Pressure, not power, will drive Mariners

OAKLAND, Calif. — Pressure.

The kind that makes pitchers think too much, makes defenses do things they don't want to do.

Pressure.

The kind that makes catchers crazy. Makes a walk as good as a triple. The kind that can win games without knocking down walls.

In the ninth inning of an opening night that was slip-sliding away from the Mariners, Chone Figgins cued a ground ball to third that looked like a harmless third out.

But Figgins was digging. He was forcing Kevin Kouzmanoff to make a perfect throw to escape the inning, and Kouzmanoff's hurried throw sailed wide. Figgins ducked under Daric Barton's sweep tag.

Speed kills.

Casey Kotchman, who a day earlier convinced manager Don Wakamatsu to bat him third instead of sixth, followed Figgins' lightning with a thunderous two-run single in a 5-3 Mariners win Monday.

The Mariners didn't hit, but they won. They beat Oakland with their legs, not their lumber. They managed just six hits, but manufactured just enough runs. They won with pressure.

It started early.

In his first plate appearance as a Mariner, Figgins worked Oakland starter Ben Sheets for a six-pitch walk. He stole second and went to third on catcher Kurt Suzuki's throwing error.

Get used to this. It's how the Mariners will score runs. It's how they will have to score runs.

Kotchman, also making his Mariners debut, followed Figgins' first-to-third first-inning sprint with a double in the gap. And before Felix Hernandez had thrown a pitch, he had a run.

The Mariners had put the early squeeze on Oakland with speed and daring from the top of the order. Blueprint baseball.

If the M's are going to challenge in the American League West, Ichiro and Figgins are going to have to be the Mariners' Kenny Lofton and Roberto Alomar, or their Johnny Damon and Derek Jeter.

The Mariners have so many question marks in their batting order that runs aren't going to come easily. They aren't built for the three-run home run. These aren't the Phillies.

The M's need to outrun teams, and to do that they need Ichiro and Figgins to be the 1-2 guarantee at the top of the order.

"They can put a lot of pressure on opposing teams," Wakamatsu said.

Ichiro led off the third with a single up the middle. He stole second on a 2-1 pitch. But he got over-aggressive, tried to steal third and was thrown out on ball four to Figgins.

The Go-Go M's want to play baseball like basketball. They want to speed up the game, put bodies in motion. They want to run like a Jamaican relay team.

So after Ichiro was thrown out in the third, Figgins applied more pressure. He stole second and went to third when Suzuki, Oakland's beleaguered catcher, air-mailed his throw into center field.

Suzuki had two throwing errors. The A's had four. That's what pressure does to a defense.

Figgins, who is the first Mariner to steal two bases on opening day, made it 3-0, scoring on Kotchman's shallow fly to left. He didn't get a hit in the game, but his legs were responsible in some way for four of the Mariners' five runs.

This win was an example of how important the top of the order will be for the power-starved Mariners.

In the past, the Mariners have had some dangerous 1-2 hitters — Harold Reynolds and Edgar Martinez; Reynolds and Ken Griffey Jr.; Joey Cora and Alex Rodriguez; Ichiro and Mike Cameron.

But Ichiro and Figgins might be the deadliest. And the most fun. And the most important. They have to work together for the Mariners to work.

They spent the spring learning each other's likes and dislikes. It was a hurry-up chemistry class that could be the difference between winning and losing for the Mariners this season.

Before Hernandez's first pitch, second baseman Figgins turned to right fielder Ichiro and the two exchanged bows. It was almost as if they were acknowledging that the success of the season depends on their communication.

Steve Kelley: 206-464-2176 or skelley@seattletimes.com.

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