Third straight win enough to cost M's No. 1 draft pick

A nightmare Mariners season had barely just ended, and Raul Ibanez was already talking about how he'll help a teammate try to better himself next year.

Ibanez puts himself through a series of torturous workouts just north of his Miami-area home each winter. This offseason, he'll be bringing along shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt, who had the decisive two-run triple in the team's final 2008 game.

Betancourt struggled at the plate and in the field throughout much of 2008 and was one of several reasons the Mariners, touted as contenders, wound up losing 101 games. The biggest question Ibanez faces after the Mariners wrapped up the season with a 4-3 win over the Oakland Athletics on Sunday is whether he'll stick around to help this franchise pick up its shattered pieces.

"I love this franchise, I love the fans here, I love the city," Ibanez said. "We'll see what the future holds. Sure, I'd love to be here, but I'd love to be in a competitive environment."

And for that to happen, Betancourt and others on this team will have to take their games to the next level. Even that likely won't be enough to do the trick for a franchise destined to hire a new general manager and make a significant overhaul in personnel.

The joke going around the stadium even before Sunday's opening pitch by R.A. Dickey was that the franchise didn't even know how to lose the right way. This rare series sweep of the A's, the first all year at home by Seattle and far too late to be meaningful, wound up costing the Mariners a No. 1 overall draft pick next June.

That's because the Washington Nationals dropped nine of their final 10 games to edge out the 61-101 Mariners for the worst record in the major leagues. Chances of the Mariners landing San Diego State pitcher Stephen Strasburg -- if he becomes the top pick as forecast -- faded with Seattle's final weekend surge.

Travis Buck opened the scoring Sunday with a leadoff homer on the fourth pitch thrown by Dickey as the A's grabbed a 3-0 lead after a half-inning. But the Mariners bounced back in front of 27,110 at Safeco Field, with Ibanez driving home Ichiro on a ground out in the first and Kenji Johjima scoring on a Matt Tuiasosopo ground ball in the second.

Betancourt then tripled in the fifth inning, scoring Luis Valbuena as well as Ichiro -- the latter picking up his 103rd run of the season. That made a winner out of spot-starter Dickey, who went 5-2/3 innings and ended his comeback season 5-8.

Ichiro afterward took time to note how much Ibanez's friendship has meant to him over the years.

"He's been of huge support to me," Ichiro said. "Whether it be emotionally, the approach to baseball, the way he absorbs things. In all these ways, he's been of huge support. He's more than a friend to me."

Ichiro shrugged when asked by reporters how he felt about embarking on a possible rebuilding process.

"With this team, that's the only option at this point," he said.

But he bristled when asked whether he'd be open to a trade to a contender.

"I've heard enough questions like that," he said. "I'm a little tired of hearing questions of that nature."

It's been a rough week for Ichiro, who declined to speak about a story last week in The Times that quoted a clubhouse insider saying he was surprised how many Seattle players disliked the record-setting leadoff man.

Mariners manager Jim Riggleman spoke Sunday about knowing he "ruffled some feathers" in clamping down on some behavior.

Riggleman said there was one point when he looked down the dugout bench during a game and saw nothing but coaches. He joked about being worried the team would get into a brawl and the coaches would get throttled.

"Just little things, nitpicking stuff," he said. "But when there's enough of it, it starts to build. Being in the training room and clubhouse when you're not supposed to be there. Not being in the dugout during games."

He added that: "I wasn't here to make friends. It's just part of the process. When you lose ballgames, it's part of the process."

He said the problem wasn't usually with the younger players.

"Young players, it's like managing in the minor leagues," he said. "They'll run through walls for you. It's that 7-to-10-year player that kind of feels like they have a little status and can be a part of setting what the standards are.

"They may not want to hear it," he said. "But they have to hear it."

It would be impossible for the Mariners not to have heard the criticisms directed their way by fans, media, teammates, team executives and coaches all year long. And now, the organization begins the daunting task of fixing it for whoever's in charge of the dugout next year.

Geoff Baker: 206-464-8286 or gbaker@seattletimes.com.

Read his daily blog at www.seattletimes.com/Mariners

For the record

Streak: W3

Home: 35-46

Road: 26-55

vs. AL West: 22-35

vs. L.A.: 5-14

vs. Oakland: 9-10

vs. Texas: 8-11

vs. AL East: 15-29

vs. AL Cent.: 15-28

vs. NL: 9-9

vs. LHP: 21-30

vs. RHP: 40-71

Day: 20-34

Night: 41-67

One-run: 18-30

Extra inn.: 5-7

Home attendance

Sunday's crowd: 27,110

Season total: 2,329,787

Biggest crowd: 46,334 (March 31)

Smallest crowd: 15,818 (May 6)

Average (81 dates): 28,763

2007 average (81 dates): 32,617