M's finish with Metropolitan grill

NEW YORK — We'll leave it to the philosopher Ichiro to sum up a road trip that saw the Mariners win 11 of 12 games in four cities, advance their lead in the American League West from two games to eight, and resurrect once-and-possibly future ace Freddy Garcia.

"It was," Ichiro said, "not a small result."

How big?

"Not small."

And the trip — the winningest in franchise history — ended yesterday with a not-insignificant achievement: a dominating doubleheader sweep of the hapless and hopeless New York Mets, who must have felt like they fell behind during the national anthem and never recovered.

The Mariners jumped ahead 8-0 after two innings of the opener at Shea Stadium and coasted to a 13-1 victory most notable for Garcia's vintage complete-game performance.

Garcia pitched a six-hitter, struck out seven and walked just one to win his third game of the trip and even his record at 6-6.

"That was outstanding," Mariners manager Bob Melvin said. "We got him runs, but that was by far his best outing. He's getting better and better and better. I think we're definitely over the hump with him."

In the second game, in which the Mariners led 3-0 after two innings, Jamie Moyer was also vintage. But what else is new? Moyer won his seventh straight — and got his third victory of the trip as well — blanking the Mets on two hits over seven innings as the Mariners won 7-0.

Moyer (10-2), who leads the major leagues in victories, has just about ended any question of his All-Star worthiness. Now he's strengthening his case to start the game. Moyer has pitched 15 consecutive scoreless innings to lower his earned-run-average to 2.93.

"This was a very successful road trip," Moyer said. "Any time you win 11 of 12 games, home or road, it's a fairly difficult thing to do."

The Mariners, in fact, had never won more than 10 games on any trip, that coming last April when they went 10-0 in Oakland, Anaheim and Texas.

"We went on the road and had a tremendous road trip," said second baseman Bret Boone. "Eleven and one — that's about as good as it gets. Now everyone is looking forward to going home."

The Mariners' numbers from the trip, which started in Kansas City, then moved to Minnesota and Philadelphia before ending in New York, are staggering. They hit .339, averaged 7.3 runs a game, had a 2.52 ERA and made just two errors in the 12 games.

The starters pitched at least six innings in all 12 games, and at least seven in all but two. Joel Pineiro had the team's first shutout of the season against the Minnesota Twins, and Garcia yesterday threw his first complete game since May 19, 2002.

The Mariners weathered the interleague absence of Edgar Martinez, limited to four pinch-hitting appearances, to go 5-1 at National League ballparks.

"All that travel, the environments we were in, all that rain — it could have been a mediocre trip," said center fielder Mike Cameron. "But it was a great trip. Just good baseball, that's all. We take advantage of opportunities and our opponents' mistakes. We don't make mistakes. The way we're swinging the bats and pitching, it makes it tough to beat us."

The Mariners, in fact, came close to running the table on the trip. Their only misstep was a 3-2 loss to the Mets on Friday in which they stranded 11 runners and were 1 for 13 with runners in scoring position. They snapped a string of 28 consecutive wins in games they had more hits than the opposition.

"This trip put an exclamation point on where we are," Melvin said of the Mariners, whose 42-19 record ties them for the best in baseball with the Atlanta Braves, who come to Seattle for a three-game showdown on Friday.

"Obviously, going on the longest trip of the season, we were a little concerned," Melvin said, "but everyone played their butt off. I can't say enough about the way we played. Everyone contributed."

Among yesterday's most prominent contributors was Ichiro, who had four hits in the opener (including a routine grounder to second base that he beat out) and two more in the second game. He stole two bases — the first of which was the 100th of his career — and scored three runs.

"It all starts with Ichiro, and he did it to them again today," Melvin said.

The last time the Mariners were in New York, to face the Yankees in early May, Ichiro's average had dipped to its lowest ebb, .243. He now is hitting a team-high .328, thanks to a .389 average in May, but Ichiro didn't even listen to the end of a question about what he had changed.

"I haven't changed anything," he said curtly.

In the opener yesterday, the Mariners torched Mets starter Al Leiter for nine hits and eight runs to knock him out after two innings.

In the second game, Moyer had little trouble protecting the early 3-0 lead, established with Carlos Guillen's RBI double and run-scoring singles by Cameron and Ichiro. The Mets twice got a runner to third with one out, but Moyer worked out of it both times.

"My mindset is to be aggressive, keep the ball down in the strike zone and rely on my defense," Moyer said. "I've been able to do that — plus we've been scoring a lot of runs."

In the ninth inning, as Ichiro stood in the on-deck circle, a fan yelled loudly, "Hey, Ichiro, beat the Yankees this time."

Right now, nothing seems unattainable for the Mariners.

Larry Stone: 206-464-3146 or lstone@seattletimes.com.