Jamie Moyer on his 11 Seasons in Seattle, 116 Win 2001 Season, Playing for Lou Piniella

let's get into your time in Seattle okay I want to hear hear that experience when you first uh you traded over there from the Red Sox yep so walk me through that initial trade at the time they were in the Kingdom you started the game the inaugural game at safco field yep I'm sure you know how much of a pitcher friendly ballpark T-Mobile Park safco is now in Seattle at least it's known in the big pitcher friendly yeah oh yeah now today yeah I wouldn't call it pitcher friendly that's I think when we first moved in there it was okay the ball I think you know people talk about and again this is way over my head but uh barric pressure and the cement they call it the Marine layer where this sea a comes in sometimes then the ball doesn't carry as well but I also believe too that when it's warm there the ball jumps out of that ballpark okay I really do but I you know so when we well let me let me let's let's go back to the trade that'll be yeah the part two is we'll talk about that um uh when I got traded I was actually really excited um in Boston you when I sang with Boston that off seon they said look we don't know what you're going to do for us and I ended up being the six-man in a fiveman rotation and the seventh man and a sixthman bullpen I didn't really I was kind of floating yeah right I got a a couple spot starts uh but I was basically the long man in the bullpen and I wanted to start because that's what I did basically my whole career and um we had Roger Clemens on that staff so what I did because I you know I prepared to start in spring training and I actually started we if if you go back and look at that season we started that season 0 and4 I believe I started the fifth game and we we won our first game when I started you know so I'm like hey and then I went right back to the bullpen right so yeah that that it just wasn't you know they were trying to figure things out MH so I took it upon myself when the day that Roger Clemens started he was going to throw 150 pitches jeez it didn't matter yeah he was thrown 150 pitches that's the kind of warrior he was right so I'm like okay well if he's going to throw 150 pitches he's not going to throw those in the first five innings probably so I'm going to use that as my Bullpen day as if I was a starting pitcher MH so I throw a long Bullpen that day and kept my fingers crossed that I didn't get in that game and uh so let's move now to the trading deadline I get traded to Seattle and I walk in the door and the club's in Milwaukee and basically Lou says here's the ball you're going to start now I've seen a lot of times where a guy might be a bullpen guy and get traded and become a starter and he goes well I'm not ready I need a week or two weeks to you know get my and I was like thank you I took the ball and I started for the rest of the season had a fairly decent you know rest of the season and uh impressed them enough to you know to have an opportunity to be a starter the next year and I feel like I took the ball and ran with it but uh you know somebody to show that kind of confidence in me was what I needed uh on that side of things knowing that I needed to do the bulk of the work on my side MH because now I had again another opportunity like I told you you know I get a lot of opportunities in my career so you know I was holding on to understand that hey this might be your last opportunity so I I took it as that and I looked looked upon it as that and that's exactly what I did and uh you know again like I said when I came to Seattle things were starting to move forward yeah so that was something I hadn't really ever experienced in my career at that point either so it was exciting times um I love pitching in the Kingdom people hated the kingdom the only thing I didn't like about being in the kingdom was that on the beautiful sunny days you know you were in there all day long yeah and didn't get to enjoy the wonderful weather other than that I love the kingdom U but you know and I didn't mind it coming in as an opponent and I came in as an opponent I felt like I had a decent amount of success um so when I came to Seattle you know it was not issue for me would you call the kingdom hitter friendly pitcher friendly oh definitely hitter friendly definitely especially right field okay um yeah yeah um and the turf right so the field was a lot quicker balls are flying off the turf yeah but uh yeah I really enjoyed pitching in Seattle enjoyed pitching in the king doome and then yeah I had I was fortunate enough to be handed the ball to pitch the first game uh and what was then safe C field um we lost that game three to2 but uh was against a Padres was a good game uh I think Jose unfortunately the end of the game Jose Mesa blew that lead um but it was a very memorable day uh and I was honored to have that that opportunity to to be that guy um but yeah you know moving forward then you know I I you know and again I I only know this from using my ears the hitters used to complain you know the ball doesn't carry here you know now look you're going from across the street in the Kingdom right to now you're playing Outdoors you've got weather you know the fog you know the dampness the coolness um you know and then people want even as far as saying you know the cement was dry but it wasn't you know they said just the air was heavy and the ball didn't carry now when they Clos the roof I think the ball carried better even though it's an open air mhm roof yeah interesting so and there were times where there was some wind in there as well because it was open but you know Wonderful ballpark wonderful ballpark uh and then there was a you know there was a time where there was a struggle with the backdrop when we first moved in the hitter's eye mm you know there was a glare at certain times of the year certain times of the day there's a glare for not only the hitters it was The Catcher And The Empire oh man yeah as well so it took them you know they did SE they several attempts till they were able to figure out what to do with that um but you know Wonderful ballpark um great City to play in great fans you know I had nothing but positive things to say of my time in Seattle 1997 you get to the playoffs for the first time mm and you make your first appearance walk me through the 97 season uh well I mean again it's when you win it's magical it really is you I mean it's your group with the coaching staff and the organization but you know the city backed us the fan base backed us and that you know I'll go to my grave saying that you know it's when you got a ballpark full of people um screaming and H ing for you it's uplifting MH it's uplifting and I was fortunate enough to go to the the hockey game January 1st this year okay see a so yeah to watch the Kraken play and it brought back so many memories of 9798 you know that that era of baseball with the Mariners soldout Stadium Noise music excitement you know and I I'm just kind of sitting there wow this unfortunately this Stadium hasn't seen a lot of that mean the last couple years the MERS have mhm done a lot better um but you know to get into that playoff situation and you know that's what it's about and uh you know 97 I mean was phenomenal you unfortunately you know when we got to the playoffs we just seemed to fall short you know it was either we were a pitcher short we were a hitter short you know in some fashion and and again again that comes back to that juggling act as as a general manager and as an organization who do we add how do we add because sometime you have to look at these types of situations and and kind of understand those situations and say okay if we add what are we bringing in is it going to detract from the situation or is it going to make the situation better and you don't you really don't know so again and how do you know about the player or players you're bringing in right are they in contract years are they playing banged up or they healthy I mean there's a lot of factors or are they going to become a free agent and if they're will they fit into our our cell restructure are we going to rent a player what are we giving away to get that player right there's a lot of variables that come into play yeah right and again as a you know and look if you're a manager or general manager and you're making those decisions I don't think you you can really you don't have a crystal ball to predict and you can't worry about what people are going to think if you're trying to do your best and you've got The Graces of the ownership and you're adding you think you're adding something to your Club then you know I think you do it right but you also sometimes like I was starting to say sometimes if you add it detracts from the team based on the clubhouse exactly yeah and that can be you know you know a huge knife in the coffin MH so now it become you know you you're kind of on a roll how's that going to work right and sometimes your best trade is no trade mhm right but then when you if you can fortunate enough to move on and you fall short you go oh well we should have you know they should have done this you know it's easy to second guess right right and I'm not here to second guess anybody you know they were doing what they thought they should do um but it was fun being a part of it and it was that to me those are the memories that are created I mean I I mean being in town living you know I live not far out of town so that that feeling that vibe that uplifting anywhere you went you know everybody was kind of walking on air it was the same way in Philadelphia when we won a World Series it was everybody had the colors on the radio talk shows were nothing but positive and it was just and people were excited to come to the ballpark and to me that was the cool part that 116 win season in 2001 record still stands yeah always like to come to the ballpark every day in that environment it it was the feeling was we're not going to lose yeah and not in a cocky way not in a Brash way we didn't know it I mean my recall of spring training was we had a very mediocre spring training and towards the end of spring training I if I recall we were I was on a trip to uh Tucson and we were playing horribly and I can remember Lou pacing up and down the dog this is spring training and you know using language that you know I can't use here um but just like you can't turn it off you can't you know just turn it off and turn it on you know we The Season's a couple days away blah blah blah you know and then the season starts when when when when lose win win win win win win win you know and you know in the beginning of the year I've been you know there was one year when I was in Texas I want to say it might have been my second year in Texas we were like 11 and one or 12 and3 you know thinking huh this is a joke you know we're going to you know it's not hot yet you know a lot of things down there come into play you know so it's like okay let's let's be respectful of this right the baseball guys you hear people talk about the baseball guys you know they're going to get you and you know things even out well you know we get through April and we're winning right we get into May we're winning and it didn't matter if we were down in a game whether it was three whether it was one down to one out or in the sixth inning or whatever it was if we whatever we needed we went out and manufactured mhm and it was almost like respectfully you're kind of giggly like like it's gonna happen did that just happened yeah did we just come back like I feel like there was a game in in uh I don't know if it was 01 or not but we had a game in Minneapolis where we were losing big I believe we hit seven doubles in a row wow like the stuff doesn't happen right and I mean and you know I look back at that season and I this is going to sound negative but I don't look at it as a negative we averaged to me it's my crazy left-handed way of looking at things we average seven losses a month that season we all know the big number 116 mhm right seven losses a month that's it's unheard of right and the the great thing was every player that had a uniform on that season made a large contribution and that's what allowed us to do what we did how are the uh clubhouse Vibes was everyone just buddy buddy that entire year to where everyone's having a good time and yeah you know and you know what whether we won or we didn't lose I don't know that you know when you say buddy buddy I think most of the clubhouses I've been in people have gotten along but in a clubhouse like that when you're winning there's a bounce in people's step when they come in the door and I I I've explained it like this in the past where we had a lot of I'm going to say we had a lot of blue collar players and they'd open the clubhouse door and even though there wasn't a Time clock and a and a a rack of hard hats but that's kind of how I Envision it you took your time card out you clocked in you put it back you went over to your hard hat you put your hard head on and you went to work MH and that's what guys did and it was day after day after day after day and but again comes down to the personality mhm and then okay we won yesterday so we got to go out and win again today you get that taste in your mouth and it's a good taste so you're like okay we're getting it this is how this is how and and we just built off of it and uh yeah it was it was magical and like I said if we were down on a game didn't matter what part of the game especially late in a game we need three we'll get let's get four h let's you know what let's get one more let's get five you know and it like you said wasn't in a cocky way it wasn't in a Brash way you know guys like do you believe what's is this really H you like Pinch Me is this really happening so yeah it was uh it was magical and you know unfortunately we didn't get deep into the playoffs that year but here again it comes back down to I'm not putting it on loose shoulders but you play so well I forget when it was we clinched but I want to say like was end of August beginning of September okay now you got another month to play right right it was almost like it hurt us to be that successful because now as a manager what do you do because now you know Common Sense tells you okay well I should keep playing my players MH but what if he gets hurt what if he gets tired so now as a manager you go all right I'm going to let this guy play but I'm going to give him more days off MH right I want to rest them so we're ready to go in the playoffs right right so I I feel like looking back not necessarily being involved in the situation I would not tell you in that moment that we lost our Edge but looking back on it we may have lost our Edge a little bit making a big change like that right well it wasn't necessarily A change but I mean you're just you know guys that play every day they got out of their groove maybe a little bit yeah yeah and I can't say they got complacent I there's no way there was complacency going on there's a ton of excitement but you know you know look at things this way um the year that when I was in in ' 07 when I told you that the Rockies cut right through us they swept us if you recall I forget who they played in the next round they walked right over them too right so now they're going to the World Series who did they play Boston well Boston was in maybe was uh Boston New York if I'm not M I don't remember exactly either way Boston had to keep playing and grind through that next round and then jump right into the World Series they didn't have time to think about it Colorado oh we cut right through the Phillies they're a pretty good team take a day off we cut through the N you know they cut right through the next game now they I want to say they had four or five days okay to stay sharp right you see it with college football in in the national championship right you see it uh in the fell right that time look when your body is used to doing something day after day after day and now you it changes like for me I hated the All-Star break in the era that I played in was mostly three days towards the end of when I was playing it became four days hated it because you can't replace what you've been doing every day if you go home even if you stay in the city you're playing in and try to work out you're still not playing a game mhm so you kind of lose that that edge and then you get back from the break and it takes a couple days to kind of you know you can't just again flip the switch so I think that's kind of what happened to us we got a little flat and you know I like what we did during that regular season was magical but for us for that 116 to really stand up we would have needed to win the World Series then I think that 116 gets talked about a little a little bit more and that team as a whole gets talked about a little bit more yeah that makes sense it's not all about what you do in the regular season just about what you do in the postseason yeah what what have you done for me lately right right yeah what was it like playing for Lou loved it we my most favorite manager ever he would be first Charlie Manuel would be second and they're really close um but two different personalities two different types of people but both wonderful baseball people Lou was passionate about winning um I describe Lou as having another teammate on the team he cared about winning and he cared about you as a player every one of his players now he was hard on you MH if you weren't pulling your end he could be especially with your a pitcher he could be really hard on you but it wasn't because he didn't like you or he disliked you it's cuz you weren't doing your job mhm and you know I kind of kind of look at that you know I look at his history where he came from and where he played and coached and that was with the Yankees and you know they there was an expectation especially when Mr Stein Bruner was running that show right and as a player and as a coach we've seen you know the the stuff the run-ins that he's had with you know with players with with managers um and I think Lou kind of that kind of helped create lie to to who he was as a manager and he brought that to our organization it was passionate passionate but respectful and the cool thing I one of the cool things I enjoyed with him was that um well there's two one approachable always approachable um whether it was in his office on the bench wherever it might be but there's a guy if you talk to him and you were asking about yourself be prepared because you may hear something you don't want to hear right but the other cool thing was he was bilingual really yeah so he would he would oblah with the Latin guys fluently which I thought was really cool I think that's uh it's a special uh trait that some people have and uh I you know when you have a latin's own a team you know I I i' put it this way if I ever had to go to Japan and play or a Latin American country to play and don't know the language and nobody speaks my language it's really hard that's another threshold that you have to get over now when the manager can talk to you I think it it's really it it's massive it it it it brings a certain kind of calmness or a comfort it allows a comfortability right and I you know I played with a fair amount of Latin players that prefer could speak some broken English but prefer to speak Spanish M so to have that rapport with your manager I think was was very cool and like you said thirdly again he was passionate passionate maybe that should go first very passionate about winning he cared he car but he he cared about his players too was it one of those things to where he might blow up in the moment but then after the game he talks to you again and he's like hey well a lot of times it wasn't necess I mean sometimes it was after the game but it might be the next day it might be two days later it may be during batting practice um you know it wasn't like you're getting called into the principal's office yeah you I mean I don't know that that unless there was something major going on I never had that but I was comfortable enough when necessary and I did it on two different occasions where I went to him went in his office and asked them to talk and you know the feedback that I got was wonderful and I didn't take it personal because I had some of those like I said I had some of those experiences previously in my career and some of I took personally but I learned how to deal with it and I learned that he wasn't he wasn't coming after me he was giving his opinion and his opinion was spoton even though he never pitched an inning in his life so I was getting it from a hitter's perspective okay and that's how I took it and it was it was wonderful and it I was struggling at the time one of them was in Candlestick Park uh where I went into his office and had a conversation with him and he he looked at me and he said you're not throwing your change up enough and my change up wasn't good at that point in time and it just so happened that uh that day I threw a bullpen and I probably threw 60 or 70 change UPS in that Bullpen and continued to work on it and my next start it all came back I'm like man you're smart right yeah so yeah I yeah and last summer I happened to bump into him at the All-Star Game it was great to see him I hadn't seen him in many years so um yeah we had a lot of lot of fun conversation and then on top of that it sounds like Lou was giving you some pitching advice I assume that you had pitching coaches throughout your career yep that would would would they give you the the advice to the pitch usage the percentages no no no no that wasn't percentages and stuff like that pitch usage Maybe um for me A lot of it was with my pitching coaches it was mechanical uh mechanical things because I was a very mechanical kind of guy I was very visual I needed to see it uh or I needed to see hitter's reactions to it as a young player I didn't understand that as an older player it it kind of clicked for me uh but you know my very first pitching coach his name was Bill Belo it was a shortt season a ball team he was a college sum a college coach pitching coach and he did it as a summer job I mean he helped me as much as some of my major league pitching coaches you know right place at the right time kind of thing um but it's that Rapport that you build that respect that give and take kind of respect that you have for those people and the time and the effort that they put in and the caring that they that they have for you and your pitching staff um uh boy I can't think of his name um dick Bosman Mike Flanigan when I in Baltimore um were very beneficial to me um Brian price in Seattle dick pole uh who I I'm still friends with um dick pole uh pitched for Seattle actually the pilots I believe uh but I had him as a minor league pitching coach with the Cubs uh had him for a short short bit is a big league pitching coach with the Cubs um he went on he became one of he's one of Dusty's best friends so he was a pitching coach for Dusty for many many years uh he he was a pitching coach in Cleveland as well uh get along really well with they another guy told it like it was black was black white was white it was you know it was right in front of you but you know he he you know he'd get in my girl when I but I understood why and uh it was never really motivational it was just about what I was doing um and you know dick was hard you know even if you you know in the minor leagues you kept the pitching chart be the night before you pitched and he either had a clicker or he'd count in his head pitches and you know like the thir you say hey moer how many pitches you got I got 37 you're off by two it's 39 fix it you know stuff like that m you know or if you came back at the end of the game and you had to Total everything up and your totals didn't he wouldn't he wouldn't accept the chart go back and figure it out so I mean things like that little discipline things you're not paying attention you missed a pitch here that kind of stuff or you throw in a bullpen you say hey the other day why' you throw that curveball you remember that you know that kind of stuff I mean it's it gets you thinking right hey I'm I I need to pay more attention here I need to be a little more astute to what I'm doing mhm so um Stan Williams uh we had him for a short bit in in Seattle older older gentleman um came from a different era but uh I enjoyed him for the short time we had him nardy contras Bobby quar was the first pitching coach I had in Seattle um you he got at times he got a bum rrap from from Lou uh but Lou had to take it out on somebody when we weren't throwing enough strikes or pitching well or consistently um you know he'd get on our Bullpen guys um and Bobby quart you know he he took it nardy Contreras was another guy uh different style of pitching coach but you know he Brian Price you had never had any major league experience became the pitching coach in Seattle and he's now the still the he's a pitching coach in um San Franc Isco right now um he went on to manage he worked with the Phillies um I still keep in touch with Brian um uh rich dubie in Philadelphia uh another guy that you know had a lot of great experiences with and a lot of fun with too I mean it's it's not all just work it's it's some fun stuff too so yeah it's just and you know you look back and it's like wow these guys are really played really important roles to their job and in my career m