Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Mariners Yearbook: 2002

Episode Date: April 8, 2020

D.C. Lundberg talks about Lou Piniella's final season as Mariners skipper: 2002. 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.

Thank you for tuning in to Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Here's your host, D.C. Lundberg. It is a beautiful Wednesday afternoon here in Spokane. I hope the weather is treating you nice wherever you may be. This is Locked-on Mariners, and we are part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Remember to download, rate, and subscribe to Locked-on Mariners on Google Podcast, Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, or Wichers. whichever podcasting app you personally care to use. Ask your smart device to play Locked-on Mariner's podcast

or any of the other programs here on T-L-O-P-N or T-LOPP-N. Follow the show on Twitter at L-O-U-U-U-U-N-R-R-G for those scoring at home. Today is the penultimate episode of the Mariners Yearbook series looking back at the 2002 team, Lu Penella's final in Seattle, After the historic 2001 season, the Mariners did not stand pat, and the 2002 team featured many new faces. The most significant of these changes occurred at third base. Wanting a little more offensive output while not losing anything defensively, the Mariners traded for Jeff Sorillo. They sent pitchers Brian Fuentes, Jose Paniagua, and Denny Stark to the Rockies in exchange for the two-time All-Star.

Cirillo was a career 311 hitter up to that point. and had hit over 305 of the seven full seasons in the big leagues. The Mariners traded David Bell to the Giants about a month later for utility player Desi Releford and Cash. Raleford was rejoining the M's organization, having been traded as a minor leaguer in 1996 to the Phillies for rent-a-player Terry Mulholland. The Mariners also had a new backup catcher, acquiring young switch-hitting Ben Davis from the Padres, for Tom Lampkin, Brett Tomko, and Ramon Vasquez. Lampkin wasn't getting any younger, and neither was Dan Wilson. Not only was Davis viewed as a reliable big league backup,

he had been the Padre's starting catcher, was 25 years old, and was thought of as the heir apparent to Dan Wilson. Ruben Sierra signed as a free agent. At this point, he wasn't playing much outfield anymore, mostly DH, but was still a valuable switch hitter. The Mariners also carried Rule 5 draft pick, Luis Ugetto on its big league roster all season. Stan Javier, a valuable fourth outfielder, had retired following the 2001 season.

Unproductive and defensively deficient Al Martin was also gone, and he didn't play anywhere in 2002. He'd resurfaced in 2003, however. Also gone was pinch hitter and corner infielder Ed Sprague, who spent the 2002 season in the Pacific Coast League in the Rangers organization. He called it a career after the season was finished. And of course, Jay Buehner had to hang up the spikes after 2001. His knee injuries incurred from years of playing on the artificial surface that the kingdom had taken too much of a toll.

On the pitching side, Aaron Seeley, who had pitched for the M's for two seasons, signed as a free agent with division rival Anaheim. Norm Charlton retired after his third stint with the team, having been used in middle relief the season before. The M's added two free agent arms. James Baldwin went into the starting rotation and his Shigato. Hasegawa joined the relief core. The M's were primed at another run at the American League West. No one expected them to match the previous season's win total, but expectations were still very high. The big league season began at home in Safeco Field on April Fool's Day against the Chicago White Sox. Mike Cameron gave the team a 1-0 lead in the second inning with a solo home run, but the White Sox scored 2 in the 6th and 4 in the 7th.

The Mariners scored 4 of their own on the bottom of the 8th to bring the score to 6th. blanking the white socks one, two, three in the top of the ninth inning. They lot off the bottom of the ninth with two singles, but went quietly thereafter and lost six to five. Freddie Garcia started and did okay until the seventh inning. He was followed by Ryan Franklin, who did poorly, and Joel Pinheiro, who pitched two scoreless innings. Both Franklin and Pinheiro would wind up in the rotation at various times throughout the year.

After dropping the opener, the M's won the next two against the pale hose. Then the A's came to town for a three-conyroles. game series. The M's won the first one, but then dropped the next two. They then embarked on a 10-game road trip to Anaheim, Arlington, and Oakland, and won all 10 games. They had a four-game winning streak later in the month and ended April at 18 and 8, and in the lead in the American League West, with Oakland behind by three games. It appeared that even with the roster turnover, the Ms had scarcely missed a beat from the previous record-setting season. Edgar Martinez played the first 10-game but then went on the disabled list on April 12th.

He'd be out until mid-June. This made the Ruben-Cierra signing that much more important. He had gotten the occasional start in left field in Mark McElmore's stead and had a hot bat. With Edgar's injury, he became the full-time DH and ended April with a 382 batting average. May 2, 2002, quite the day in Mariners' history, and a day Mike Camberon will certainly never forget.

The Mariners were in Chicago to play the white son. socks at Kamiski Park. Six foot 11 inch John Roshed pitching for the pale hose. His opening salvo was less than auspicious. He hit each year with the first pitch of the game. Brett Boone then came up and parked the first pitch

he saw over the right field fence for a tube run home run. That brought up the aforementioned Mike Cameron facing his former team, who drilled a ball over the center field wall. John Olerud doubled. Ruben Sierra reached on an error sending Olerud all the way to third, and then Carlos

Guyon singled to score Olerud, 3-0. Mark McLemore bunted the ball in front of the plate to send Guyan to second base, but reached first base himself to load him up. Ben Davis singled to score Sierra, keeping the bases loaded. Jeff Sorillo flew out to right field, but Guillen scored, giving Sorrello an RBI and a sacrifice fly. Mark McLemore moved up to third base. This was the only out, Roush recorded as he was given the hook in favor of Jim Parquet. And Parquet, and Parquet did not fare much better initially. Back to the top of the order with five runs in already, with only one out and runners at the corners, each hero grounded into a forced play, but McLemore scored. With each hero aboard at first once again, Brett Boone did something rather similar to his previous

at bat. Another home run flew over the right field wall, giving Boone two ding-dongs and four RBI for the inning. Not to be outdone, Mike Cameron stepped up and planted another home run over the center field wall. This was the first time in Major League history. Two teammates hit back-to-back home runs twice in the same inning. I believe it is still the only time this has happened. John Olerud grounded out to end this nightmarish inning for the Chai Sox, but not before 10 runs had scored, and Booney and Cammy had made history. But wait, there's more. With the score still 10-0, with two out in the third, Mike Cameron launched yet another home run. This time to left field, giving him three thus far and leaving plenty of time for him to try to tie the

single game record at four or even top it. With two out on the fifth, the score now 12 to 1 and Jim Parque, still pitching, Mike Cameron came up once again. On a two-one count, he plastered his fourth home run of the day, this one again going out to center field. Four home runs, all solo jobs for Cameron, and it's only the fifth inning. He'd have two more chances at a 5th, but he was hit by a pitch in the 7th and lined out to right field in the 8th. Still, four home runs to tie the single game record, and he remains the only Mariner to accomplish this feat, quite a day for the Mariners' center fielder. The Mariners won the game 15 to 4.

The Ms were somewhat streaky in May with two four-game winning streaks and a three-game winning streak. They went 16 and 11 for the month for an overall 34 and 19 record. They remained in first place Anaheim had taken over. second with a hot May and were three games out, while Oakland went into a tailspin, going 10 and 17 for the month and wound up nine games behind the Mariners, and were under 500. Texas was a non-factor. They would be a non-factor all season as they had been the year before. One of the strengths of the 2001 Mariners was its starting rotation.

Jamie Moyer was having another stellar season, and Freddie Garcia was also effective, though less so than in 2001. However, Paul Abbott was pulled from the rotation in late April after making five terrible starts, and he made his last appearance for the Emson relief on May 5th, ending his season with an 11.96 earned run average. Free agent acquisition James Baldwin was consistent, but unfortunately, consistently mediocre. His ERA hovered around five all season, ending 2002 at 5.28. John Halama was in and out of the bullpen all season, appearing in 31 games, including 10 starts, which were spread out over the course of the season.

Ryan Franklin was also in and out of the rotation, appearing in 41 games with 12 starts, half of which came in one stint as a starter beginning on August 31st. Joel Pinheiro took over Abbott's place in the rotation in late April after starting the year in the bullpen. He pitched very well and filled the void left by Aaron Seeley as the number three starter. Still searching for a fifth starter, the Mariners called up Raphael Soriano from the majors and put him into the rotation on May 25th, where he'd remain until July 2nd when he was returned to AAA. He'd later emerge as an effective back-end short reliever.

Jeff Sorilla wasn't having a good season either, ending May with a 233 batting average, nearly 80 points off his career mark. The M's played fairly well in June, even though the offense cooled off a bit. On the flip side, this was the only month in which the M's gave up fewer than 100 runs, surrendering only 89 for the month.

While never losing more than two in a row, the Mariners reeled off strings of four and five wins in a row. Edgar came back full-time on June 27th, but Ruben Sierra still had a hot bat, so he moved to left field, keeping the job until his bat cooled off in mid-August. At the All-Star break, the Ms were still in first place at 55 and 33. The Anaheim Angels were three games behind, and the hot-charging Oakland A's were five games back, propelled by a stellar June, where they went 21 and 7 for a 750 winning percentage and reeled off two separate winning streaks of eight games apiece. The Mariners sent three All-Star representatives to Milwaukee.

Each year-old was voted in as a starting outfielder, and he was joined by pitchers Freddie Garcia and countryman, Kazahiro Sasaki. This was the All-Star game that infamously ended in a 7-7 tie after 11 innings. Both managers had gotten. all their pitches into the game, with both leaving one starter for last in case they needed to pitch multiple innings. Vicente Padilla of the Phillies was the National League pitcher chosen as the long man. Well, Freddie Garcia was chosen for this role for the American League. Since the Ms were in a pennant race, American League manager Joe Torrey did not want to jeopardize Garcia's health

by having him throw too many innings. And with the game still tied after 10, both teams agreed to call the game after one more inning, should it still be tied. This made the fans in attendance upset, but it was understandable, and I seemed to be one of the few who was not irked by this decision. The game ended to a chorus of booze from the Miller Park crowd. Time for a quick break, gang. We shall return to talk about the rest of the 2002 Mariners season and beyond after a quick intermission. Hey gang, D.C. Lundberg here for Postmates.

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Just download Postmates on iOS or Android. Find your favorites and get anything you want delivered within the hour. For a limited time, Postmates is giving our listeners $100 of free delivery credit for your first seven days. To start your free deliveries, download the app and use the code Locked On, L-O-C-E-D-O-N. That's code locked on for $100 of free delivery credit with no minimum purchase for your first seven days when you download the Postmates app. Anything you need, anytime you need it. Postmate it. Welcome to the second half of Locked-on Mariners. Here once again is your host, D.C. Lundberg.

Thank you very much, J.M. Welcome back to Locked-on Mariners and his look back at the 2002 Seattle Mariners season. Following the All-Star break, the M's picked up right where they left off, somewhat treading water as they had in the weeks prior to the break. They ended July at 15 and 12, but on a three-game winning streak. Anaheim was two games behind at this point, while Oakland had an identical 15-12 record for July, and were still five games back.

Unlike last year, which was essentially a cakewalk that was over by the All-Star break, the M's would be in for a fight as neither of their opponents in the A.L. West would cool off, and the three teams were in for an honest-to-goodness pennant race. The Ms won three more games to kick off August, bringing their winning streak to six, but only gained one game on both Anaheim and Oakland who were keeping pace. Not satisfied with the back end of the rotation, the M's acquired former Dodger Ishmael Valdez from the Rangers, in exchange for two minor leaguers and a post-waiver deadline deal on August 19th.

Valdez had been one of the few effective pitchers on the Rangers' staff, as the rest of the staff was mostly filled with washed-up has-beens or young, unproven arms, who would be at the AAA level in any other system. Valdez started eight games for the Mariners down the stretch and was little better than mediocre. He'd resign with Texas after the season was done. The M's played less than 500 ball throughout most of the month and finished August at 13 and 15. and 79 and 57 overall. Anaheim, on the other hand,

when 18 and 11 for the month, fueled by a six-game winning streak. Oakland, meanwhile, lost four games all month and had won its last 17 games in August to leapfrog Anaheim and Seattle and go into first place. Anaheim finished August in second place, three and a half games out of first.

While the M's had fallen to third and were six games back, Oakland won its first three games in September, all in their final at bat, to bring its winning streak to an astonishing 20 gains. Unfortunately for them, Anaheim was almost equal to the task. After finishing August with three wins in succession, they began September with seven more victories in a row for a 10-game winning streak. After losing one, they then won six in a row.

From August 29th to September 15th, Anaheim went 16 and won, and even went back into first place, one game ahead of a row. of Oakland at that time. The Mariners just could not keep pace and actually lost six in a row in the middle of September, which pretty much ended their season. The Angels and A's were both red hot and neither team was going to cool off. Anaheim went 18 and 9 in September, while Oakland went 18 and 8. The season ended with Oakland, the champions of the AL West, with a 103 and 59 record. Anaheim was four games back at 99 and 63, good enough for the wild card. finished at 93 and 69, ordinarily good enough for a division crown, but this year only good

enough for third place. In most seasons, a 93 win team is successful, but it seemed like this group was missing something. While John Olerud, Dan Wilson, and Ichiro were their normal selves, everyone else regressed offensively. After a career year, Brett Boone came back down to Earth, though still hit above his career average. Edgar Martinez was in decline due to age and injuries, Mike Cameron hit below 240 and set the Mariners' single season record for strikeouts. Ben Davis did not exactly impress at the plate or behind it for what he was built up to be. But worst of all was Jeff Sorillo. He had a reputation as one of the better contact hitters in the game,

but can only muster a 249 batting average. The M's didn't have the same knack for getting the big hit as they had the year before, but worse was the back end of the starting rotation, which struggled all season and featured a rotating cast of characters. Even though Juel Pignero had stepped up and was a very good starter, they clearly missed Aaron Seeley, and James Baldwin was far from an adequate replacement. Paul Abbott was far from what he was the year before either,

and hardly any of the stopgap options the M's tried worked. If they had more consistent starting pitching, and if the offense lived up to its full potential, the final outcome may have been different, But I honestly doubt it. It's really hard to gain on teams that were as hot as Oakland and Anaheim were in August and September. Because of that, I dare say the M's still would have been a third place team. The AOL West was just that good this year.

After the season, many changes would come to the Mariners. Wishing to be nearer his ailing parents, Lu Penella told management that he wanted to manage the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. This was obviously the noble thing to do, and I commend him for putting his family before his professional life. Rather than release him from his contract so he could sign with Tampa Bay, however, Pat Gillick made the unusual move of trading him just after the World Series ended. He and minor league infieler Antonio Perez, who was acquired from Cincinnati as part of the Ken Griffey Jr. deal,

were sent to the devil race for left fielder Randy Wynn, who would solidify this once problematic position for the next couple seasons, providing good defense, solid bat to ball skills, and speed on the base paths, as the number two hitter behind Ichero. The M's new skipper would be Bob Melvin, who was much more reserved than Pinella was and had a very different style of handling a team. He piloted the M's to an identical 93 and 69 record the following season, although this time finishing in second place, a mere three games behind those dreaded Oakland days. This season, the M's would use only five starting pitchers, a far cry from 2002. Freddie Garcia, Jamie Moyer, Gil Mesh, Joelle Pinnero, and Ryan Franklin all pitched well instead.

stayed free of the disabled list. Mesh made his return after years of arm problems. The chief continued to do his thing. Joel Pinero impressed in his first full season as a starter, as did Ryan Franklin, and Jamie Moyer made his first and only all-star appearance at the age of 40. Pat Gillick retired after the 2003 season, and he was replaced by Bill Bevese. In 2004, the Ms fell off a cliff and lost 99 ball games, thanks in part to an aging offense who all sharply regressed at the same time, and some very bad acquisitions at the hands of Bavasi, including Rich Aurelia and Scott Spizio. However, each year-h hit 372 and broke the single season record for hits. Bob Melvin was fired after this horrendous season. He admittedly had very big shoes to fill,

but I personally feel as if he never got a fair shake in Seattle. Bill Mavasi was a downright horrible general manager. Well, there's one more season to talk about in the Lou Panella era, which we will discuss tomorrow. Yes, we save the best for last, as we'll wrap up the yearbook series with the incredibly special 1995 season. We'll put a bow on the Lou Panella era on Friday when John Miller will join me to talk about this 10-year stretch, talk about our favorite moments during that time frame, and recall some of our favorite Lou Panella temper tantrums.

Hmm. Please remember to download, rate, and subscribe to this program on Google Podcast, Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, or whichever podcasting app that you can think of. Please also follow the show on Twitter at L.O. underscore Meriters and follow me on Twitter at DC underscore Lunberg. Thank you for listening to today's show. Remember that tomorrow we'll be talking about everyone's sentimental favorite meritor's season, 1995. Until then, have a great afternoon. This is Joey Martin. Join us tomorrow for the next edition of 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.