26 Seattle Mariners

It didn't take Dick Williams long after becoming the Seattle manager last May 9 to decide that the prevailing and often frustrating tactic, "the three-run homer," wasn't working. "We'll try something else," he said. Like pitching. Last year, only Minnesota had a worse ERA than the Mariners' 4.65. So Williams saw to it that a sometime three-run homer hitter, Danny Tartabull, and a minor leaguer were traded to Kansas City for a promising pitcher, Scott Bankhead, outfielder Mike Kingery and pitcher Steve Shields. Then he traded reliever Matt Young to the Dodgers for lefty starter Dennis Powell.

Already, the Mariners are in trouble. Bankhead has a tender shoulder, and Powell is currently residing in Williams's doghouse. That leaves a rotation of three Mikes—Moore, Morgan and Trujillo—and a Mark—Langston. The bullpen won't be much of a help. The departed Young will be replaced by Edwin Nunez, the '85 closer with 16 saves who slipped to zip in '86.

Even if his pitching holds up, Williams must see to it that his hitters get the bat on the ball. In '86, Mariner hitters set an AL record with 1,148 strikeouts. The team whiff king was third baseman Jim Presley, with 172. But Presley also hit 27 homers and drove in 107 runs.

There was a sign above a doorway in the Mariners' clubhouse at Tempe, Ariz., this spring, which read 1987 WORLD CHAMPION SEATTLE MARINERS. It might as well have read ABANDON HOPE, ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE.

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