John Blanchette:More than just a win: M’s get inspiration

SEATTLE – After a sixth consecutive loss the other night, Seattle Mariners manager Mike Hargrove eschewed his usual media debriefing and called a team meeting instead.

Which was probably for the best.

The media are starting to tune him out.

Only kidding. We eagerly await any exchange of ideas with the skipper. Since he isn’t into cap-kicking or crawling on his belly and hurling the rosin bag like a grenade, it’s the only time we can check to make sure he has a pulse.

Though we still couldn’t be sure Wednesday, since he claimed the recent slide – actually it was more like a sack of toasters hurtling down the stairs – didn’t have him out of sorts.

“I wasn’t frustrated,” he said of loss No. 6. “I wasn’t upset or mad.”

Serenity now.

But Manager Hot Seat isn’t taking cover behind rationalizations or perspective, either.

“In March, what if you had said, ‘If you had this record at this time, would you take it?’ ” Hargrove said. “Well, that’s kind of a cheap way to go.

“It’s a good ballclub. It’s going to play better and we’re going to get this thing stopped.”

At which point we checked the lineup card and noticed that it was Jeff Weaver being called upon to do the stoppage.

So we all went out and filled up our gas tanks for 10 bucks, picked the perfect six numbers in the lottery and wooed Angelina away from Brad – or Brad from Angelina, if you prefer. Because all those things were more likely to happen than Jeff Weaver putting the brakes to a Mariners losing streak.

Now, yes, he did indeed end it – 7-0 over the Pittsburgh Pirates at Safeco Field on Wednesday.

But we’re still waiting for them to put in Jeff Weaver.

The guy who shut out the Pirates on four hits, who retired 16 straight batters at one point, who blazed through nine innings in 109 pitches and a shade over two hours was someone altogether different – different from the human batting tee who lost his first six starts of the season, usually in the first inning.

The one certainty about the 2007 Seattle Mariners is that something unlikely was going to have to happen to make them legit – truly legit – as a playoff team.

We’ll put it to you: Is there anything more unlikely than Jeff Weaver, streak stopper?

So it’s happened.

Question is, will the M’s?

They have a 12-game homestand to prove it, first against the bottom feeders of baseball, then against the killer whale. And if the start of it on Tuesday wasn’t too inspiring, then the day after suggested a team-wide B-12 shot.

Sure, the M’s beat up on a guy – Paul Maholm – who’s already lost 10 games. But there was pop in their bats. They took the extra base. They turned Pirate base hits into outs, and pressured the Pirates into ugly mistakes.

Maybe it was the team meeting Tuesday night, maybe it was Hargrove’s shakeup of the batting order – that would be Richie Sexson and Jose Vidro hitting seventh and eighth. Maybe it was the first good night’s sleep at home.

“I think we had more energy on field,” said Ibanez, who socked a 462-foot home run. “That was mentioned a little bit (in the meeting). Our club responded. There was more aggression in our play.”

Or maybe it was the sheer inspiration of watching a teammate crawl out of competitive hell.

When Weaver was sent out to finish his shutout in the ninth inning – to a standing ovation, from those fans who weren’t stupidly streaming up the aisles – and ran into some trouble, it was obvious that the Mariners were digging deeper to help him through. Ibanez maniacally chased down a double in the left-field corner to save a run. Adrian Beltre made a basket catch of a foul pop at the wall that just as easily could have dropped.

“When a guy’s pitching his heart out,” said Ibanez, “you’re trying to do everything you can.”

It will take some time before the boos of April and May stop ringing in Weaver’s ears, and he graciously veered away from any neener-neeners – knowing all too well that humility may only be a start away.

“I was glad to be able to show them what I’m capable of doing,” he said. “Hopefully, we can gain a little momentum from top to bottom and keep it going.”

But elsewhere in the M’s clubhouse, it was clear that ending the team’s losing streak was, for this day only, secondary to ending Weaver’s public humiliations.

“When things were going bad and I mean really bad – I can’t think of anyone things have gone worse for in a long, long time,” said Hargrove, “even then, he was encouraging teammates, he was giving good information in meetings, he was working his rear off. To be able to go out and turn the fans around like he did tonight is a real special thing that you don’t get to see very often.

“I’m a pretty emotional person anyway. I think the people who know me understand that. People who watch on TV and see me in the dugout wouldn’t think that. But I had a big lump in my throat from about the seventh inning on.”

OK, so he has a pulse. Maybe the Mariners still do, too.