Brown wins 1st game as M's manager
<p>Seattle interim manager Daren Brown, right, talks with Russell Branyan during batting practice before Monday's game against Oakland. The Mariners won 3-1.</p>
SEATTLE (AP) - Last-place Seattle welcomed new interim manager Daren Brown by getting its first triple play in 15 years in a 3-1 win over the Oakland Athletics on Monday night.
Brown moved up from Triple-A Tacoma earlier Monday when Seattle fired first-time manager Don Wakamatsu after 1 1/2 seasons.
Brown became the 10th of Seattle's 17 managers to win their first game.
Only one of the other 16 finished their Mariners tenure with a winning record: Lou Piniella. The only manager to take Seattle to the postseason left after the 2002 season with a year left on his contract.
Brown, a 10-year veteran of Seattle's system, is the team's sixth manager in the eight seasons since. He said he got word the Mariners were promoting him at 11:30 Central time Sunday night, following Tacoma's 12-inning win at Omaha. He boarded a plane there at 6:30 Monday morning and arrived in Seattle hours before the Mariners' game.
The crowd was awakened in the top of the fourth by Seattle's first triple play since July 13, 1995, against Toronto.
Jose Lopez took a chopper by Oakland's Mark Ellis and immediately stepped on third base for a forceout. Lopez then threw to second base for a forceout there and Chone Figgins' throw to first baseman Casey Kotchman appeared to arrive at the same time as Ellis' foot hit the bag, but first base umpire Cory Blaser called Ellis out.
Oakland Seattle
ab r h bi ab r h bi
Crisp cf 4 1 2 0 ISuzuki rf 4 0 1 0
RDavis rf 4 0 1 1 Figgins 2b 4 0 1 0
KSuzuk c 4 0 0 0 Ktchm 1b 4 1 0 0
Cust dh 4 0 2 0 Branyn dh 3 1 1 0
Kzmnff 3b 3 0 0 0 MSndrs dh 0 0 0 0
M.Ellis 2b 3 0 1 0 JoLopz 3b 4 0 1 1
Carter lf 3 0 0 0 FGtrrz cf 3 1 1 1
Larish 1b 3 0 0 0 Lngrhn lf 2 0 1 0
Pnngtn ss 3 0 1 0 AMoore c 3 0 0 0
JoWilsn ss 2 0 0 1
Totals 31 1 7 1 Totals 29 3 6 3
Oakland 000 001 000 - 1
Seattle 200 100 00x - 3
E-Kouzmanoff (10). DP-Seattle 1. LOB-Oakland 4, Seattle 6. 2B-R.Davis (20), Pennington (18). S-Langerhans. SF-Jo.Wilson.
IP H R ER BB SO
Oakland
Mazzaro L,6-4 7 5 3 2 2 5
Blevins 1/3 1 0 0 0 0
H.Rodriguez 2/3 0 0 0 0 1
Seattle
Fister W,4-8 6 7 1 1 1 5
White H,3 1 0 0 0 0 1
League H,9 1 0 0 0 0 0
Aardsma S,21-25 1 0 0 0 0 1
WP-H.Rodriguez.
Umpires-Home, Jerry Meals; First, Cory Blaser; Second, Dan Iassogna; Third, Dale Scott.
T-2:16. A-19,943 (47,878).