SEATTLE (AP) -Finally, after plummeting to a place from which no team has made the postseason, the Seattle Mariners’ decision-makers ripped into their club.
Team president Chuck Armstrong berated members of the coaching staff Wednesday morning, hours before the imploding Mariners got swept in a three-game series by the same Los Angeles Angels they expected to unseat for the AL West title.
Later, Armstrong refused to comment on the outburst during a 5-4 loss that sent Seattle to a season-low 18 games under .500. It’s the worst record in the major leagues and leaves the Mariners 15 1/2 games out of first place.
No team that has been 17 games under .500 has rallied to make the playoffs.
“What’s said between me and the coaches stays between me and the coaches,” Armstrong said through a team spokesman.
About an hour after Armstrong’s rage, manager John McLaren had a closed-door chat with general manager Bill Bavasi. Two weeks after Bavasi said McLaren’s job was safe, Bavasi did so again Wednesday.
“This is not a field managerial issue. He’s not at the plate with guys on first and second and leaving them there – three times,” the GM said.
When their pregame talk ended, McLaren drew yet another line in this season that has had more than a geometry class. But this one had a twist: Instead of claiming the players had a sense of urgency, the manager said the team wants players to begin fearing for their jobs.
“Yeah, I think we do. I think we might be a little complacent,” McLaren said, discarding his usual keep-it-positive vibe.
After the game, McLaren discarded all decorum.
Shouting and jabbing his finger toward the clubhouse, McLaren unleashed an expletive-filled tirade, emphasizing his team is trying hard but not performing as it should.
McLaren then stomped off into his office and closed the door.
“He could have said that a month ago,” Bavasi said later.
McLaren, a 56-year-old baseball lifer who is in his first full season as a major league manager, barely contained the emotion in his voice before the game.
“I’m sure ownership is not happy, putting $120 million on the board and being 17 games under .500,” he said. “There should be some people knowing that we can’t go on like this.”
When the manager, a noted pal of the players, is mentioning the ninth-highest payroll in baseball, that’s significant.
“People want to see some results. They’ve had it. And rightfully so,” he said.
“Anybody that’s happy in our clubhouse, there’s something wrong with him. … We bragged about how good we were. … We need to pick it up now. I can’t make it any clearer than that.”
As McLaren spoke in his office, a handful of players were lounging on couches in the middle of the clubhouse enjoying the movie “Super Troopers,” a 2001 comedy about misfit prankster state troopers.
The players were given the morning off until indoor batting practice at noon – a common practice for day games following night games.
On Wednesday afternoon, after Seattle’s 20th loss in 27 games, Bavasi ordered each of the 25 players to sit at his locker to be held publicly accountable for his performance.
Bavasi said he is basically stuck with the players he has, that no team wants to make a deal this far ahead of the July 31 trading deadline. He said the immediate fixes will have to come from within the organization, such as the imminent return of Jeff Clement. The prized hitting prospect failed in his 15-game call-up from Triple-A Tacoma earlier this season but has been done well back in Tacoma recently.
McLaren knows one player is not enough.
“I think we can go around the whole field and every one of those guys need to pick their game up,” he said. “There’s not an exception out there, defensively, offensively, pitching, whatever.”
No member of Wednesday’s starting lineup began the game with a batting average above .300. Ichiro Suzuki was batting .287 – 44 points below his career average. The perennial All-Star’s previous low entering June had been .317.
Seattle entered Wednesday ranked last in the AL while batting with runners in scoring position (.230). McLaren said in spring training the pitching staff had five aces. It now has supposed ace Erik Bedard at 4-4 with a 4.47 ERA, Felix Hernandez 3-5 and 3.29, Jarrod Washburn 2-7 and 6.56 and Miguel Batista 3-6 and 5.90.
Carlos Silva, signed to a $48 million contract before the season, is now 3-6 with a 5.96 ERA after his career-high sixth consecutive loss Wednesday.
Plus Seattle’s defense, another supposed strength, has been among the league’s worst statistically all season.
When asked late Tuesday night what needs to be done, Suzuki sounded defeated.
“I don’t think at this point it is even worth it to answer that question,” the $90 million outfielder and franchise cornerstone said through an interpreter.
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