Cirillo gets overdue welcome feeling

KIRBY ARNOLD AND SCOTT M. JOHNSON, FOR THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published Tuesday, April 2, 2002

SEATTLE -- Jeff Cirillo has lived in the Puget Sound area for nine years, but not until Monday afternoon did he officially feel welcome at Safeco Field.

And the Seattle Mariners' new third baseman looked right at home.

Cirillo showed why he is considered one of the best defensive third basemen in the game on a fifth-inning ground ball. Kenny Lofton, the speedy leadoff hitter of the Chicago White Sox, laid down a nice bunt between the third-base line and the pitcher's mound and took off for first base. But Cirillo made a barehanded pickup and throw in one motion and delivered the ball to first an instant before Lofton arrived.

"I think he thought he could catch me napping," Cirillo said. "I think he saw that I moved back a step. I maybe took a step back and then thought, no, I'll stay in here. It was a really good bunt, and I didn't think I was going to have a play on it. That was a very good bunt, and I was actually surprised that I got him."

Cirillo went 0-for-3 at the plate but delivered a key sacrifice bunt in the ninth inning. Primarily a No. 5 hitter in the Colorado Rockies' batting order last season, Cirillo looked like a natural while hitting in the second spot for the Mariners on Monday. His bunt moved both Mark McLemore and Ichiro Suzuki into scoring position while accounting for the first out of the ninth.

"That's my job," Cirillo said. "Suzuki's a good hitter. I try to move him along and get him in position and let the guys in the three, four and five holes drive him in."

Although the following batters never delivered the game-tying hit -- the Mariners eventually lost 6-5 -- Cirillo was happy to be back home.

"It's nice," he said. "It was weird. I was driving (to Safeco Field on Sunday), and I was thinking, I've got to get out of the winter mode. When the season's over, you kind of relax a little bit. I've got to get in the mind that the season's going on. I did that today, but we just kind of ran out of gas."

- OUT OF SIGHT: Although the Mariners expected a new row of trees beyond the center field wall to make it easier on batters, some of the players still see Safeco Field as a pitchers' park.

The Mariners' Mark McLemore said the shadows and an unusual glare were one reason why Seattle had just two hits through the first six innings Monday.

"There are other ballparks throughout the league where it is tough to see -- ours is not the only ballpark," McLemore said. "That's not why (Chicago starter Mark Buehrle) beat us. He threw a great ball game. But it is hard to see here."

Players have expressed concerns in the past because of a shadow that occurs during afternoon games, making it hard to read the rotation of the ball against the glare in the outfield.

- PEPSI DOESN'T HELP: In the first regular-season game with newly planted trees in center field, it was actually a sign behind the plate that caused the biggest problem.

After McLemore and Ichiro hit back-to-back singles up the middle in the ninth inning, umpires stopped the game and asked that the revolving advertisement behind the plate be changed. One of the signs had a white background, making it hard for White Sox pitcher Keith Foulke to see the ball coming back at him.

"The Lowe's sign was white and they wanted another color," manager Lou Piniella said.

Foulke then retired three of the next four, including Bret Boone on a one-hopper back to the mound.

"The Pepsi sign didn't work as well for us," Piniella said with a smile.

- FEELING BETTER: Catcher Ben Davis, who suffered a strained oblique muscle in spring training, took batting practice left-handed on Monday with no pain.

"It feels really good," said Davis, a switch-hitter who has been available only as a right-hander. "I should be able to hit in a game."

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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