LOU PINIELLA says the Mariners are going to bring it home.

Their last hit with a guy on second was by Harold Reynolds, their 141 RBI machine has been recalled by playoff-caliber pitching, and to avoid going down 3-0, they have to hit a guy who successfully went low and away on Fidel Castro. But Piniella invites rats scurrying off a ship sinking faster than any on which El Duque ever sailed to be the Seattle manager’s personal guest for Game 6 at Safeco Field.

“We’re going to be back here,” Piniella proclaimed.

Usually, this is a drill usually run by managers without answers and Piniella quickly admitted he was short one big one. Asked what was wrong with Bret Boone and John Olerud, the Seattle skipper said: “I don’t know.”

Piniella is only certain New York has been very, very good to him. “We won five out of six there this year,” he said.

Those figures seem about as relevant now as the number 116. While Jamie Moyer, who baffled the Indians twice by lobbing water balloons, is certainly good enough to match up with Orlando Hernandez this afternoon, Paul Abbott, dropped from the rotation during the best-of-five round, and Aaron Sele, whose announced ambition in life is keep it close enough that he still might lose, have to pitch in Games 4 and 5. And one out of three won’t get the Mariners home.

As patriotic fervor continues to grip the nation, there is no end to the number of fat ladies who can sing “God Bless America” in the seventh inning, followed by “Good Night, Irene” in the eighth when Mariano Rivera gets up to throw. It’s a sobering thought. To the Mariners, we mean, not Yankee fans.

“There are a lot of bars around the ballpark so the fans come in prepared,” laughed Piniella. Some are even old enough to remember how the 1954 Indians, 111 wins strong, lost four straight to the Giants, if for no better reason than once every half century these things happen.

So what else is a manager going to do except sound like a broken record about a record-breaking team that has been outscored by a composite of three runs in two games? The Mariners aren’t exactly getting outclassed here. The last manager to be in such dire straits or actually worse, is now up 2-0 in this very series and can tell Piniella where to go to get an “it’s never over ’til it’s over” cap.

If Piniella could find one for his pre-game media session today, it would be hilarious. In fact, we suggest Joe Torre go back to the NYPD or FDNY model, lest he be accused of giving aid and comfort to an enemy that we suspect has not yet begun to fight, except in a few cases itself at the plate.

Piniella still has to figure out a way to win with Sele, which is why the manager gets paid big bucks. But it could be 2-2 by then, which would leave Piniella happy to take his chances with Freddy Garcia and Moyer in Seattle. That’s Piniella’s story and he’s sticking to it, like the smart manager of an excellent team that has responded too well through an astounding season to crumble now.