DAN WILSON ARTICLES PG. 34
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All is well in 1-0 win
Four pitchers combine to aid Franklin's ML debut start

SEATTLE -- The way Kazuhiro Sasaki's splitter was diving into the dirt Tuesday night at SAFECO Field, you might think Mariners catcher Dan Wilson would stay away from calling the pitch. But that never entered Wilson's mind. Not even with the tying run standing at third base. Wilson kept asking for the pitch that has made Kaz what he soon will become -- the franchise leader in career saves. Sasaki's sixth save of the season and 88th in his Seattle career secured right-hander Ryan Franklin's first win in his first MLB start. "Ryan is a good friend and I really wanted to get those three outs," said Sasaki after pitching through Troy Glaus' leadoff double to finish off the Mariners' 1-0 victory over the Anaheim Angels before 32,127. "I gave everything I had so I could get that save for Ryan."
The best-pitched game of the season from both teams was a total reversal from Monday night's series opener when the Mariners hammered their AL West rivals, 16-5. This one came down to the final out, a swinging strikeout by Angels designated hitter Brad Fullmer on -- what else? -- a splitter, that sealed Seattle's win for Franklin (1-1) and another Angels loss for tough-luck starter Ramon Ortiz (1-3). "With two outs there, you have to go with Kaz's best pitch, and that's the splitter," Wilson explained. "It's what you have to do."
The Angels -- winless in six games against the Mariners this season and already 10 1/2 games behind in the standings -- put themselves in position to at least tie the game when Glaus greeted Sasaki with a leadoff double to right field. After Garret Anderson smoked a line drive that first baseman John Olerud caught, Wilson began going to the splitter regularly. Sasaki struck out Tim Salmon, who went fishing for one that dropped hard out of the zone. Sasaki bounced the first pitch he threw to Fullmer and Wilson couldn't stop it. The ball caromed to the backstop and Glaus advanced to third base. Two pitches later, another splitter bounced in front of the plate, clanked off Wilson and rolled about 15 feet away, towards the home dugout. Glaus took one step towards home plate, but stopped. "I didn't think he would score," Sasaki said through his interpreter. "As I was running in to cover home plate, I saw Glaus and he wasn't running." Kaz said something to his catcher. "I told him 'thanks'," Sasaki said. Asked if he was a little hesitant to throw his splitter in that situation, Kaz said he wasn't because of Wilson's ability to block pitches in the dirt. "I throw them because of Dan. He does a great job. I am not really worried about that (throwing a wild pitch) because Dan is going to block them." Said Wilson, "That makes the game fun and challenging."
All games seem fun and challenging to the Mariners, who are off to another rip-roaring start. Most of the damage is being done in the AL West. The Mariners are 17-4 overall and 15-3 against the West. They have a 5 1/2 game lead over the second-place Oakland Athletics and already have double-digit bulges over the Angels and Rangers. They are winning by shear power -- as they did Monday night -- or stellar pitching, as they did Tuesday night when Franklin had to pitch brilliantly to outduel Angels right-hander Ramon Ortiz. "That is as nice a game I have seen pitched on both sides in a long, long time," Mariners Manager Lou Piniella said. "Franky did just an outstanding job for us. He gave us six innings in his first start. He threw strikes. Got ahead of the hitters and did a heckuva job. And so did their guy."
Franklin's debut start in the Majors -- after 51 relief appearances last season and this one -- went better than anyone could have imagined. "He stayed ahead of hitters and really pitched an outstanding six innings," Piniella said. "We thought he would pitch well, but he exceeded. Very impressive." Franklin said he was surprised he pitched as well as he did, throwing 57 of his 68 pitches for strikes. "My game plan always is to throw strikes and get ahead of the hitters," he said. "That's what I was able to do after the first hitter. I give almost all of the credit to Dan Wilson. We went batter to batter and I think I shook him off once the whole time. He called a great game. "It went better than I expected, actually," he said. "You are always thinking about giving up no hits, but that isn't too realistic. (Giving up three hits and no runs) isn't what I expected." Perhaps there will be more starts ahead. "Well, we're going to look at it," Piniella said. "We have (John) Halama and Franklin. We can pitch them both from time to time. But after the way he pitched tonight, you'd have to say yes. The next time we need a (fifth starter) is in New York (next weekend) and we'll see what we do. We have options, which is good."
Mariner relievers were superb as usual. Joel Pineiro worked himself out of a seventh-inning jam after replacing Franklin, getting an inning-ending double play from Bengie Molina. Left-hander Arthur Rhodes worked a swift 1-2-3 eighth and Sasaki dodged the ninth-inning bullet to move within 10 of Mike Schooler's club record for most career saves.

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