Notebook: Piniella can relate to a dizzying season

Willie Bloomquist is the type of player that would remind Lou Piniella of himself. He plays with a passion, grit and instincts. They both also played with something else — vertigo.

Bloomquist developed an inner-ear problem early this season at Class AAA Tacoma. He couldn't play for about three weeks. He was dizzy, uneasy on his feet and disoriented. It came as mysteriously as it left, perhaps an indication it was an infection.

However, Piniella said, "I missed about the whole year in 1975" with vertigo. He believes he damaged his right eardrum while body surfing in Puerto Rico before the 1975 season started.

"I couldn't focus. I'd see two balls. You couldn't turn your head fast because you get dizzy," Piniella said.

Piniella struggled with it all season. He had only 199 at-bats and hit .196 with no home runs, coming off a .305 average the previous season. He went to doctor after doctor and there was a fear he might have a tumor.

Finally, he went to a specialist and he found a small perforation in his right eardrum that was oozing fluid. The doctor took a piece of skin from his earlobe "and put it on the eardrum like he was patching a tire. I was fine after that (hitting .281 in 1976)."

Piniella endorses Rose

Piniella, who took over as Cincinnati Reds manager the season after Pete Rose was fired and led them to the World Series title, believes the hit king belongs in the Hall of Fame.

The subject came up yesterday during a discussion of the impending closure of Cinergy Field. The ballpark drew 40,000 fans Monday to a Rose appearance in a celebrity softball game that marked the venue's final event.

Rose was banned from Hall of Fame consideration after then-commissioner Bart Giamatti suspended him permanently for betting on baseball while managing the Reds.

"He wasn't going to make it as a manager, so you give him his due," Piniella said. "He has more hits than anyone else. We have a society where bygones are bygones, don't we? You reward people for what they've done on the field."

McLemore will go home

Mark McLemore, who finished the 2002 season with elbow surgery followed by a strained groin, has been ruled out for the final five games, Piniella confirmed.

In fact, he said, "We'll send him home. There's no sense in him going to California (Anaheim this weekend)."

Piniella confirmed he was offered the job of managing the Major League All-Stars in the baseball tour of Japan in November. "I turned it down. I'm tired," he said.

Notes

• With five games remaining, the Mariners' pinch-hitters have yet to have an extra-base hit in 75 at-bats. They have 14 hits, all singles.

• The Mariners are leading the majors in both total number of fans (3,455,060) and average (43,734) through 79 dates. The Yankees are second with 3,435,803 for a 43,491 average.

• Bret Boone and his brother, Aaron, who played for Cincinnati, are the fifth set of brothers to each hit 20-plus home runs in the same season. Bret has 23 and Aaron has 25. Jason (38) and Jeremy (20) Giambi also have done it this season.

The other brothers to do it were: Bob (33) and Irish Meusel (21) in 1925; Joe (30) and Vince (21) DiMaggio in 1941; and Lee (28) and Carlos (20) May in 1973.