No. 1 Mariner Fan's Streak Ends At 1,474 Games

The Seattle Mariners' No. 1 fan is giving up his claim to the title.

Merle Swenson, who said he attended every Mariner game at the Kingdome since the first pitch in 1977, finally was absent Tuesday night, when the Mariners played the Chicago White Sox. Swenson's streak of 1,474 games was over.

Swenson, 58, of Seattle, was a fixture at his front-row seat along the third-base line for 19 seasons. He said his enthusiasm waned last year.

"After the strike, I didn't enjoy the games like I always had," he said. "At a few of the games, I didn't care if I was there or not. I was just there because I had the ticket. After that, I figured that I'd better think about doing something else."

He attended this season's Opening Night on Sunday, relinquished tickets he had for last night's game, and doesn't plan to be back until April 15 when California is here.

"This year I split up my tickets and am only going to every third game," Swenson said.

M's rotation thrown a curve

The Mariners' decision to carry only nine pitchers may hurt them tonight if Randy Johnson is not able to start for a second straight game.

Johnson was pushed back from his original start last night after his wife, Lisa, gave birth at 12:15 a.m. Friday to their second child, and first son, Tanner Rollen, 9 pounds, 1 ounce. His name is like that of Randy's late father.

When the pitcher called the Mariners yesterday to inform them of his family affair, he said he had the flu as well, and was up all night. Manager Lou Piniella pushed Johnson back to start tonight with right-hander Edwin Hurtado replacing him as starter last night.

"But now, with the flu, he might not be able to start Saturday," Piniella said. "Frankly, I'm not sure what we'll do."

Piniella's options are limited with right-hander Rafael Carmona sent down to Class AAA Tacoma so the club could carry nine infielders. One option is to bring Sterling Hitchcock back on three days' rest.

Notes

-- With left-hander Scott Karl starting for the Brewers, Seattle started a right-handed lineup. This time, however, Ricky Jordan was at first base and Edgar Martinez was DH. The reason is that with a possible late-game lead, the Mariners could want to make a defensive move at first and if Martinez played there, they'd take his bat out of the lineup.

Piniella intends to platoon at first for an indefinite period, having seen lefty hitter Paul Sorrento miss a chance to damage Chicago White Sox left-hander Joe Magrane in the key fifth inning Wednesday.

Home attendance. Last night: 27,768. Home season total: 146,588. Avg. for four games: 36,647. Avg. last season: 22,508.

Mariner farm teams.

-- Class AAA: Tacoma (2-0) 12, Albuquerque 6 -- Class AA: Carolina 3, Port City (1-1) 2 -- Class A: Lancaster (2-0) 4, Bakersfield 3 -- Class A: Western Michigan at Wisconsin (0-0), ppd., weather