Mariners
Notebook: Batters, too, find it hard to escape jamb

By Bob Sherwin and José Miguel Romero
Seattle Times staff reporters

Rich Aurilia

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most e-mailed articles

The Mariners were happy for teammate Scott Spiezio after his home run in the fourth inning. But the laughs and smiles didn't end right away after Spiezio returned to the dugout.

Seattle manager Bob Melvin had to walk out and explain to home-plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt that John Olerud and Rich Aurilia were locked inside the team's video room. Olerud was due to bat after Spiezio, but Olerud wasn't even in the on-deck circle.

Olerud and Aurilia apparently went into the video room, just a few feet from the dugout entrance, to watch film of their previous at-bats against Detroit starter Jason Johnson. But the door jammed. And when they couldn't get out of the room, stadium workers had to rush to drill the door handle and lock off the door.

Several Mariners were seen laughing in the dugout, and Melvin even had a sheepish grin on his face as he spoke with Wendelstedt. Olerud emerged for his turn at the plate after a few moments and grounded out to end the inning.

"It was funny at the time," Melvin said after the game.

After the game, a hand-written sign taped to the door in question read: "Enter at your own risk."

Not for the faint of heart

You weren't mistaken last night if you thought you heard the chilling sounds of the "Halloween" theme — the song that lets you know film villain Michael Myers is about to claim another victim. The Mariners relief pitcher of the same name is using the song as his entrance music.

Myers got tired of hearing references to the "Halloween" character, plus the actor and some of his movies, such as "Wayne's World" and the Austin Powers series. But during his stint with the Colorado Rockies, the Rockies played the theme for Myers at Coors Field.

The song followed Myers to the Arizona Diamondbacks, with whom he spent 2002 and 2003. Recently Myers asked the Mariners to start playing the song.
 
"A lot of times, I don't do it so much for me," Myers said. "Sometimes I hear it and it fires me up. I've gotten nothing but a lot of positive reaction from it."

Ichiro's place in history

Ichiro really had only 723 hits entering last night's game. That's his big-league total in three-plus seasons.

But he did have 1,278 hits in his nine seasons with Orix in Japan, allowing him to pass through the 2,000-hit plateau for his career. He now has 2,001 hits. By the time Ichiro retires, will his numbers from Japan be given weight somewhat equal to his major-league numbers?

"It depends on who you are," Melvin said. "In my mind he's got 2,000 hits right now. At his age, it's phenomenal. There might be old-school writers who say you only get judged on what you do here. But he was very successful there, and I don't know how you take that away from him."

Santiago's parting words

In a corner of the Mariners' clubhouse Friday, Ramon Santiago quietly packed up his belongings while other players talked of the team's loss to Detroit that night. Santiago was optioned to Class AAA Tacoma earlier in the day when the Mariners activated utility man Willie Bloomquist from the 15-day disabled list.

It was an emotional day for Santiago, who got the chance to visit with his old friends from the Tigers during pregame stretching. The Tigers sent Santiago to Seattle for shortstop Carlos Guillen in January.

But Santiago never got the chance to face his former team. He was up with the Mariners for only 10 days after starting the season in Tacoma.

"These things happen," the 24-year-old infielder said. "I'll be back another day, and when I come back I hope to stay for a long time."

Santiago appeared in only three games and was 2 for 8 with a double for Seattle during his brief call-up. However, he was happy to at least exchange greetings with his Tigers friends.

"(Outfielder) Alex Sanchez said, 'I miss you, man.' It was a good time," Santiago said. "I'm young, and I know I can play. I knew the situation. It didn't surprise me."