DIAMOND NOTES: June 15

No one even thought about the Mariners winning 116 games again this season, but since jumping off to a 29-12 start on May 17, they arrived in San Diego Friday 11-13 in the succeeding period.

"We're going to have a pennant race in the American League West," says Mariners manager Lou Piniella. "It's going to be great for the fans. Not so great for us, but great for the fans. We have held our ground as best we can. We're still in first place even as well as the Angels and A's have played, but they're both very good teams. This is going to be a heckuva race. We'll be back to scoreboard-watching."

	The Mariners are hoping the return of Edgar Martinez will spark a stagnant offense.

The good news for the Mariners is that Edgar Martinez was activated from the disabled list on Friday.

"We're on a three-city National League tour," says Piniella, "which means Edgar can only pinch hit. And while I want to get him some at-bats, I hope he doesn't get too many because that means we'll be behind. But getting him back is really important. When you take someone like Edgar out of the middle of a lineup, you can get by for a short period of time, but it catches up with you.

"Look what's happened to the Red Sox without Manny Ramirez; they played well for a while, but it's been catching up to them, and you'll see a huge difference when he gets back. Take Jason Giambi or Bernie Williams out of the Yankee lineup and you'll see a difference. Edgar impacts everyone in the lineup. We've had some guys struggle without him. But when we get him back and I put him in the three hole and Ichiro can lead off, (John) Olerud can hit fourth with Ruben Sierra fifth, then (Bret) Boone and (Mike Cameron) and then we'll have a lineup that makes sense. That's a good lineup."

While Ichiro, Olerud, Sierra, Dan Wilson and Carlos Guillen have all performed well, Boone (.235 BA, .689 OPS), Cameron (.223 BA) and Jeff Cirillo(.233 BA, .284 OBP) have all struggled mightily over the last month. Piniella believes they'll all get back to their norms with the batting order in place.

It's been a struggle. The Mariners went on one trip to Tampa Bay, Baltimore and Oakland and hit a toal of four home runs. They were outhomered 28-6 during one stretch. The bench is, to be kind, not an offensive presence.

The other importee returnees are Paul Abbott (next weekend) and Jeff Nelson, who is expected back sometime between July 1 and the All-Star break. "Once we have the pitching staff back in order," says Piniella, "we won't be losing some of those games late that we've been losing."

Anaheim is clearly a very serious challenger, and when Tim Hudson broke his spell and beat the Giants on Friday night, it left the A's 16-4 in their last 20 games, a time in which Barry Zito and Mark Mulder were a combined 8-0 with a 1.98 ERA. OK, having traded Jeremy Giambi to clear payroll to sign their draft choices, if the A's stay in it, will GM Billy Beane be allowed to add payroll at the end of July? "That's something that we'll have to address later," says Beane.

Astros again look to youth for their rotation
After former Cal-State Fullerton ace Kirk Saarloos won his 10th game -- with a 0.49 ERA in his last 79 2/3 innings -- for Double-A Round Rock on Tuesday, he was told his next start would be next Tuesday for Triple-A New Orleans. Then Shane Reynolds went down for the season with a back injury.

"Kirk is getting married Saturday," says Astros GM Gerry Hunsicker. "So I called him Thursday and wished him the best. Then I asked him, 'would you mind instead of flying to New Orleans Monday flying to Milwaukee and starting for us Tuesday?' It was neat giving him that wedding present, but it's going to be tough with five kids in the rotation. Wade Miller is now our veteran."

Miller was up and down in 1999 and 2000 before winning 16 games last season, his first full year in the majors. Carlos Hernandez, Roy Oswalt and Tim Redding all started 2001 in Round Rock. Now, Saarloos.

"He reminds me of Bobby Jones when we drafted him with the Mets," says Hunsicker of Saarloos. "He knows how to pitch, and he's not afraid. I'm not real comfortable bringing a young pitcher up this quickly, but if anyone shouldn't be affected, it would be Kirk."

The Astros have fallen far behind the Reds and Cardinals in the NL Central, and there is a serious question whether or not they can get back in it.

"It's very difficult to regroup and contend at the same time," says Hunsicker. "Especially when you're veterans aren't at their historic levels."

Jeff Bagwell is fighting through what Hunsicker says is chronic arthritis in his shoulder, something that may not be fully treatable. Craig Biggio has struggled. Daryle Ward also has only two homers in 221 at-bats, and the left side of the infield has been in flux except for the recent performance of shortstop Julio Lugo.

Hunsicker knows that if the Astros continue to drift below .500, he will consider taking one of his power parts and trying to reshuffle the club. That means that either Richard Hidalgo or Ward could be available. Problem is, what Hunsicker most wants is a "young Craig Biggio, a leadoff hitter, preferably one that plays center field. But finding a leadoff hitter may be one of the most difficult things in the game, maybe more difficult than finding a cleanup hitter. Look around, whom can you identify? We've been looking for a year. We identified (Juan) Pierre, but he's not available. Otherwise ...?"

Indians GM Mark Shapiro spent much of last season trying to trade for a young center fielder who could lead off and replace Kenny Lofton, who was not going to return to Cleveland unless the Indians were willing to fork over $8 million, which they were not. He finally acquired Milton Bradley from Montreal, and while Bradley is performing as well as expected, he is not a leadoff hitter. The Dodgers, who have badly lacked someone on base at the top of the order, did find one in Dave Roberts.

Roberts is 30, and after eight years in the Tigers and Indians chains had a .295 on-base percentage in his major-league experience. The Dodgers acquired him in a minor-league deal last Dec. 20, and when he got to spring training, Roberts was told by Dodgers manager Jim Tracy and hitting coach Jack Clark that he could finally make the majors on a regular basis if he did one thing -- get on base. Roberts took to Tracy's encouragement and intense teaching, and entered this weekend with a .403 on-base percentage, .390 in the leadoff position.

"He's made a tremendous difference in our club," GM Dan Evans says of Roberts. "Platooning Dave and Marquis Grissom has worked really well. Dave is a great story."

"It just goes to show that we should be careful not to write off some of these minor-league veterans as only Triple-A players," says Hunsicker. "Players do make adjustments. Sometimes pitchers do come up with another pitch, or something goes on in their heads. I'm really happy to see the success Travis Driskill (3-0 for the Orioes) is having. He did a good job (11-5) for us at New Orleans last year. He's a great kid. I'm happy for him."

Driskill came out of the Indians system and even passed through Japan in his 10-year route to the Baltimore starting rotation.

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