THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: M's hope to shake off early drama

The Great Handshake Battle is over.

Hopefully.

No one seems to know why Mariners teammates Cal Raleigh and Randy Arozarena got into a spat in the first place.

Both players are competing in the World Baseball Classic, Cal for the United States and Randy for Mexico.

That’s simple enough and should be everyday stuff.

Except …

When Arozarena stepped in for his first at-bat against the USA, he offered a routine handshake to his buddy Raleigh behind the plate.

In case you’re wondering, this is a normal baseball routine.

Some players do it, some don’t.

A few catchers like to avoid it because they don’t want pine tar or any other substance on their throwing hand.

But a handshake is not considered an affront or any kind of insult, either way.

This time, though, Raleigh wanted no part of it.

We’ll get to his explanation — such as it was — in just a minute.

At that moment Cal declined the handshake and dissed his Seattle teammate, though, the whole thing shocked everybody.

Mark DeRosa, who is managing the United States during the WBC, admitted he was as surprised as everyone else, and that the U.S. team did not have any rules against fraternization with opposing players or staff.

Handshakes are just fine.

NOT THIS one, however.

Raleigh apparently told his Mariner teammates — ahead of time — that he was taking the WBC seriously, and he wasn’t up for goofing around.

Or even exchanging normal courtesies.

The Big Dumper apparently was more intent on kicking some backsides.

Refusing the handshake apparently caught DeRosa by surprise.

Arozarena, too.

“When it happened, on the bench we were like, ‘Oof, OK,’” DeRosa said.

“And they’re teammates!

“I think Cal told him pregame, or the day leading up to it, ‘Hey, I’m not hugging you, I’m not loving on you, let’s get after it.’ ”

In other words, Arozarena had been warned.

Ditto any other non-USA Mariners competing in the WBC.

For a few weeks, Raleigh would be representing the United States, and he intended to win.

Arozarena didn’t take the snub very well, especially since he’d spent some time with Raleigh’s parents before the tournament, and they had treated him warmly.

The Mariners outfielder had plenty of insults ready for Raleigh after that first game was over (with the U.S. winning 5-3).

Randy ripped Raleigh in three languages, just to make his point — or for the fun of it, which we just don’t know.

It didn’t sound much like banter, though.

Certainly not on Raleigh’s side of things.

“Emotions are running high,” Cal said.

“Like I’ve said, there's no story to me. I'm not taking this as a big deal, and I don't think he is either.”

Ummm …

Cal might be underestimating Arozarena’s boiling point, and he may need some serious conversations to lower the temperature when the Mariners all get back together.

Raleigh told the media that he had spoken to Arozarena after the game, making sure there was no misunderstanding, and left the incident as old news.

THE ODD side of this intra-Mariner squabble is that while the WBC is going on, the rest of the squad is having a hell of a time back in Arizona.

Seattle was 4-12 in Cactus League games through Monday night, and had set a dubious record by giving up 27 runs to San Diego.

The M’s have not hit a lick (except for minor league invitee Brennen Davis and new leadoff man Brendan Donovan), and the pitching staff has been erratic.

Fortunately, the prized starters have begun to demonstrate their class, so maybe the nightmare is ending.

It’s ironic, though, that while the Mariners have been playing some surprisingly bad baseball, some type of feud between Raleigh and Arozarena erupted several hundred miles away.

Dan Wilson probably wishes he could turn the world back five or six weeks and start the team’s Arizona adventure all over again.

The good news, though, is that these games don’t count.

Still …

It would be nice if the Mariners could play some decent ball, kind of fire everyone up for the real deal.

Sound good?

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Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press three times each week, normally Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday unless, you know, stuff happens.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On."