AMERICAN LEAGUE: AROUND THE HORN : SEATTLE HURT: NO MARTINEZ.

Byline: - Matt McHale

The Mariners play in San Diego this weekend, then onto Colorado beginning Monday, meaning a six-game stretch without DH and cleanup hitter Edgar Martinez.

Although this past week the Mariners reached 100 homers faster than any team in major-league history, Martinez's loss will hurt the lineup. He no longer plays in the field and will be limited to pinch-hitting duties for a week.

And Seattle pitchers are bad enough pitchers, let alone hitters.

``Interleague play hurts us more than some teams, because we have an every-day DH and he's a huge part of our offense,'' Mariners manager Lou Piniella said.

``We lose our cleanup hitter and get a pitcher hitting for six games? That's not a good trade for us.''

DL FOR ARROYO

Last year, Rolando Arroyo was the Tampa Bay Devil Rays first All-Star. Now the club has done him a favor by putting him on the disabled list. The reason is mild tendinitis in his pitching shoulder, but he is not bad enough physically to lose 5 mph off his fastball.

Insiders say he has lost his competitive edge.

In 30-2/3 innings at Tropicana Field this season, Arrojo is 0-5 with 52 hits - almost two per inning - and 30 earned runs, an 8.80 ERA. His problems at home go back to last season, going 1-9 there since July 2.

SIGNABILITY

Using compensation picks for Albert Belle and Robin Ventura, the White Sox were able to claim five of the top 23 pitchers in the draft, according to ratings by Baseball America, and six of the top 33 overall.

They are saying it was a better draft than 1997 when they selected Crescenta Valley and UCLA left-hander Jim Parque, now in the big leagues. The only question is whether they can afford to sign their top picks. It took six months for the Sox to sign last year's top choice, right-hander Kip Wells, who eventually received a $1.495 million bonus. They failed to sign Detroit Tigers right-hander Jeff Weaver after drafting him in '97 but have since slashed the major-league payroll.

RAPPING HIS MUSIC

The song players choose for their walk to the plate has caused some problems at Yankee Stadium. New outfielder Tony Tarasco's selection was a rap song from the soundtrack of ``Belly'' by Hype Williams that contained several obscene references - and were clearly audible to fans Tuesday in his at-bat. When Tarasco batted in later innings, the music had been changed to a Backman Turner Overdrive song. The club later said the PA attendant was on his first day on the job and would be disciplined.

HIGH AND TIGHT

Imagine Jaret Wright's surprise when the Indians right-hander entered AL president Gene Budig's office Tuesday to discuss recently hitting Boston's Darren Lewis and Detroit's Tony Clark with pitches near or on the head. At the meeting was Hall of Famer Bob Gibson, who intimidated batters throughout his career with St. Louis.

Gibson, a consultant to Budig, was reportedly there to talk to Jaret about pitching inside - a how-to lesson, so to speak. The meeting took place before Wright's next start, against the Red Sox. He didn't pitch inside and was shelled for eight runs on nine hits in 3-2/3 innings.