M’s win, M’s win, M’s win

By Kirby Arnold

Herald Writer

SEATTLE – The Seattle Mariners climbed another step toward a pedestal that seems more and more like it is meant only for them.

With a 1-0 victory Saturday night over the Texas Rangers, the Mariners tied the 1906 Chicago Cubs’ major league record of 116 victories in a season.

“It’s storybook,” said second baseman Bret Boone.

Boone’s first-inning homer provided all the run support needed for a parade of five Mariners pitchers that is looking playoff-ready.

Before the Mariners start thinking about Tuesday’s first game of the Division Series against Cleveland, their focus is narrow today: Win No. 117.

“The way we’ve been playing, I don’t see anything changing,” said outfielder Jay Buhner, whose sliding catch in the fifth inning saved at least one run.

“We’ve come this far,” Boone said. “Of course we want it.”

A week ago today, the Mariners had 111 victories and approached their final six games hoping to at least tie the 1998 Yankees’ American League record of 114.

The M’s not only accomplished that, they brushed off the Yankees’ record two days ago and now stand eye-to-eye with a legendary ‘06 Cubs team that featured the Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance double play combination and Hall of Fame pitcher “Three Finger” Mordecai Brown.

The Mariners can set the victory record today against Texas in the final game of the season when 15-game winner Aaron Sele pitches against Darren Oliver, who is 11-11 with a lofty 6.12 earned run average.

Sele, who doesn’t talk with reporters on the day before he pitches, politely declined an invitation to discuss today’s start.

“It’s worked for me for the last five years, so why change now?” Sele said.

Backup catcher Tom Lampkin, who has been an inside witness to two of the greatest achievements in baseball history – Mark McGwire’s 70 home-run season in 1998 when he was with the Cardinals and now the Mariners’ historic run – says there is a resolve on the team to get it done today.

“After we lost the road series in Oakland and got swept (two weeks ago), I think everybody turned their focus toward the chance that we have now,” Lampkin said. “A week ago I wasn’t really thinking about it, but when you realize how close you are and you don’t look past games, then you start to realize that it’s possible.”

In winning their fifth straight game to tie the record Saturday, the Mariners used the elements that powered them all season – solid starting pitching, suffocating relief, errorless defense and timely hitting.

The Mariners pushed their record to an incredible 71 games over .500 – 116-45 – with a mixture of starters and backups in their lineup, plus a steady parade of pitchers who seem finely tuned for the postseason.

For starter Denny Stark, it was a night of rebirth, of sorts, at the big-league level. He went 14-2 with a 2.37 ERA at Class AAA Tacoma and was named the Pacific Coast League pitcher of the year, but was just 1-1, 11.57 in three starts with the Mariners this season.

Stark gave the Rangers only a second-inning double to Rafael Palmeiro and a walk to Carlos Pena in the third, and finished his scoreless outing after three innings as Piniella gave four other pitchers a tuneup for the postseason.

Paul Abbott, who may pitch out of the bullpen in the Division Series against the Indians if Piniella decides to use three starters, worked a scoreless fourth and fifth, although he got a huge defensive assist from Buhner to hold a 1-0 lead.

Ricky Ledee stood on third and Mike Lamb on first with two outs in the fifth inning when Bill Haselman hit a sinking, hooking liner toward the right-field corner.

Buhner, starting in right for the first time this year, caught up with the ball near the edge of the warning track and made a sliding lunge to catch it.

“Luckily, I know Billy (Haselman) a little bit,” Buhner said. “I played over and because of that, it helped out. You just try to play your instincts.”

Joel Pineiro, who is competing with Ryan Franklin and John Halama for the final spot on Piniella’s 10-man pitching staff in the first round, mowed down the Rangers in his two innings of work, striking out four of the six batters he faced. He was awarded the victory, giving him a 6-2 record.

Jeff Nelson pitched a 1-2-3 eighth, including a strikeout of Pena with a 99 mph fastball, and Kazuhiro Sasaki worked a perfect ninth, ending the game by striking out Alex Rodriguez for his 45th save.

Mariners pitchers have held the Rangers to a .109 average (10-for-92) over three games and the top three hitters have gone 1-for-35. The Rangers hadn’t been shut out all season.

“It’s a very nice accomplishment,” Piniella said. “What’s good about it is that at the same time we’ve been winning baseball games, we’ve been preparing for the postseason. We’ve done our best over the past two weeks to keep guys working and stay as sharp as possible for the playoffs.”

Those playoffs begin Tuesday. For one more day, however, the focus will be entirely on winning No. 117.