M's starters armed with hope

Overshadowed by the stultifying lack of offense on the Mariners' last homestand and the 3-6 record it engendered was a nugget of hope for better to come.

Pitching.

It hasn't been perfect — Gil Meche scrambled in his last start, Joel Pineiro got scrambled in his and Eddie Guardado turned his last three ninth innings into omelets, signifying repetitive concerns.

And it is early, so the performances — bad as well as good — are not, as the mutual-fund ads tell us, a guarantee of future returns.

But hope for an upswing could be something to cling to, especially for everyone from Howard Lincoln on down, waiting for all Seattle's corner players to produce the way Raul Ibanez has.

"We've played a lot of close games," manager Mike Hargrove said. "That's because of our pitching and defense."

Of the team's 4-9 record in one- and two-run games, stat whiz Steve Kolk reminds that Bill James once said close losses were one indicator of an improving team.

For years, defense has been a hallmark of Mariners baseball, and once again the team is near the top of the league.

This has not always been true of Mariners pitching. Yet the team ranked sixth in the league in earned-run average entering Thursday's games, with a 4.64 mark.

Even better, the starters have a 4.21 ERA, which was fourth in the league.

"We're only a couple of dozen games into the season, and it's a good start," said Jamie Moyer, who has had his team in every one of his five games. "But you have to get into the meat of the season to tell for sure who and what we are as a staff.

"However, on the whole, we have good ability and good arms. And some of our guys have shown maturation, that they've learned how to pitch. Others seem to be still learning."

The learned left-hander said the addition of Jarrod Washburn is a significant plus to the rotation.

"He knows what he's doing and he's a true competitor," Moyer said. "He's got some good ideas and he's not shy about expressing them."

Moyer also spoke well of the bullpen, where Rafael Soriano, in particular, J.J. Putz and lefty George Sherrill have given Hargrove a solid group to hold leads through the seventh and eighth innings.

One American League scout singled out that group, saying, "The back end of their bullpen looks good, kids coming of age."

Should closer Guardado continue his mysterious misery, Soriano and Putz give Seattle real options in his place.

Inside the numbers, the rotation is averaging almost six innings per starts and have held the opposition to three runs or fewer in 16 of 23 games.

With Soriano scored on in only one of 11 games, Sherrill in two of 11 and Putz three of 11, relievers have retired 37 of 60 first batters and stranded 24 of 34 inherited runners.

The relievers yesterday were 11th in the league with a 5.48 ERA, but that has been inflated by a handful of bad outings, six games in which they have allowed three or more runs.

"Coming out of camp there seemed to be a lot of questions about our bullpen, but for the most part they have clicked," Moyer said. "As a starting pitcher, I'm not coming out of a game looking behind me going, 'Oh, no.' "

The effectiveness of the relievers is usually linked to the way the manager uses them, and Hargrove has blended the Putz-Sherrill-Soriano mix to protect leads.

The best way to keep a bullpen sharp is for starters to go deep into games. That is an area where Seattle must be careful. The starters are averaging 5.9 innings per start. While that is slightly better than the league average of 5.8, it is not quite as good as league-leading Chicago (6.5), followed by Boston (6.25) and Detroit (6.1).

"One hand washes the other," Moyer said of the starter/reliever link. "Getting deeper into games saves the bullpen. Then when you need the bullpen, they are fresher and more able to pick you up.

"I don't know if a lot of people realize the importance of innings. As starters we have the responsibility to work as many as we can. The easiest way is to be pitching well; the less obvious way, when it's not going well, is to adjust and find a way to stay out there."

One problem has been that Seattle starters seem to run long counts too often. That they lead the league with 171 strikeouts is not necessarily a plus, since that means throwing a lot of pitches.

"It seems our problems have mostly been in the first two innings, eating up 20 to 30 pitches in each, in too many games," Hargrove said. "Fifteen is the norm, and the more under that you can be, the better. After those early-inning troubles, we settle down and go to 10 to 15 pitches innings a lot of times."

In the area of pitch selection and the way it might lead to higher pitch counts, there apparently will be a constant focus on the Mariners' new catcher, Kenji Johjima.

It stands to reason that although there are mixed ratings on Johjima, he can't be doing too badly his first time around the league. The team ERA and the starters' ERA, in particular, are acceptable.

There seems to be an undercurrent of concern that Johjima still uses more of a Japanese style, in which offspeed pitches are featured equally with fastballs, if not more so.

It was most noticeable with Felix Hernandez in his first few starts.

"This is a kid who throws 97 [mph], with movement," one scout said. "Why is he throwing the No. 8 hitter a change, curve, change? With his stuff, he can blow guys away. It's the best way, if you can do it. And he can do it."

But Hargrove countered: "It's not that we necessarily need more fastballs, but that we need to pitch ahead [in the count] more."

Pitching coach Rafael Chaves, who preached reliance on a two-seam fastball for quicker outs in camp, has not seen a problem with the balance of power/offspeed pitches.

"I'm seeing enough fastballs, enough two-seamers. We'll continue to emphasize it," Chaves said. "Overall, they're throwing enough fastballs. You can't overdo them, but you must pitch according to the situation. At times the situation is for a fastball; other times it calls for other pitches.

"You always wish the number of pitches was less — that's behind the whole idea of getting deeper into games, best for everyone, best for the team. We've had too many games where the starter has been only five, six innings. But on the other hand, there haven't been any at two, three innings and that's important; two or three games like that in a week can crush a staff, put a bullpen back for a long time."

Chaves rates this as an acceptable start for his pitching staff.

"For the most part the starters are holding us in games, and for the most part the bullpen has done its job," he said. "You're never satisfied, but I'm pleased with the effort."

Bob Finnigan: 206-464-8276 or bfinnigan@seattletimes.com

ERA: 3.45 W-L: 0-2 Ks: 21

ERA: 3.51 W-L: 2-3 Ks: 18

ERA: 4.97 W-L: 2-2 Ks: 17

ERA: 5.06 W-L: 1-1 Ks: 17

ERA: 4.57 W-L: 0-3 Ks: 26

Not bad, for starters
Starting pitching was thought to be a weakness for the Mariners coming into the season. But the Mariners' 9-14 start is more a failing of the team's offense. Seattle starters haven't been spectacular, but they haven't been bad, either, with a 4.21 earned-run average that is fourth-best in the American League.
Pitcher	G	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	W-L	ERA
Jamie Moyer	5	31.1	36	12	8	21	0-2	3.45
Joel Pineiro	5	29.0	32	16	11	17	2-2	4.97
Jarrod Washburn	5	33.1	27	13	6	18	2-3	3.51
Gil Meche	4	21.1	25	12	10	17	1-1	5.06
Felix Hernandez	4	21.2	21	11	10	26	0-3	4.57
Totals	23	136.2	141	64	45	99	5-11	4.21