Deja Vu
Buried in the belly of Jayson Stark’s latest column is a stroll down amnesia lane for long-suffering Mariner fans. The Reds have recently coughed up two big leads, leads of more than four runs, late in the game.
There’s one past club that has matched this feat. Those of us who were around in the early 90s may remember them.
How hard is it to blow two games in eight days that you lead by at least four runs after the eighth inning? Well, only one other team has ever done it, according to Elias.
That would be Mike Schooler’s 1992 Mariners. On May 7, Schooler gave up a game-losing grand slam to Dave Winfield that finished off a messy five-run ninth. The next night, Schooler coughed up five more in the ninth, capped by a three-run homer by Lou Whitaker.
Mmmm. Mike Schooler.
Comments
15 Responses to “Deja Vu”
School’s out! They’re only counting LATE inning horrific blown saves with eight days. I remember Schooler blowing a seemingly insurmountable lead opening night at the Kingdome.
Lou Pinella continued the tradition with Ayala and Charlton, refusing to concede until every shred of doubt was removed that his relievers simply couldn’t do the job. Gee, I read in the paper this morning that Sele will start against the Yankees tomorrow night.
I’ve noticed that people like to rip on Mike Schooler, but I think he gets more heat than he deserves. He was a pretty respectable closer for 2 1/2 to 3 seasons when he first joined the club. When he crashed in ’92, he crashed pretty hard, but if you step back and recognize that elite-level closers who are consistent for many years are far and few between. Schooler was much more effective for the M’s in his career than Bobby Ayala, Heathcliff Slocumb and Jose Mesa.
Opening Night, 1992 (I had thought it was 1993 for some reason, but I tracked it down on retrosheet). Anyway, Nolan Ryan vs. Randy Johnson. M’s lead 8-3 after 7 innings; Ryan and Johnson are long gone. Schooler comes in with two on and two out and allows homer, double, single, single, single before striking out Dean Palmer to end the inning. It was all part of a nine-run Texas 8th and then went on to win 12-10. Ugh.
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B04060SEA1992.htm
jason
#2 I feel the same way so I looked it up.
1989: 33 saves, 2.81 ERA, 3.63 K/BB,
1990: 30 saves, 2.25 ERA, 2.36 K/BB
Pretty good. But yes 1992 was WAY worse, and 1993 was his last year in the majors. I think any heat he gets isn’t too nasty. The rest of the team was bad enough then that it was hard to rip on one guy too much.
#3 I was at that game. We left after that seventh inning.
I agree with #2. He did fall apart, but he was our best reliever during the “LeFebvre Believer” years. And I loved getting to say “Schools Out!” You also have to remember how dismal the entire team was in ’92. That year was such a debacle, losing 98 games. Check out the roster here: http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=1992&t=SEA Click on Schooler and you’ll see his 2.something ERAs in ’89 and ’90. Then it started going up about a point per year after that. He also didn’t make much $, setting the M’s saves record while earning in the low 6 figures. Looking at the ’92 pitching stats makes him look even better: http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/statmaster.php?l=AL&team=&ALteam=SEA&NLteam=&AAteam=&FLteam=&PLteam=&UAteam=&y=1992&sopt=ALPHA&stats%5BGS%5D=1&stats%5BSV%5D=1&stats%5BBB%5D=1&stats%5BBB%2F9%5D=1&stats%5BK%5D=1&stats%5BHRA%5D=1&stats%5BK%2F9%5D=1&stats%5BIP%5D=1&stats%5BERA%5D=1&stats%5BL%5D=1&stats%5BW%5D=1&a=Get+Stats
Relative to his bullpen peers, I mean. I don’t even remember half of those guys!
I also was at that game, I left after Schooler’s home run gave Texas the lead, one of just a few games I’ve left early. What I remember is that the game seemed to go on for an eternity.
As for Schooler, remember that this is the guy who, when released from the Mariners a year or so later, said he was glad because Lou Piniella “put too much emphasis on winning.” Guess he just wanted a happy clubhouse.
From the same article – our commenting Bill Krueger makes the list as one of the few people in baseball to allow 8 runs to cross the plate in a start, without recording an out. And he did it with the fewest amount of walks (1) amongst those that he shares the record with.
A couple other M’s relievers come to mind reading this for some reason…
Rich DeLucia and Russ Swan.
I think of all-time Mariner relievers, Mike Schooler has to have one of the best names. I mean, Shigetoshi Hasegawa may be the best… and I heard the name Josias Manzanillo the other day again, but when I was six, I really loved “School’s out!”
Does everyone just forget that Schooler blew out his arm? He was good, then he hurt his arm. He didn’t suck, he was just physically unable to do what he had been able to do.
Just in case anyone was curious, Mike Schooler is now a middle-school PE teacher in Torrance, Calif.
Yes, Schooler was the best reliever we had had since that 1982 season with the rally caps. Then he blew out his arm and his performance declined. He was a necessary step, showing the fanbase that games could be saved. Then of course Norm! (Charlton) came along in 1993 along with Lou and changed everything. He blew out his arm also, by the way. It’s why we traded Bret Boone and Erik Hanson for Dan Wilson and Bobby Ayala.
12: ummm…didn’t we pick up Charlton in 1995 after he was released by the Phils? I seem to remember it that way…
#13:
We first had Charlton in 1993 (we traded Kevin Mitchell for him) and he was outstanding until he blew his arm out. We then got him again in 1995 after he had been bouncing around trying to come back – he was getting hit hard in Philly, but regained his touch in Seattle. He declined after that, and fast forward to 2001 when he again had a very good year (and then hurt his arm again).
It’s like Norm had some Faustian bargain when it came to pitching with Seattle – he’d be fantastic when he first got here, but it couldn’t ever last…
#14
Thanks for the history lesson! Norm was here and gone many times…so was his talent…
>:~)