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| Tuesday, September 4 Mariners still lack the respect they deserve By Jayson Stark ESPN.com |
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We must be in some science-fiction reality warp. There's a team in our midst that's currently 60 games over .500 -- and it's not the favorite in Vegas to win the World Series.
Do not adjust your computer. You can check this yourself. We found two online oddsmaking sites this week that make the New York Yankees, not the Seattle Mariners, the favorites to be jumping up and down with a bunch of champagne bottles the week before Halloween.
Boy, is the gambling business fascinating, or what?
Except it's not just the people in Vegas who have this skepticism about the Mariners -- despite their record, despite their lead, despite everything they've done for five months. It's baseball people, too.
We've asked everyone we've talked to in the last week: If the playoffs started tomorrow, which team would you pick to win the World Series. It's amazing how many have not said "Mariners."
And as much as we understand that, we have this question:
If the Mariners' uniforms just said, "Yankees," on them, what would those World Series odds look like then? Would people even be having this conversation?
Our bet -- since we're into this wagering motif -- is: No way. If the Mariners had moved to New York and played this season wearing pinstripes, we would wager our own shirts that they wouldn't be a 7-2 bet to win the World Series. They'd be more like a 2-7 bet.
But because they play in Seattle, because they've lost three supernova players who used to adorn their marquee, because they allegedly aren't "built for October," many, many people out there seem to think their season is some kind of five-month fluke.
Well, we don't know if they'll wind up winning the World Series or not, because, as Sparky Anderson put it recently, "that ball sure can bounce funny in October." But we do know this:
There's no such thing in this sport as a five-month fluke. This is a great, great team -- built for any month. And we've found at least one outside observer who agrees with us. "I think people sell this Seattle team a little short," says respected, longtime scout Gordon Lakey, who covers the American League for the Phillies. "This is a team with no three-game losing streaks, that hasn't been swept in a series all year, that hasn't lost a series on the road all year. So I just think there's been a tendency to shortchange this ball club, just because they've made it look so easy."
And boy, have they ever. They were nine games up in their division by April 28. And they've played more than 100 games since the last time their lead was under double digits.
But that just makes what they have accomplished all the more amazing. Just consider the degree of difficulty of all this:
So on what basis could people possibly be doubting this club?
"My feeling," Lakey said, "is that people haven't seen enough of them. The only focus on Seattle was in April, when they ran away. After that, people lost sight of what they've been doing. But I've seen them a lot, and this is a much better team than people give them credit for.
"Ichiro makes that team run. They've got veteran players they can really depend on in Edgar (Martinez) and (John) Olerud. (Carlos) Guillen has been better at shortstop than he was at third. David Bell doesn't get the credit he deserves. (Mike) Cameron is a really good player. And on and on. But these are not front-page-headline guys. This is not a team of controversy. They just play."
Do they have weaknesses?
"There's been so much emphasis on Oakland's three starting pitchers (Hudson, Mulder, Zito) and so much emphasis on the Yankees' rotation with Clemens and Mussina," Lakey said, "that I think people view Seattle as maybe the epitome of the difference between a playoff team and a regular-season team. "But the fact is, Lou (Piniella) has a National League type of team that has the ability to manufacture runs. They're the best team in the league at doing the little things. They create opportunities to score runs that other teams don't."
Matter of fact, it's amazing how much this team reminds us of the '98 Yankees -- at least in philosophy, if not in personality.
"In '98, Joe Torre played a National League brand of baseball," Lakey said. "And that's what Lou likes to do. Lou is an aggressive manager who loves to play that style, and he's got the team to do it.
"I actually think one reason people have reacted to this team the way they have is the fact that Pat (Gillick) went on record as saying they need a No. 1 starter and they need a hitter. I think people read that and said, 'They may be short.' But I'm not so sure how short they are -- because Lou is a very good manager."
Maybe this team doesn't have a starting pitcher who can win a postseason series practically by himself. But of its four full-time starters, all are at least eight games above .500. And with a bullpen as good as this club's, there's no reason it should ever get buried in a big game.
So the oddsmakers can make those odds. And the doubter can crank up all those doubts. But if anybody out there really thinks this team isn't the equal of any we've seen in the last half-century, there's only one reason for that: You haven't been paying attention, friends. It's that simple. Jayson Stark is a Senior Writer at ESPN.com. |
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