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Change in 'beliefs' carries Mariners
Wakamatsu reverses trend in first year as team's skipper
By Jim Street / MLB.com
10/05/09 1:59 AM EST
SEATTLE -- A personal approach manager Don Wakamatsu called a "belief system" worked wonders during his first year as a Major League manager.Wakamatsu and his all-new coaching staff had numerous one-on-one and group sessions with the players, starting in Spring Training and continuing through the regular season, and despite a boatload of injuries, the Mariners had a winning season, becoming the 13th team since 1901 to play .500 or better baseball the season after losing 100 games. Seattle was 61-101 last season.
"I said it in Spring Training, 'What you do in Spring Training sets the tone for what you do in the season,'" Wakamatsu said. "We were fortunate to get out of the gate and build a belief system that we could beat some teams. Sweeping Oakland and playing the Twins as tough as we did right out of the gate, and without Ichiro [Suzuki] mind you, helped establish a belief system. Since that point, guys stepped up in what was an injury-riddled season.
"One of the most pleasant surprises is how well the pitching was, in general."
Seattle used 20 pitchers, including 12 starters, while compiling the lowest team ERA in the AL. No team has used that many starters and overall pitchers and led the league in ERA since the Red Sox had 24 pitchers (13 starters) in 2000.
Ace right-hander Felix Hernandez took a huge step at age 23, elevating his game to a short list of elite starters. After being "called out" by Wakamatsu following a lackluster performance against the Angels on May 19, Hernandez won 16 of his final 18 decisions and is among the leading American League Cy Young Award candidates.
Among the other highlights in 2009 were:
• Ichiro became the first player in Major League history to have nine consecutive 200-plus hit seasons despite missing a career-high 16 games.
• Ken Griffey Jr. returned to his MLB roots and contributed 19 home runs and 57 RBIs. But more importantly, he was instrumental -- along with veteran Mike Sweeney -- in bringing teammates together, especially in the clubhouse.
• Right-hander David Aardsma went from having zero big league saves coming into the season to becoming the sixth closer in franchise history to have at least 30 in a season.
"When you take a job like this and a situation that happened last year, I think you go in trying to build confidence, trust and respectability from the fans," Wakamatsu said. "If you polled the fans, I think people would say these guys played hard, and you can take a lot of solace in that."
What follows is a quick look back at the year that brought respectability back to the organization:
Record: 84-77, 3rd place in AL West Defining moment: On May 15, the day after right-handed closer Brandon Morrow blew back-to-back saves against the Rangers in Arlington, Aardsma was inserted into the high-profile, high-pressure role. Aardsma went on to become the sixth closer in franchise history to save at least 30 games in a season.What went right: Hernandez went from a pitcher with great potential to an All-Star, leading the staff in virtually every category and being a strong Cy Young Award candidate. Of his first 18 wins, all but three of them followed Mariners losses. ... Signing veterans Sweeney and Griffey completely changed the clubhouse atmosphere. The Mariners went from a team that needed about four restaurants to have a team party last season to a close-knit, team-comes-first attitude in 2009. ... As usual, Ichiro had another 200-hit season, his record-breaking ninth straight, breaking a 108-year-old MLB record. ... Right-handed reliever Mark Lowe came of age and provided a strong eighth-inning bridge to Aardsma. ... After winning 18 one-run games a year earlier, the team won 34 games by the slimmest margin in '09. ... First baseman Russell Branyan proved that he could hit left-handed pitchers if given the chance. His 31 home runs overall were a single-season high. ... Center fielder Franklin Gutierrez played brilliantly on defense from the get-go and improved on offense as the season progressed.
What went wrong: Injuries forced the team to use the disabled list 19 times. The 550-plus games lost were the most since the 1997 season. Left-hander Erik Bedard was the poster child for injuries for the second straight season, but he was just one of four players who spent time on the DL list twice. ... Morrow didn't pan out as the closer, but he could become a fixture in the rotation, going forward. ... The run-challenged offense ended up scoring fewer runs than any team in the offensive-minded AL. Getting runners on base was not the problem, but getting them in was a dilemma that haunted the team the entire season. The most telling initials of the season were LOB. Biggest surprise: Aardsma came into the season with no career MLB saves, but took the job in mid-May and ran with it. His makeup was perfect for the closer role as he bounced back well from the few blown saves that he had.
Jim Street is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
