It was the year that cost the Mariners Jason Varitek, Derek Lowe and Jose Cruz Jr., and probably cost Lou Piniella a year off his life from the stress of watching his bullpen self-destruct on a constant basis.

It was the year that reliever Josias Manzanillo devoted a testicle to the cause, taking the full brunt of a diabolically placed line drive that still causes grown men to wince at the memory.

It was the year that Zebulon, N.C., found its way onto the Mariners' map, when team members, led by Ken Griffey Jr., became enraged over an inconvenient side trip in July to play an exhibition game against the Southern League All-Stars.

"You can't have a first-rate team and a third-rate front office," harrumphed Junior.

And it was the year that the Mariners blasted their way into the record book with 264 home runs, the most ever in a season by one team.

That the 1997 Mariners, with three first-ballot Hall of Famers — Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez and Randy Johnson — plus Edgar Martinez and Jay Buhner in peak years, struggled all year to hold off the Angels, then lost in the first round of the playoffs in four games to Baltimore, is testimony to the soul-sapping power of a putrid bullpen.

Now the Mariners' home-run record hangs by a thread as the 2005 Texas Rangers, with the magical combination of talented young bats and a bandbox of a ballpark, pound away at the mark.

After a second consecutive homerless game last night, the Rangers were at 258, which at their rate of 1.63 dingers a night would leave them with 264.53 for the season (the .53 only fitting for a team that once had Jose Canseco bump a ball over the fence with his head).

"Our record is pretty much toast," said Jay Buhner yesterday, taking a break from a game of catch with his son to reminisce via cellphone about the bashing brilliance of the '97 Mariners, who soon would be torn asunder by a shocking exodus of superstars. "That's OK. Something tells me it will probably get broke again."

Buhner praised the talent of a Rangers squad that includes 127 homers alone from first baseman Mark Teixeira, second baseman Alfonso Soriano, shortstop Michael Young and third baseman Hank Blalock.

He started to make a snide comment about the dimensions and carry of Ameriquest Field, where the Rangers finish this weekend with three games against Anaheim. Then he caught himself, remembering the concrete monstrosity where the M's played their home games that year, a homer haven in its own right.

"I can't really say anything," Buhner said with a laugh. "It was fun. We had a good time, no doubt about it."

The 1997 Mariners were the province of Griffey (56 homers), A-Rod (23), Edgar (28) and Bone (40) — not to mention Brent Gates, Rick Wilkins and John Marzano. They all contributed taters large and small to help nudge Seattle past the '96 Orioles, who a year earlier had knocked the '61 Yankees out of the book.

Paul Sorrento had 31 homers, Russ Davis 20 and Dan Wilson 15. Even little Joey Cora knocked 11 out of the yard. A minor-leaguer named Raul Ibanez came up late in the year and hit one homer, his first as a big-leaguer, giving him his own small stake in the record.

"I'll tell you what — if they [the Rangers] end up one short, I'll feel good," Ibanez said. "It was off Oakland's Mike Oquist, a 3-0 fastball into the third deck of the Kingdome. Lou gave me the green light after chewing me out. I was walking out of the dugout, and he chewed me out about my previous at-bat in which I flied out weakly."

Ibanez still recalls with a rookie's awe the '97 Mariners, who won 90 games, only to watch Johnson, off a 20-4 season, lose twice in the Division Series to Mike Mussina.

"I'll tell you what, that put a little bit of a demand on the young guys coming up," Ibanez said. "You're taking BP with those guys — they were unbelievable. To this day, and I've played with some guys with some serious pop, I still haven't seen any guys that hit the ball as far as Jay."

To the prodigious Buhner, the '97 season, and that Mariners era in general, is remembered with a mix of wonder and wistfulness. For all the balls in the seats, and all the marquee names that passed through, there was no title.

"You don't get that many opportunities, as we're finding out now," Buhner said. "You get a team like that, you've got to try to keep it together as long as you can, and go for the jugular as long as you can.

"We definitely had the makings of a championship-caliber team — 1995, '96, '97, '98, all through there. Basically, until Lou left. We had the right personnel, the right mentality, the right manager. Unfortunately, we got a couple of division championship banners, which are great — at least we have some history now — but no World Series."

Instead, they had to settle for a piece of slugging history that has lasted for seven years, but is about to fly, fly away.

Larry Stone: 206-464-3146 or lstone@seattletimes.com

Record wreckers?
The Texas Rangers have a chance to break the Mariners' record for most home runs in a season. The 1997 Mariners hit 264 homers, and the 2005 Rangers have 258 with four games to play.
HR	Team	Year
264	Seattle	1997
258	Texas	2005
257	Baltimore	1996
249	Houston	2000
246	Texas	2001
245	Seattle	1996
244	Seattle	1999
244	Toronto	2000
243	Oakland	1996
242	Yankees	2004
242	White Sox	2004