MINNESOTA — Mariners fans will not have Scott Spiezio to boo any more — he was released after the team's latest loss last night — so they might want to turn their bazoos on the bullpen.

For months, the seven-man group had ranked in the top two or three American League relief corps. But of late, the ground has shifted under them like a steep hillside in the rain.

The latest late-game flop, which turned a 4-3 lead into a 7-4 loss to the Minnesota Twins last night, climaxed with a three-run homer by light-hitting Lew Ford off Jeff Nelson.

"With the guys we've got down there, we expect to hold those late leads," said Nelson after Ford's fifth homer and first in 169 at-bats. "But it's been tough going of late, the last two weeks."

Actually, it's the last 10 days. To be exact, it's the last 10 days since the 14th inning of a 7-3 loss to the Twins on Aug. 10.

In that span, which will also be looked back on as Spiezio's final days, Seattle bullie boys have combined to work 22-2/3 innings, allowing 32 hits and 25 runs.

Not that Mariners starter Gil Meche was Grover Cleveland Alexander by comparison. But unlike Shigetoshi Hasegawa, who allowed the Twins to tie the score in the sixth inning, and George Sherrill, who deserved better, and Nelson, at least Meche left with a lead.

He also left with his game in tatters.

"I'm a guy who pitches off his fastball, and recently I've been pitching off my curveball and changeup because my fastball is a mess," Meche said. "I've thrown a ton of pitches and as a starter that's not doing my job."

As an example of how far off his control was, at one point in the fifth, Meche had thrown 47 balls and 48 strikes and Twins starter Carlos Silva, a noted control artist, had thrown 48 strikes and only 11 balls.

But while Meche did not take a loss, his inadequacy fed right into it.

"We're thin in the bullpen," manager Mike Hargrove explained. "Julio Mateo has an inner-ear problem and didn't even dress. Matt Thornton had thrown 52 pitches the past two games."

Seattle took a 4-2 lead with a solo homer from Jeremy Reed in the second and a three-run third driven by Justin Morneau's error on Willie Bloomquist's bases-loaded grounder.

The Mariners got four hits from there, all singles, and had a chance to snap a 4-4 tie with two on and one out in the seventh but missed. Spiezio, who will be replaced on the roster by Greg Dobbs, had nothing to do with that failure, either.

Spiezio had his own troubles, approximately 10 straight bad months after hitting .333 in April 2004, when he provided hope he'd be worth the $9.3 million contract. The club still owes him $3.1 million for next year and a $250,000 buyout on a club option for 2007.

"No, it wasn't a nightmare, a nightmare is being in Iraq dodging rockets and all that other stuff," Spiezio said in his farewell address. "I was wearing a big-league uniform. Now if you're talking big-league, then there are a lot of things that didn't go right for me here."

The former first baseman/third baseman-turned-struggling sub said he was not surprised at the move. He said he had asked for a trade as far back as last winter after Seattle had to sign Richie Sexson and Adrian Beltre to fill the two spots Spiezio could not.

"I had an inkling this was coming now, for a couple of days," Spiezio said. "I'm sure it's best for both sides."

Spiezio is happy to be freed, talking of going to a club where he'll get a chance to regain his stroke and a job, and general manager Bill Bavasi sounded happy to be rid of a mistake.

"It was entering into the realm of a demoralizing situation and it was best to remove him and let the club move forward," Bavasi said.

Seattle signed Spiezio in December 2003, based on his track record as a winner, a heady, gritty player.

Spiezio leaves behind only the legacy of being one of the worst free-agent signings in Mariners history.

It got so bad for him that this year, with his single leaving him 3 for 47, Spiezio wound up a triple shy of hitting for the cycle — for the season.

Bob Finnigan: 206-464-8276 or bfinnigan@seattletimes.com