Rookie isn’t nervous about replacing Guillen at shortstop
By Kirby Arnold
Herald Writer
SEATTLE — Somebody needs to check Ramon Vazquez for nerve endings.
When the American League playoffs begin Tuesday, there’s a good chance the kid with all of 22 major league at-bats will be the starting shortstop for the Seattle Mariners.
Vazquez doubts he’ll have the nervous rumbling in his gut or shaky feeling in his legs that should accompany such a moment.
"My first day I did, but I don’t think I’ll get that anymore now," he said.
The eyes of a baseball nation and the hopes of an expectant region will be on Vazquez, and he won’t get nervous?
Even Bret Boone, the Mariners’ king of "Watch me, world!" says he’ll be nervous.
"But I’m nervous before the season opener," Boone said, "and I’m nervous before my first at-bat of spring training. Ramon will be fine."
That’s the prevailing sentiment toward the 25-year-old rookie, even though he has been thrust into a position he never envisioned when the Mariners called him up from Class AAA Tacoma on Sept. 7.
It’s a tangled web that has put Vazquez, and the Mariners, in this predicament.
Starting shortstop Carlos Guillen lies in a Seattle hospital with tuberculosis and his return by Tuesday is doubtful. Mark McLemore is the first choice to replace Guillen at shortstop, but he may be needed at third if a rib injury keeps third baseman David Bell out of the lineup.
That would give manager Lou Piniella little choice but to use Vazquez, a left-handed hitter, at shortstop against right-handed pitching.
If the Mariners play Cleveland in the first round and right-hander Bartolo Colon pitches Game 1 for the Indians, M’s fans must hope they get an A Game from what essentially is Plan C.
Piniella thinks they will.
"He looks good out there," Piniella said. "He’s gotten a couple of hits lately and he’s made plays at shortstop. He’ll be fine."
This isn’t the way Vazquez figured he would finish this season.
At Tacoma, he batted .300 with 10 home runs and 79 RBI in 127 games and was named to the All-Pacific Coast League team. The Mariners called him up just to get a look at one of the budding young stars in the organization.
"Also in case there was an injury," Piniella said. "Remember, we hadn’t been carrying that many extra infielders all year."
Vazquez, who played 33 games with the Everett AquaSox in 1996, saw himself only in a limited role. He’d spend a few weeks in September with the Mariners, most of that time on the bench, then go home to Puerto Rico and watch October unfold on television.
"Play once, maybe twice a week. Give guys some days off so they can get some rest. Get some at-bats against righties, pinch-hit," Vazquez said. "I certainly didn’t expect to be playing every day."
But here he is, getting a crash course in baseball at the major league level in this final, meaningless week of the regular season because the Mariners may need him when it counts most.
"That would be something," he said. "I’m not going to count on it, but I’ll be ready."
After last weekend, he looks a lot more ready than he did early in September.
Vazquez got his first major league hit in his first at-bat on Sept. 7, then went on what seemed like an 0-forever skid. Going hitless in 13 straight at-bats had put him in his place as a minor league callup.
"The first at-bat, I had just played the day before in Tacoma, and I came here and got to pinch-hit and got the hit," he said. "After that I went to Anaheim and all the stuff that happened (the five-day hold on baseball after the terrorist attacks). I didn’t play for about 10 days. I got a little lost."
Then Guillen got sick, Bell got hurt and there was no choice but to play Vazquez, his .071 average notwithstanding. He started Saturday against Oakland and went 2-for-4 against Erik Hiljus, then started Sunday and got two hits against Tim Hudson.
He also played flawless defense, the strength of his game.
"He’s done a good job with us," Boone said. "The first thing people look for is defense, and he’s done fine."
"I’m feeling good now, but it’s not like I’m feeling great," Vazquez said. "I wish I could feel the way I felt down in Triple-A. The more chances I get to play, the better I’m going to feel."
The Mariners have a week to get him feeling really good.
The person who seems least worried is Dan Rohn, his manager this year at Tacoma.
"I’ve got confidence in Ramon, but more importantly he’s got confidence in himself," Rohn said. "He’ll be fine."
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