M's Win Again To Complete Third Sweep In A Row

June 3, 2001

"Forget about the other teams in the AL West. The Seattle Mariners have to be measured against squads from bygone eras." -Howard Fendrich, sportswriter

Edgar Martinez listed as day to day after fouling that ball off his foot last night. Lou Piniella's father-in-law having passed away (which means Lou will be absent today and during the Texas series). Mark McLemore day to day after a fabulous catch on Friday night. Norm Charlton on the DL. None of these things stopped the Mariners from their franchise-best 11th win in a row (and their 8th series sweep of the year), which also put them in some pretty elite company records-wise.

"If you ask anyone in (the clubhouse), nobody cares," Boone said about the record. "We're not worried about that. It's another win, and we plan on winning (today)." -Jose Miguel Romero, sportswriter

I'll be the first to admit that watching the pre-game show, I was feeling a little depressed. My heart went out to Lou and his family for their loss and then my heart pretty much stopped when they said that Edgar had gotten up this morning and could barely walk (it wasn't until right before the game when Dave Niehaus, looking quite dapper in his red jacket, announced the results of the X-ray, which showed a bruise, that I could finally breathe normally). And while Lou has more important things to deal with at the moment than baseball, he can rest assured (I know I did) that he's left his team in good hands with bench coach John McLaren.

"I've been with Lou for 10 years, so there is a lot of Lou in me." -John McLaren

So anyway, this game starts without Edgar in the lineup because of his sore foot and while it certainly leaves a hole, I'm certain that a team like this can pull through a couple of games without him and mostly I'm just so happy that he's not hurt seriously that I'm more than happy to forfeit a game or two vs. the possibility of forfeiting 15 or so and anyway, this one starts off with Freddy Garcia retiring the side in order and striking out Ben Grieve and then Ichiro walked and stole second but Tanyon Sturtze struck out everyone after him much to my infinite dismay.

Second inning and Freddy gave up a harmless double and then we manage to waste a walk (Carlos Guillen) and two singles (Al Martin and David Bell) thanks in large part to an excellent throw from the bat boy NO WAIT it was Jason Tyner in rightfield to nail Al at home and I swore at Tyner for a full minute.

Third inning and the bat boy doubled with two outs and NO WAIT that was Tyner who is seriously working my nerves throwing out people at the plate and then doubling and Freddy gets the next guy so it didn't matter anyway and then Ichiro led off with a single and stole second an out later and he leads the AL in stolen bases, fyi, and then Bret "I'm Goin' Yard!" Boone WENT YARD to give us a 2-0 lead.

Fourth inning and there was a walk and an infield single that Tampa Bay couldn't score on and then with one out, Carlos walked and got to second on a wild pitch and then Dan Wilson walked and then Ichiro singled to score Carlos and we leave the inning leading 3-0.

Fifth inning and Freddy retired the side in order, but unfortunately, so did Sturtze, so let us move along to the sixth, where that all happened AGAIN.

Seventh inning. Gerald Williams obnoxiously hit a homerun to put Tampa Bay on the board. 3-1 Seattle going into the bottom half. Travis Phelps relieved Sturtze. Dan walked. Ichiro singled. Stan Javier sacrificed them to second and third. Bret also hit a sac fly, which scored Dan and moved Ichiro to third. Olerud was intentionally walked. You could here Aretha Franklin's R.E.S.P.E.C.T. over the loudspeaker. Mike Cameron doubled which scored Ichiro and moved John to third and I am meanwhile beside myself with glee on Mike's behalf that he foiled their big plans of walking John to get to him and then Al Martin walked and then Carlos singled, which scored John and Mike and then the bat boy NO WAIT Tyner made a throwing error and Al Martin scored and Carlos, who had made it to second, got caught between second and third and was called out even though it sure looked like he managed to get to third before they tagged him, and with this umpiring crew I'd almost bet money he did, and we leave the inning leading 8-1.

"For a couple of weeks now I've been looking for new words to describe this. What I've come up with today is that this team is something special." -Bret Boone

Eighth inning and Freddy gives up two singles and then gets an out and then gives up another single which scores a run and then he struck Fred McGriff out but the umpire said otherwise and Freddy who knows as well as I do that he had him struck out was cursing up a storm in Spanish I'd guess since I couldn't quite make out what he was saying and it was definitely something not very nice and so there we are with the bases loaded and then he struck out Greg Vaughn who did NOT check his swing on what looked like a good pitch anyway, only the umpire called a ball and so we walk in a run and WHAT IS UP WITH THESE UMPS and Brian Fuentes relieved Freddy who is not in the best of spirits and I can't say I blame him and he leaves to a standing ovation and then Fuentes likely struck out Aubrey Huff (I had my eyes covered) only the umpire again said otherwise and so we walk in ANOTHER run and Jeff Nelson relieved poor Fuentes and Nellie struck out Gerald Williams swinging which was a good thing because I'm sure a called third strike is hard to come by when you're BLIND AS A BLEEDING BAT BEHIND HOMEPLATE THERE and then Artie Rhodes relieved Jeff and struck out pinch hitter Randy Winn, who also went down swinging so that they couldn't possibly miss THAT call. 8-4 Seattle. We waste a lead off double from David Bell in our half.

Ninth. Strikeout (swinging, of course). Infield single. Walk (srikeout). Strikeout (swinging). Walk (strikeout). Bases loaded. And yes, I am totally about to have an aneurysm, I mean these umpires SUCK. They SUCK. I can understand a bad call now and then, but these guys have done me in this series starting with that catch they missed from McLemore Friday night and ending now with their wavering strike zone and these are some COSTLY BAD CALLS HERE and even if they're making good calls at this point I'm totally not having it because I HATE THEM, I mean bad calls are part of the game and usually it evens out and you just suck it up but they're killing us this series not that the Mariners are letting it bother them any, but it's really bothering ME and if I were there I would be out on that field throwing bases ALL OVER THE PLACE and there's Tampa Bay with the tying run at the plate again but enter Kazuhiro Sasaki to record the final out and we win it 8-4 and I can't say I have ever been SO HAPPY to see an umpiring crew leave town before and I have to say I'm nothing but impressed with a team that put together a win despite a) their manager being gone, b) their number three hitter being out and c) what seemed like a thousand bad calls in Tampa Bay's favor and those are three more things you can add to the list right there on why the Mariners are 31 games above .500 this season.

"Our thoughts are with Lou, and it's a tough time for him right now. I saw him right before he left and he said, 'Go get 'em.'" -Bret Boone

"The look was strange. The designated hitter was in the trainer's room. The right fielder was stretching, pretending he was a DH. The fifth hitter was batting third. The manager was on an airplane home. How much did these changes slow the Mariners? About as much as a window slows sunlight. The new-look Mariners gave Tampa Bay the same old thing to look at - Mariners muscle. Freddy Garcia, Bret Boone and Ichiro Suzuki led the charge as Seattle rolled over the Devil Rays 8-4 yesterday, the club-record 11th consecutive victory for the Mariners." -John Hickey, sportswriter

"Without Edgar in the lineup, it was weird. We're all just so used to seeing him out there. But we played good." -Freddy Garcia

"(Alex) Rodriguez also (like Carlos Guillen) has returned from a slow start, hitting .332 with 18 homers and 50 RBI, numbers all in the top 10. The irony is if he had stayed in Seattle, he would lead the league in all those categories and eventually win the Triple Crown. That's because he would get 20 games against Rangers pitching." -Art Thiel, sportswriter