PEORIA, Ariz.– Six games into a spring losing streak, Don Wakamatsu called his Seattle Mariners together on a practice field Saturday and asked them for one thing.
Focus.
“He told us to get serious, get more focused, because opening day is close,” Felix Hernandez said. “I tried to throw good today, to set the tone.
“I tried to be Felix, think strikes and keep my mechanics together. When you’ve lost six in a row, you want to step up and win a game. This is my team – we needed it.”
The Mariners don’t particularly care that they’re 6-10-1 this spring, although as Wakamatsu said “nobody wants to lose.” What the manager and his staff were concerned about was a lack of attention.
In Friday’s 6-2 loss to Cincinnati, for instance, veteran shortstop Jack Wilson ended the game by being doubled off first base on a fly ball because he didn’t know how many outs there were.
“I didn’t mention any names,” Wakamatsu said. “I just talked about the need to buckle up a little. It’s time. It didn’t hurt that I knew Felix was pitching today.”
As far as the Mariners are concerned, that never hurts.
The staff ace who went 19-5 last season turns 24 the day before Seattle’s April 5 opener. He came to camp this spring with a new sense of responsibility, and in a game against Arizona without real meaning Saturday, he reminded anyone who watched just what a force he can be.
Five scoreless innings, two hits, one walk and two strikeouts. Hernandez was so effective he had to go back to the bullpen once he was removed from the game to throw more pitches.
“I wanted to throw between 70-75 pitches and threw 61 in the game, so I went down to the bullpen and threw 15 more,” Hernandez said. “Rick (Adair) told me to work out of the stretch because I hadn’t had to all game.”
Hernandez initially tried to talk the pitching coach into leaving him in the game.
“I told him I wanted one more inning,” Hernandez said. “He said, ‘That’s OK.’ ”
Good as Hernandez was in Seattle’s 4-0 victory, his teammates made his job easier by scoring three runs for him and making some superb defensive plays. The first opened the game, when Diamondbacks shortstop Stephen Drew lined a pitch down the left-field line – and Eric Byrnes made a diving catch to rob him of extra bases.
“Byrnes, that was unbelievable,” Hernandez said. “(Matt) Tuiasosopo, (Franklin) Gutierrez, (Josh) Wilson, they all made plays behind me. It’s good to have a good defense.”
Someone asked Hernandez if he felt he had to pitch well a day after learning that No. 2 starter Cliff Lee was going to miss time with an injury.
“I hope Cliff comes back soon. He’s a very good pitcher. But it’s not a 1-2 punch, it’s not just two guys, it’s the whole team. I like this team,” he said.
“I’m going to try to be better this year. It won’t be easy. I’ll figure out what I have to do and do it.”
“We’ve seen it in his bullpen (sessions), how advanced he is this spring,” Wakamatsu said. “(Ken Griffey) Junior got on me for calling a short meeting on the day Felix pitched. I told him, ‘I’m not stupid.’”
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