Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Mariners Yearbook: 1993 & 1994

Episode Date: March 23, 2020

D.C. Lundberg takes a stroll down memory lane and looks back at Lou Piniella's first two seasons as Mariners manager. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Here's your host, D.C. Lundberg. Yes, gang, we're still here. Locked-on Mariners coming at you. I am D.C. Lundberg, reminding you to download, rate, and subscribe to this program on Google Podcast, Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, or whichever podcasting app that you personally care to use. Ask your smart device to play Locked-on Mariner's podcast. Follow the show on Twitter at L.O. underscore Mariner.

and follow me on Twitter at DC underscore Lundberg, L-U-N-D-B-E-R-G, if you're scoring at home. Well, ladies and gentlemen, the regular season was supposed to start this Thursday, but that's been put on ice until who knows when. We all know why that is. I'm not going to get into that here. There are plenty of news sources covering it. It's all over Twitter and Facebook. Along with all the political BS it's accompanied it, which I am absolutely sick and tired of, Hopefully this show can serve as a diversion to all of that.

We're going to try to make things fun over here over the next several weeks as we await to the beginning of baseball season. I'm going to put the mailbag on a hold until baseball resumes. If you have submitted a question that I have not yet read on the air, I'll send you an email reply within the next few days. We're still going to be talking Mariners on this show. It's going to be historical Mariners. We're going to go back and look at some players and teams in the franchise's past. This week, we are going to look back. at the Lou Pennell years.

That's 1993 to 2002. I'm not necessarily going to go in order either. 1995 was so special and it means so much to so many Mariners fans that I'm going to save that one for later in the week. Maybe Thursday or Friday. I haven't decided yet. We are going to start today with 1993 and 1994. The Mariners didn't make the playoffs that year,

but some of the key contributors to their glory days were in place at that time. Chris Basio had some. Signed as a free agent prior to the 1993 season, Ken Griffey Jr. was just coming into his own. Edgar Martinez had just won the American League batting title in 1992, and Dave Fleming was coming off a very good rookie season, which saw him place third in the rookie of the year voting. Not only all of that, but the Mariners got a brand new look, new team colors,

new uniforms, and of course Lou Pinella was brought in to manage the team after a less than stellar 1992 under Bill Plummer. The first highlight of the season was very very very, very obviously Chris Bosio's no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox on April 22nd. It was his fourth start of the season, and thus his fourth start as a Mariner. It was his first Mariners complete game, his first Mariners shut out, all that stuff. He put away the Red Sox on only 98 pitches, struck out four, and walked only two. And of course, Omar Visckel saved the day going over second base to bare hand the last ground ball of the game,

hit by Ernest Riles to throw him out at first base, preserving the no-hitter and ending the game, and solidifying Bazio's place in Mariners history. For the season, Basio went 9-9 and even 500. 3-4-5 ERA in 29 games. 24 of them were starts. Aside from that no-hitter, he finished another game in which he wound up getting a save. Injury problems started to get the best of him.

His knees started to go, and he was never really the pitcher he was in Milwaukee from this point forward, although he had very good numbers in 1993, obviously. But like I said, his knees went, and his career was finished at age 33 after the 1996 season. Dave Fleming followed up his 1992 near-Rookie of the year campaign with something of a disappointment.

He appeared in 26 games, all of them were starts, and he wound up going 12 and 5. But his ERA went from 339 in 1992 all the way up to 436 in 1993. The good control that he had in 1992 seemed to wane a little bit. He went from 2.4 walks per 9 to 3.6. He went from 8.9 hits per nine innings in 92 all the way up to 10.2 in 1993. He put way too many runners on base. His whip for 1993 was 1.530 compared to 1.248 in his 1992 campaign, and it was really all downhill from there. In 1994, he appeared in 23 games, wound up with a 6-4-6 ERA,

and he wound up being traded halfway through the 1995 season to the Kansas City Royals for Bob Malacki, who would pitch briefly for the Mariners at the big league level in 1996. Edgar Martinez followed up his batting title with a very injury-plagued 1993, in which he hit just 237, but you can throw those numbers away. Injuries got the better of him, and we all know what Edgar was capable of after that. We all know that he went on to hit like 600 or something. No, it's not that big, but another batting title would follow in 1995 for him.

So his 1993 season was really just a throw away, although this was really the beginning of him transitioning from third base to designated hitter. Ken Griffey Jr. was already well established as one of the game's young stars, but in 1993, he took it to another level. This was his fourth consecutive season hitting 300 or better. He hit 309. However, this was his first 40 home run season. As a matter of fact, this was the first 30 plus home run season.

45 home runs for junior this season, an OPS of 1.025, and of course, who can forget in July, the eight home runs in eight consecutive games. One of my favorite clips is from the final home run on July 28th. It was against the Minnesota Twins in the Kingdom, and if you watch the clip, Twins pitcher Willie Banks flinches after Griffey launched his home run, and man, it was launched. I believe it went into the upper decade. Kingdom just down the right field line.

He was already a star, he just raised it to another level, and became an elite player this year, as if he wasn't already. And lest we forget, at the end of this season, his first video game came out, which to me is still a classic. Randy Johnson also took his game to another level in 1993. He had always struck out a ton of hitters, and for the past couple of seasons, he was pretty unhittable also, but he led the American League and walks for three. three straight seasons from 1990 to 1992. In 1992, he walked 144, but in 1993, that went all the way

down to 99 and 45 more innings pitched. Walks per nine went from 6.2 in 92 to 3.5 in in 1993. The whip also went way down. In 1992, it was 1.417 in 1993. That took a dive all the way down to 1.112, which is pretty respectable. This was also his first 300 strikeout season, 308 of them to be exact, and the second of four consecutive seasons in which he would lead the American League in strikeouts. He made his second All-Star appearance and came in second in Sy Young voting and also placed in the MVP voting. That tells you how good a season this dude had that year. The sheriff, Norm Charlton, checked in with a good season in his first season in Seattle until an injury derailed that at the beginning of August.

34 games, 29 of them finished, 18 saves, 2-34 ERA, 1.125 whip, which are very good numbers, 12.5 strikeouts point out innings. Very, very good numbers from the sheriff. It's a shame he could not stay healthy. The Mariners finished 1993 with an 82 and 80 record, their second season over 500, finishing fourth in the American League West, and that was the final year of the seven-team divisions. They would go to the three divisions in the wild card the following season. The M sent two representatives to the All-Star game in Baltimore, Randy Johnson, and Ken Griffey Jr.

In the second half of the program, we're going to look at the 1994 Mariners, and we're also going to put the Mariners trivia question on hold for a while because this entire week of shows basically is Mariners trivia. Ladies and gentlemen, do you hate stepping on the scale? Maybe it's because you haven't met the right one. A company called Withings produced the world's first smart scale, and they're still the best. In fact, Tom's Guide rated Withing's Body Plus the best overall smart scale for 2020. If you're looking to lose weight, willpower is key, but so is having the right tools.

Withing's smart scales are known for durability and an exceptionally user-friendly design. Step on and data from every way and syncs automatically to the free app for iOS and Android via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Lots of smart scales don't have the Wi-Fi option, and that means you have to have your phone with you. But Withing's Body Plus gives weight, full body composition, weight trend, and get this gang, even a local weather report. The scale can support up to eight users and even know who is who. So here's the deal. You can get 25% off a Withthings Body Plus right now at Withthings.com for a very limited time. Go to Withthing.com. That's W-I-T-H-I-N-G-S dot com slash MLB.

to get 25% off body plus composition scale. Once again, that's W-I-T-H-I-N-G-S dot com slash MLB to get 25% off body plus composition scale. And with that, ladies and gentlemen, we shall return after another commercial word. Now back to Lockdown Mariners and your host, D.C. Lundberg. Thank you for sticking around, gang. Second half of Locked-on Mariners coming at you.

We looked at the 1993 season in the first half of the show, and we're going to look at the 1994 season in the second half. which was a very, very weird season, not only for baseball overall, but for the Mariners in general, because they had the Kingdom Sealing tiles incident what wound up being late in the season. And the win-loss percentage was not as kind to the Mariners in 1994 as it was in 1993.

I'll get to the reasons for that a little bit later, but there was a lot of roster turnover in the off-season between 93 and 94. Almost just a couple weeks after the World Series ended, Brett Boone and Eric Hansen were traded to the Cincinnati Reds for both Bobby Ayala and Dan Wilson. Dan Wilson did not wind up being a major contributor to the plate in 1994. We all know what he did defensively and how he wound up. But in 1994, his bat was not very productive. It was really his first full Major League season.

He was the starting catcher. He appeared in 91 games. He slashed 216, 244, 312. Not a great offensive season, but the defense was there for sure. and Lou Pinella really liked this kid. That's why the Mariners acquired him. Lu Pinella saw him as an up-and-coming catcher in the red system when Pinella was a part of the red system.

And he basically said, acquired this catcher. He's going to be great. And offensively this season was not an indication of what he was capable of, but the defense, like I said, was there. And he would blossom, so to speak, as a hitter in years to come. Bobby Ayala, on the other hand, actually had a pretty productive season. in 1994. He was kind of the pitcher that the Mariners fans loved to hate.

He was very, very inconsistent. 1994 probably was his best year as a mariner. He appeared in 46 games, finished 40 of them, wound up with 18 saves, a 286 ERA, a whip of only 1.2. Strikeouts per nine innings were 12.1. The hits per nine innings were also quite low for him at 6.7, which is very, very good.

That's kind of where he lost it. His walks per nine innings were pretty consistent in his years as a mariner. This was his best year as a mariner by far, like I said, and the Mariners would wind up reacquiring Brett Boone for 2001, and Eric Hansen dealt with a number of arm issues, and his career ended rather quickly. Another major trade was the departure of Omar Viscale to the Cleveland Indians. The Mariners traded him to the tribe for Felix Fermin, Reggie Jefferson, and Cash.

Jefferson only spent the one season with the Mariners, 63 games, hit 327, The dude could hit. He was a good hitter. He had no defensive position, however, and that kind of does not tend to get on Lou Pinellas good side. Even though he could hit, the Mariners did not resign him after that season was finished, and he wound up signing a contract with the Red Sox where he finished his career. Felix Fermin was not exactly a great replacement for Omar Viscal. I have no idea how he wound up hitting 317 that year. going over his numbers. I mean, the 317 average, 3.38 on base.

He only walked 11 times. That's Unieski-Bentencourt levels of bad. And he slugged 380 somehow. 21 doubles. I mean, he had a reputation as kind of a punchless contact hitter. He made good contact. He was notoriously difficult to strike out, which is a plus. That's probably why he wound up with a high batting average.

He only struck out 22 times. Next season in 1995, he lost his starting shortstop job, 1.95 and then was released after spring training in 1996. Not the best of trades, obviously. The Mariners could have gotten a whole lot more back for Vescal than they wound up getting, but hey, you can't win them all. In addition to that trade, which is in a hindsight pretty terrible, the Mariners prior to the 1994 season, signed one of their biggest free agent busts in team history. Yes, I'm talking about the one and only Greg Hibbard. After signing a three-year-old,

year 6.75 million contract with the Mariners, which at the time was pretty good. He pitched a total of one season for the Mariners, and it was not a good season. He appeared in 15 games, started 14 of them. His ERA was 6.69, 12.8

hits per nine innings. That's a lot of hits, ladies and gentlemen. 3.5 walks per nine innings, which was a career high for him, not good. And his whip, get this, was 1.810, which is not the high among the starters, and that was the problem with the 1994 Mariners. Their pitching was terrible.

Randy Johnson was his normal dominant self. Chris Basio had an okay season, but started to deal with some knee issues. It was really his last decent season as a big leaguer. Dave Fleming also fell off the face of the earth, 6.46 ERA, also a very high whip. The Roger Salkold Project was obviously coming to an end. His whip was over two. John Cummings also started eight games. with the Mariners. His ERA was over

5.5.6.3. Jim Converse started eight games for the Mariners. His ERA was 8.69. This was just a disastrous pitching staff. The offense was pretty similar to what it was last season, but the pitching was way, way worse, and there is your difference, ladies and gentlemen.

And then, of course, on July 19th, prior to the game that day versus the Baltimore Orioles, the walls came tumbling down, or at least some ceiling tiles did, fell into the stance, thank goodness, right behind where one of the Orioles was giving an interview. I forget who it was, but he's told the story a couple times. Obviously, that game was canceled. The Mariners had to play the remaining games on the road.

And then less than a month later, the MLBPA player strike ended the 1994 season, canceling the postseason and World Series, which also ate into the beginning of the 1995 season. On the bright side, Ken Griview-Junevue, Jr. turned in another fantastic season, hitting 323, 40 home runs and only 433 at Bats, ladies and gentlemen, 1.076 OPS. He was chasing Roger Maris' single-season home run record at the time of the strike, as were Barry Bonds and Matt Williams of the Giants. Tony Gwynn was hitting 394 at the time of the strike. It really put a stop to some potentially historic seasons,

which is a damn shame. Everybody forgets the 1994 All-Star game, which in and of itself is a great game. The Mariners sent two representatives, to that game in Pittsburgh. They were again, same as 1993, Randy Johnson and Ken Griffey, Jr. Well, that's a look at the 1993 and 1994 Mariner's.

I hope you enjoyed it. Tomorrow we're going to look at 1996, which kind of holds a special place in my heart, because that's really the first season that I followed start to finish, and I remember it very, very vividly. Please remember to download, rate, and subscribe to Lockdown Mariners on Google Podcast, Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, or whichever podcasting app that you,

prefer to use. Ask your smart device to play Locked-on Mariners podcast anytime you wish. Follow the show on Twitter at L.O. underscore Mariners. I'm on Twitter as well. Please follow me at D.C. underscore Lundberg. Also ask your smart device to play Locked-on MLB upon the conclusion of this program. And we will be right back here tomorrow looking at 1996. Ladies and gentlemen, have a good evening. This is Joey Martin speaking for Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on podcast network.