Watson Schools M’S Lefty’s Easy Victory Appears Elementary

About the seventh inning Saturday, the Seattle Mariners began wondering whatever happened to Allen Watson.

They’d watched a little pregame videotape of his recent starts, but the Anaheim Angels left-hander they expected to face had allowed American League hitters a .306 batting average this season - and in one jarring little relief appearance, he’d seen the Mariners go 4 for 4 against him.

The scouting report was simple. Watson wasn’t overpowering, but along with an 88-mph fastball, he had a couple of changeups and a breaking pitch that was rated average.

Along about the seventh inning, when Watson had retired 18 consecutive Mariners, two things were obvious in the Kingdome.

Watson’s earned-run average of 5.62 was going down - and so was Seattle.

The best game of his career and one of the Mariners’ uglier innings of the season pushed Watson and the Angels past Seattle, 6-1, and pulled Anaheim back to within 4-1/2 games of the Mariners in the A.L. West.

“There was no magic to it,” manager Lou Piniella said. “We had two scoring chances, one in the first inning, one in the ninth inning. Give their pitcher credit, we just didn’t hit the ball.”

So the return of Ken Griffey Jr. to the Mariners lineup - he started as the designated hitter - resulted in the worst offensive production of the homestand. Worse yet, it weakened the Mariners defense by putting Edgar Martinez at first base.

In the Angels’ seventh inning, Seattle gave up an unorthodox rally in which Anaheim runners stole four bases. One run scored twice on RBI singles, one on a wild pitch, another on a steal of home during which Martinez threw wildly to the plate for an error.

“Let’s face it,” Piniella said. “The more we can keep Edgar off the field, the better we are. But with Junior’s hamstring, we wanted to DH him at least one game to see how he feels the day after he plays.”

If Piniella was unhappy with his defense at first base - a risk he took knowingly - he was even less pleased with reliever Greg McCarthy, who inherited a 3-0 game in the seventh inning with two of starter Derek Lowe’s runners on base and two outs.

Before McCarthy got the third out, it was 6-0.

Against Watson a few times this year, that might not have been enough. This time, he had a secret weapon no one in the crowd of 38,750 knew about.

He was sick.

It’s an approach he’s been working up to. Two starts ago, he came out in the fourth inning with the flu. Last time out, he went six innings and felt a “pop” in his left shoulder. Before the game Saturday, he was sick to his stomach.

“Maybe I should get sick all the time before my games,” Watson said.

In his first 100 career starts, Watson had never shut out a big-league team - never even taken a shutout into the ninth inning. But after working around an Alex Rodriguez double and a walk to Martinez in the first inning, Watson allowed only one other baserunner until the ninth.

As Watson rolled through the Seattle lineup, Lowe kept it close. The Angels scored once in the third after loading the bases, and the rookie right-hander gave up a solo home run to Luis Alicea in the fifth inning that made it 2-0.

Into the seventh, that’s where he’d kept it.

“I’ve pitched worse, I’ve pitched better, but I knew if I could hold them to two runs we could come back,” Lowe said.

Lowe had thrown Garret Anderson a couple of up-and-in fastballs earlier in the game and retired him twice. When he went back to that pitch to open the seventh inning, Anderson doubled and one out later, Alicea singled him home.

From there, the inning and the game slid away quickly. McCarthy came in with two outs and two on - and wild-pitched home a run before hitting a batter. After an infield single scored another run, McCarthy tried to pick Darin Erstad off first base.

When he did so, the runner at third base, Tony Phillips, broke for the plate. Martinez threw home - wide right - and Phillips scored easily.

Watson took that 6-0 lead into the ninth inning, then walked Joey Cora and gave up a single to Rodriguez on his 117th pitch. Angels manager Terry Collins turned the game over to closer Troy Percival.

Griffey struck out, but after Percival wild-pitched the runners up a base, Martinez broke up the shutout with a sacrifice fly.

Notes

Watching a taped replay of the Evander Holyfield-Mike Tyson fight after the game, manager Lou Piniella couldn’t hide his outrage. “I’ve never seen anything like that in my life,” Piniella said. “They ought to hold Tyson’s purse. That’s crazy.” … Until starting consecutive games Friday and Saturday, Mike Blowers had six at-bats this month. … Umpires aren’t supposed to go into clubhouses before the game to request autographs, but they do. Before the game Saturday, Tim McClelland took a baseball into the Seattle locker room and had Alex Rodriguez brought out of the weight room to sign it. … Rodriguez’s first-inning double extended his hitting streak to 11 games. … Final game of the series with Anaheim is today at 1:35 p.m., with Dennis Springer (4-2, 5.82) matched against Randy Johnson (11-2, 2.33).

Angels 6, Mariners 1

Anaheim AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Phillips lf 4 1 1 0 1 0 .287 Erstad 1b 3 1 0 0 1 0 .293 Hollins 3b 4 0 3 2 0 1 .298 Edmonds cf 5 0 0 0 0 0 .307 OPalmeiro cf 0 0 0 0 0 0 .243 Salmon rf 3 0 1 0 1 1 .286 GAnderson dh 4 1 1 0 0 1 .314 Kreuter c 4 0 0 0 0 1 .237 Alicea 2b 3 2 2 2 1 0 .290 Grebeck ss 4 1 1 0 0 0 .316 Totals 34 6 9 4 4 4 Seattle AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Cora 2b 3 1 0 0 1 0 .331 ARodriguez ss 4 0 2 0 0 0 .321 Griffey Jr dh 4 0 0 0 0 2 .312 EMartinez 1b 2 0 0 1 1 1 .337 Buhner rf 4 0 1 0 0 3 .242 Blowers lf 3 0 0 0 0 2 .236 DaWilson c 3 0 0 0 0 0 .273 Ducey cf 0 0 0 0 0 0 .250 RDavis 3b 3 0 0 0 0 0 .309 Amaral cf 3 0 0 0 0 0 .252 Marzano c 0 0 0 0 0 0 .265 Totals 29 1 3 1 2 8 Anaheim 001 010 400 - 6 Seattle 000 000 001 - 1 E-EMartinez (1). LOB-Anaheim 7, Seattle 4. 2B-GAnderson (10), ARodriguez (22). HR-Alicea (3) off Lowe. RBIs-Hollins 2 (42), Alicea 2 (23), EMartinez (58). SB-Phillips 2 (10), Alicea 2 (11). CS-Salmon (4). SF- Hollins, EMartinez.

Runners left in scoring position-Anaheim 2 (Edmonds 2); Seattle 2 (Buhner 2).

Runners moved up-Kreuter.

Anaheim IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Watson W,7-4 8 3 1 1 2 6 117 5.22 Percival 1 0 0 0 0 2 16 3.38 Seattle IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Lowe L,23 6-2/3 6 5 5 3 3 101 5.86 McCarthy 1-1/3 1 1 0 1 1 31 3.60 BWells 1 2 0 0 0 0 21 7.62 Watson pitched to 2 batters in the 9th.

Inherited runners-scored-Percival 2-1, McCarthy 2-2.

IBB-off Lowe (Phillips) 1. HBP-by McCarthy (Erstad). WP-Percival, McCarthy.

T-2:46. A-38,750 (59,084).