Lou Piniella, My Kind of Manager

By Adam Ulrey

Last night I was watching the Seattle Mariners 6-5 victory over the Rangers and saw something by Mariners' manager Lou Piniella that I would like to see more of. He is an aggressive manager and I love that.

To set the scene: It¡¯s the bottom of the ninth and the Mariners were leading, 6-3. Piniella brought in his closer, Kazuhiro Sasaki, to pitch the ninth. Sasaki gave up a single to pinch-hitter Frank Catalanotto. After getting Greer for out number one, Randy Velarde touched up Sasaki for a double, putting runners at second and third. Alex Rodriguez then hit a rocket down into the left field corner to drive in both runs and bring the Rangers to within one run.

Most managers would pitch to Rafael Palmeiro, but not Lou. He decided to intentionally walk the Texas slugger and take his chances with the right-hand hitting Andres Galarraga. Sasaki agreed and pitched masterfully to Galarraga, getting him to swing at his split finger fastball, which dropped off the planet for strikes two and three. Then he faced Ken Caminiti and induced him into a harmless grounder to Boone to end the game.

I love seeing a manager not always going with what the percentages say. Piniella decided that the left-hand hitting Palmeiro was just too dangerous of a hitter so he walked him. Lou is the type of strategist who will go against conventional wisdom if he has a gut feeling and this time, like most times for Lou, it worked. That's one big reason why the Mariners have been so successful the last two years and why when it's all said and done the Mariners will be contending again this year even without Alex Rodriguez.