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Only 25,419 showed up last week for the three-game series at Tropicana Field between the Devil Rays and Mariners. Figure that there were a couple of thousand repeat fans. So maybe only 20,000 area baseball fans got one last look at one of the great players of this generation. That's too bad. But not surprising considering the player.
If you were asked to name, say, the top 20 players of the past 10 years, his name likely wouldn't come up. That's because Seattle's Edgar Martinez never has been about getting his name on ESPN or CourtTV. He plays the game with understated class and dignity, and that's likely how he will go out. No question he has established himself as the best designated hitter in history.
Martinez hasn't made his retirement official, but this likely will be his final season.
Think back to how Roger Clemens has made a big deal about this being his final season. And how Baltimore's Cal Ripken had a farewell tour that seemed to last a decade. Martinez simply has avoided retirement talk while he continues to play the game.
"His whole career he has been deprived," former Mariners outfielder Jay Buhner told the Seattle Times. "He's the most underrated player around. I think every year more and more people know about him. But you know what? That's Edgar. He was always putting the team first. He's never wanted that attention.
"Whether he gets all the pats on the back, it's no big deal. That's the beauty of Edgar. That's his demeanor. That's his personality. He doesn't want all the attention. He doesn't want all the credit. He would just as soon come in, get his three, four hits and go home. Then come back the next day and do it again."
Despite playing with a broken toe most of this season, Martinez continues to mash. Despite a rash of injuries over the years, he has amassed nearly 500 doubles and nearly 300 home runs to go with a .316 career average and .423 on-base percentage.
Maybe we'll be lucky and Martinez will stick through the pain and play another season. If not, we should be thankful we've been able to watch him this long.
FULL SUPPORT: Jeff Conine, the former Marlin picked up by the Marlins again last week, isn't going to replace the bat of Mike Lowell, who was lost for the season with a broken hand. Conine, 37, is not the hitter he used to be. But don't underestimate the impact the Conine acquisition will have, particularly in the clubhouse. The move proved to the players that management is committed to winning.
Closer Braden Looper said, "They weren't joking. Getting Conine was icing on the cake."
SAY IT AIN'T SO, JOE: No matter how this season plays out, Yankees manager Joe Torre appears to have had it with New York and owner George Steinbrenner, who has been critical of Torre but says he still stands behind him. Torre, though, has said repeatedly that this season hasn't been fun.
"There are too many questions being asked," Torre said. "I am trying to be respectful here. After being here as long as I have, the fact that I am here as long as I have been here, I think there are certain things that should come with that. ... You would think that it would get past a certain point where, I don't want to say not get criticized, but it shouldn't be as uncomfortable."
LOST: Detroit's Mike Maroth became the first 20-game loser Friday since Oakland's Brian Kingman in 1980. Kingman, who has embraced being the last 20-game winner, probably was as disappointed as Maroth, and former Tigers pitcher Jack Morris doesn't get that.
"What's wrong with him; is that a record to be proud of?" Morris said. "I think it's asinine."
FOR THE BEST: The Brewers have a standing offer to give away a motorcycle to any player who hits for the cycle. Outfielder Brady Clark told hitting coach Butch Wynegar he would give the bike to Wynegar if Clark hit for the cycle. And darned if Clark didn't almost do it. Last week, Clark started the game by hitting a homer, then a triple and then a double, leaving only the easiest hit, a single, to notch the cycle. But he never got it.
"Oh well," Wynegar said, "my wife would have killed me if I brought it home."
SEEING RED: The Reds have had plenty of problems, but here's the biggest. Their opening day rotation was Jimmy Haynes, Ryan Dempster, Jimmy Anderson, Danny Graves and Paul Wilson.
Well, Haynes is out for the year with a back problem. Dempster is out until next August with Tommy John surgery. Anderson was released. Graves is in the bullpen. And Wilson's season appears over because a sore shoulder.
DODGERS MESS: Los Angeles slugger Shawn Green, who has 13 homers this season after hitting 91 the previous two, admitted last week that he has been bothered all season by a shoulder problem that likely will require surgery.
"There's nothing I can do about it now," Green said. "I just have to play through it."
But now there's heat on GM Dan Evans for not making any moves knowing that Green wasn't and wouldn't be 100 percent this season, and Evans is sticking up for himself.
"We don't feel (Green) is being hindered," Evans said. "It's not an injury that has prevented him from playing this year. ... I don't think anyone can answer, specifically, that they know that his home run production has been adversely affected by only one factor, and that is a shoulder that's had issues during the course of the season. I don't think anyone has that answer."
GETTING CLOSE TO THE FANS: Triple-A Portland had 19 players suspended for going into the stands last week to go after a fan who threw a rubber "stress ball," given away as a promotion at Las Vegas' Cashman Field, at Portland's Tagg Bozied. Bozied was a target not only of the fan but the Pacific Coast League. He received an eight-game suspension.
SHORT HOPS: This is the first time since 1908 that both Chicago teams have been within five games of first place on Sept. 1. ... The Expos made a waiver claim on Pittsburgh's Reggie Sanders, but the Dodgers beat them to it and couldn't swing a deal. ... Weird stat: The Indians have scored the second fewest runs in the American League, but they have been shut out only twice, the fewest times in the league. ... The Tigers suffered their 100th defeat on Aug. 30, the 98th anniversary of Ty Cobb's major-league debut with them. ... Last week, Rangers rookie first baseman Mark Teixeira complained about being tired. Manager Buck Showalter said if Teixeira were so tired, why not go home and rest for the remainder of the season? Teixeira got the message. He got 15 hits in his next 25 at-bats.
- Information from other news organizations was used in this report.