Piniella returns to his Triple-A hometown

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Originally published Saturday, March 30, 2002

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Anyone who lost track of Lou Piniella once he stopped wearing a Portland Beavers uniform 34 years ago would barely recognize the Seattle Mariners' manager now.

During his three years with the Triple-A team, from 1966-68, Piniella's temper was notorious. He'd get so angry at himself that bats and helmets would go flying when he came off the field. Manager John Lipon even put up a punching bag at one end of the dugout so the young right fielder could vent his frustration.

"He was scared that a few of our players would get hurt," Piniella said Friday. "You've heard stories about it. You know (if) they're real? Probably some of them are fabricated. I'm sure that if I broke one or two coolers, I broke 10 or 12."

Piniella, in his 10th season with Seattle, had never been back to Portland until Friday. Seattle lost an exhibition to San Diego Padres 3-1 at PGE Park, which was called Multnomah Stadium when Piniella was hitting balls into its cavernous alleys.

"I enjoyed this town, I really did," Piniella said. "Nice people. And playing in the minor leagues at that time, this was as nice a place as you could play."

Piniella was 22 when he arrived here, in April 1966, to begin what he thought would be a brief career in the Pacific Coast League.

YANKEES 4, PHILLIES 3

At Clearwater, Fla., Four days after Shane Spencer's slide knocked second baseman Tomas Perez out for 3-to-6 weeks, Philadelphia starter Vicente Padilla hit the New York Yankees outfielder on his left elbow with a pitch in the first inning Friday.

David Wells then hit Phillies' leadoff batter Jimmy Rollins in the lower back with his first pitch in the bottom of the first.

EXPOS 7, MARLINS 6

At Melbourne, Fla., Derrek Lee had three hits, including a home run, but Florida lost its final home game at Space Coast Stadium.

BLUE JAYS 3, PIRATES 1

At Bradenton, Fla., Roy Halladay won for the first time in seven spring starts, limiting Pittsburgh to Brian Giles' solo homer over seven innings.

ROYALS 6, TIGERS 5

At Haines City, Fla., Brandon Berger hit a two-run homer and Joe Randa doubled twice for Kansas City.

DEVIL RAYS 4, TWINS (SS) 2

At St. Petersburg, Fla., Paul Wilson pitched seven scoreless innings and Jason Smith hit a two-run homer for Tampa Bay.

TWINS (SS) 10, REDS 5

At Chattanooga, Tenn., Doug Mientkiewicz, Torii Hunter and Brandon Masters homered off Jared Fernandez. Reds center fielder Ken Griffey Jr. slipped in center field in the fourth inning and left in the bottom of the inning with a sore right knee.

ASTROS 5, RED SOX 1

At Houston, Astros manager Jimy Williams faced the team that fired him last Aug. 16 and won as Lance Berkman homered twice and drove in four runs. It was the first game at the ballpark since the Astros bought back the naming rights from Enron.

RANGERS 4, METS 2

At Arlington, Texas, Dave Burba, one of three pitchers in Texas' starting rotation with a hamstring problem, threw three innings without any pain, allowing two runs and five hits against the Mets.

BRAVES 3, ORIOLES 2

At Atlanta, Gary Sheffield, in his first Turner Field appearance with the Braves, hit a go-ahead RBI single in a three-run first inning off Jason Johnson.

BREWERS 4, WHITE SOX 3

At Milwaukee, Alex Ochoa and Jeffrey Hammonds homered and drove in two runs each. The game drew 19,176, down from the sellout of 41,544 that attended last year's Miller Park exhibition opener against the White Sox.

REDBIRDS (AAA) 3, CARDINALS 3

At Memphis, Tenn., Placido Polanco, Mike Matheny and Jim Edmonds hit run-scoring singles as St. Louis and its Triple-A Memphis farm team played a 10-inning tie.

CUBS 7, DIAMONDBACKS 1

At Phoenix, Corey Patterson and Sammy Sosa each hit their sixth spring homers, and Kerry Wood had his best exhibition outing as Chicago beat Arizona in the Diamondbacks' first appearance in Bank One Ballpark since winning the World Series.

Wood allowed one run on four hits, walking three and striking out two in five innings.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

back to Mariners 2002 index