CHICAGO — Lou Piniella returns to one of his favorite cities this week when the Cubs take on the Mariners for a three-game Interleague series, starting Tuesday.
"Seattle's a nice city," said Piniella, who managed the Mariners from 1993-2002. "I had 10 wonderful years over there. I look forward to seeing some friends and going back and hopefully winning a few ballgames. That's really the focus of going to Seattle for me — not to eat Alaskan king crab or Dungeness crab, but to win some baseball games."
The Cubs head west encouraged after a 12-1 win Sunday over the Angels. It's tough to say which Cubs will show up. Will it be the ones who totaled a season-high 18 hits Sunday? Or the ones who struggled to collect two on Saturday?
At least Piniella is on familiar turf.
"We had good teams for seven of the 10 years I was there," he said last weekend of the Mariners. "We had nice athletic teams that remind me a lot of the team we're playing, the Angels. They put the ball in play, hit and run, steal some bases, occasional power. We had nice athletic teams and played well."
The Mariners played well enough in 2001 to win a Major League record-tying 116 games. Seattle reached the postseason in four of Piniella's 10 years there.
This will be the Cubs' second trip to Seattle — they also played there in 2002, and they won two out of three against Piniella's team. Mark Prior and Jon Lieber were the winning pitchers.
"The ball carries to right field more than anywhere else," Piniella said of Safeco Field. "There's a little more of a jet stream that way. It's a fair ballpark. You've got to have an athletic team that can execute. If you're a good line-drive hitter, there are a lot of gaps to hit the ball."
If the roof is closed, the ball carries better. He said Safeco also becomes a little "smaller" when the roof is closed.
"It's a really nice ballpark," said Piniella, who visited Seattle when he managed Tampa Bay in 2003-05. "If pitchers are throwing strikes, the games go rather quickly."
Besides the good seafood, Piniella is hoping to catch up with some of the players he managed. Many still live in the area, such as Edgar Martinez, Jay Buhner and Dan Wilson, and a few are still playing, such as Ichiro Suzuki.
There's one other player he would like to talk to.
"I'd like to see Junior," Piniella said of Ken Griffey Jr., who announced his retirement this month. "I really would."