Inside Baseball

Jump-starters  

The Mariners grabbed the early lead in the AL West thanks to the emerging young pitchers in their rotation

By Albert Chen

Mariners lefty reliever Arthur Rhodes was so immersed in a game of blackjack last Saturday afternoon in the visitors' clubhouse at U.S. Cellular Field that he failed to notice the teammate hovering behind him, tipping off his hand. Standing over Rhodes was righthander Joel Pineiro, who was revealing Rhodes's cards to righthanded reliever Julio Mateo by signaling with his fingers. It wasn't until after a few hands that the 33-year-old Rhodes finally picked up on the ruse, but given that Pineiro is one of Seattle's young starters, it figures that he would go unnoticed.

The trio of Pineiro (left), Garcia and Meche is key to the future of the ancient Mariners. Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

Despite their one-game lead over the A's in the American League West and a team ERA of 3.35 (second-best in the league) through Sunday, the Mariners have the most-overlooked rotation in the league. The creaky club, the third-oldest in the majors and widely perceived in the off-season to be on the decline, has received a much-needed injection of life from three young pitchers in particular -- Pineiro, 24; righthander Freddy Garcia, 26; and righthander Gil Meche, 24.

"The way the young guys are pitching makes our rotation as strong as anyone else's," says 40-year-old designated hitter Edgar Martinez, comparing his teammates with Oakland's much more heralded staff. "We have confidence in them. They don't get intimidated by anyone."

The biggest boost has come from Meche, a soft-talking Louisianan who grew up idolizing Ron Guidry. Last week he outpitched Roger Clemens at Yankee Stadium and beat White Sox ace Bartolo Colon in Chicago, improving to 4-1 with a 2.43 ERA. Meche had a scoreless streak of 20 1/3 innings before the White Sox scored a run in the fifth on Sunday. After going 12-8 in 1999 and 2000 combined, Meche missed the last 2 1/2 seasons because of two shoulder operations but used the time off to refine his delivery. Now he has far more consistency in his release, which has rid him of a tendency to overthrow. "My mechanics are better now than they ever were,'' says Meche. "I'm just really comfortable out there and feel like I can throw strikes whenever I want."

The rest of the rotation -- including 40-year-old Jamie Moyer (3-2, 3.82) and 30-year-old Ryan Franklin (2-2, 3.83), who became a starter late last season -- is well-balanced, but Meche, Garcia (3-3, 3.83) and Piniero (2-2, 3.76) are key to the future success of the team. In putting together an impressive run of consistency early in his career, Pineiro quietly became the Mariners' most effective starter last year (14-7, 3.24). But the horse with the best track record and the highest expectations is the 6'4", 240-pound Garcia, who is 63-32 in four-plus seasons in the majors. "This is Freddy's time," says manager Bob Melvin. "He wants to do something special, and he's on the verge of getting there. Freddy's set on proving he's a true Number 1 this year."

But Garcia has carried a hefty workload -- he's pitched 200-plus innings three of the last four years -- and he lost steam in the second half of 2002. After starting last season 11-5 with a 3.44 ERA, he went 5-5 with a 5.66 ERA after the All-Star break. Garcia has his command back this season, and, most encouraging for the Mariners, his best pitch, the curveball, is again fooling hitters as it did when he went 18-6 in 2001.

"We believe in all the guys we throw out there," says Melvin. "They just know how to get the job done."

Issue date: May 12, 2003

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