Jarrod Washburn dominates in possibly final start for Mariners

TORONTO — First, he got a grip on his changeup. Then, with trade rumors swirling around him, Jarrod Washburn got a grip on himself.

In what may have been his final Mariners start, Washburn shut all trade talk from his mind and dominated the Toronto Blue Jays for eight solid innings on Sunday afternoon. By the time he was done, after just 101 pitches and with some gas left in the tank, the Mariners were cruising to a 5-1 victory and had achieved possibly a more solid trade footing from which to deal the pitcher.

Washburn used a changeup he described as "by far the best I've ever had" to keep the Blue Jays off-balance and snap Seattle's seven-game losing streak.

"To me, the toughest part was trusting the grip and throwing it like a fastball with the exact same arm speed," Washburn said after notching his fifth victory of the season in front of 33,367 fans at the Rogers Centre. "That's the biggest thing, is you try to fool the hitters by selling it with the same delivery."

Washburn admitted the continued trade rumors involving the New York Yankees were a distraction throughout Saturday evening. But he went to bed fairly confident — as his agent had yet to call — that he'd be pitching for Seattle on Sunday, then took his usual pregame nap and felt ready to go.

The results were there to see, as they've been through a two-month run that has Washburn in demand as a pitching solution that won't cost teams a ton of prospects. It was the eighth time in nine starts that Washburn allowed two earned runs or fewer.

The left-hander breezed through the Toronto lineup, allowing four hits and just a fifth-inning solo home run by John McDonald.

"I have more confidence right now in all my off-speed pitches than I've ever had," said Washburn, "which allows me to mix it up more than I have in the past. So hitting the spots with the fastball and the off-speed is just a good recipe right now. I feel I've matured a little bit as a pitcher. I'm learning the secondary pitches and getting more comfortable with them, and I feel I've really taken a step forward in my career."

Learning that changeup hasn't come easy.

"How long have I been pitching in my career?" he said with a laugh. "It's been a 14-year battle."

Sunday's battle took a little less time. But the Mariners didn't break through until the sixth inning, when Jose Vidro hit a two-run homer to right off Toronto starter Shaun Marcum to erase a 1-0 deficit. Kenji Johjima added a two-run double to finish Marcum off, and Jose Lopez singled home Vidro in the seventh for the game's final run.

Vidro had seen his name crop up alongside Washburn's in trade rumors with the Yankees.

"I've heard some things," Vidro said. "But right now, I'm just focusing on trying to be a better hitter. I'll have one good game, two good games, then a bunch of games where I don't get a hit."

Talks with the Yankees have stalled over exactly who the Mariners would receive in return for Washburn. The Yankees are said to be ready to take on all of the roughly $13.5 million Washburn is owed in salary through 2009.

But New York reportedly is balking at giving up anything but a lower-level prospect in return for a 33-year-old southpaw who looked awful the first two months of the season. The Mariners are said to be asking for more, which is how other names have popped up in the rumor mill.

At one point, the Yankees are said to have offered center fielder Melky Cabrera or Class AAA outfielder Brett Gardner, with the insistence that Seattle also assume the contract of Japanese pitcher Kei Igawa, owed $4 million in each of the next three years.

The Mariners were said to have one point insisted that Vidro be included in the deal as well.

Igawa is now off the table.

Reports now have the Mariners holding out for a higher-level prospect, while insisting the Yankees assume all of Washburn's salary. As of Sunday afternoon, the Yankees were holding firm that they would not do that.

Mariners manager Jim Riggleman said Sunday that he'd have expected a heads-up from interim general manager Lee Pelekoudas on any deal anywhere from 48 hours to two hours before game time so he could arrange his pitching staff accordingly. But going into the game, he added, Pelekoudas had yet to tell him that anything was imminent.

As for Washburn, he plans to simply keep doing what he's been doing. It has allowed him to shave 2.06 runs off his earned-run average the past nine starts, getting it down to 4.50.

"Who do you think they'll want to give up for me now?" he joked. "Joba Chamberlain?"

Not a chance. But possibly more than anyone would have dreamed less than two months ago.

Notes

• Lopez extended his hitting streak to a career-high 14 games with his run-scoring single in the seventh. Lopez is batting .310 during the streak.

• Ichiro collected a single in the third inning and a triple in the eighth, leaving him two hits shy of 3,000 for his career in the major leagues and Japan.

• Raul Ibanez had a pair of doubles, leaving him eight shy of his career best. Ibanez's 29 doubles this season place him in the league's top 10.

• Of nine career home runs hit by Toronto's McDonald, three have come against the Mariners — including his first grand slam two years ago this month.

Geoff Baker: 206-464-8286 or gbaker@seattletimes.com

For the record

Streak: W1

Home: 20-32

Road: 19-33

vs. AL West: 11-17

vs. L.A.: 3-6

vs. Oakland: 4-5

vs. Texas: 4-6

vs. AL East: 11-23

vs. AL Cent.: 8-16

vs. NL: 9-9

vs. LHP: 10-21

vs. RHP: 29-44

Day: 12-23

Night: 27-42

One-run: 11-20

Extra inn.: 2-6