third baseman Adrian Beltre remain the cornerstones to the Mariners’ offense.
“Adrian and I, nobody feels worse when we lose than we do,” Sexson said. “It’s our responsibility to produce runs. A lot of people expect us to carry the offense, and they should. We’re the guys who are capable of doing that, and we haven’t clicked on all cylinders yet.”
The key this year is for Sexson, Beltre and the Mariners to click from Day One. The consequences could be severe if they don’t.
“You want to jump out to a good start and let people know that you’re there,” Sexson said. “In the two years I’ve been here, we haven’t really done that.”
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