SEATTLE (AP) -Here they go again.
Twelve losses in 15 games had Seattle pointing fingers like it’s 2008.
Thanks largely to the clubhouse presence of team trendsetter and crackup Ken Griffey Jr., the Mariners insist this is a closer, tougher group than the bickering one that lost 101 games last season. But rookie manager Don Wakamatsu seething and calling out ace Felix Hernandez for not “stepping up” in a loss brings back ugly memories.
On Wednesday, a day after his 23-year-old anchor allowed 11 hits and six runs to the Los Angeles Angels in 5 2-3 innings as the Mariners lost again, Wakamatsu met for 17 minutes with Hernandez behind a closed door in the manager’s office.
Upon emerging from the meeting – about 80 minutes before the Mariners eked out a 1-0 win over the Angels behind 29-year-old journeyman Chris Jakubauskas – Hernandez twirled a glove on his index finger. Asked how the talk went, Hernandez nodded, said “good,” and walked away.
The meeting apparently didn’t include an apology from the manager.
n’t back down from his postgame comments Tuesday night, when he said without being asked: “Felix wasn’t sharp. … Sometimes you’ve got to ask guys to step up. I don’t think he stepped up today.”
Wakamatsu was particularly angered by the Angels, second in the major leagues in stolen bases, swiping five against Hernandez and the pitching staff on Tuesday.
The manager and former major league catcher said Hernandez was taking 1.5-1.6 seconds to deliver pitches, leaving catcher Kenji Johjima “no chance” to throw out base stealers.
“Anaheim is a good club and they have talented players, but it is an embarrassment to allow them to steal five bags off us,” Wakamatsu said Tuesday.
He wasn’t screaming like John McLaren did in a profane tirade after a loss to the Angels last June 4, two weeks before he got fired. McLaren’s rant came the same day team president Chuck Armstrong ripped the coaches and then-general manager Bill Bavasi infamously locked players out of the towel room and the postgame buffet to force them to their lockers in the name of accountability. Bavasi was soon gone, too.
But the tone of Wakamatsu’s anger – and the recent, sorry play that prompted it – are reminiscent of last season, when the Mariners became the first team with a $100 million payroll to lose 100 games.
`It’s not a reflection that I’m emotional about that player. What I care about this team doing is fundamental baseball. … Those are comments that everybody on this team has heard.”
And he added, “What we care about is similar to the adjustments that we made with (new closer) David Aardsma, who has had command issues in the past but all over a sudden is commanding the ball better, is getting outs, is quicker to the plate.”
Wakamatsu also mentioned the rapid improvement of reliever Mark Lowe since spring training.
“Felix is no different,” he said. “There are things he has to get better with, from the discipline part of it. … Sometimes guys who are that gifted get away from the mechanics, or the discipline in the mechanics.”
Asked if Hernandez has been that slow to the plate before, Wakamatsu said: “Comes and goes. That is where we talk about showing up.
“It’s more of a disappointment when you work so hard at certain parts of your game – and then it just falls apart.”
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