Jays ace deals shutout to Mariners

There was a collective hope among Mariners faithful that instead of popping sunflower seeds and basking in his first victory in a month, Erik Bedard was intently watching Toronto's Roy Halladay operate on the Seattle hitters Monday.

Halladay recently turned 31, yet it seems as if he broke in with Dave Stieb and Jim Clancy. The bearded sinkerballer is synonymous with the Blue Jays and represents the league's dying breed of No. 1 starters.

A No. 1 starter is not considered one who merely gets the nod on Opening Day, it's one who has the capability of dominating every time out and does more often than he doesn't.

Halladay used the Safeco Field mound to hold a clinic on mastery of pitches. He placed his sinker, cutter and change where he wanted, when he wanted and it resulted in a masterful 2-0 win over the Mariners in front of 30,179.

"He was good," Ichiro Suzuki said. "That's the kind of pitcher you call an ace. It's hard to say (if that's the best I've seen him), but he was definitely good."

Halladay logged his 37th career complete game and 10th shutout by allowing one runner to third base. After languishing the first six innings, baffled by Halladay's array of moving pitches, the Mariners mustered a rally in the seventh on back-to-back one-out singles from Jeremy Reed and Richie Sexson. Reed alertly motored to third.

Jeff Clement had a chance to redeem himself after two called strikeouts, but he was equally as confused in his third at-bat. Halladay tossed a high cutter that left Clement baffled for strike three. Kenji Johjima ended the frame with a meek grounder to short, and the Mariners had fallen back to their McLaren-era hitting woes.

Learning experience would be the nicest way to describe Clement's first dealings with Halladay. He struck out three times, all looking with seemingly no idea of what pitch Halladay uncorked.

"What do you want me to say?" Clement asked. "It's frustrating. You hate to fail, especially in big situations. But I guess you tip your cap because he just made pitches all night."

Halladay (9-6, 2.90 ERA) didn't have his usual strikeouts, but his sinker was good enough to induce 17 ground balls. What's more, through the first four innings, the Mariners registered just two fly balls, a lazy liner to right by Jose Lopez and a deep shot to left by Adrian Beltre.

The former Cy Young winner was making his second start since taking a Nyjer Morgand line drive in the right temple on June 20. Halladay made his next start five days later against Cincinnati and allowed five runs and nine hits in 6 2/3 innings.

But he was at his best Monday.

"I did a few things mechanically and felt more comfortable with it. I was a little more together," he said. "It's nice to figure these things out. (All my pitches working) doesn't happen all the time. Tonight was one of those nights when everything was there."

After piling up 18 runs in three games against the San Diego pitching staff, the Mariners could do little against Halladay's craftiness. In the first five innings, Halladay allowed just two singles and nine ground-ball outs as the stubborn Seattle hitters continuously pounded the ball into the dirt.

Sexson singled with two out in the second, a solid ground ball up the middle, but Halladay struck out Clement to end the frame. Willie Bloomquist singled in the third but was forced at second base by Ichiro and Lopez struck out to end the frame.

The Blue Jays weren't exactly smacking R.A. Dickey's knuckler into the thin air at Safeco, but they scratched together enough timely hits to give Halladay a cushion. David Eckstein doubled down the left-field line with two out in the fifth and scored on Marco Scutaro's single to center.

The scores of Toronto fans at Safeco roared in approval at the game's first run. An inning later, Vernon Wells singled to center and Scott Rolen laced a single between short and third one out later.

The key at-bat in the inning was Lyle Overbay, and Dickey (2-4, 4.53) made the critical mistake of walking the bases loaded. Rod Barajas gave Toronto a 2-0 lead with a run-scoring ground ball to shortstop. Dickey turned in a quality start, but he made just enough mistakes against Halladay to cost the Mariners dearly.

Dickey, coming off seven scoreless innings on June 24 against the Mets, allowed two runs and nine hits in 6 1/3 innings.

"Obviously the night belonged to Roy, he's one of the best," Dickey said. "We played really hard. I felt good about my performance, but I gave up a lot of singles again. I feel like they are hitting pieces of the ball and finding holes. I didn't have my strikeout knuckler, but it was good enough to get outs."

MARINERS VS. BLUE JAYS

WHEN/WHERE: Tonight, 7:10, Safeco Field

TV/RADIO: FSN; KOMO-AM/1000