As Kyle Seager was completing his 44-hour impression of a 23-year-old Ted Williams on Wednesday, the strangest thing occurred to me.
The Mariners are much more fun to follow as AL West also-rans than when they were in the thick of the division race. Before the July drought rendered their place in the standings inconsequential, those Mariners tried to succeed with solid starting pitching, an offense challenged to cobble together a run or two, and a belief in the mystical virtues of crossed fingers.
The score-just-enough-to-eke-out-a-3-2-victory formula kept Seattle in the playoff mix, but it was tenuous for the players and tedious for those of us whose heartbeats weren’t accelerated by watching Jack Cust’s attempts to coax a bases-loaded walk.
And now? I don’t care whether the Mariners win or lose. What I care about is the production of a youth movement that has invigorated a once-stodgy lineup.
On opening night, manager Eric Wedge drew up a batting order that had Chone Figgins hitting second, followed by Milton Bradley, followed by Cust, the cleanup man whose idea of connecting was to hear the voice of the home-plate umpire pronouncing “ball four.”
The Mariners’ center fielder on opening night was 31-year-old Ryan Langerhans. The second baseman was Jack Wilson, 33. It was difficult to look at that team out of the gate and feel anything but grim about the future.
Contrast the opening-night lineup with the one Wedge submitted Wednesday in Cleveland, where Dustin Ackley, Mike Carp and Casper Wells occupied the 3-4-5 heart of the order. Ackley and Carp began the season at Triple-A, and Wells spent time there after the Tigers demoted him.
Other new faces Wednesday were left fielder Trayvon Robinson, a former Dodgers prospect who was enjoying a breakthrough season in the Pacific Coast League before the trade that sent him to Seattle, and Seager, a third baseman one year removed from Single-A, two months removed from Double-A.
When the Mariners departed for their trip to Tampa Bay and Cleveland, Seager was hitting .182. He returned hitting .313. During the seven games on the road, Seager went 15-for-25, with two homers and six doubles – including three on Wednesday.
Seager is on such a crazy tear that when he collected his fourth hit of the game, Mariners broadcaster Rick Rizzs sounded crestfallen for a moment.
“A line-drive hit!” Rizzs described, “but it’s just a single.” There was a time, not so long ago, when the sight of a single off the bat of a Mariners hitter verged on historic. Seager knows about that.
The fast track he took through the farm system – he played all of 12 games in Tacoma before his initial promotion – found him overmatched against big-league pitching: Three hits in 22 at-bats.
Welcome to The Show, young man. Now go back to the PCL drawing board.
Seager earned a second call-up, on Aug. 1, to replace the injured Figgins at third base. It took Figgins four months to collect 13 extra-base hits. Seager collected seven in seven days.
There was a reason for the brief tone of dejection in Rick Rizzs’ voice Wednesday: Seager could have tied a major league record of four doubles in one game.
He had to settle for 10 hits in two days.
Is Seager the long-term solution at third base? Is Wells, who earlier this month hit homers in four straight games, a legitimate power-speed threat capable of solving a left-field quandary that is as old as the Mariners’ franchise? What about Robinson, a dynamic talent with a propensity for striking out but a threat to make something happen whenever his bat strikes the ball?
These are the kind of questions that are making late August – the “dog days” stretch of the season – such an unexpected delight. We already know about Ackley, who figures to finish among the top five in Rookie of the Year voting. And thanks to his recently snapped 20-game hitting streak, Carp has assembled enough of a portfolio to earn a place in the lineup as a permanent cleanup hitter.
As for Seager, Wells and Robinson, all verdicts are on hold. The simple anticipation of reaching a consensus on their potential is making another dismal season, well, not so dismal.
The difference between winning and losing matters to Wedge, who wants his players to take pride in their work and to appreciate the responsibilities of wearing a big-league uniform.
But the difference between winning and losing doesn’t matter to me, and I suspect it doesn’t matter to you. It’s all about the kids, from here going forward.
Going forward: The premise wasn’t tangible on opening night, but it’s tangible today. Regardless of their record, the Mariners are going forward.
Without magic numbers to contemplate, magic words will have to do.
john.mcgrath@thenewstribune.com
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