Mariners win opener at Minnesota, 6-1

MINNEAPOLIS — This blueprint to victory for the Mariners was mapped out by their clubhouse and franchise leader weeks before ever taking the Metrodome field.

Thousands of miles and dozens of spring-training innings ago, Ken Griffey Jr. sat at a podium in Arizona and proclaimed that his return to Seattle was about doing the little things right. He refused to dwell on career home runs or his power potential, despite the fact that his 612th career long ball on Monday night demonstrated he still has some clout left.

But anyone who actually listened to Griffey at that introductory February news conference heard about moving runners over, hitting sacrifice flies and doing anything it takes to win. And it was Griffey who did just that early in his team's season-opening 6-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins, moving the lead runner ahead to third base with a grounder to the right side that helped Seattle score its first run.

"I came up as a second hitter, so those are the things that I had to do," Griffey said in a noisy clubhouse after the Mariners had given ace pitcher Felix Hernandez something to show for his eight gutsy innings on the mound. "My dad was a second hitter, so I just learned by example.

"You're going to get your base hits, but the key is to be able to get the guy 90 feet closer. I know what I'm supposed to do when I go up there. I don't need a third-base coach, a hitting coach or a manager. My job is to get him over and I was able to do that. The next guy made it easy."

That first run of the game, after Adrian Beltre led the second inning off with a double, came courtesy of that Griffey grounder and a sacrifice fly by Jose Lopez. It was a small-ball approach that manager Don Wakamatsu had preached all spring, only this time it helped silence a sold-out crowd of 48,514 early on until the Mariners found their road legs.

Griffey's homer in the fifth, his first for the Mariners in nine years, coupled with a two-run blast in the sixth by Franklin Gutierrez, gave Hernandez breathing room in a brilliant mound duel. Hernandez struck out six batters and did everything he was supposed to and more, most of it after twisting his ankle in the first inning chasing down a chopper.

Lopez drove in two more runs on a ninth-inning single.

"Griffey did the job today and I did mine," Lopez said. "If Griffey moves the runner over, I've got to get him in no matter what."

Lopez watched his teammates douse Wakamatsu and new general manager Jack Zduriencik with a postgame beer shower, then hand both a bottle of Dom Perignon signed by the squad.

The feeling inside the clubhouse was markedly different from the end of 2008. But Lopez said that feeling began in spring training, when players constantly talked about the need to pick each other up on the field.

"We had meetings every day," he said. "When we'd go stretch, everybody would say, 'Do the little things to win today, guys. No matter what, even if it's by one run. Do the little things.' And that's what we did today."

With Hernandez hobbling in pain throughout, it became clear that runs would be critical. Especially the way Twins starter Francisco Liriano was throwing, looking every bit his vintage 2006 self as he mowed down nine Mariners in a row.

But then Griffey stepped up in the fifth and launched a pitch over the right-field wall. The blast was Griffey's eighth on opening day and tied Frank Robinson — godfather to his son, Tevin — for first place on baseball's all-time list.

More important, the home run and earlier small ball by Griffey gave Hernandez just enough wiggle room to escape a bases-loaded, none-out jam in the fifth and emerge with the lead intact.

"It was exactly what Junior said," Wakamatsu said, referring to that February news conference. "Junior said he'd do whatever it takes for us to win and he did. He moved the guy over. Again, it's setting leadership by example. I think he did that."

For the record

Streak: W1

Home: 0-0

Road: 1-0

vs. AL West: 0-0

vs. L.A.: 0-0

vs. Oakland: 0-0

vs. Texas: 0-0

vs. AL East: 0-0

vs. AL Cent.: 1-0

vs. NL: 0-0

vs. LHP: 1-0

vs. RHP: 0-0

Day: 0-0

Night: 1-0

One-run: 0-0

Extra inn.: 0-0

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

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