SEATTLE — R.A. Dickey labored, Roy Halladay cruised — the difference between a good start and a great one.
The difference, too, between winning and losing, as the Toronto Blue Jays and their ace beat the Seattle Mariners on Monday, 2-0.
“The night belonged to Roy,” Dickey said. “He’s a horse, and he just kept throwing strikes. We played hard, but man, he’s really good.”
There was no cruelty in saying Dickey was out-pitched. The journeyman knuckleball pitcher went 6 1/3 gritty innings, giving up just two runs — but that wasn’t nearly good enough against former Cy Young Award winner Halladay.
“We had guys running back to the video room after an atbat to see what the pitches were, and they were saying the ball was just moving all over the place,” manager Jim Riggleman said. “We got good pitching, we played good defense. Halladay was just throwing some unhittable pitches.”
Dickey needed 109 pitches to finish six innings, working in and out of trouble most of the night. By contrast, after six innings Halladay had thrown 71 pitches, and the Mariners hadn’t put a runner in scoring position.
Dickey relied on the fickle vagaries of his out pitch, one that floated in for a strike one moment, hung up in the strike zone the next. He needed and got help from his defense, with Adrian Beltre, Raul Ibañez and substitute shortstop Willie Bloomquist each making marvelous plays behind him. And Halladay?
All he did in winning his ninth game of the season was paint the black of the strike zone, inside corner one moment, outside edge with the next pitch. In player terminology, he was filthy.
Most of the Mariners never got pitches they could do much with — they managed only four hits, all singles. There were no hanging sliders to hammer, no fat pitches to drive.
Catcher Jeff Clement, who’d never faced Halladay, got a rude lesson: three atbats, three strikeouts, each called.
“Flat out, the best pitcher I’ve ever seen,” Clement said. “He threw me four different pitches and I couldn’t tell what any of them were doing halfway to the plate. It’s frustrating. You hate to fail, especially in key situations.
“I’d like to say something different, but he was just nasty. I had a couple of foul tips in my first at-bat, and I’d think to myself, ‘How didn’t I get that?’ ”
It didn’t hurt that Halladay had what sounded like a home crowd behind him, as the Safeco Field turnout of 30,179 kept breaking into “Let’s Go Blue Jays” chants.
HERNANDEZ ON 15-DAY DL
Felix Hernandez was placed on the 15-day disabled list late Monday as the Mariners decided the best treatment for his sprained left ankle was a few more days of rest.
The move was retroactive to June 24, meaning Hernandez is eligible to come off the disabled list July 8.
Seattle recalled LHP Cesar Jimenez from Triple-A Tacoma to take Hernandez’s spot. Jimenez, a reliever, was 1-3 with a 3.55 ERA in 29 appearances with the Rainiers.
Reliever Ryan Rowland- Smith will make his first major league start today.