By Kirby Arnold
Herald Writer
SEATTLE – It’s been 10 days since the Seattle Mariners won the division championship and it’ll be 10 more before they pursue greater goals in the playoffs.
It may seem like a slackwater finish to the regular season, but there’s still plenty to play for and manager Lou Piniella doesn’t hesitate to provide his list:
“We’d like to see Ichiro win a batting title,” Piniella said. “I’d like to see Ichiro or Bret Boone win the MVP of this league. And I would like to see Jamie Moyer get his 20 wins.”
He’d have preferred to see that last one Saturday night.
Eric Chavez pounded a three-run homer that cost Moyer a one-run lead and his chance at No. 20 in the sixth inning, and Miguel Tejada hit for the cycle – including a grand-slam on reliever Jose Paniagua’s first pitch in the seventh – as the Oakland A’s beat the Mariners 8-4 at Safeco Field.
Among the few things that went right for the Mariners was Ichiro Suzuki’s fourth-inning single, his 234th of the season to break “Shoeless” Joe Jackson’s 90-year-old major league record for hits by a rookie.
Edgar Martinez drove in all of the Mariners’ runs with a two-run double in the third inning, a single in the seventh and his 33rd home run in the ninth that completed a 3-for-4 game that gave him 115 RBI this season.
Moyer remained stuck on 19 victories the moment Chavez started his swing with two outs and two on base in the sixth. It was Chavez’s 30th home run this season, but only his seventh off a left-handed pitcher.
It also was the first homer Moyer has allowed in a 54-inning span going back to Aug. 14, when Carl Everett popped one in Boston.
Moyer got out of the sixth with a strikeout of Ron Gant, but ran himself back into trouble with one out in the seventh. He walked and gave up back-to-back singles to Frank Menechino and Johnny Damon to load the bases.
Piniella brought in Paniagua to keep the game close, and with one pitch Tejada blew it open.
He drove his 29th homer this season and his fifth career grand-slam into the bullpen in left field for an 8-2 Oakland lead.
It also completed the fourth cycle in Oakland history and the 15th in the history of the Athletics.
As for the other elements on Piniella’s wish list, Suzuki pushed himself closer to the American League batting title with a 1-for-5 game that left him hitting .349. Oakland’s Jason Giambi, second in the batting race, went 1-for-2 and is hitting .341.
In the MVP race, Boone also went 1-for-5 and is batting .333 and Giambi hit a sacrifice fly in the first inning for his 113th RBI and scored in the sixth on Chavez’s homer.
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