So how is it, inquisitive minds want to know, that the Seattle Mariners - losers of 101 games a year ago - are winning all these one-run games in 2009.

They did it again Saturday, beating Boston, 3-2, on a two-out single in the ninth inning by Chris Woodward. An ugly little pop fly of a single, at that.

“Not only didn’t I see the ball after I hit it, I didn’t see the pitch that jammed me,” Woodward said, shaking his head. “Until I saw (Dustin) Pedroia going for it, I had no idea where it was.

“Someone said I couldn’t have thrown the ball and have it work out better, but I could have,” he said. “I’d have thrown it far enough so Pedroia couldn’t almost catch it. You always have more line drives caught than bloops drop in, but that one was worth about four line drive outs."
Woodward is the backup infielder who has been playing third base in the absence of Adrian Beltre - and has gone 7-for-17 while doing so.

Asked why the Mariners could beat the Red Sox, for instance, twice in a row in one-run games, he had a thoughtful answer.

“Look at the lineups teams like the Doddgers, Yankees and Red Sox have, they’re used to blowing teams out, getting six, seven, eight runs a night,” Woodward said. “They don’t play these kinds of games that often.

“We play them all the time. We grind for every run, and our pitching keeps the opposition down, sets the tone. We’ve been through a lot of these games, so we might have an advantage in them.”