By Larry LaRue
The News Tribune
LOS ANGELES – Everything you need to know about the way the Seattle Mariners played in the first half – and all that needs to be said of manager Lou Piniella’s panache – came in the second inning of the final game before the All-Star break.
Nursing a one-run lead with David Bell on third base and pitcher Aaron Sele at-bat, Piniella called for a suicide squeeze play.
“They’d just pitched out, and I looked down to third base for the sign and saw the ‘squeeze’ on,” Sele said. “It’s not like I’ve hit much in my career. I thought, ‘Well, this should be interesting …’ “
Sele dropped the bunt, Bell scored and the Mariners rolled into the All-Star break with a 9-2 victory that became Sele’s 10th win of the season.
“Sixty three wins at the break?” Piniella asked afterward. “Who’d have thought that? That’s a lot of wins.”
And, like most of them, this win came because of play throughout the Mariner lineup, solid pitching and a relentless style on the bases.
“The biggest hit of the day might have been David Bell’s two-run single in the seventh inning,” said catcher Dan Wilson, who singled and homered. “It sort of broke the game open. The guys at the bottom of the lineup, we’ve contributed all season.”
Between them, the Nos. 7-8-9 hitters Sunday had five hits and five RBI, including Sele – who dropped that squeeze bunt, then singled and scored in Seattle’s six-run seventh inning.
“I’ll tell you the truth, if I miss that bunt and go 0-for-4 with four strikeouts, it’s OK with me as long as we win,” Sele said. “But that said, getting that bunt down was kind of fun. With Lou, you just never take anything for granted.”
An All-Star a year ago when he was 11-3 at the break, Sele now is 10-1 with a 3.54 earned run average.
“I didn’t win a game in June, but I only lost one, so I didn’t really set the team back,” Sele said. “Everything else is kind of secondary. My job is to keep us in games, eat up some innings. Today I got us through eight innings, and to me, that’s the job description.”
It wasn’t as if Sele was on cruise control with a huge lead all day.
After five innings, the Mariners led, 2-1.
Then newly-named All-Star center fielder Mike Cameron tripled in the sixth inning and Ed Sprague pushed him home with a sacrifice fly.
“That’s the kind of thing we’ve done all year,” Wilson said. “No matter who is up, we find a way to get it done. Today, it was Ed.”
Ahead 3-1 into the seventh inning, the Mariners offense exploded to put this one away.
Wilson started it with his sixth home run, Sele followed with his first career single and Ichiro Suzuki – hit in the helmet with a pitch earlier in the game – doubled.
Had a ball off the helmet frightened him?
“If I’m afraid of the pitch, I don’t belong on the field,” Ichiro said.
Well, OK then.
John Olerud and Boone got home two more runs and Bell’s single made it 9-2.
Sele pitched the eighth inning, then Piniella went to All-Star closer Kazuhiro Sasaki, who hadn’t worked in a few days. The Dodgers went quietly, and the Mariners had reached the All-Star break.
“I think we’ve all said about everything that can be said about our first half,” Wilson said. “It’s up to us now to continue it in the second half.”
Piniella doesn’t see that as a problem.
“We’re a bit tired, coming off this three-city, 10-day trip,” he said, “but now our guys get a nice little break. Even our All-Stars will be in good shape, because the game is in Seattle – it’s not like they have to fly cross-country twice for it.
“I’ve always felt July and August are telling months. You play well in those months, it carries through into the postseason. I haven’t seen any signs of this club relaxing, getting lax. I don’t think you’ll see any signs of that.”
Asked how to describe the first half, Piniella pointed to this three-game series against the Dodgers.
“We won two of three, which has been our goal all year – win the series,” Piniella said. “Our pitching was great, we gave up four runs in three games. We pretty much used our whole team. We played well defensively, we executed on offense and we pitched well. That’s been our first half.”
And a suicide squeeze with your pitcher at the plate?
“They had a left-hander on the mound, so it’s tougher for him to see the runner break,” Piniella said. “And Aaron is probably a better bunter than a hitter, so we asked him to do what he does best. I can call anything I want out there – Aaron’s the one that got it done.
“That’s the story of the first half. These guys have gotten it done.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
