Sexson's walk-off HR cheers up M's

One mystery was solved for Richie Sexson as the hometown fans erupted around him with unbridled warmth after the deepest of freezes.

Sexson finally discovered what he'd done with his missing stroke at Safeco Field. He used it twice on Monday night to drive in three runs for the victorious Mariners, the second time resulting in a walkoff solo home run in the ninth inning that unleashed all the pent-up love from the stands.

But well after Sexson's team capped this dramatic 4-3 win over the Minnesota Twins, the embattled first baseman talked about another mystery. The one he says he and teammates have pondered in the clubhouse — why Seattle fans have become so demanding and quick to boo mistakes.

"It's just a mystery; we don't get it," Sexson said, adding that he and his teammates are more mystified than bothered by the continued jeers for a team finally contending. "That's the thing. We don't understand where it's coming from because we've got a bunch of guys in here that bust their tails to win games.

"There's going to be mistakes on the baseball field and I promise you, none of them are mental. They're all physical mistakes. Guys are trying to play hard, and sometimes things don't go right."

Things hadn't been going right at all for Sexson at home until his two-run double in the first inning and game-winning blast off Twins reliever Matt Guerrier in the ninth. Sexson had gone 2 for 25 on the team's last homestand, before manager John McLaren benched him the final two contests to avoid magnifying a negative situation even further.

The crowd of 37,902 at Monday's game did get on Sexson somewhat after a pair of strikeouts in the fourth and sixth innings. But the loudest boos on the night were reserved for new relief pitcher John Parrish, who allowed two runs in a shaky-looking seventh that cost starting pitcher Felix Hernandez a shot at victory.

Hernandez had a 3-1 lead on the Twins and Venezuelan countryman Johan Santana when pulled after the sixth. After the Twins tied the score on a Joe Mauer double to left off Sean Green in the seventh, the Mariners used closer J.J. Putz to toss a scoreless ninth and set the stage for the drama to come.

Sexson had nearly homered off Santana on the first pitch he saw in the first inning, a blast that hung up in the night air and struck the wall in left-center. In the ninth, he again wasted little time, drilling a 1-0 pitch from Guerrier to roughly the same spot with little doubt this time.

"I haven't heard cheers here for a long time, so it was nice," Sexson said.

Teammates leaped out of the dugout and mobbed Sexson at home plate in as wild a celebration as they've had all year. Their sixth win in seven tries left the Mariners tied with the New York Yankees for the AL wild-card lead and moved them within three games of the AL West-leading Los Angeles Angels.

Perhaps the winning and the raised expectations of fans are behind what Sexson describes as "a little bit of a negative vibe" that is "typically not how Seattle rolls."

He seemed to allude to that possibility — and perhaps solve some of the mystery — when describing his own plight, agreeing that he has borne the brunt of fan frustration despite the team being 16 games over .500 for the first time in four years.

"I've dug my own grave this year with the fans," Sexson readily admitted. "I think they're just booing me because they want me to be good. I don't think it's a stab against my personality or my work ethic or anything. They just want me to be good, so that's the way it goes."

McLaren rolled out a creative-looking lineup in order to get rookie Adam Jones a start in left field, while still playing the hot bats of previous boobird targets Raul Ibanez and Jose Vidro.

Vidro started at second base, a move that looked questionable when his first-inning fielding error on a routine grounder forced Hernandez to throw 11 extra pitches. But Vidro responded at the plate with three singles, one ahead of Sexson's double in the first and another in the fifth to drive in a third Mariners run.

A smiling Vidro said it was no coincidence the game-ending celebration around Sexson looked more spirited than usual.

"We were happy to win the ballgame, but we were also happier for him, too," Vidro said. "He's swinging at pitches now and he's not missing them."

McLaren saw plenty of his moves go right in this game. Ibanez hit an important, two-out single to bring Sexson to the plate for his first-inning double. Willie Bloomquist played a slick-handed third base in place of Adrian Beltre — who got the night off — while Putz emerged with the win in a non-closing situation.

But sticking with Sexson may provide McLaren with his biggest payoff to come.

"He can carry this club," McLaren said. "We've talked about it. The man can carry this club by himself. He came off a good road trip, started the homestand great. A month and a half left, I'd like to see a lot more of that."

Geoff Baker: 206-464-8286 or gbaker@seattletimes.com.

Read his daily blog at www.seattletimes.com/Mariners