M's get feel-good victory over White Sox, snap five-game skid

Before Sunday's game with the Chicago White Sox, Mariners manager John McLaren hosted a large throng of media in his office for 15 minutes, most of which was spent in a prolonged examination of the psyche of a team trying desperately to find itself. His willingness to engage in such extended self-flagellation was almost startling.

"There's some tension in the clubhouse," McLaren conceded. "When you've won 10 in a row, you can't wait to get to the ballpark. But when you've gone through a period like we've gone through, it's not a fun place to show up."

Well, the Mariners have now won one in a row, which may not be much, but it comes at a time when even that seemed a prospect of growing doubt. They banged out 13 hits and trumped the White Sox 6-3 in front of a chilled Mother's Day crowd of 30,346.

It might be a fleeting moment, but at least it lent a more upbeat feel to a clubhouse that has recently known only bad times. The M's had dropped five straight and 10 of 11.

"Somebody said this was the first time we've had a lead since Monday," said closer J.J. Putz. "That's a long time."

Seattle's offense actually looked big league for a day, after a siege of futility that was becoming epic. Remarkably, this was the first time this year that the M's came back and won a game after they trailed by two runs or more — after an 0-19 start in such games.

And it was just the second time since April 29 that the M's posted double-digit hits.

"I thought we responded very well," McLaren said afterward. "We hit the ball hard today, and we had some balls caught at the fence.

"We got behind in the first inning and kept our composure, and that's what we've got to do. This is going to be a battle, and as soon as we can start feeling good about ourselves, then we can start taking off."

Given the fecklessness of the hitters recently, this wasn't going to be a day in which Mariners pitching hogged the story line. But the Seattle bullpen was a solid sub-theme, giving up just one hit after it rescued struggling starter Miguel Batista in the sixth inning and with the game very much in question.

"Just being able to line up and match up how you want it is going to help," said Putz, whose rib injury has been one of the glitches that has slowed the bullpen's progress.

"That's how they envisioned it when they put the team together," said setup man Brandon Morrow, who ended the eighth inning with a flame-throwing strikeout of Jim Thome.

As much as the Mariners needed the late-inning work from Putz and Morrow, and before them, Arthur Rhodes and Sean Green, it was Batista's ability to wiggle out of a couple of potentially killing plights in the first and second innings that made their contributions relevant.

Batista allowed hits to the first three White Sox, and a fourth on a one-out double by A.J. Pierzynski, but got the final two outs of the first with runners on second and third.

In the second, with runners on first and third and one out, White Sox left fielder Carlos Quentin beat a tapper into the dirt. He cried foul ball, but plate umpire Brian Gorman ruled it fair, and it turned into a double play.

Meanwhile, the M's were having no trouble with right-hander Gavin Floyd, in what could have been an ominous matchup. Twice in 2008, Floyd has taken no-hitters into the eighth inning and beyond.

But he was never a puzzle, and when Raul Ibanez cranked a 3-0 fastball into the second deck for a two-run homer in the third, the lead was Seattle's for good.

Whether the Mariners can truly make it a momentum shift now depends largely on Erik Bedard and Felix Hernandez, who start the first two games of three at Texas.

"We're looking for a big series there, we really are," McLaren said. "We're going to keep these guys going, get ourselves out of a hole and get on a roll."

Bud Withers: 206-464-8281 or bwithers@seattletimes.com