Built around a 21 year old phenom at shortstop (A-Rod) and the best everyday player in baseball (Junior Griffey) the Mariners offense kept the Kingdome fans on the edge of their seats night in and night out. Every starter in their lineup hit double digits in homers, which is why they led the league with 264 total. the team hit .280, which was good for 4th in the league and their OBP (.355) was third in the the AL. Only one starter hit below .269 and that was Jay Buhner (.243-40-109). Buhner's power numbers and his ability to play right field and throw out runners gives him a "hall pass" for his low average. His .383 OBP also shows us how valuable a player can be by just getting on base. Buhner and DH Edgar Martinez (.330-28-108) both walked 119 times. Ken Griffey Jr, who at 27 years of age was in his prime. Junior hit 56 homers with 147 RBI's to go along with his .304 average. His defense made those who were older think of Willie Mays. Nobody dove on the rug or crashed into walls like Junior. He might have been the hardest working superstar in the game. Quietly Paul Sorrento (.269-31-80) was exceptionally dangerous at first base. Same could be said by Russ Davis (.271-20-63) at third. Even little Joey Cora (.300-11-54) powered up. A-Rod, in his break out year, played a gold glove shortstop, hit .300 on the nose and crushed 23 round trippers. Opposing pitchers have no weak spots to face in this lineup. The bench is also "scary good". Rich Amaral (.284), Mike Blowers (.293), Rob Ducey (.287) and Roberto Kelly (.298) are just itching to get their turn at the plate. Even backup catcher John Marzano hit .287. Manager Lou Piniella had the kind of offense that he could only dream about.
Pitching, well that's another story. When a team has that dominating an offense and "only" wins 90 games, something has to give. That something is a pitching staff that had 1 HOF starter and 2 good starters and not much else. Perennial Cy Young award winner Randy Johnson (20-4, 2.28) blew away 291 AL hitter and flat out dominated. Nothing could be more frightening than seeing the "Big Unit" standing 60 feet-6 inches away from you. Johnson, at age 33, was in his prime and the hitters knew it. Jeff Fassero (16-9, 3.61) logged the most innings (234.1) and Jamie Moyer (17-5, 3.86) was that crafty lefty who finally figured out how to pitch and not just throw. After those 2 the cupboard was bare. Their 4th and 5th starters are horrible at best. Night in and night out the bullpen threw kerosene on the fires they were tasked with putting out. Bobby Ayala (10-5, 3.82, 8 saves) is the closest thing to good that this pen has. Displanted closer Norm Charlton (3-8, 7.27, 14 SV) throws batting practice and squanders leads. Manager Michael Hopcroft will be tasked with building big leads and holding on for dear life. Hopcroft returns for his 8th season as Seattle's fearless leader. Hopcroft has had his heart broken by many a Seattle team that died on him down the stretch or lost a decisive playoff series game. Managing this pitching staff and getting a playoff spot while playing in the "loaded" AL West will be one of his biggest challenges, but he will be up for the task since he has followed the M's his whole life and knows this team backward and forward.
Pitching, well that's another story. When a team has that dominating an offense and "only" wins 90 games, something has to give. That something is a pitching staff that had 1 HOF starter and 2 good starters and not much else. Perennial Cy Young award winner Randy Johnson (20-4, 2.28) blew away 291 AL hitter and flat out dominated. Nothing could be more frightening than seeing the "Big Unit" standing 60 feet-6 inches away from you. Johnson, at age 33, was in his prime and the hitters knew it. Jeff Fassero (16-9, 3.61) logged the most innings (234.1) and Jamie Moyer (17-5, 3.86) was that crafty lefty who finally figured out how to pitch and not just throw. After those 2 the cupboard was bare. Their 4th and 5th starters are horrible at best. Night in and night out the bullpen threw kerosene on the fires they were tasked with putting out. Bobby Ayala (10-5, 3.82, 8 saves) is the closest thing to good that this pen has. Displanted closer Norm Charlton (3-8, 7.27, 14 SV) throws batting practice and squanders leads. Manager Michael Hopcroft will be tasked with building big leads and holding on for dear life. Hopcroft returns for his 8th season as Seattle's fearless leader. Hopcroft has had his heart broken by many a Seattle team that died on him down the stretch or lost a decisive playoff series game. Managing this pitching staff and getting a playoff spot while playing in the "loaded" AL West will be one of his biggest challenges, but he will be up for the task since he has followed the M's his whole life and knows this team backward and forward.
To complete the Mariners card set Robert Chisholm had to bang out 38 cards. This was no easy task. Robert would send me a new zip file with 7 or 8 updated cards each night. Finding the right photos and restoring them must have been a monumental challenge. As noted in an earlier post it is very hard to find usable photos for outliers from this era. Seattle had so many pitchers rotating through their doors that season, with some pitching just a handful of innings. This meant that not a lot of them had viable photos to use. Great job here by "the Chiz" !
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