Mariners Year in Review

The Indy 500 rewards drivers for leading the pack after each lap, but there is no such thing as "lap money" in baseball. If so, the Mariners would have cashed in during the 2003 season. They led the AL West for 134 days -- more than anyone in the division -- but none of those days came after August 26. And for the second consecutive season, the Mariners were overtaken in the AL West and missed by two games of playing in October despite winning 93 games, the only MLB team to win at least 90 games and not reach the playoffs.

Here's a look at 2003 for the Mariners:

January
Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association allowed Mariners pitchers and catchers to open camp in Peoria, Ariz., on Feb. 10 -- several days earlier than other clubs -- because Seattle and the Oakland Athletics were scheduled to open the regular season with a two-game series in Tokyo on March 25-26. After an exasperating season in 2002, when their pinch-hitters went 159 games without an extra-base hit, the Mariners signed free agent infielder Greg Colbrunn to a two-year contract.

February
The Bob Melvin managerial era officially began on Feb. 10 when the Mariners opened Spring Training in Peoria, Ariz., not far from Melvin's offseason home in Cave Creek. "I went to bed early (Sunday night), tossed and turned for a while but got some sleep," he said. "I slept better than I thought I would and woke up around 4:45 a.m. It was time to get up." Right-hander Freddy Garcia landed a $6.875 million contract for the 2003 season through salary arbitration. A panel of three arbitrators ruled in favor of the Mariners' staff ace, who was offered $5.9 million by the team.

March
After starting Spring Training several days early to prepare for the weeklong trip to Japan at the end of March, the trek was canceled on March 18 because of "the tense world situation." The Mariners released veteran reliever Norm Charlton on March 20 and simultaneously offered him a job in the organization's player development department.

April
The 2003 season began in Oakland on April 1 instead of Tokyo on March 25 and the Mariners dropped a 5-0 decision to the Athletics on a cool night at Network Associates Coliseum. It was just the third time in franchise history (27 seasons) that Seattle was shut out in a season opener. After losing the first two games of the three-game season-opening series, the Mariners got new manager Bob Melvin his first win with an 11-inning, 7-6 victory.

May
Center fielder Mike Cameron had a field day on defense, making several terrific plays, and contributed a key double to help the Mariners beat the Twins at Safeco Field. The scuttlebutt around the Mariners clubhouse was that left-hander Jamie Moyer pitched himself into becoming a viable All-Star candidate after posting a 5-0 record in May.

June
Going into the two-day First-Year Player Draft, the Mariners wanted to select either a middle infielder or pitcher. They got both in Adam Jones, a senior from Samuel Morse High School in San Diego, the same school that produced Mark McLemore. Closer Kazuhiro Sasaki pitched himself out of a bases-loaded, none-out jam in the ninth inning against the Phillies at Veterans Stadium as the Mariners won their ninth straight game. First baseman John Olerud collected his 2,000th career hit on June 16, a home run against the Angels.

July
For the first time in his career, right-hander Freddy Garcia was named Pitcher of the Month, landing the award for June after posting a 5-0 record and 2.05 ERA. On July 10, in a room used daily during the playoffs from 1999 through 2001, former Mariners manager Lou Piniella talked about the 10 seasons he spent in Seattle, and how sweet they were. He smiled a lot, laughed a little and even choked back tears during the 30-minute session with the media at Safeco Field.

August
Having publicly expressed his frustration with the ballclub for not making a move before the July 31 trade deadline, reliever Jeff Nelson apologized to club officials on Aug. 1. What Nelson didn't know was that the Mariners worked feverishly on last-minute deals. The Mariners took advantage of a bad throw, a bad hop and a dropped ball in the sixth inning on August 15, turning them into an Ichiro Suzuki grand slam and a 10-5 victory over the Boston Red Sox before the largest crowd of the season (46,171) at Safeco Field.

September
Left-hander Jamie Moyer is named as one of the finalists for the coveted Roberto Clemente Award, given annually to an MLB player's off-the-field charitable activities. Bret Boone and Dan Wilson each had two-run homers as the Mariners wrapped up their 2003 season with a 9-3 win over the playoff-bound Athletics. Moyer picked up his 21st win as Seattle became the first club since the 1966 Dodgers to use the same five starters for the entire season.

October
Right-hander Gil Meche, who won 15 games in 2003 after missing the entire 2001 and 2002 MLB seasons because of injury, landed The Sporting News 2003 American League Comeback Player of the Year. Meche became the first pitcher since Whitey Ford in 1956 to win at least 15 games after missing the previous two seasons. Paul Molitor, who had 3,319 hits during a 21-year Major League career that ended in 1998, was selected as the Mariners' next hitting coach.

November
After setting a Major League record for fewest errors in a 162-game season, the Mariners' defenders reaped the rewards with a club-record four Gold Glove winners. A month-long search that began with more than 80 candidates ended on Nov. 6 when the Mariners introduced Bill Bavasi as the franchise's seventh GM, replacing Pat Gillick, who stepped aside on Sept. 30 to become a front office consultant.

December
The Mariners added left-handed reliever Eddie Guardado to the bullpen on Dec. 8, giving Seattle possibly the best bullpen corps in the American League. "Our bullpen will be electric," pitching coach Bryan Price said. Outfielder Randy Winn and right-hander Ryan Franklin both signed multiyear deals with the Mariners on Dec. 10. Winn, who will play center next season, inked a three-year contract, while Franklin is signed for the next two years.