OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- A pair of American League West rivals with new managers finally begin their seasons Tuesday night when the Oakland Athletics host the Seattle Mariners in the opener of a three-game series at Network Associates Coliseum.
The rivals were originally scheduled to play a two-game series in Japan March 25-26. But the war in Iraq prompted commissioner Bud Selig to cancel the trip.
Oakland has made the playoffs the previous three seasons and is guided by former bench coach Ken Macha. He was named the 27th manager in franchise history on October 29 after spending four seasons as Art Howe's bench coach. His previous managerial experience was in the minor leagues with Class AA Trenton and Class AAA Pawtucket, affiliates of the Boston Red Sox.
Seattle has a new manager for the first time in a decade. After making the postseason four times under Lou Piniella, the Mariners have replaced him with Bob Melvin. Melvin was named manager on November 15, 2002 after Pinella decided to go to Tampa Bay.
Like Macha, Melvin also spent the last four seasons as a bench coach. He was Phil Garner's bench coach in Milwaukee and Detroit before spending the last two seasons with Bob Brenly in Arizona.
Oakland enters the season with just two new starters as Chris Singleton was signed as a free agent and designated hitter Erubiel Durazo was acquired from Arizona in a four-team trade.
The most significant change for the A's may be in the bullpen, where they have a new closer. Keith Foulke, who had just 11 saves last season, was acquired from the Chicago White Sox for Billy Koch, who won 11 games and compiled 44 saves in his only season in Oakland.
Shortstop Miguel Tejada is back and looking to defend his AL MVP Award. He was the seventh Oakland player to win the award and established career highs in batting (.308), homers (34) and RBI (131).
Taking the mound for Oakland will be Tim Hudson (NR), who went 15-9 with a 2.98 ERA in 34 starts last season.
Hudson was dominant last season at Network Associates Coliseum, where he went 7-4 with a 2.76 ERA in 18 starts.
The 27-year-old righthander was 2-2 with a 2.61 ERA in four starts against Seattle last season. He is 7-4 with a 3.46 ERA in 15 career outings against the Mariners.
The only addition to Seattle's lineup is left fielder Randy Winn, who was acquired from Tampa Bay as compensation for the Devil Rays signing Pinella.
The Mariners were led by Ichiro Suzuki's .321 batting average and Mike Cameron's 25 home runs. But Suzuki's average dropped nearly 30 points from 2001 and Cameron's average also decreased by almost the same amount.
Starting for Seattle is Freddy Garcia, who is making his third consecutive Opening Day start. He is the first Mariner to start on Opening Day three straight years since Randy Johnson (1992-95) and the first Seattle righthander to do so since Mike Moore (1984-86).
Garcia won his first four decisions last season and won six straight starts from May 24-June 19. He was 16-10 with a 4.39 ERA in 34 starts last season.
Garcia is 5-4 with a 6.12 ERA in 13 career outings vs. Oakland. He was 1-2 with a 8.27 ERA in four outings vs. the A's last season in which he gave up 19 earned runs and 25 hits.
Seattle won 11 of the 19 meetings with Oakland in 2002.
