Josh Wilson sparks Mariners to victory

CLEVELAND — The twists of baseball life are glaringly evident in the two new Mariners who ignited the team's latest bat display.

Josh Wilson and Bill Hall have a decade of professional experience each, but with vastly different futures lined up. Hall has a Mariners career there for the taking, while Wilson — who hit his third home run in eight days in a 9-4 win over the Cleveland Indians on Friday night — doesn't know what organization he'll be with a week from now.

Both are doing what they can to leave a mark.

"At this point, because of being relaxed and comfortable at the plate, I feel I'm in a much better position to go out there and let the chips fall where they may," said Wilson, who hit a solo homer off Indians starter David Huff in the fourth, then added a double his next at-bat. "I feel like I can go out there and compete at this level and do well. So if I can keep doing that, hopefully the Mariners will keep me around. ... But at the same time, in all my travels, I know nothing's guaranteed."

Next week's meal money isn't even secured for a player now with his ninth organization since breaking into professional baseball in 1999. Wilson is seen as strictly a glove man, and he was coming off a game Thursday in which two of his defensive plays earned recognition on an ESPN highlights package.

But his recent hitting spurt has seen him equal his previous major-league home run total. Wilson is hitting .323 with a .677 slugging percentage in 31 major-league at-bats that, few as they are, he's learned to cherish.

That's because, with rehabbing shortstop Jack Wilson due back Sunday or Monday, the suitcase in Josh Wilson's hotel room must always stay packed.

"Jack's going to be our shortstop," Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said after Wilson, Jose Lopez and Russell Branyan added three more homers to a Seattle attack that produced four the previous game.

Wakamatsu quickly added: "Josh right now, I don't know if you could ask for any more out of him. He's got a couple more games to play yet, and we'll see."

On the other side of the equation sits Hall, who had spent his entire pro career since 1998 with the Brewers organization before this week's trade. Hall has guaranteed himself career earnings of nearly $25 million, while Wilson has never made more than $420,000 in any season.

And even though Hall has flirted with .200 hitting the past two seasons, the Mariners are going to keep on playing him. They put him in left field on Friday, and he singled in his first at-bat to drive in Mike Sweeney for a 1-0 lead.

One inning later, Hall collected a sacrifice fly for his second RBI to hand starter Luke French a 3-1 lead he'd hold through six innings before departing with a 7-3 advantage.

Hall later doubled and chased down a number of balls hit to left. He said the single in his first at-bat eased the pressure.

"I hadn't played in a week, week and a half, so I was worried about how my timing was going to be," he said. "But obviously, getting a hit in your first AB and an RBI, just kind of made me forget about timing ... forget what I'd been working on and just look at the ball to hit it."

Hall had 35 homers and 101 RBI in 2006. That leads to raised expectations and opportunities, the kind players like Wilson seldom experience in a business that's all about timing and seizing your moment.

Wakamatsu noted the professionalism Hall showed in running out a routine grounder.

"It's important at this level," Wakamatsu said. "It's important for your teammates to see how you're going to play."

They'll see it again today when Hall gets thrown back in there, this time at third base. Wilson will be in at shortstop again. But both will be playing with entirely different objectives.

In Hall's case, it's to reignite the career so many still believe he can have. For Wilson, it's to finally get his major-league career launched, wherever that winds up happening.

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