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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
SEATTLE (AP) -- Ten games before the All-Star break, the Seattle Mariners have overtaken the Oakland Athletics for first place in the AL West. They're playing like they intend to stay there, too.
|  | | John Olerud gave Mariners fans -- and himself -- plenty of reason to smile. |
"I've always liked our chances from Day 1," Stan Javier said
after the Mariners beat the Anaheim Angels 7-2 Thursday. "This
team does a lot of good things. It doesn't make mistakes."
John Olerud hit two home runs and had three RBI, while Javier and Robert Machado added homers for the Mariners.
"We're playing pretty good baseball," said Olerud, who played
on two World Series championship teams in Toronto in the 1990s.
"We're getting real solid defense and we're getting some great
pitching."
Olerud's second homer, a two-run shot to center off Kent
Bottenfield (4-7), broke a 2-2 tie in the sixth inning. It came
after Bottenfield hit Edgar Martinez with a pitch, his second hit
batter of the game.
Javier put the game out of reach with a two-run homer off Mark
Petkovsek in the seventh. Machado, a catcher recalled from Triple-A
Tacoma this week after Tom Lampkin was lost for the season, hit a
solo homer off Derrick Turnbow in the eighth.
Olerud, signed as a free agent by the Mariners after helping the
New York Mets get into the playoffs last season, had his 12th
career two-homer game.
"I'm not a home-run hitter," Olerud said. "What do I have,
seven? When I hit home runs, that means I'm taking good swings and
catching it right. That's when I hit my home runs."
Extending their club-record streak by winning their eighth
series in a row, the Mariners grabbed sole possession of the
division lead for the first time since June 2, as Oakland lost to
Texas 3-1 Thursday. Seattle finished its best-ever 10-game
homestand at 8-2 to push its June record to 19-7.
The Mariners have been in first place 60 of 87 days this season.
Their record in Safeco Field is 28-12, the best home mark in the
AL. The Mariners moved across the street from the Kingdome, now
torn down, to Safeco last July 15.
"I love this ballpark," Seattle manager Lou Piniella said.
"It's really made a big difference in our pitching. Our young
pitching has really developed here."
Jose Paniagua (1-0) replaced Seattle starter Gil Meche in the
sixth and gave up an RBI groundout to Troy Glaus to tie the score.
He then walked two, one intentionally, before getting Benji Gil to
ground out with the bases loaded to end the inning.
"I throw him a sinker," Paniagua said of his crucial pitch to
Gil. "I was looking for a groundball and I got it."
Martinez gave Seattle a 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the first
and Anaheim tied it in the third on Orlando Palmeiro's RBI
groundout.
Olerud hit his sixth home run in the fourth to put the Mariners
ahead 2-1.
Bottenfield gave up four runs on six hits and one walk in 5 2/3
innings.
A frustrated Bottenfield and Seattle's Mike Cameron exchanged
words after Bottenfield gave up his second homer to Olerud in the
sixth. Cameron took too long getting into the batter's box as the
next hitter.
Players from both teams looked ready to rumble. The Angels
infielders started moving toward Bottenfield. Some of the Mariners
took steps out of the dugout.
"He was telling him to get in the box and Cameron got mad and
they were jawing back and forth," Angels catcher Matt Walbeck
said. "You know it's all gamesmanship. That stuff happens. Nothing
dirty or foul about it. It's the way the game is played. Jawing
back and forth happens."
"I don't have no problem with nobody," Cameron said. "It was
just a little baseball talk. It was just something that Kent Bottenfield had to go through a little bit."
Bottenfield was gone from the dressing room when reporters
entered after the game.
Meche went 5 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on five hits and
three walks.
Game notes
With starter Dan Wilson sidelined and Lampkin out for the
season with a torn ligament in his right elbow, the Mariners are
looking for some catching help -- but not a No. 1 catcher. "We've
got a number one catcher," Piniella said before Thursday's game.
"We're looking to get an experienced catcher who can hit the ball
from the left side. Truthfully, we can use a left-handed bat."
Wilson has been on the disabled list since June 15 with a pulled
muscle in his side. He began throwing Wednesday and is expected
back after the All-Star game. Lampkin will have ligament
replacement surgery Friday. The Mariners' top catcher now is Joe
Oliver. ... Mariners RHP Freddy Garcia, on the DL since April 22
with a hairline fracture of his right tibia, will make a
rehabilitation start for Tacoma on Saturday against Colorado
Springs. He made two rehabilitation starts for Class A Everett. ...
Olerud had his first two-homer game since April 18, 1999, against
Montreal. ... Bottenfield has lost four of his last five decisions,
including two in a row since coming off the DL last Saturday. He
was sidelined with tendinitis in his right shoulder. In his last
seven starts, he's given up 12 home runs. ... CF Cameron threw out Darin Erstad at the plate for a double play after catching Tim
Salmon's fly ball in the first inning. It was his fourth assist of
the season.
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Baseball Scoreboard
Anaheim Clubhouse
Seattle Clubhouse
RECAPS
Toronto 12
Tampa Bay 3
Minnesota 10
Chi. White Sox 1
Texas 3
Oakland 1
Seattle 7
Anaheim 2
Boston 12
Baltimore 4
NY Yankees 8
Detroit 0
Kansas City 6
Cleveland 1
St. Louis 12
Cincinnati 3
Milwaukee 8
Philadelphia 6
Colorado 11
San Francisco 4
Pittsburgh 5
Chicago Cubs 4
Atlanta 6
NY Mets 4
San Diego 5
Los Angeles 4
Arizona 7
Houston 1
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