By Gary Brooks
SportsLine Baseball Editor

Seattle's pitching staff may be the worst in 30 years

Without the Big Unit in 1999, Seattle has had an awful No. 1 starter in Jeff Fassero, a less-than mediocre No. 2 in Jamie Moyer and only one bright spot, rookie Freddy Garcia who has five wins with a 4.50 earned-run average.

Mariners pitchers have upset Lou Piniella as much as overzealous fans. (AP)

The 1999 Seattle staff is not only the worst in the Mariners' 23-year history, it's one of the worst in modern baseball history.

The team ERA stood as high as 6.81 over the weekend before good outings from Moyer and Garcia brought it down to 6.46 entering Wednesday's game against Minnesota.

Unless the Mariners get another couple dozen outings like that this season, they stand as a strong candidate to bump the 1930 Philadelphia Phillies from the top of the inflated ERA list. Those Phillies had a 6.71 ERA in a 52-102 season, when they finished 40 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals.

It's kind of hard to compare the immortal arms of Leo Sweetland, Claude Willoughby and Ray Benge to Lou's Crew of Fassero, Moyer and the Gang Green -- eight rookies have appeared on the mound so far in Seattle. But when you compare Seattle's pitching to its peers, the depth of the Mariners' problems really shows.

WITH A TEAM ERA OF 6.46, the Mariners are on a pace to become the sixth team since the mound was lowered in 1969 to have an ERA more than a run worse than the league average. And three of those pathetic staffs have pitched in the Little Shop of Horrors known as Coors Field -- it has become an almost-annual occurrence for the Rockies to join that list -- and they are on pace to do it again in 1999.

The 1996 Tigers and 1995 Twins are the others have been more than a run worse than the league average.

Piniella can't imagine Seattle's earned-run average getting any worse but without impact prospects ready in the immediate future and no sign of a trend-changing trade, he's stuck in a Marlboro Light-smoking rut with the possibility of seeing the team ERA reach 7.

"I feel bad for the pitchers. I really do," Piniella said over the weekend as his team turned a 7-3 lead into an 11-10 loss to the Royals May 15. "I hurt for them. But I can't pitch for them. They've got to get people out. We've got to get better, and quickly. To tell you the truth, it's been embarrassing. We've been getting hit like they know what pitches are coming in there."

If it were just the eight rookies who were getting hammered the ERA would be somewhat understandable. But a primary offender has been Fassero. The 35-year-old left-hander, who is not signed beyond this season, has given up 15 home runs in nine starts. That puts him on a pace to pass Bert Blyleven's season worst of 50 for the 1986 Twins and push the mark to 58 assuming he starts 35 games. And Blyleven pitched 271 2/3 innings in 1986. Fassero is likely to come in around 230.

WHILE THE FIZZLIN' MARINERS' pitching staff can't seem to stop runners from circling the bases, Texas Rangers catcher Ivan Rodriguez has brought opponents running games to a walk with his sizzlin' arm.

Rodriguez has caught 16 of the 18 runners (88 percent) who have attempted stolen bases. The next closest American League catcher is Seattle's Tom Lampkin, who has thrown out 9 of 17 (53 percent). It's gotten to the point that almost nobody runs against Pudge -- the 18 steal attempts in his 34 games amounts to barely one try every other game.

The statistic has been tracked since only 1989 and in that time the best mark is Rodriguez's 42 of 80 last season. Nobody else threw out 40 percent of attempted base stealers last season. Rodriguez has been above 48 percent five times already in his career.

Heck, the pathetic Rangers pitchers might as well allow runners to reach base, hoping they will run and let Rodriguez throw them.

Sizzlin' ... the countdown

Pirates first baseman Kevin Young and catcher Jason Kendall are hitting with enough consistency to make a 200-hit season possible. That's very rare in Pittsburgh. The Pirates' last 200-hit player was Dave Parker, who had 215 in 1977. If Young and Kendall reach 200 they'd be the first Pirates teammates to do so since "Big Poison" and "Little Poison," Paul and Lloyd Waner in 1929.

Duke Snider hit 43 home runs for the Dodgers, then the Brooklyn Dodgers, in 1956. It still stands as the team's single-season record but Raul Mondesi is threatening to replace Snider atop the list. Mondesi's 14 has him on pace for 59.

Luis Gonzalez's first-inning home run Tuesday extended his hitting streak to 30 games, equaling the longest of the decade. Now is when the real challenge starts. Only seven players have ever passed 30 in pursuit of Joe DiMaggio's 56-game streak.

Red Sox ace Pedro Martinez reached double figures in strikeouts for the seventh straight game Tuesday becoming the first pitcher since Nolan Ryan in 1977 to do it. Martinez is just a couple swings away from a nine-game streak. He struck out nine batters in each of his first two starts. Martinez has struck out 10 or more 42 times. He, nor anyone else, will ever reach Ryan's mark of 215 double-figure strikeout games.

Ivan Rodriguez has nearly eliminated the running game of opponents.

Fizzlin' ... the countdown

Anaheim Angels second-year third baseman Troy Glaus started hot with 10 doubles in his first 11 games. He was among the league's batting leaders for three weeks. But after hitting .341 in April, he's hitting .121 in May and has just eight extra-base hits in his past 27 games.

Much of the San Francisco Giants troubles since their 16-7 start have come in the field. In their past 18 games, the Giants have made 28 errors to drop from fourth-best to next to last in the NL in fielding.

From 1996-98, Colorado Rockies third baseman Vinny Castilla hit a home run every 14.9 at-bats, but so far this season there has been a bit of a power outage at Coors Field and Castilla has only 14 extra-base hits and five home runs. After driving in 144 runs last season, Castilla's 18 so far are 27 RBI behind Matt Williams.

Obviously, not many baseball fans in Montreal care, but the Expos have slid from a team full of promising young talent to the worst team in the majors, with two seven-game losing streaks. They've won just five of their last 24.

The Mariners are proving that a dynamic duo doesn't mean much without pitching to support it.