Seattle – For all the good signs the Seattle Mariners insist their 2011 season produced, they finished with some bad numbers Wednesday.
The Oakland Athletics shut them out for the second game in a row, 2-0, and after being held to four hits in their 161st game, the Mariners managed just two in their 162nd.
They final record was 67-95 – up from 61-101 a year ago.
After carrying veterans like Milton Bradley, Jack Wilson, Jack Cust and Erik Bedard early in the season, Seattle went young and played 18 rookies, finding gems like Michael Pineda, Dustin Ackley and Mike Carp.
Yet, for the first time in Safeco Field history, they drew under two million fans – 1,896,929 – something the franchise hadn’t done in a full season since 1992.
“As you’re building this, there were times I put guys ahead of games this season to find out what they could do,” manager Eric Wedge said. “That’s the last year you’ll see that.
“I told our guys before the game: Expectations – get comfy with them, understand they’ll be higher than you’ve had before next spring. We will be a better club, and winning will be our focus.”
Seattle finished fourth in the American League West, 29 games behind Texas and a full seven games in back of third-place Oakland.
The Mariners finished last in the American League in batting average (.233), hits and runs, though only 13th in home runs among 14 AL teams.
What might have been a better-than-anticipated season was gutted by a 17-game losing streak, the longest in club history.
Their highest paid and best-known player, Ichiro Suzuki, failed to collect 200 or more hits for the first time in his 11-year career, batting .272 – 59 points below his career average.
Their best pitcher, 2010 AL Cy Young Award winner Felix Hernandez, finished 14-14. In the last two seasons, Felix has gone 27-26 while pitching the best baseball of his career.
Still, to a man, the Mariners believe they’re a better team today than the day the 2011 season began April 1, when they beat these same Athletics, 6-2.
“It’s going to be a lot more fun next season,” Felix insisted.
Wedge insisted he and his coaching staff spent most of their first year finding out what the Seattle system had and auditioning anyone who seemed close to big-league ready.
“You never expect 18-19 rookies up in a season, but our young people held their own,” Wedge said. “We didn’t get pounded, we were in most games, which tells you how close we are.
“So many times this season we didn’t get those hits with runners in scoring position, where one or two swings a game could be two-three-four runs. Next year, we’re going to find out just how bad they want it.”
Wedge said the goal was to build a complete team – “starting pitcher that can keep you in the game, a bullpen that can do the job late and an offense that can score runs consistently.”
In 2011, more than half the Mariners’ games, 84 of them, were decided by two runs or fewer. Fifty-one of their games were decided by one run.
In the finale, Oakland scored two runs in the second inning against starting pitcher Anthony Vasquez, who was replaced on the mound before the third inning began. Wedge wanted to use his young bullpen arms.
“They’ve come together and done a fantastic job the past few weeks,” he said.
It continued Wednesday.
Rookie Josh Lueke pitched two scoreless innings. Rookie Chance Ruffin pitched two scoreless innings. Rookies Steve Delabar and Steve Wilhelmsen worked a shutout inning apiece.
Grizzled veteran Shawn Kelley, 27, pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning – and struck out the side.
All that would have had a far greater impact if the Seattle offense had contributed. Since a win on Monday, the Mariners managed all of six hits and no runs in their final 18 innings.
When the game ended, Wedge and his players stayed on the field in front of the Mariners dugout, throwing T-shirts and sweat bands and baseballs into the crowd of 20,173.
Twenty-five minutes afterward, rookie outfielder Casper Wells stood signing autographs. Shortstop Brendan Ryan was handing out balls to kids almost 30 minutes after the game.
“A lot of these guys get it already,” Wedge said. “You play here, you’re part of the community, these fans are part of the team. Better times are coming.”
The signs may be there. The numbers? Not so much. Not yet.
SHORT HOPS
Seattle’s previous record of 15 shutouts was set in 1978, 1983, 1990 and 2010. … In one of the stranger pitching lines, Vasquez finished the season with 13 home runs allowed and 13 strikeouts in 29 innings this season.
larry.larue@thenewstribune.com
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