Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Mariners Yearbook: 1995

Episode Date: April 9, 2020

In the final episode of the Mariners Yearbook series, D.C. Lundberg remembers the unforgetable, indescribably special 1995 season, which saved baseball in Seattle. (And made a huge baseball fan out of D.C.) 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. Good afternoon, gang. It is another beautiful day here in Spokane. This is Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Please remember 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 Lockdown Mariner's podcast or any of the other programs here on the Lockdown Podcast Network or T-L-O-P-N-O-P-N-O-L-Slopin.

Follow the show on Twitter at L-O-U-U-U-N-Sourner. And follow me on Twitter at D-C-U-N-B-E-R-G if you are scoring at home. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the final episode of the Mariners Yearbook series. I saved just about everyone's favorite for last. Today we're going to look back at the incredibly special 1995 season. 1994 was a weird year for baseball, which ended in August because of the player strike. It was also a weird year for the Seattle Mariners' strike or no strike. Not only was pitching terrible, which kept the team from winning,

but in July, waterlogged ceiling tiles fell from the Kingdom roof prior to a game against the Baltimore Orioles. Fortunately, the tiles fell into the stands before any. fans had begun to enter the stadium. No one was hurt, thank goodness. It could have been much worse, as the Orioles were on the field at the time warming up for the game. The M's would be forced to play the remaining home games on the road until the season was cut short because of the strike. It also forced the Seahawks to play their first few home games of their season at Husky Stadium, named of course for Mets Prospect and future Mariner Butch Husky. The 1995 baseball season was in

doubt. For a while, it looked as if the season would be played in full with so-called replacement players, i.e. players who were not in the players' union or who had crossed the picket line. Most of these players were minor leaguers. None of them were on 40-man rosters. A few of them had previously played in the bigs. There's way too much to get into about how the strike ended. I could spend an hour discussing it, so I won't. I don't have the time, and it's boring. To cut to the chase, the strike was settled the day before the regular season was to begin with replacement players. MLB slapped together spring training,

and a reduced regular season of 144 games was to begin in late April. On the field, the Mariners had a couple of new faces, but pretty much stood pat from where they were in 1994. Joey Corr was signed as a free agent to play second base a few days after spring training began. Infielder Doug Strange was added to provide some depth. He had been Texas's starting second baseman,

but was better suited for a utility role. Veteran Relief pitcher Lee Gutterman was re-signed after spending 1994 in the minor leagues. There would be other moves made during the season. I'll get to those later. The season finally began on April 27th at the Kingdom in front of about 35,000 fans. The M's shut out the Tigers 3 to nothing. Randy Johnson pitched six innings and struck out 8. Bill Risley pitched two innings, struck out 3, and did not allow a base runner. Bobby Ayala came in to close the game and set the Tigers down 1, 2, 3 to send the fans home half.

All three runs came on a Ken Griffey Jr. home run in the 5th. The M's won three of four against Detroit and then went to Texas, where they'd sweep the Rangers in a three-game series. They'd win only one more on that road trip, losing two of three to California and then getting swept by Oakland in the Coliseum. The M's continued to play inconsistently on the road, but played better at home through May, ending the month with a 19 and 13 overall record. On May 15th, the Mariners made their first move to bolster the starting rotation. They traded away, failed prospect Roger Sulkold, who at one point was ranked the number three prospect in all of baseball to the Cincinnati Reds for Tim Belcher. Belcher was a reliable veteran starting pitcher who was much needed in the rotation. As aside from Randy Johnson and Chris Basio, the Mariners did not have any reliable starters.

Dave Fleming's struggles continued, and he was relegated to the bullpen after Belcher's acquisition. and he would be traded to the Royals in early June. Tim Davis opened the season and the rotation, but after five starts, he was shipped back to Tacoma, where he would spend the rest of the season. He'd reappear in 1996 as a valuable middle reliever before injuries derailed his career. Bob Wells was in and out of the rotation at the beginning of this season,

but was in the bullpen permanently by June. Nothing the Ms were throwing at the wall seemed to stick, so they acquired young, promising Solomon Torres from the Giants for minor league infielder Wilson Delgado and minor league pitcher Sean Estes. He was pretty mediocre, starting 13 games for the Mariners and appearing in an additional three with an ERA at an even six. On May 26th in a game against the Baltimore Orioles in the Kingdom, Kevin Bass had a long fly ball into the right center field gap.

Both Kenny Griffey Jr. and right fielder Alex Diaz were in pursuit. Junior caught up with it, leapt forward, caught the ball, crashed into the wall with his cap flying off his head. While it was one of the more incredible catches he made throughout his career, he broke both bones in his left wrist to that play. Both he and Diaz knew something was very wrong, and after looking at Junior's wrist, Diaz emphatically motioned for the Mariners' trainers to hustle out post-haste to look at Junior. The kid would be gone until mid-August. Alex Diaz played center field most of the time while Junior was gone, and while he was nowhere near where Griffey was offensively, he provided good, sometimes spectacular defense in center field.

He made one of my all-time favorite catches in Yankee Stadium during junior's absence. This play almost seemed to defy gravity. He was a fearless, aggressive outfielder who also had a very strong arm. He was fun to watch play the outfield. However, the Ms did not play well in June at all, finishing with an 11 and 17 record, and were 34 and 35 at the All-Star break. and in dead last in the American League West, but only five games back of first place. Felix Fermin, who had hit 317 the year before, was hitting below 200 and lost his starting job in June when he began splitting time at shorts up with Louis Soho and also spelling Joey Cora at second base to give him a breather. At the break, Fermin was hitting a robust 175.

The Mariners sent four players to represent the team to the ballpark in Arlington for the All-Star game. Tino Martinez, who started this season Red Hot, was named to the team as reserve. Junior was voted in as a starting outfielder despite being injured. Edgar Martinez, in the midst of one of his finest seasons, was the starting D.H. And the big unit, Randy Johnson, was called upon to start the game for the junior circuit. Coming back from the All-Star break, the Ms continued to be pretty mediocre. In the 20 games following the break, they won nine of them, while California, on the other hand, were red-hot, and won 17 of 20 games after the break, including a five-game winning streak to kick off the second half,

and an eight-game winning streak, which ended on August 2nd. The Angels were 27 and 7 overall in July. The Mariners had crawled out of last place, but only because Oakland went 8 and 20 in July after their offense completely shut down. The Mariners were 13 games back of the first place Angels on August 2nd. Rather than fold up their tents and call it a year, the Mariners made some improvements to try to get back in the race. This was the first full season that the wild card birth was in play,

and this gave the Mariners some hope of making postseason play, so they remained aggressive. Just after the All-Star break, the Mariners signed Norm Charlton as a free agent to help solidify the back end of the bullpen. Charlton had been released by the Phillies four days prior. After a couple of rocky outings, the sheriff regained the form he had as a,

nasty boy in Cincinnati by the time September rolled around. On July 31st, the Mariners acquired starting pitcher Andy Benis from the San Diego Padres for Ron Valone, Mark Newfield, and a player to be named later. Benis wasn't great in Seattle, but certainly a little better

than the younger arms the M's had tried in the rotation. The M's started to heat up at the beginning of August and it went six in a row beginning August 5th. The rally and cry of refuse to lose, took over the kingdom and the Mariners began their March to try to erase as much of that 13-game deficit as they could.

Still not satisfied. On August 15th, the Mariners traded for Vince Coleman to solidify left field and give Lou Pinella a true lead-off hitter and excellent base runner in exchange for a player to be named later. Later came just three days later, as Jim Converse was sent to the Kansas City Royals to complete the trade. Also on this day, Ken Griffey Jr. made his return from the disabled list, though the M's lost 7 to 6 after Bobby Ayala gave up five unearned runs in the ninth inning,

with the late Kirby Puckett applying the Cudigra, a three-run home run to end the game. Still in search of starting pitching after trying Bob Wells, Raphael Carmona, and veteran Bill Krueger in the rotation, the Mariners called up young Bob Walcott from AAA Tacoma, and he made his debut on August 18th against the Boston Red Sox at the Kingdom. He pitched five innings, gave up two runs, earned seven hits and walked four. Not a bad debut. Lee Gutterman followed with one and one-third scoreless innings and Jeff Nelson cleaned things up with two and two-thirds innings with a run

give it up and six strikeouts. The star of this game though was third baseman Mike Blowers. In the top of the first, he smacked a grand slam off Tim Wakefield to give Young Walcott a four-run cushion to work with. In the third inning, he hit a three-run home run off Wakefield, giving him 7 RBI for the game already. The Mariners would tack two more runs on and 1 9 to 3. The Mariners continued to play good baseball through August, ending the month 7 and a half games behind California and tied for second with a 59 and 57 record.

As the Ms were heating up, the Angels began to slide. In August, they went only 13 and 17 and had lost six in a row. They'd lose their first three games in September also, bringing their losing streak to nine games, beginning their collapse and giving the Mariners two more games. The Mariners were now five and a half games back at California and one full game ahead of Texas. Even with California's tailspin,

the Mariners were coming together at the right time. By the beginning of September, Norm Charlton was firmly ensconced as the team's closer and absolutely dominated the American League for the month. On September 8th, the Mariners began a six-game homestand against the Royals and twins. They won five of those games. After a brief three-game road trip to Kamiski Park in which they won two more games,

the Mariners returned home for a crucial eight-game homestand against the Rangers, A's, and Angels beginning on September 18th. At this time, the Mariners were three games out of first place behind California, with a 69 and 63 record. They swept aside the Rangers in three games and went into a tie for first place in the AL West and then won the first two against Oakland. In the final game of that series, the M's went ahead 1-0 in the third inning on an RBI single from Junior to score Vince Coleman. The A's answered right back with four in the fourth. The M's countered with two runs in the bottom of the fourth, but Mark McGuire hit a two-run home run in the fifth to extend the A's lead to six-three.

In the sixth, Tino Martinez answered with a solo home run to bring the M's to within two runs. In the bottom of the seventh, Edgar tied up the ball game with a two-run double to score Joey Cora and Ken Griffey Jr. Dan Wilson gave the M's the lead in the bottom of the 8th with an RBI single to score Alex Diaz. However, former Mariner Danny Tartable hit a two-run home run with one out in the ninth to give the A's an 8-7 lead against Norm Charlton in one of the few games down the stretch that he'd fail to close. He'd get the next two hitters, though, to send the game to the ninth inning. Junior led off with a lineout against former Mariner Rick Honeycutt. The A's then brought in their ace closer and one of the best ever, Dennis Eckert. lead to face Edgar Martinez. Edgar would lace a single to center field and would be relieved

on the base paths by Darren Bragg. The next hitter was Tino Martinez. On a two-one count, Tino hit a shot to deep right field which kept going and going and just barely left the yard for a game-winning two-run home run to give the M's a come from behind, 9-8 victory, and a sweep of the Oakland A's. The late great Dave Nehouse described this improbable win as, perhaps the most incredible game in their history. In addition, a fan on the right field concourse of the kingdom made a pretty good catch on this ball. The Angels, meanwhile, were in the midst of a nine-game losing streak and had fallen two games behind the Mariners after the M's swept Oakland.

The Angels came to the kingdom for a two-game series to close out the Mariner homestand. The M's took the first game bringing their winning streak to seven games, but dropped the next one for a split of the two-game series. However, the Mariners were still two games ahead of California in the AL West. Four games remained in the regular season. California was at home in Anaheim Stadium to face Oakland, while the Mariners were in the ballpark in Arlington to face the Rangers. Both the Angels and Mariners won the first two games of their respective series to stand Pat

where they were in the division race. The Mariners lost its penultimate game while the Angels won theirs and gained a game on the Mariners. They were now a mere one game. back of Seattle as the season finale approached. The Mariners lost again while the Angels won, tying the division and forcing a one-game tiebreaker, which was to take place the next day at the Kingdom, which we will discuss on the other side of this commercial break. Stay where you are, we'll return in just a minute or so.

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Welcome to the second half of Locked-on Mariners. Here once again is your host, D.C. Lundberg. Thank you very much, J.M. for leading us back. Locked-on Mariners look back at the magical 1995 season has returned. We left off at the very end of the regular season as the Mariners and Angels were headed to the Kingdom for a one-game tiebreaker to decide the American League West. The game sold out in mere hours, and 52,000,

356 fans packed the dome to watch the 145th game of a 144 game season to decide the American League West. In a very interesting pitching matchup, Randy Johnson started for the M's and was opposed by former Mariner Mark Langston. The man the Mariners dealt to the expos to acquire the big unit. Things were pretty quiet until the fifth when Vince Coleman singled home Dan Wilson to give the M's a precarious one-nothing lead. The game changer occurred in the seventh. With Mike Blowers on third base, Tino Martinez on second base, and Joey Cora on first, Luis Soho hit a broken bat single up the first base line which snuck into the bullpen. Blowers and Tino scored on the play as right fieler Tim Salmon retrieved the ball under the bullpen bench.

He threw the ball to the cutoff man, pitcher Langston, who threw wildly to home plate to try to get Joey Cora who was on his way home. His relay throw got on by the catcher Andy Allison, and Soho chugged all the way home and beat Allenson's throw back to Langston at home plate to score. Or as Rick Riz put it, everybody scores. That call has become a meritor's classic, and this play pretty much ended California's season.

California went pretty quietly after this, and the Ms took a five-run lead into the bottom of the eighth, where they'd go off once again. A walk and two singles loaded the bases before California could record an out. Tino came to the box and hit a single to score Edgar Martinez.

The bases remained loaded for Dan Wilson, who doubled in Jay Buehner and Mike Blowers and sent Tino to third base. Joey Cora then hit a sacrifice fly to score Tino. On the play, Dan Wilson was out at third base trying to advance from second. Vince Coleman was caught looking at strike three to end the inning, giving the M's a 9-0-0 lead headed into the ninth inning with the big unit still on the mound. Tony Phillips led off with a home run to ruin his shutout. Former Mariners Spike Owen flew out to center field. Future Mariner, Eduardo Perez, grounded out, bringing the Angels star right field or Tim Salmon to the plate. On a one-two count, Johnson threw a backdoor breaking ball, which Salmon watched hit the outside corner of the zone for strike three.

Dan Wilson jumped up from behind the plate, Randy Johnson pointed at the Kingdome Roof, and it was time to celebrate. 13 games back at the beginning of August to come all the way back for the Mariners' first American League West Division. Crown. After a raucous clubhouse celebration, the M's headed to the Big Apple to face the Yankees in a brand-new division series, which was to begin the very next day. The M's dropped the first game in New York 9-6. David Cohn started for New York while Chris Basio started for the M's. Cohn got the victory while reliever Jeff Nelson took the L for Seattle. Game two was a battle of Andes as Andy Bennett started for the M's and was opposed by Andy Pettit. Neither starter factored into the decision. The game was tied all at four after seven innings. Neither team would score again until the 12th when Ken Griffey Jr. hit a solo home run off the Yankees' ace reliever John Wetland. The crankies countered in the bottom of the 12th with a Ruben Sierra RBI double to score pinch runner Jorge Posada,

who had relieved waved bogs on the base paths. On this play, Bernie Williams was thrown out at home plate to end the inning, moving the game into the 13th. In the bottom of the 15th, after Tim Belcher had retired Don Mattingly and walked Pat Kelly, Jim Leritt stepped up to the plate, worked the count to 3 to 1, then lodged a home run to right field to give the Evil Empire a 7-5 win and a 2-0 series lead. Moving to the Kingdom for Game 3, Randy Johnson started for the Mariners and struck out 10 in 7 innings of work while giving up two runs. Down one run in the 5th, Edgar Martinez led off with a 1.1. walk against Jack McDowell. He was followed by Tino Martinez, who homered to right center

field to give his team a two to one lead. In the bottom of the six, with that same two to one lead, Vince Coleman lit off with a triple. Joey Corr then walked and stole second base. Junior struck out and Edgar was intentionally walked to bring up Tino. Jack McDowell was relieved in favor of veteran Southpaw Steve Howe. Tino laced the first pitch he saw from Howe through the hole at short for an RBI single to score Coleman. Howe was given the hook after throwing one pitch. Bob Wickman then came in to face a string of right-handed hitters. Jay Buehner then singled home Cora, Mike Blower's singled home Edgar, and Luis Soho hit a sack fly to score Tino. Dan Wilson struck out, but the Mariners had a six-to-one lead. The Yankees would get one back in the top of the seventh on a Pat Kelly's sack fly,

but just one. In the bottom of the seventh with Sterling Hitchcock on the mound, Tino Martinez would score Vince Coleman on a sacrifice fly of his own. In the top of the 8th, the Mariners brought Bill Risley in to relieve the big unit. He promptly gave up back-to-back home runs to Bernie Williams and Mike Stanley, but then got the next two hitters before giving way to Norm Charlton, who was in to face the left-handed Paul O'Neill. The sheriff struck O'Neill out swinging to preserve the seven-to-four lead. After going one, two, three, in the eighth, the sheriff shut the Yankees down one, two, three in the ninth to save the ballgame and keep the Mariners' hopes alive. Chris Basio started game four and struggled.

He left in the third inning after giving up five runs, including a home run to Paul O'Neill. Jeff Nelson pitched four scoreless innings in relief. Down five-nothing in the bottom of the third, Joey Cora and Kingrothy Jr. Singled to open the frame. They were followed by Edgar Martinez, who homered down the left field line. Luis Soho hit a sack flight later in the inning to score Tino Martinez and bring the M's to within one run at five to four. They'd tie the game five-all in the fifth inning on a Dan Wilson RBI ground-out, scoring Jay Buhner. The following inning, they'd go ahead six to five on a Ken Griffey Jr.'s solo bomb, his fourth of the series.

In the top of the eighth, the Yankees retied the game at six all. Randy Valardi scored on a Norm Charlton wild pitch. In the bottom of the frame with John Wetland now pitching, Vince Coleman led off with a walk, Joey Corr singled on a drag bunt, and Jr. was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Edgar then stepped up, and I'm sure you know what happened next. He sent a two-two pitch sailing over the center field wall, prompting Grandma to get out the rye bread and the mustard for a grand salami. Wetland was yanked in favor of Steve Howe.

After Tino lined out to left field, Jay Buhner extended the M's lead with a solo home run to bring the score to 11-6. Edgar's salami proved important as the crankies scored two in the ninth, but no more, and the game ended at 11 to 8, and the series tied at two games apiece. The M's put the ball on the right hand of Andy Benis for the decisive Game 5, while the Yankees entrusted this vital game to David Cohn. Benis was as mediocre as he had been all season,

giving up four runs and walking six in six and two-thirds innings of work. The Mariners drew first blood, though, in the bottom of the third. With the bases unoccupied, Joey Cora, who hit all but three home runs during the regular season, went yard over the right. field wall. Paul O'Neill would hit a two-run homer on the top of the fourth to give the evil empire a one-run lead. The M's would answer right back in the bottom of the inning on a Jay Buneer RBI single to score Tino. In the top of the sixth, Don Mattingly hit a two-run ground-ruled double to left field, giving the Yankees a four-to-two lead, which would hold until

the bottom of the eighth. With Cone still on the mound, Junior blasted yet another home run with one out and no one on, to bring the M's back to within one. Edgar then grounded out, but Cohn had begun to run out of gas. Tino Martinez drew a two-out walk, Jay Buneer singled, sending Tino to second base. Alex Rodriguez pinched ran for Tino, and Alex Diaz stepped up to the plate

to pinch it for the offensively anemic Felix Fermin. Diaz drew a walk as well to load the bases. Doug Strange then came up, pinch hitting for Dan Wilson. With a full count, Cohn threw a ball at Strange's feet in the dirt, walking in the tying run. Cone was done and was pulled in favor of future Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera, who caught Mike Blowers looking at strike three.

With the score now tied going into the top of the ninth, Norm Charlton allowed a lead-off double to the late Tony Fernandez, then walked Randy Valardi. He was given the hook, and coming in from the bullpen was none other than the big unit, as Welcome to the Jungle blared over the Kingdom Public Address System. The unit retired all three batters he faced to send the game to the bottom of the 9th. Mariano Rivera allowed a lead-off single to Vince Coleman. Corr's sacrifice bunted him to second base, then Moe issued an intentional walk to Kin Griffey Jr.

The Yankees then brought in from the bullpen starting pitcher Jack McDowell, anticipating extra innings. McDowell struck out Edgar, then young Alex Rodriguez, who had pinch run for Tino Martinez, earlier in the game, grounded into an ending-ending fielder's choice. Neither team scored in the 10th, and with Randy Johnson still on the mound in the 11th, Mike Stanley led off of the walk, was pinched run for by Pat Kelly, Tony Fernandez sacrificed bunted Kelly to second base, then Randy Valardi singled through the hole to drive Kelly in from second to put the Yankees on top. Jim Laveritt struck out, Bernie Williams was intentionally walked,

then Paul O'Neill was caught looking to end the inning. It was do-or-die-time for the Mariners. Joey Corr led off with a drag bunt which he beat out for an infield single. Junior hit a groundball single up the middle, sending Corr to third base. Then, of course, Edgar Martinez stepped up to the plate for the most important and perhaps most famous at bat in Mariners history. After taking the first pitch for a strike, Edgar laced a line drive double down the left field line, easily scoring Cora to tie the game.

Junior was hustling all the way around the bases. third base coach Sam Peralozo was emphatically waving him home as left field or Gerald Williams threw the ball to the cutoff man Tony Fernandez. Junior made a clean, aggressive turn around the third base bag. Fernandez threw home, but too late, and Junior slid in with the winning run, sending the Mariners to the American League Championship Series in exciting and dramatic fashion,

accompanied by one of Dave Nehouse's signature calls. This play has become simply known as, the double. The Ms retired, but faced the Cleveland Indians in the American League Championship Series, which began in the Kingdom on October 10th. 21-year-old rookie Bob Walcott was sent to the mound in Game 1 to face El Presente

Dennis Martinez, who was 20 years his senior, and wouldn't you know, the youngster outpitched the veteran, allowing only two runs in seven innings. El Presente pitched valiantly, though, allowing three runs in six and a third innings. The Mariners won the opener 3-2. In game two, the tribe sent another veteran, Oral Hersheiser to the mound, and he shut the Mariners down for eight innings, striking out

seven and only allowing a single run. Tim Belcher opposed him, but gave up four runs in five and two-thirds. The Indians won five to two, tying the series heading into Jacobs Field for game three. Randy Johnson pitched well with eight innings of work, allowing two runs, only one of them earned. His opponent, Charles Nagy, a very underrated pitch. was equal to the task as he also gave up two runs, one of them unearned in eight innings. They both struck out six. With the tribe down one run in the eighth, Alvaro Espinoza hit a ball to deep right field. The usually sure-handed Jay Buehner muffed the play, however, allowing Espinoza to reach second base.

The next batter, Kenny Lofton, drove in Espinoza on a single to tie the ball game. The game would remain tied all at two until the 11th, with Joey Corrin and Tino Martinez aboard, Who else, but Bone, came up to a tone for his earlier error with a three-run home run to give the Mariners a 5-2 lead. Bone had also hit a solo home run to lead off the second inning for the first run of the game. This would be the last game the Mariners would win in 1995 as they were shut out 7-0 the following day, lost 3 to 2 in game 5, then were shut out once again in game 6 in the kingdom to end the season. Dave Nehouse remarked on radio that the Magic Carpet Ride is over. And my gosh, what a right it was.

Everyone was spent. Fans were crying in the stands. Joey Cora was crying in the dugout after the game. Being consoled by 20-year-old Alex Rodriguez. Hardly anyone left after the final ground out by G.A. Buneer, they remained to give the Mariners a lengthy ovation. The Mariners returned from the clubhouse to acknowledge the crowd. Bobby Walcott took off his jersey and threw it into the crowd for one lucky fan to take home.

This was the season that turned Seattle into a baseball town, that homestand in late September, that one game playoff against the Angels, and of course that division series against the Yankees. All of it was enthralling. It turned me into a baseball fan big time, and without question, save the Mariners from leaving town. After all was said and done,

Edgar won his second batting title with a 356 average, and also led the American. American League in on-base percentage, doubles, and runs scored. Jay Buehner led the team in home runs with 40 and also an RBI with 121. Edgar drove in 113, Tino drove in 111, and Mike Blowers chipped in with 96 runs driven in. Tino also hit 31 home runs and hit 293 in what was by far his finest season as a Mariner. Randy Johnson won his first Syung Award, leading the American League with a 248 ERA and 294 strikeouts.

He also led the league in WIP, strikeouts to walk ratio, strikeouts per nine innings, hits per nine innings, and home runs per nine innings. After his acquisition at the All-Star break, Norm Charlton posted a 1.51 ERA for the M's, accompanied by 14 saves and

30 games, and 11 strikeouts per nine innings. A whole lot of people had career years, and they all came together at the right time to overtake a struggling California Angels team and forced that one-game tie-breaker. Now, I'm not saying they didn't have health because the Angels did implode.

But if the M's hadn't played as well as they did down the stretch, they would not have forced that tie-breaking game. I hope you enjoyed reliving the 1995 season as much as I did. Please remember to download, rate, and subscribe to Lockdown Mariners on Google Podcast, Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, or whichever podcasting app that you're breaking. rainhead can think of. Follow the show on Twitter at L.O. underscore Mariners. Follow me on Twitter as well at D.C. underscore Lundberg. Thank you very much for listening to today's

episode. I do hope you've enjoyed this Mariners yearbook series. Tomorrow we'll wrap it all up with John Miller as he joins me to talk about the Lou Penella years in Seattle. Thank you again very much for listening and have a great day. This is Joey Martin saying join us back here next time for another edition of Locked On Mariners, part of the Locked On podcast network. Ask your smart device to play locked-on fantasy baseball upon the conclusion of this program.