The Mariners’ 2009 season is less than a week old, and yet I know a lot more about them today than I did before the first pitch was thrown Monday at Minnesota. For instance:

 • I knew that Franklin Gutierrez could roam center field. Listening to general manager Jack Zduriencik describe the Mariners’ main acquisition in a three-team trade last December, I figured Gutierrez had a chance to be Seattle’s best defensive center fielder since Mike Cameron.

What I didn’t know is that Gutierrez has a chance to be baseball’s best defensive center fielder since Willie Mays. (As he began his full-extension, no-chance-to-catch-the-ball dive Thursday for Alex Casilla’s line drive, I thought Gutierrez had gone Hollywood. But he made the astonishing look like part of his routine.)

 • I knew that Endy Chavez, also acquired in the December deal that cost the Mariners closer J.J. Putz, represented an additional improvement to the outfield defense.

What I didn’t know is how Chavez would challenge pop-ups presumed to be lost-cause fouls. In the opener, Chavez ran about a half-mile to make a play in front of the Twins’ bullpen. He was denied – he landed on his back – but if the same foul ball is hit in 2008, Raul Ibañez never even shows up on the TV screen.

 • I knew Chris Jakubauskas, the 29-year old reliever who’d spent most of his career in the independent leagues, earned a roster spot by pitching well in Arizona. I didn’t know Jakubauskas would take the mound against the Twins and pitch as though he’s belonged all along.

 • I knew that Brandon Morrow, the short-reliever-turned-starter-turned-closer, would need some repetitions in his role to reach consistency. I didn’t know he would morph, in a snap, from Wild Thing to Corner-Painting Control Artist.

Morrow looked as lost in the ninth inning Thursday as he did on Tuesday, walking the leadoff man on four pitches. Then he struck out Justin Morneau and Joe Crede on gorgeously positioned fastballs – one outside, one inside – before breaking Jason Kubel’s bat for the last out.

 • I knew Russell Branyan needed polish as a full-time first baseman. I didn’t know he’d make veteran first baseman Mike Sweeney look like an acrobat.

 • I knew that if he’s feeling OK, Felix Hernandez, who just turned 23, has the stuff to overpower any batter in any situation. I didn’t know he had maturity to persevere on an aching ankle, twisted in the first inning of the opener.

 • I knew team president Chuck Armstrong squashed plans last season to unload Jarrod Washburn on the New York Yankees. I didn’t know Armstrong’s meddling would be proven visionary.

Granted, Washburn’s success Thursday with his newfangled sinker does not qualify as overwhelming evidence the left-hander has reinvented himself. But considering how the Seattle staff combined for all of four shutouts in 2008, there are worse ways to begin the first week of the season than getting eight scoreless innings from the No. 4 starter.

 • I knew manager Don Wakamatsu likes to think outside of the box. I didn’t know he would abandon convention to the point he’d forfeit his designated hitter with a ninth-inning infield alignment designed to seize the moment on Thursday, and deal with the consequences of failing to seize the moment later.

 • Speaking of Wakamatsu: I knew he’d be candid. I didn’t know he’d identify two pitches Carlos Silva gave up for home runs the other night, both change-ups, as flawed decisions that underscored the importance of communicating from the dugout, to the catcher to the pitcher.

 • I knew Ken Griffey Jr. would relish the spotlight, and make his first appearance in a Mariners uniform since 1999 a thrill for those Mariners fans too young to have memories of Griffey in 1999. OK, I really did know he’d do something special, but still …

 • I knew the 2009 Mariners would be more interesting than the 2008 Mariners. In fact, my wish list for this team was as modest as a monk’s New Year’s Eve plans. Make it interesting. That’s all. Interesting.

I didn’t know they’d take interesting and turn it into thrilling, maddening, inspiring, frustrating and fascinating. A case could be made that Seattle’s 2-2 start is 4-0 if not for the last pitch emergency reliever Miguel Batista delivered on Tuesday and the two wheelhouse change-ups Silva tossed on Wednesday. Two defeats traced to three pitches, and just think: a mere stomach-turning 158 laps on the roller coaster remaining.

 • I knew the Mariners, hard-pressed to score in 2008 and beginning 2009 with Ichiro Suzuki on the disabled list, wouldn’t surprise anybody if they lost 90 times.

What I didn’t know is that the Mariners, whose resourceful lineup will be bolstered by the return of their All-Star leadoff hitter next week, should surprise nobody if they win 90 games.

John McGrath: 253-597-8742; ext. 6154

john.mcgrath@thenewstribune.com