Hernandez's performance Randy Johnson-worthy

Early in spring training, on one of his first visits with Felix Hernandez, Mariners bench coach John McLaren issued a challenge that sounded more like the ultimate compliment.

"You can be the best pitcher ever to come out of Venezuela," McLaren told the 20-year-old wunderkind. "Better than [Johan] Santana. Better than [Carlos] Zambrano."

Venezuela?

On an opening day that felt different, more important, more memorable than most, Hernandez pitched as well as any pitcher in the big leagues, any pitcher on the planet.

He pitched as well as any Mariners pitcher since Randy Johnson. Pitched well enough to make you want to study the Mariners' schedule and circle every fifth day, knowing those are the can't-miss days that Hernandez is pitching.

"That was like a Sandy Koufax performance there," McLaren said. "He was unhittable. That was spectacular. For such a young age, to have that much ability and to be in control out there, it tells you what kind of story we're in for here. We're in for great things."

All eyes Monday were on the extraordinary right arm of Hernandez, because for the Mariners to have any chance of making a run in the American League West, he has to be great. Not good, great.

It's asking a lot of a pitcher who won't turn 21 until Sunday, but Hernandez has to be the stopper, the leader, the best thing to hit the Mariners' mound since R.J.

And he was R.J.-good in the opener. Five of his first nine pitches were timed at 97 mph. His 10th pitch was 98 mph. He pitched eight shutout innings against the Oakland Athletics on 109 pitches worth savoring for the rest of the season.

"He's got that type of No. 1, legitimate-ace, elite-pitcher stuff," said Raul Ibanez, who drove in the game's first run with a sixth-inning sacrifice fly. "He can throw stuff at really good hitters and just make them not look right. I mean I'd come to watch him pitch. I watched him pitch today from left field and you become almost a fan by the way he's pitching. It's awesome to watch."

For eight innings he threw splitters that dropped like rocks rolling off the Grand Canyon, sliders that had a barracuda's bite and heat, white hot heat that weak-kneed the A's hitters.

"Today was all about Felix Hernandez," Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said after the 4-0 win. "He took control from the first pitch to the last. We rode Felix for this win."

On an afternoon of self-reckoning, Hernandez struck out a career-high 12 hitters and allowed Oakland only three hits. Against the perennially patient Athletics hitters, he walked only two.

And in the sixth inning of a scoreless game, with Travis Buck on third and one out, Hernandez performed magic in front of a sellout house. He struck out Jason Kendall on a 97 mph fastball and finished the inning with a diabolical splitter that Shannon Stewart couldn't find.

"I was so excited that inning," Hernandez said. "I just tried to strike out everybody. I was emotional. An inning like that, when I make all my pitches and I get out of that inning I just feel like I want to go nine."

He settled for eight innings and a second standing ovation after he got Stewart on a groundout for his last pitch of his first opening-day start.

All game, the newly svelte Hernandez found reserves as deep as fossil fuel.

He threw a 97 mph fastball to strike out Nick Swisher in the seventh. And he struck out Bobby Crosby on a 96 mph fastball, his 95th pitch.

"Getting in shape this year, I think that helped me a lot," Hernandez said.

Hernandez put a buzz in the building we haven't heard in years. He looked like the 21st century Randy Johnson. The Kingdome belonged to R.J. Safeco Field can belong to Hernandez.

"That was like a Randy Johnson-at-his-best performance right there," said McLaren, who was a Mariners coach when Johnson was winning his first Cy Young Award in Seattle. "Another guy the fans can get excited about, especially coming up through our system. The sky's the limit for him."

Slimmed down. Charged up. More committed. More mature. This is what the Mariners need. This Felix Hernandez can stop the kind of debilitating losing streaks that have buried the Mariners the past three years.

"The hardest thing to find in the game is a No. 1 starter," McLaren said. "This is like in the old days, when Randy was rolling and you knew you were going to win on the days he was pitching. I think we're going to have that feeling with [Hernandez] pitching.

"When you have a losing streak going, you know when you come to the ballpark the next day if Felix is pitching, you can get a win. I mean, Santana and Zambrano are great pitchers, but I don't think you're going to get too many performances better than this one today."

Felix Hernandez is the Mariners' future, arrived just in time for this hot-seat season.

Steve Kelley: 206-464-2176 or skelley@seattletimes.com