[h1]Italian-born Alex Liddi makes Mariners debut[/h1]
Staying calm was the thing most on Alex Liddi's mind as he prepared to make baseball history. Liddi made his major-league debut on Wednesday...
By
Geoff Baker
Seattle Times staff reporter
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Staying calm was the thing most on Alex Liddi's mind as he prepared to make baseball history.
Liddi made his major-league debut on Wednesday night, playing third base for the Mariners and batting second. He grounded out to second in his first at-bat, then went down swinging his second time up.
Before the game, Liddi, the first player born and raised in Italy to make the majors, talked of how excited he had been when he arrived at the clubhouse and saw his name in the lineup. He was asked how he thought he'd feel once the game began.
"Excited, probably," he said. "Nervous, a little. I've just got to be calm."
Mariners manager Eric Wedge said he'd planned to use Liddi in an upcoming series in Seattle against the Royals, but then decided to put him in sooner.
"I figured I'll just go ahead and get him in there and knock the first one out, get it out of the way," Wedge said of Liddi. "You just want to really enjoy your first day. Go out there and have fun."