Notebook | Fatigue hampers Mariners starter Washburn

NEW YORK — A better effort from Mariners starter Jarrod Washburn on Sunday afternoon may not have been that at all.

Working on just three days of rest, the left-hander allowed only two runs over six innings against the New York Yankees. It looked a whole lot better than the nine he'd given up in just 2-1/3 frames at Detroit last week.

But that's not what Washburn told backup catcher Jamie Burke between innings.

"I said, 'This is how stupid this game is becoming,' " Washburn said. "Because I had way better stuff [in Detroit] than I did today."

But it was good enough to position Washburn for the win — until his bullpen gave up four runs in the eighth inning on the way to a 6-5 loss.

Washburn was working with regular catcher Kenji Johjima in this one. He allowed only four hits, but walked three and needed some defense from Richie Sexson and Adrian Beltre and some timely double plays to escape a few jams.

By the end of the 94-pitch outing, he was feeling the strain of the short rest.

"I was definitely a little fatigued out there," he said.

Washburn's team is looking a little fatigued as it stumbles along with the worst record in the major leagues at 18-33.

Back in 2002, his Anaheim Angels squad was only 6-14 at one point before rallying to win 99 games and the World Series. Washburn was asked about clubhouse leaders and the differences in that regard between this year's Mariners team and the Angels championship squad of six years ago.

"In 2002, there wasn't anyone running around the clubhouse saying, 'Hey you! You've got to play better!' " he said. "If someone was here, yelling and screaming ... it wouldn't do us any good."

Washburn insisted, as Raul Ibanez did on Sunday, that players are being told if they need to do something differently.

"When something needs to be said in this clubhouse, it gets said," Washburn said.

Washburn admits there may have been more vocal leaders with the Angels. But the main reason they began winning, he said, was the team got on a roll — players felt confident and expected to win.

"Everything seemed to click and come together," he said. "We just need to click and get consistent in all areas of the game and do all areas well."

On Saturday, general manager Bill Bavasi blasted the players for not executing in key situations, or holding each other accountable for it in the clubhouse. Bavasi decried an overall lack of clubhouse leadership and insisted more players needed to get in each others' faces about this type of play.

As Washburn did, Bavasi pointed to little things that the team needs to do better. He mentioned specific situations, such as stranding runners who make it to third before there are two outs.

The same missed opportunities haunted the Mariners on Sunday. With one out and the bases loaded in the fourth inning — two runs already in — Jose Lopez hit into a bizarre 3-2-6 double play in which his line drive struck first baseman Shelley Duncan in the chest.

Duncan recovered and threw home for the force-out. Yankees catcher Jose Molina then threw to second base to nab Ichiro — who had lunged to avoid the liner at first base and was slow in advancing to second.

"We really needed to get more runs out of it than that," Mariners manager John McLaren said.

Notes

• Mariners reliever Brandon Morrow could soon be on the Joba Chamberlain career path to become a starter. Chamberlain is the celebrated Yankees reliever who is being allowed to work longer in games to build up arm strength.

Once he reaches about 70 pitches in an outing, the Yankees will look to add him to the rotation.

Chamberlain was a starter in the minor leagues. Morrow was drafted as one out of college with Seattle's first-round pick in 2006 and never played minor-league ball before the Mariners added him to the bullpen.

"We have thought about it but haven't come to a conclusion yet," McLaren said. "That's a possibility, yes."

McLaren added: "We look at him as a starter in the future and have been discussing when would be a good time to do it and how we could do it. It's in the talking stage right now."

It's been widely assumed the team would send Morrow to Class AAA to begin developing as a starter once the Mariners fall out of contention — which they've all but done already.

But McLaren said that might not be the case.

"There are a couple of schools of thought," McLaren said. "That he could be like Chamberlain and work on it here."

That would involve leaving Morrow in Seattle's bullpen — where he has posted a 1.64 earned-run average in 15 outings so far — as the season moves forward.

• Johnny Damon stole third base in the third inning with Washburn on the mound. It marked the first time in 121-2/3 innings that anyone had stolen a base with Washburn pitching.

• The Mariners went winless in their final eight games at Yankee Stadium, including 0-6 this year. They are 5-17 at this ballpark and 14-27 overall against the Yankees since the start of the 2004 season.

• Jose Vidro drove in a pair of runs with a single in the seventh inning. Vidro has hit in eight of the last nine games and is 13 for 34 (.382) over that stretch.

• Derek Jeter snapped an 0-for-18 slump with an RBI double in the third.

For the record

Streak: L6

Home: 11-13

Road: 7-20

vs. AL West: 10-11

vs. L.A.: 3-3

vs. Oakland: 3-2

vs. Texas: 4-6

vs. AL East: 3-13

vs. AL Central: 3-8

vs. NL: 2-1

vs. LHP: 4-10

vs. RHP: 14-23

Day: 6-10

Night: 12-23

One-run: 3-10

Extra innings: 1-2