Mariners
Olerud searching for stroke of 1993

By Greg Bishop
Seattle Times staff reporter

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Following another night with a zero in the hit column, and lugging a batting average sinking faster than the Titanic, John Olerud went back to 1993 on Tuesday night.

He popped a tape from that summer in the VCR and searched, analyzed and scrutinized for everything that went so right. Olerud flirted with .400 that season for the Toronto Blue Jays, finishing at a career-high .363 with a career-best 107 runs batted in.

How far away does that season seem?

Like many Mariners, Olerud remains mired in the worst slump of his career. He sat out last night's game with a .238 batting average, one home run and eight RBI in 122 at-bats. So he went back to the tape of the season he calls "my best."

"Everybody always asks, 'Boy, that must have been a lot of pressure trying to hit .400,' " Olerud said. "There was no pressure. When you're struggling, that's when you start feeling pressure."

Pressure from fans who wonder if a first baseman who turns 36 on Aug. 5 can play at a high level anymore. Pressure from newspaper reports that link Olerud to a trade/benching/release in the near future. Most of all, pressure from within, pressure through the beginnings of this nightmare season.

Olerud met with general manager Bill Bavasi on Tuesday for something of a pep talk. And while Bavasi didn't tell the Seattle native to start packing, Olerud didn't exactly come away encouraged.

Someone asked Olerud last night if he felt more secure after the talk. He paused. And paused some more.

"I don't know," he said. "I don't know."

This much everybody knows: Olerud is struggling. He's never hit lower than .256 in a complete season, and that was in 1991.

Even the normally stoic first baseman can feel the frustration. Asked if he ever wanted to break a bat over his knee, Olerud smiled.

"Yeah, I've thought about it," Olerud said. "I don't know which would break, the bat or my knee."

So where does Olerud go from here?

Back to videotape and remembering how he swung the bat for so many years. Olerud said it starts with slapping outside pitches to the opposite field, then reacting to pitches inside.

"Once you start doing that, you start feeling like you might be turning it around," he said. "You'd never admit it. You don't want to jinx yourself. But you hope so."

Everybody hopes so. Melvin sees the vintage Olerud stroke in batting practice, but not in games.

"When he goes up there, I have a good feeling," Melvin said. "Maybe I'm too much of an optimist. But you could talk about quite a few guys (on the team), not just John. I still have a good feeling when he gets up there. We're not getting the results right now. But I think we will."

His major-league career spans 15 seasons, but Olerud struggles to remember another team with this much talent and this many losses. Maybe the 1996 Blue Jays.

Olerud said he wouldn't be surprised if the Mariners make moves soon. He even expressed an understanding of the criticism. Then he went back to the videotapes of 1993, hoping that something — his batting average, the Mariners' record, anything — will change.

"If you're not playing well, you can't expect to hear a lot of positive stuff," Olerud said. "It's understandable. You just continue to work to get back on track and get to swinging the bat well. That's the only thing you really have control over."

Olerud's production
John Olerud's major-league numbers (10 at-bats or more):
Year	Club	HR	RBI	Avg.
1990	Toronto	14	48	.265
1991	Toronto	17	68	.256
1992	Toronto	16	66	.284
1993	Toronto	24	107	.363
1994	Toronto	12	67	.297
1995	Toronto	8	54	.291
1996	Toronto	18	61	.274
1997	New York (NL)	22	102	.294
1998	New York (NL)	22	93	.354
1999	New York (NL)	19	96	.298
2000	Seattle	14	103	.285
2001	Seattle	21	95	.302
2002	Seattle	22	102	.300
2003	Seattle	10	83	.269
2004	Seattle	1	8	.238

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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