M's end seven-game losing streak with 7-5 win over Oakland

The idea of using more than two left-handed pitchers at a time in a starting rotation is all but unheard of at the major-league level.

For one thing, southpaws are a rare commodity. There is also a belief that sending lefties to the mound on consecutive days can give hitters too much time to get comfortable facing them.

That isn't the case this weekend, a victory of sorts for those told as children that they were doing something wrong if their fork or pencil was picked up left-handed.

The Mariners, who snapped a seven-game losing streak by defeating the Oakland Athletics, 7-5, on Friday night, are in the midst of starting three straight lefties for the first time since 1999.

Not to be outdone, the visiting A's have revamped their injury-plagued five-man rotation entirely with southpaws. The result is what A's reliever Alan Embree termed an "alien invasion" that will see left-handed Oakland starters in all four games of this series at Safeco Field.

"I personally don't think it should make a difference," Mariners manager Jim Riggleman said. "You're either going to pitch good, or you're not."

Lefties do tend to make a difference. Especially in countering the lefty power hitters that teams like to load up on.

The reason is largely one of optical illusion. Often, the breaking pitches thrown by southpaws seem to start off heading straight toward a lefty hitter. But at the last second, they will break away from the batter and drop down into the strike zone.

It can be an intimidating and uncomfortable feeling for a lefty hitter to try to overcome. And some never do adjust.

The latest Mariners lefty to start, Ryan Feierabend, held the A's to just a solo home run by Rajai Davis during his five innings Friday in front of 26,603. Seattle scored four in the fourth off A's southpaw Gio Gonzalez, with Miguel Cairo capping the rally with a suicide-squeeze bunt that brought Jeff Clement scampering home.

The A's scored four in the sixth to go up 5-4 after reliever Sean Green hit the first two batters of the inning. But Ichiro tied it with a ground out off reliever Jerry Blevins in the bottom of the frame, and an RBI single by Jose Lopez in the seventh, followed by Clement's second run-scoring double of the game, put the Mariners ahead to stay.

"I think it's all mental for me," said Feierabend, who took a no-decision in his second start since being called up from Class AAA last week. "If I go out there and have confidence I'm going to get guys out, it's going to happen for me."

One might think right-handed hitters would have as tough of a time facing righty pitching. But for whatever reason, southpaw pitchers have an easier time dominating lefty hitters.

"The only thing I can think of is the infrequency that the hitters face us," said Mariners lefty Jarrod Washburn, who starts today. "I mean, there aren't that many of us around the game. So if you see us less often, you have less time to get used to us."

The Mariners made a point in spring training of slotting Washburn as the No. 4 starter instead of fifth so that No. 1 hurler and fellow lefty Erik Bedard wouldn't have to follow him to the mound.

Lefty Ryan Rowland-Smith, who held the A's to a run over seven innings in a loss Thursday, began his baseball career in Australia as a catcher. But he switched to pitching when he learned that lefty catchers were unheard of in U.S. baseball, because of how the mostly-right-handed hitters would impede their throws.

"I had no idea being left-handed in baseball was such a big deal until I got over here," he said.

The Mariners, in theory, could have four lefty starters in the rotation next season if Rowland-Smith and Feierabend both pan out, Bedard gets healthy and Washburn isn't traded.

The comfort level shown by hitters as this series progresses might give an indication as to whether such a plan would hold up to reality.

Notes

• Riggleman kept reliever Green out on the mound longer than usual while making a pitching change in the sixth. "I thought Greenie was a little upset that I took him out of the game," Riggleman said of Green, who hit the first two batters he faced, then yielded two singles. "I told him, 'This is not the time to be upset with me.' "

Riggleman then told Green if he wanted more mound time, he'd have to pitch better.

• Bedard (shoulder) made between 40 and 50 throws on Wednesday from a distance of 80 feet. Riggleman termed it "a good day" but could not say when Bedard would be able to throw his long-awaited bullpen session.

• The Mariners revamped their lineup Friday, moving Yuniesky Betancourt up to the No. 2 slot, making Raul Ibanez the cleanup hitter and batting Adrian Beltre third.

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

For the record

Streak: W1

Home: 25-39

Road: 22-42

vs. AL West: 15-21

vs. L.A.: 4-7

vs. Oakland: 5-6

vs. Texas: 6-8

vs. AL East: 13-28

vs. AL Cent.: 10-23

vs. NL: 9-9

vs. LHP: 13-26

vs. RHP: 34-55

Day: 13-28

Night: 34-53

One-run: 13-24

Extra inn.: 3-7

Home attendance

Friday's crowd: 26,603

Season total: 1,869,798

Biggest crowd: 46,334 (March 31)

Smallest crowd: 15,818 (May 6)

Average (64 dates): 29,216

2007 average (64 dates): 33,233