Ichiro's milestone sparks Seattle

SEATTLE -- Before hosting the Phillies on Tuesday night, Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said his team's just-completed six-game road trip through the humid climes of the Eastern seaboard had him convinced that the Mariners were playing better baseball.
They proved him correct on their return to crisp, spring-like Seattle, getting a cool, collected performance from starter Gil Meche, and generating just enough offense to score a quick and efficient 3-1 win before 26,818 fans in Safeco Field.

While taking two out of three against the Florida Marlins in muggy Miami, and getting swept by the torrid Washington Nationals in our nation's cooker of a capital last week, Hargrove noticed that a timely hit here, and a break or two there could have swung a few games in Seattle's favor.

He also noticed how unbelievably uncomfortable his players and coaches were in the stifling conditions.

But the haze of heat lifted when the team touched down in the Pacific Northwest and Meche's arm came alive.

The right-hander didn't give up a hit until there were two out in the fourth inning, and gave up three hits in his eight innings of work. After giving up the Phillies' only run, on a Jim Thome single in the fourth, Meche retired 13 of the next 15 batters.

Meche permitted just two Phillies to reach second base all night.

Eddie Guardado pitched a scoreless ninth for his 18th save, and the result was one of the Mariners' quickest dispatches of an opponent all year: two hours, four minutes.

"That, probably, is as good as I've seen him," Hargrove said of Meche. "He seemed to get into a rhythm, and settled in."

Hargrove said Meche appeared to be laboring deliberately in the early going while Phillies starter Jon Lieber, a notoriously fast worker, cruised along.

But as soon as third-base coach Jeff Newman suggested he quicken the pace, Meche got on a roll of his own. The right-hander routinely hit 94 mph on the radar gun, spotted his big curveball effectively, and induced plenty of ground balls, allowing his defense to work behind him.

"In my better games, I've been able to keep a pretty quick tempo," said Meche, who improved to 6-4 and lowered his ERA to 4.38, while throwing 119 pitches, 74 of them for strikes.

"Today was one of those days where every pitch [catcher] Pat [Borders] called was a good pitch."

Borders was asked about his effect on Meche's performance, and he cracked a smile before answering.

"I'm not the one throwing 94 mph," he said.

1,000 hits for Suzuki
Phillies at Mariners, June 14
Ichiro Suzuki, batting .295, is the third player in Major League history (since 1900) to rack up 1,000 hits in fewer than 700 games. Seattle's top 10 hitters of all time:
Player G AB R H AVG
1. E Martinez 2055 7213 1219 2247 .312
2. K Griffey 1535 5832 1063 1742 .299
3. J Buhner 1440 4922 790 1255 .255
4. A Davis 1166 4136 563 1163 .281
5. D Wilson* 1250 4085 433 1071 .262
6. H Reynolds 1155 4090 543 1063 .260
7. I Suzuki* 696 2980 491 1000 .336
8. A Rodriguez 790 3126 627 966 .309
9. B Boone* 790 3072 460 853 .278
10. J Presley 799 2946 351 736 .250
* Indicates active Mariners players. Dan Wilson is currently on the disabled list. Hall of Famers Lloyd Waner and Chuck Klein are the only other players to reach the 1,000-hit plateau before playing in 700 Major League games.

Meanwhile, the Mariners did just enough at the plate to notch one in the "W" column, and they made a little history in the process.

Ichiro Suzuki led off the bottom of the first inning with a loud single off the right-field wall, the Mariners' right fielder's 1,000th career big-league hit.

"One thousand is just a number," Ichiro said through an interpreter. "It's a breaking point. It's good to get to this point."

The Mariners got on the board in the second, making the most of a Jeremy Reed leadoff single, and a bloop double by Bret Boone. Dave Hansen followed with a swinging bunt that Lieber threw wide of first for a run-scoring error. Mike Morse then added a sacrifice fly to give Seattle a 2-0 lead.

Meche took care of the rest, and Hansen added some insurance with a laser of a line-drive home run in the seventh to make it 3-1.

"With a lineup like theirs," Hargrove said, "there's a huge difference between a one-run and a two-run game. That was a big hit."

Hansen, a bench player who got the start at third base because of Adrian Beltre's hamstring strain, said he's just happy to make a difference.

"It's great to contribute, but tonight belonged to Gil," Hansen said. "He was definitely in a groove, and that helped us out."

Source: http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/