Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Mariners Yearbook: 1998

Episode Date: March 31, 2020

D.C. Lundberg talks about the 1998 season, which was largely frustrating, but did include Ken Griffey, Jr.'s pursuit of Roger Maris's single-season home run record, Turn Ahead the Clock Night, and one shining game in the career of a veteran minor leaguer. 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 evening, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you're healthy and safe wherever you are in lockdown, as it were, probably. This is Locked-on Mariners. You don't need to go anywhere to listen to this show. We can come at you in your home. We are part of the Locked-on Podcast Network.

Please remember to download, rate, and subscribe to this program, and all the others on the Locked-on Network on Google Podcast. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, or whichever podcasting app that you personally care to use. Ask your smart device to play Locked-on Mariners podcast or Locked-on-N-N-N-N-N-R-R-G if you're scoring at home. Time to begin week two of the Mariners Yearbook series. Today looking at 1998. Expectations were pretty high for the 19-E-R-G, if you're scoring at 990s. 1998 Mariners. The year prior, they had won the American League West, but had fallen in the

Division Series to the Baltimore Orioles. Their offense was historically powerful and dominant, but their Achilles' heel was their bullpen. Frankly, it was terrible. To try to improve their fortunes headed into 1998, the Mariners acquired reliable veteran left-handed reliever Tony Fossus to show up the relief corps. Just prior to spring training, the team reacquired pitcher Bill Swift as a free agent who was coming off a down year in 1997 with the Rockies, which saw him released in August. Swift was going to be counted on as a back-end starting pitcher, to avoid having to throw unproven kids into the rotation, as the M's have had to do for the previous three seasons with very limited success. Norm Charlton, a favorite of Lou Pinellas, had a dismal

1997 and signed as a free agent with the Baltimore Orioles, with whom he had another down year. On the offensive side, most of the same players remained from 1997. Aside from first baseman Paul Sorrento, who was allowed to leave as a free agent, David Sagis was signed as his successor. Sagi was more of a line-drive contact hitter than Sorrento, and also had a reputation as one of the top defensive first baseman in the game. In addition, Sigi was a switch hitter, while Sorento needed a platoon partner since he was very ineffective against left-handed pitching.

Rent-player Roberto Kelly was also not. retained after contributing down the stretch, continuing the revolving door in left field. Glenn Allen Hill was signed to play left field. Hill was a proven offensive threat, although his defense was very shaky. In fact, one big league coach described his defense as, quote, akin to watching a gaffed Haddock surface for air, end quote. Jeff Houston was added as a backup infielder and utility man Charles Gibson made the team out of spring training. Jesse Barfield was brought in as the new hitting coach, succeeding the beloved Lee Elia. The Ms were primed to compete for another division title and began the season at home once again in the kingdom,

this time against the Cleveland Indians fresh off a World Series appearance. Starting for the M's against the tribe that day was the big unit, Randy Johnson. Unfortunately, his good stuff alluded him as he lasted only five and a third innings, giving up six runs, five earned, and 11 hits. He did only walk two, however, and struck out seven. On the other side, Charles Nagy fared even worse. He only managed four in a third innings and gave up nine runs, all of them earned, and coughed up a whopping four home runs. Edgar Martinez, Ken Griffey Jr., Jay Buehner, and Russ Davis connecting for the long balls.

The Indians bullpen came in and shut the M's down, however, while the Mariners' bullpen did not do very well in what would wind up being an unfortunate sign of things to come. Going into the top of the 8th, the Mariners had a 9-6 lead. Bobby Ayala was in the game at this point. He walked the lead-off hitter, induced a fly-out, but then gave up an RBI triple and surrendered another walk. Pinella had seen enough and brought in his new left-hander, Tony Fossis, to face the left-handed hitting David Justice.

Fossis walked Justice to low the bases and was immediately removed from the game in favor of Mike Timlin, who promptly gave up a two-run double to allow the Indians to tie the ball game. He then intentionally walked the next hitter to reload the bases, hoping for a double play. What he got, however, was a basis-loaded walk to give the tribe a 10-9 lead. A ground ball double play followed, but obviously way too late. The damage had been done.

Timlin earned a blown save without giving up a run. All the runs were charged to Ayala and Fossus. Since Fossus didn't record an out and gave up an earned run, he had an ERA of infinity at this point. The Ms went quietly in the bottom of the 8th and 9th endings to send the crowd home disappointed. They'd lose the next one to the tribe as well, getting swept in that brief two-game series to kick off the 98th season. The Red Sox then came in, whom the Mariners crushed in the first two games of that three-game series, with Ken Cloud earning the first victory of the season.

The team was very inconsistent in April, at one point losing seven games in a row, but following that with a six-game winning streak. The month ended with a 12-15 record. The problems were the same as they had been first. the Mariners over the previous few seasons. Poor relief pitching. On top of that, on April 13th, pitching coach Nardi Contreras was fired and replaced with the steamer, Stan Williams, who was on Lou Pinellas coaching staff in Cincinnati. Throughout the course of the season, the M's would go through many, many pitches in the bullpen, with arms coming and going from AAA, including the

likes of David Holdred, Steve Gikowsky, Andrew Lorraine, Jim Bollinger, Makota Suzuki, etc. Fossus was released early in the season after proving to be very ineffective, as was Jim Bollinger. The mainstays all had terrible years for the most part as well, aside from Mike Timlin, who did pretty well. Heathcliff's Slocum was horrible and already disliked by Mariners fans for what the team had to give up to trade for him. Timlin and Paul Spolgerick weren't exactly fan favorites either for the exact same reason stemming from a different trade, and Spolgerick proved to be a very ineffective big league pitcher, although he did toss me a ball in batting practice, so I have kind of a soft spot in my heart for him. Bob Wells, who had contributed in the

past, did not produce either, nor did Bobby Ayala, whose career with the Mariners was remarkably inconsistent. Added to that this year, though, was exceedingly bad defense, particularly at third base and left field. In addition, Jay Bueuner's knees started to go, and after only six games, he was forced to the disabled list and wouldn't return until mid-June. Robert Perez was brought up from the miners to try to fill the void with Rob Deucy injured also. But that didn't work out and Perez was traded to the expos on May 8th for minor league catcher Raul Chavez. The Mariners then call up Ryan Radmanovich as a stopgap until Doocy was ready to play in late April. Once healthy, Doocy saw the majority of time in

right field while Bone was still recovering. May was pretty much a repeat of April. What was more alarming was that the offense also started to become inconsistent along with the pitching and defense. They would go on stretches of a few games where they'd score 10 runs, 8 runs, 10 runs, but follow that up with stretches where they'd score 2 runs, 3 runs, 4 runs, even a few shutouts. The team ran hot and cold big time. They won 4 in a row at one point in early May but lost 5 in a row later in the month. They finished May with a 26 and 29 record. June began with 8 losses in 9 games.

The lone bright spot was a 4-0-0 shutout of the Los Angeles Dodgers tossed by Bill Swift in a two-hour and 24-minute ballgame. Aside from the shutout, the Mariners were outscored 39 to 61 in those eight losses, despite scoring 17 in the first two games combined. Jay Buehner returned on June 11th, but was clearly no longer himself. His batting average dropped like a stone, going from 333 upon his return to 2.34 at the end of the month, collecting only 10, hits and 54 at bats. In addition, Lou Penella got so frustrated at his team's poor defensive play that light hitting, but sure-handed infield, RICO Rossi was brought up from AAA Tacoma for his first big league action since 1993 and saw a significant amount of time at third base in Russ Davis's stead. Davis still saw the occasional start at third base and was also used as a

pinch hitter. In addition, just after the All-Star break, Lou Panella threw Davis out into left field for three games. Davis started those three games and blew his first two defensive chances. Lou stated that he'd remove Davis from left field and put him back at third base once he caught a fly ball. He did on his third attempt and was pulled from the game immediately thereafter and started the next day back at his familiar home at third base. For this season, Davis committed 32 errors at third base for a 906 fielding percentage. That is unspeakably bad. The Mariners managed just an 8-10 record in June, finishing the month 15 games below 500 at 34 and 49.

It was clear that the Ms were not the team they were the year before and just weren't coming together. Inconsistent play and injuries added to the distraction of Randy Johnson's impending contract expiration were a lethal mix, and the team were out of contention, and in the last place in the AL West, 16 games behind the Anaheim Angels. In addition to the problems noted, above, some of the returning veterans were not performing up to their standards either. Dan Wilson regressed offensively, Joey Cora regressed offensively and defensively.

Rob Deucy regressed as well, as did John Marzano. Russ Davis wasn't hitting like he did in 1997 either, added to the aforementioned defensive woes. Going into the All-Star break, the Ms were a very disappointing 37 and 51, and in dead last in the American League West. On Monday, July 6th, the day of the home run derby, Glenn Allen Hill was claimed. off waivers by the Cubs. Hill had started off with an incredibly hot bat, but had cooled off significantly, and he had always been a major liability on defense. Shane Monaghan was called up from AAA Tacoma to fill the void, and he would make his major league debut in the first game of the second half. With many of the club's regulars having down years, the Meritor sent only two players

to represent the team to Colorado for the All-Star game, Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez. We'll talk about the All-Star game itself after the break. But first, a word from Withings. Do you hate stepping on the scale? Ladies and gentlemen, I know I do, but maybe it's because we haven't met the right one. A company called Withings produced the world's first smart scale, and, gang, they're still the best. In fact, Tom's Guide rated Withings Body Plus the best overall smart scale 2020. If you are looking to lose weight, willpower certainly is key, but, you know, so is having the right tools.

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So here is the deal. You can get 25% off a Withthing's Body Plus right now at Withthings.com slash MLB for a very limited time. Go to Withthings.com, W-I-T-H-I-N-G-S dot com slash MLB to get 25% off Body Plus Body Composition Scale. Once again, ladies and gentlemen, W-I-H-I-N-G-S dot com slash MLB to get 25% off Body Plus Body Composition Scale. I'll resume the 1998 Seattle Mariners season upon the conclusion of one more vital word of importance. Welcome to the second half of Locked-on Mariners. Here once again is your host, D.C. Lundberg. Thank you once again, J.M. for leading us back into the program. And ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Locked-on Mariners' Mariner's Mariner's Yearbook series, today talking about the

difficult and disappointing 1998 season. We're at the All-Star break right now, and both Junior and Alex took part in the home run der. also. Junior had previously won the event in 1994. Originally, Griffey said he wasn't going to participate, but he changed his mind after he was roundly booed by the Coorsfield crowd during the team workout sessions prior to the Derby. He entered the Derby within an hour of the event beginning and was warmly received by the Denver crowd. As a side note, Darren Erstad of the division rival Angels would have participated in Junior's stead. With the Rocky Mountain Air and the chase for Roger Maris's single-season home run record underway,

this promised to be an outstanding home-run derby, and it did not disappoint. Junior hit eight home runs in the first round, and four others hit seven. Alex hit five, which in most years in this era would have been good enough to advance to round two, but not this year. Most of the pressure was on MLB home run leader Mark McGuire, However, he only hit four in the first round and didn't advance to round two. He even apologized to the Coorsfield crowd after he finished. Both Junior and future Hall of Famer Jim Tomey hit eight in the second round to advance to the finals

in what wound up being a battle of future members of the 600 home run club. Tommy went first and only managed two home runs. Junior, still seemingly fresh, immediately hit three to win his second home run derby crown. He then graciously gave his bat to his pitcher. In the post-event interview, he was asked why he decided to participate at the last minute, and he very candidly said it was because the event was for the fans, and that he didn't like getting booed, which elicited some laughter from the fans. Alex was much more successful in the game itself, going two for three with two runs scored and going yard against the Padres Andy Ashby in the fifth inning. Junior also went two for three

with one run scored. Unsurprisingly, in this ballpark and with the increased offense both leagues were seeing this season, the two leagues combined to score 23 runs to set an all-star game record and combined for 31 hits to tie the all-star game record. There were also 22 first-time all-stars in this game, which featured 14 future Hall of Famers, plus two more Omar Visckel and Kurt Schilling, who may get elected very soon. This number does not include those who would later be ostracized by voters for PED use, including Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Mark McGuire, and probably Alex Rodriguez when he's eligible for voting.

The All-Star Game MVP was Orioles second baseman Roberto Alamar. As a Mariners fan, there was very little to look forward to after the All-Star break, aside from Ken Griffey Jr.'s pursuit of the single-season home run record. The team was firmly ensconced in last place, going nowhere fast, and Randy Johnson, who was in the last year of his contract, and asking for more money than the Mariners were able to provide, was looking more and more like he was going to be traded. Joey Cora, another free agent to be,

had been largely unproductive at the All-Star break, but actually picked it up in the second half, seeing his batting average go from 265 at the break to 283 on August 30th, his final game as a Mariner. More on that later. One thing on the horizon, however, was a unique and very offbeat promotion scheduled for July 18th. Turn ahead the clock night.

The Mariners had held turn back the clock night the year before, which was very successful, and also participated in a turnback the clock night in County Stadium in Milwaukee in 1996. Ken Griffey, Jr. made an offhand comment to Mariners' head of marketing Kevin Martinez, pondering what would it be like if the team, quote, went to the future, end quote.

That got the wheels in Martinez's head spinning, and thus turn ahead the clock night was born. Griffey had a hand in designing the Mariners' new logo and uniforms, and chose the new team colors of maroon, black, and silver. When the uniforms arrived, the jerseys had sleeves, which was completely unacceptable to junior, who cut all the sleeves off. Also remember, this was a period in Major League Baseball

where many teams, including the Mariners, wore sleeveless jerseys regularly as alternate uniforms, and it was something of a fad. It worked for some teams, the Mariners not being one of them, but it worked for turn-ahead-the-clock night. In addition, Junior spray painted his glove and shoes silver, and also painted Rico Rossi's shoes, telling the infielder, Rico, we're going to the future.

Junior's shoes and glove, and first base coach Sam Mejia's turn-ahead-the-clock jersey, are all in the Hall of Fame. Diamond Vision featured altered pictures of the players, giving them distinct features taken from Star Trek characters, and both manager's pictures were altered to give them green skin. Public address announcer Tom Huttler spoke in a robotic, monotone voice to introduce the starting lineups and announce upcoming batters and pitching changes, which was put through an audio filter

to make it sound even more mechanical. Left center and right field were called left sector, center sector and right sector, first second and third base were first second and third quadrant, home plate was fourth quadrant, shortstop was intermediate station, and the pitcher's mound was the upper pod. I do not recall what they called the designated hitter, but the kingdom itself was referred to as the biodome. And a laser show was on the ceiling displaying the uniform number of the player at bat. A very cool touch. James Duhan of Star Trek threw out the first pitch after being driven to the upper pod in a DeLorean.

To begin the game, the Mariners' entire field wore their jerseys untucked and their hats backward, aside from pitcher Ken Cloud. The M's really pulled out all the stops and provided a super fun evening for the fans. The M's opponent were the Kansas City Royals, who the Meritors noted were great sports and very easy to work with. The Royals had been the M's opponent and turned back the clock night in 1997 as well. With the game scoreless, Rico Rossi led off the bottom of the third inning with a double and was later driven in by a Ken Griffey Jr. double. Edgar Martinez then promptly hit a double of his own to score Jr. and give me Mariners a 2-0-0 lead.

The Royal scored 2 in the top of the 4th on a Dean Palmer home run, but the M's got one right back in the bottom of the 4th on an RBI ground-out by junior to score Rico Rossi once again. Rossi, who was brought up for his defense and was a 34-year-old veteran minor leaguer, was in the midst of his finest game as a Major League baseball player. But I'll get back to that in a few moments. The M's extended their lead in the bottom of the 5th on a Shane Monaghan RBI single, to score Jay Buneer. However, the Royals tied the game on the top of the sixth. Jose Offerman

scored Johnny Damon on a single, Hal Morris then walked, and Ken Cloud's Day was finished. Lou Panella brought in Bobby Ayala, who was having a horrible season. Jeff King flew out, which sent Jose Offerman to third base. Dean Palmer then hit a sacrifice fly to score Offerman and tie the game. Jeff Conan then struck out to end the inning. With the score still tied after the seventh inning stretch, who else but Rico Rossi led off with Yen. Yet another double. Joey Cora then walked, followed by Alex Rodriguez. Alex hit a three-run, home run off Scott Service,

not the current Mariners manager, Scott Service, but Scott Service, S-E-R-V-I-C-E, who had a Wurley Bird-Type slider. This gave the Mariners a 7-4 lead. They would take that 7-4 lead into the bottom of the 8th, where Dan Wilson and Shane Monaghan would walk, then that man, RICO, was single. Joey Cora then came up with the bases loaded against Matt Wisden and had a sack fly to score Willie.

Mike Timlin, the M's de facto closer, came in to pitch the ninth inning and struggled a little. After retiring the first hitter on a foul pop-up, he allowed a walk, a single, and a hit by pitch. Germain Allensworth then hit into a fielder's choice to score conine to bring the Royals within three runs at eight to five. But with two outs, Johnny Damon grounded out to Timlin to end the ballgame. This victory gave the Mariners six wins in a row, a streak that would be stopped the next day by Kansas City. Back to Rico Rossi. In this game, he went four for five with two doubles and three runs scored. His batting average went from 220 to 283. He was a career 211 hitter with a slugging percentage of 309.

He was primarily a slap hitter for the most part with decent patience. This was the game of his life. glad that it happened to him during a game that drew a significant number of fans, both at the ballpark and on television. As a side note, this show may have set a record for most times mentioning Rico Rossi in one single podcast. Major League Baseball took notice of the success of this game and planned a series of turn-ahead-the-clock games for 1999. Unfortunately, these were mere copycats of the original, and the novelty was completely gone. This series of games was heavily ridiculed in the press,

panned by fans, and were unsuccessful. The original turn-ahead the clock night remains an innovative, fun idea, which was meant to be enjoyed once. Well, twice, as the Mariners held another successful turn-ahead the clock night 20 years later, also against the Royals. And yes, gang, I was at both games.

I still proudly wear my futuristic maroon and black M's hat around Spokane from time to time. After turn ahead the clock night, there was little else to look forward to. The M's inconsistent play continued after that winning streak, and it was inevitable that Randy Johnson's days as a mariner were numbered. At the trading deadline, General Manager Woody Woodward shipped him off to the Houston Astros for minor leaguers Carlos Guienne, Freddie Garcia, and a player to be named later. Johnson wound up pitching the Stroes into a National League Central Division title,

while Guillain and Garcia both proved to be important pieces to the Mariners, in seasons to come. Looking back, it was a very, very good trade, even though David Sigi felt otherwise referring to it as a, quote, hoarse expletive trade, end quote, endearing himself to mariners upper management in the process. After clearing waivers, Joey Corr was sent to the Cleveland Indians who were in need of a productive second baseman for their stretch run. Coming back from the Indians was David Bell, who would also prove productive in seasons to come. Bell and Guyin would split time at second base during the final month of the season. The Mariners brought

up a lot of kids from the minor leagues once the rosters were expanded on September 1st. All in all, the Mariners used 47 different players in 1998 and ended the season at 76 and 85. The final game of the season was a 12 to 6 loss to the Rangers

which was ironically won by former mariner Tony Fossis who had been dumped by the team early in the season after being very unproductive. Ken Griffey Jr. fell short of the Major League home run record by five, ending the season with 56 for the second consecutive year, having faded down the stretch, unfortunately. After the season, the player to be named later in the Randy Johnson trade was announced to be pitcher John Halama. Well,

gang, I'm amazed I spent this much time talking about such a mediocre team. Tomorrow we'll look at another mediocre team, 1999. That season featured some fun times as well, though, including the opening of what was for a long time the best park in baseball Safeco Field. 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. Follow the show on Twitter at LO underscore Mariners and follow me on Twitter at DC underscore Lunberg. Thank you for listening to today's show.

I hope you've been enjoying this series, and I hope you'll be back tomorrow to remember the 1999 season and the opening of Safeco Field. Until then, have a great evening. This is Joey Martin speaking for Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Ask your smart device to play Locked-on MLB

upon the conclusion of this program.