TERRY MOSHER
KEN GRIFFEY JR. IN A DOGPILE
The 2016 Seattle Mariners are beginning to act a lot like the “Refuse To Lose” 1995 Seattle Mariners. You remember the 1995 M’s. They were 13.5 games behind the Angels in mid-August and rallied to win the American League West with an improbably comeback that will be talked about forever.
Going into tonight’s game, the Mariners (63-54) are 11-3 this month and have won nine of their last 10. The M’s are now just two games behind Boston for the second wild card spot in the AL.
I’m not privy to what goes on in the M’s clubhouse and know who are the leaders, but I do know that in 1995 it was Jay Buhner who sparked the comeback by insisting that they win the division and not just the wild card when it seemed unlikely they could do either.
Buhner rallied his teammates not just with his bat (he hit 40 home runs that year and drove in 121 runs), but with his voice, demanding that everybody jump on board and give it their all. In the end, the M’s not only came from 13.5 games behind, but with three games left in the regular season had a three-game lead in the AL West over the Angels.
In a dumbfounded twist, the M’s lost their last three games to Texas while the Angels beat the Athletics three straight to force a tie for the AL West title and force a sudden-death playoff game held at the Kingdome.
The Mariners rallied to win that game, beating their ex-ace Mark Langston to annex their first AL West Division championship and earn a trip to New York to play the Yankees in the start of a best of five series.
New York won those two games in Yankee Stadium, including a 15-inning game that left me stranded in the Bronx at 3:30 in the morning wondering how the heck I was going to get back to my hotel in downtown Manhattan since regular taxi companies would not venture to the Bronx at that hour, considering it too dangerous for their drivers.
I finally managed to catch an outlaw taxi back to my hotel and then it was back home where eventual Cy Young winner Randy Johnson would win the first game for the M’s. In the fourth game of the series, the best right-handed hitter I ever saw, Edgar Martinez, belted a three-run home run and a grand slam to drive in seven runs to lead an 11-8 victory that tied the series at two games each.
Then came the game that led to that famous picture of Ken Griffey Jr. on the bottom of a dog pile at home plate, a big smile on his face. M’s manager Lou Piniella brought in Johnson in relief in the ninth inning with the game tied at 4 and he worked three innings, allowing a Yankee run in the 11th. Things appeared to be doomed for the M’s, but this was a Refuse to Lose team that was led by the high energy spirit of Buhner.
The M’s scored twice in the bottom of the 11th when Martinez doubled down the leftfield line and Joey Cora scored with Griffey motoring all the way from first base, sliding into home safely with the winning run as all heck broke out and the Kingdome rocked with so much noise if sounded like a dozen 747s taking off all at once.
Will these Mariners 21 years later reenact that same drama?
I don’t know. They have two back-end guys who can throw 100 mph, so if they can get safely to the seventh inning with a lead, they have a shot at winning like the 2001 club did that won a Major League record-tying 116 games. I knew with near certainly that if that team had the lead after six innings, the game was over. There’s not a near certainly like that with this club, but it’s close to that.
So we wait.
It’s fun to think that the M’s have a chance, a good chance, for the postseason. Even if it’s a one-game sudden death thing, that should make it exciting for us baseball fans.
So we wait.
While we wait, go out in the sunny weather and enjoy the beauty of the Pacific Northwest in the greatest country in the world. Take it all in, and love it all.
Be well pal.
Be careful out there.
Have a great day.
You are loved.