Don Wakamatsu believes Mariners have a shot at AL West

ST. LOUIS — Even as Don Wakamatsu was mingling with All-Stars these past few days as one of Joe Maddon's American League coaches, his brain was mulling over Mariner matters.

Wakamatsu knows that as exhilarating as Seattle's first half has been in transforming the Mariners from laughingstock to contender, the hard work is still yet to come.

It starts tonight, in fact, when the Mariners open the second half at Jacobs Field against the Indians, sitting in third place, a precious, but precarious, four games out of first in the AL West.

Wakamatsu recognizes that a point arrives for every Cinderella story when the novelty wears off and the pressure begins to mount. He senses that moment is at hand for the Mariners. He sees his primary job in the second half to be navigating them through the potentially treacherous waters.

"The biggest key is if we can stay grounded in the fact that what we've done, mentally, is played with nothing to lose," he said, sitting in the All-Star coaches' room.

"As the season wears on and standings and everything else start to creep up, I think the pressure from the outside increases. Our ability to stay focused will be the key."

Wakamatsu speaks often of the "belief system" he has tried to build, mostly successfully. He said he and his staff will redouble their efforts to maintain that.

"Our job is to close this season out," he said. "Maintaining the looseness and camaraderie on this club; it has been vital so far and will continue to be as the pressure grows."

He is encouraged that the Mariners have passed several early tests — the rugged recent road trip that resulted in a 5-4 record; beating the Rangers, a team that had owned them, three out of four to close the first half; and, perhaps most critically, fighting through some adversity.

"We've had injuries, we've had bereavement," Wakamatsu said. "We've had different things that have tried to disrupt the harmony of this club, and it hasn't happened."

One key person buying in to the importance of the team's mental state is Ichiro.

"At this point, we have a chance," the Mariners' All-Star right fielder said. "But you can say that about Anaheim and Texas. Now it's about how much heart and feeling and desire you have within yourself. No matter how much skill you have, unless you have that, you'll not be able to win. ... In the second half, it's about how much each of us players have that, and how we can bring it all into one."

In the immediate future, the biggest issue for the Mariners will be the impending July 31 nonwaiver trade deadline; more specifically, will they be buyers or sellers? They could go either way, depending on what the next two weeks bring.

"I trust in Jack," Wakamatsu said of general manager Jack Zduriencik. "We're going to look at what's best for the organization, now and long term, and you try to formulate a plan.

"Obviously, the trade deadline puts a lot of pressure on teams. No matter who we get or what we have, I have one job: To make these guys play the best we can."

Asked the bottom-line question — is the AL West winnable by Seattle? — he replied: "You know, I think it is. When you can beat the Dodgers, when you can beat Boston, four of six ... when you can beat a team like Texas. That's the mental state I'm talking about — to lose five in a row against [the Rangers], and come back and take three of four.

"We understand we have a chance to win every game. The rest depends on whether we pitch and catch the baseball. Everyone has knocked our offense, but we seem to find a way to scrap. It's not always pretty, but we're in those one-run games."

The M's are 21-13 in one-run games and won their last such five in a row.

"What I'm most proud about is to be able to walk around the city, to be able to play at home ... that last series was huge for us," Wakamatsu said. "It was pretty electric in there [Safeco Field]. That's a big part of it: We can represent the city. You can say it's a cliché. I know they didn't feel it last year."

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