When the Seattle Mariners began reconstructing their bullpen, no one thought the national anthem, a movie from 2007 and a warrior’s helmet – complete with a genuine horsehair topknot – would help unite an odd mix of relievers.
Of course, back in spring training, the team wasn’t even sure who would be in the bullpen.
The closer had been traded, the coach fired and new arms seemed to arrive daily.
The one thing new bullpen coach John Wetteland knew was that he wanted his pitchers to work without jealousy over roles, with a team-first approach. Rookie manager Don Wakamatsu’s choice to coach the bullpen also wanted to help pitchers learn how to be relievers.
“What we do is completely different than what starting pitchers do,” said David Aardsma, who joined the Mariners in a trade with Boston. “We pitch every day. We go out there on days we don’t feel good. We usually go into a situation we didn’t create, with very little margin for error.
“And no matter what happens, we have to forget it – good or bad – because the next day you might have to pitch again.”
Wetteland knew that better than anyone in the Seattle bullpen. A former All-Star closer, he’d made 601 big-league relief appearances and saved 330 games. When the Mariners called in the offseason, Wetteland was working with high school kids and tooling around in the Lamborghini wife Michele had bought him as a birthday gift.
He didn’t join up just to sit in another bullpen with a low-level and distant view of the game.
“I love teaching the game,” Wetteland said. “If I didn’t, I’d have no reason to be here.”
What the Mariners had in camp was a madcap group of live arms, all belonging to heads that were, well, a bit off-kilter. That, Wetteland said, is what made them all good relief candidates.
“Relieving isn’t a job for everyone,” he said.
Mark Lowe was more candid.
“We’re all idiots,” he said.
How to get these relievers together as a unit? It began with the national anthem, played before each spring game.
“You’d see some guys shuffling their feet, looking around. I stood the same way every day, with my cap over my heart,” Wetteland said. “A few guys started lining up beside me, doing the same thing.
“I only said one thing, and I only said it once to them. ‘People bled and died for that flag, and they continue to do so.’ ”
What followed was remarkable. By the end of spring, when the anthem was played, Wetteland and his relievers would all stand together, hand and cap over each heart. It was the beginning, Wetteland said, of appreciating the value of respect.
Has it carried over? This week, when pitchers were taking batting practice about 3 p.m. at Safeco Field – in preparation for interleague games in National League parks – that night’s anthem singer got the chance to practice.
As she began the anthem, every Mariners reliever stopped where he stood, faced the flag and put his hand and cap over his heart.
“We pay our respect every chance we get,” Lowe said. “That’s our anthem.”
“John talked to us about it in spring, and now whenever the anthem is played, we take a moment to think about it,” Aardsma said.
That was the beginning. What happened next was inexplicable. Lowe downloaded a movie – “300” – about a small group of Spartan warriors who held off thousands of Persians before finally succumbing to the numbers.
Lowe loved the film.
“I liked it, I talked to Wetteland about it and it kind of caught on a little bit at the time,” Lowe said. “I thought it symbolized our mind-set in the bullpen. Being the idiots that we are, we take it to extremes.”
The main character in the film, based on historical events, was King Leonidas. That became Wetteland. Brandon Morrow was dubbed Stelios – pronounced steel-e-os. Lowe was called Astinos, and only partially because he was the king’s son and right-hand man in the movie.
As with everything about what the relievers were doing, they had fun in the creative process. Lowe is something of a cult figure in the Mariners clubhouse for his ability to … well … rid himself of excess gas, on command.
“When we named him ‘Astinos,’ we sort of broke the name into three words,” Wetteland said, laughing.
Garrett Olson, who was thought to be the worst fielding pitcher in the group this spring, was named ‘Eyfore’ – pronounced E-4.
Lowe went online and found a replica King Leonidas helmet for sale and immediately purchased it. Each game now, it sits atop the bullpen water cooler. Lowe tried to wear it in batting practice one day.
“It sounds crazy, and maybe it is, but it’s also a way for us to respect warriors, past and present,” Aardsma said.
Wetteland lets it all happen for a reason.
“What it’s really all about is togetherness,” Sean White said.
For Wetteland, it was humor that opened the door to more instruction.
“Don (Wakamatsu) said something the other day I liked. He said, ‘All great men are servants.’ I want us to feel like that, collectively,” Wetteland said. “It’s about the team, the group. The point of it is that whoever comes in is another piece of the whole, and every piece has to buy into the whole.
“It’s not about who gets the glory. It’s about doing your job so the team wins.”
There are bullpen rules instilled to make a point. Most are a little strange.
No pitcher is ever allowed to stand up and get something – water or a snack – without asking teammates if they would like something, too. And how you reply is important.
“If someone wants water, for instance, they’ll say, ‘May I have a drink of water, please,’ ” Wetteland said. “It’s a reminder to be specific. If you just ask for water, I can bring some over and throw it on you. That’s not really what you want. So be specific.”
What’s the point?
Wetteland thinks when a pitcher gets to the mound, his intentions must be specific. He can’t simply say he wants to throw strikes or get outs. He should be specific about where he wants those strikes to be, about how he plans to get hitters out.
Then, there’s the rule about paying attention.
It’s easy, Wetteland said, to pay attention when your pitcher is on the mound – every reliever watches to see how hitters are reacting to certain pitches, knowing they may be in the game later to face the same hitters.
“When our team is at-bat, you can lose your focus. So we have a rule,” Wetteland explained. “Every time one of our players reaches base or advances a base or scores a run, you clap your hands at least twice.
“If you’re in a conversation and don’t clap, anyone else in the bullpen can call you on it. The penalty is a head slap to the forehead.
“We have them assume the position, take off their cap and then they get whacked,” Wetteland said. “Now from the stands, that might look crazy, but it’s a gentle reminder to pay attention – on every pitch – and to support your teammates.
“We have fun, but we try to have fun with a purpose.”
Somehow, it’s working. The Seattle bullpen has an ERA of 3.75 – and 3.26 from the seventh inning on. The Mariners have run 11 relievers through the bullpen already, and each has found a way to fit in and feel part of it.
“You’re talking about a group of guys who aren’t exactly normal,” Morrow said. “But we support one another and we like one another.”
Lowe, after talking about the bullpen, was inspired by yet another idea.
“Maybe the producers of ‘300’ will see us and they’ll send us all the gear,” he said. “We could dress a batting practice dummy in the whole suit of armor out there. That would be great!”
