AL WEST Slumping Mariners trying to hold on

After leading its division by eight games, Seattle has fallen far behind Oakland.
SEATTLE (AP) -- Back in mid-June, the Seattle Mariners were breezing.
They led the AL West by eight games and jockeyed with Atlanta for the best record in baseball. With solid defense, a veteran lineup and strong pitching, they seemed destined for October glory.
Three months later, the Mariners are struggling just to make the playoffs.
What changed? First-year manager Bob Melvin says nothing, really. Hits that were falling in earlier are now getting caught. Starters who worked long innings haven't gone as deep.
"It's the timing that makes it look worse than it is," Melvin said.
There's been no defeatist mentality in the clubhouse, but the timing couldn't be worse.
From the All-Star break until this weekend, the Mariners were under .500. And after leading the AL West for 4 1/2 months, they slipped into second place behind Oakland and trailed Boston in the race for the AL wild card.
"Things haven't gone as well as we'd have liked. We haven't played real well in the last two or three weeks," first baseman John Olerud said.
Melvin has tried shuffling the lineup. He reassured his players that the law of averages eventually would produce some victories. Later, he challenged them to show they know how to win.
"It's frustrating," Melvin said. "We're a team that prides itself on getting things done."
Strange losses
The way the Mariners have been losing has been confounding to their devoted fans. Rookie pitchers like Baltimore's Eric DuBose and Tampa Bay's Doug Waechter have made Seattle's savvy old pros look silly.
Seattle led Texas 4-1 in the eighth inning Tuesday night when Rafael Palmeiro's three-run homer off Armando Benitez tied it, and the last-place Rangers went on to win 5-4 in 10 innings.
"That's as tough a loss as we've had this year," Melvin said.
Players held a lengthy closed-door meeting after that troubling loss, but the Mariners insisted they've emerged with a renewed confidence that they'll hold things together in the season's closing weeks.
"Sometimes we've put too much pressure on ourselves," pitcher Joel Pineiro said. "We've tried to do too much. We just need to go out there, like the guys said the other night, go out and have fun."
Struggling players
Several of Seattle's top players have had individual struggles lately.
Closer Shigetoshi Hasegawa was an ace a month ago, building a streak of 28 scoreless innings and a 0.62 ERA. In the past two weeks, he's shown signs of vulnerability by losing twice and blowing his first save in 15 opportunities.
Ichiro Suzuki went 1-for-4 on Wednesday against Texas, extending a hitting slump to 15-for-89 (.169). Bret Boone started September with a 5-for-30 stretch (.166), though he had a two-run homer and drove in all the Mariners' runs Wednesday.
"We've got to take it day to day," Boone said.
The Mariners aren't out of it. The Athletics were poised to run away after a 10-game winning streak carried into last week, but Oakland gave Seattle a big break by losing four of five games on a road swing last week.
"We're doing OK," reliever Arthur Rhodes said. "We're not too far behind Boston and Oakland. We're still right there."
The remaining games are all against divisional opponents, and the Mariners and Athletics meet six times -- three each at home. Seattle gets the last three games of the regular season, Sept. 26-28, at Safeco Field against the A's.
"We'll see how it goes," Olerud said.
Good attitude
The Mariners continue to emphasize what's going right, rather than what's not working. Melvin has been an optimist since he was hired last year, and Boone said there were no harsh words or demonstrations in the team meeting.
"We just had a couple of guys who wanted to say something," Boone recalled. "There was no soap box, no yelling, just some talk. There are so many negative things going on right now, we need to look at the positives."
Rangers manager Buck Showalter pointed out that Oakland slumped earlier in the season when Seattle was surging. He thinks it's going to be a great finish, and the Mariners have some advantages.
"I'd love to have their problems," Showalter said. "They've got an above-average defender at every position. They've got as deep a bullpen as there is in baseball. They've got quality starting pitching and a good manager and good coaching staff."