PRINT THIS PAGE | E-MAIL THIS PAGE

Tuesday, June 24, 1997

Mariners keep beating up on Rangers

By DENNE H. FREEMAN AP Sports Writer

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - The Texas Rangers just can't beat the Seattle Mariners, not on the road and not even at home.

They proved it again over the weekend by losing all four games at The Ballpark in Arlington. It was only the third time in Mariners history they swept a four-game road series.

The Mariners are 5-1 against Texas this year and have won 12 of the last 14 games between the teams. The Rangers haven't won a series against Seattle since 1993. Overall, the Rangers are 5-18 against Seattle at home.

Last year, even though the Rangers lost the season series to Seattle 10-3, they won the AL West by 4-1/2 games over the Mariners.

Seattle was five games ahead of Texas going into Monday night's games, and the next time the teams meet will be in a four-game series at the Kingdome starting July 10.

"There's always a team that kicks your rears," the Rangers' Lee Stevens said. "I don't care if it's the major leagues, the minor leagues or the softball beer league. In our case, it's Seattle."

Seattle scored three runs in the second inning after a critical error by shortstop Benji Gil for a gift-wrapped 6-4 victory over the Rangers Sunday.

First baseman Will Clark was unhappy about the way the Rangers lost.

"It's not like we're playing bad baseball," Clark said. "We make one little error and it leads to three runs. Baseball is a game of luck, and we don't have any right now."

The Rangers also don't have any clutch hitting.

Seattle hit .400 (14-for-35) with runners in scoring position during the series. Texas hit only .170 (8-for-47).

"We're not hitting on all cylinders," Texas manager Johnny Oates said.

Texas is just hoping it can duplicate what happened last year when Seattle won the season series but lost the division.

Pitcher John Burkett said, "They've whipped up on us the last two years and we still won a division title last year. I expect this team will respond in a positive way."

Oates said Seattle made Texas pay for mistakes.

"We opened the door and they took advantage of it," he said. "We booted the ball and they made us pay. In these four games, Seattle did every single thing it had to do to win.

"For us, it was something different every night, from baserunning mistakes to costly errors. It's not like we're getting blown out."

Texas lost 2-1, 5-4, 15-8, and 6-4.

The Rangers have allowed 41 unearned runs, second in the majors only to the Chicago White Sox. Texas played 162 games last year, allowing only 50 unearned runs and had the best defense in baseball.

"It's not the time to push the panic button," Oates said. "We have to ... battle through this. We have to get over what Seattle did to us." Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
Send the URL (Address) of This Story to A Friend: