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More from the scouts Braves Diamondbacks Mariners Yankees The Scout's View: Mariners
Sports Illustrated asked major league scouts who have closely followed the playoff teams to help prepare reports on the four clubs in the League Championship Series. The scouts were promised anonymity in exchange for their candor. Here's what they revealed. For more postseason baseball coverage see this week's issue of SI, on newsstands Wednesday, October 17.
Lineup Ichiro Suzuki, RF .350. 8 HRs, 69 RBIs Wade Boggs with speed. Pitch him inside, otherwise he'll get comfortable and hit the ball all over. Mike Cameron, CF .267, 25 HRs, 110 RBIs Showed power this year but hasn't been swinging well recently. Strikes out a lot. Can be pitched away. Bret Boone, 2B .331, 37 HRs, 141 RBIs Pressed against Indians and had awful series, swinging through fastballs and chasing soft stuff out of the zone. Edgar Martinez, DH .306, 23 HRs, 116 RBIs Best DH ever. Very dangerous in RBI situations but teams are starting to get him out up and away. John Olerud, 1B .302, 21 HRs, 95 RBIs Looks tired. Over last third of season good fastballs ate him up. Great hands on defense. Stan Javier, LF .292, 4 HRs, 33 RBIs Solid outfielder and good veteran to have around but offers little pop at a crucial power position. Dan Wilson, C .265, 10 HRs, 42 RBIs Handles pitchers well but won't throw out good base stealers. Not much help with the bat. David Bell, 3B .260, 15 HRs, 64 RBIs Another power position in which Mariners get little production. Likes ball middle in and down. Mark McLemore, SS .286, 5 HRs, 57 RBIs So-so range and average arm at short. Good utilityman, but flawed stand-in for injured Carlos Guillen.		Bench Not a good offensive bunch. Piniella is very loyal to OF Jay Buhner , who doesn't catch up to good fastballs anymore. OF Al Martin simply can't hit. OF Charles Gipson has plus arm and speed. C Tom Lampkin has power but isn't a good catcher. SS Ramon Vazquez a defensive replacement, nothing more. 3B Ed Sprague can hit down-and-in pitches but little else. Rotation Freddy Garcia, RHP (18-6, 3.05 ERA) Ace in the making but not quite there yet. Has mid-90s fastball and good changeup and curve. His focus tends to lapse. Has to be the guy to carry the Mariners. Jamie Moyer, LHP (20-6, 3.43 ERA) Pitched very well in second half of season. Finesses hitters with terrific changeup he throws 40 or 50 times a game. Locates well and ties aggressive teams in knots. Aaron Sele, RHP (15-5, 3.60 ERA) Money pitch is his curveball. Gets into trouble when overusing 87-mph fastball. In [17-2] loss to Indians last Saturday he threw four curves in 35 pitches and got killed. When he doesn't have command, he's in trouble. Paul Abbott, RHP (17-4, 4.25 ERA) Fastball in low 90s, but best pitch is changeup. Another guy who has to have his command. Throws curveball and a little slider, but changeup is his only decent pitch. Bullpen Very good. If the starters get into the seventh, Mariners hard to beat. RHP Kazuhiro Sasaki , the closer, has dominant splitter that's hard to lay off because it looks just like fastball. LHP Arthur Rhodes , a southpaw rarity: overpowers lefties and righties with mid-90s fastball and big slurve. RHP Jeff Nelson has sweeping slider, but command not nearly as sharp as early in season. Over the last few weeks RHP Jose Paniagua slumped and lost command of fastball. LHP Norm Charlton has good splitter and can be tough on righties and lefties.
How To Beat Them Anyone who compares this team to 1998 Yankees is nuts. Mariners were constructed for Safeco Field with pitching and defense, but do they have enough offense? Even though it scored a lot of runs during the season, this isn't a great lineup, especially if Ichiro doesn't get on base.

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