SENATE RESOLUTION

                            8687

By Senators Oke, Snyder, Constantine, Benton, Brown, Carlson, Costa, Deccio, Eide, Fairley, Finkbeiner, Franklin, Fraser, Gardner, Hale, Hargrove, Haugen, Hewitt, Hochstatter, Honeyford, Horn, Jacobsen, Johnson, Kastama, Kline, Kohl-Welles, Long, McAuliffe, McCaslin, McDonald, Morton, Parlette, Patterson, Prentice, Rasmussen, Regala, Roach, Rossi, Sheahan, Sheldon, B., Sheldon, T., Shin, Spanel, Stevens, Swecker, Thibaudeau, West, Winsley and Zarelli

     WHEREAS, until the 2001 Major League Baseball season, only the 1997 Atlanta Braves had won as many as nineteen games in the month of April, and

     WHEREAS, the Seattle Mariners have eclipsed that record by winning twenty games this April, including a 15-0 record in games in which the opposing team started a right-handed pitcher, using a combination of solid pitching, timely hitting and outstanding defense, and

     WHEREAS, in setting the record for wins during the season=s first month, the Mariners have equaled the 20-4 starts achieved by only eleven other major league teams in baseball history and became the first team to record that feat since the 1987 Milwaukee Brewers, and

     WHEREAS, the Mariners= outstanding start places them well ahead of their American League Western Division opponents in the standings, something that almost nobody anticipated prior to the start of the season, and

     WHEREAS, while we all miss watching Junior, A-Rod and Randy, we sure are having a lot of fun without them, and

     WHEREAS, the 2000 American League Rookie-of-the Year, Kazuhiro Sasaki, has added his name to the baseball record books by becoming the first pitcher in the history of the game to record thirteen saves during the month of April, beating the old record of twelve established by Lee Smith of the Baltimore Orioles in 1994, and

     WHEREAS, AKazu@ and Ichiro Suzuki are undeniably the most fun Japanese imports since Nintendo,

     NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, That the Washington State Senate congratulates the Mariners on their fantastic beginning to the 2001 baseball season and wishes them every success in the months to comes, and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Senate hopes for the rapid recovery of Jay Buhner from his foot injury because it just isn=t right that ABone@ isn=t a full participant in all of the early season fun.

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of the resolution to the Seattle Mariners Baseball organization.

I, Tony M. Cook, Secretary of the Senate,

do hereby certify that this is a true and

correct copy of Senate Resolution 8687,

adopted by the Senate April 30, 2001.

TONY M. COOK

Secretary of the Senate