Closing the door on Boston

When David Aardsma was traded to the Seattle Mariners on Jan. 20 for minor leaguer Fabian Williamson Boston, Aardsma felt hurt and disappointed to be leaving a city he was just beginning to enjoy.

But on Saturday, he put the hurt and disappointment into the Red Sox with a deadly efficient 1-2-3 ninth inning, putting the wraps on his 17th save, his ninth straight.Afterward, he thought back to the moment he found out he was leaving Boston and headed for the Great Northwest.

“I was frustrated,” Aardsma said. “This is a special place. Boston is a special, special place. I was excited when I first got here and I was definitely disappointed when I left.”This was hardly the first time he had changed addresses. Aardsma started with the Giants in 2004. He missed 2005 with Tommy John surgery on his right elbow. Then he return in 2006 with the Cubs, moved crosstown to the White Sox in 2007 before being dealt to Boston for the 2008 season.

Then this winter, he had a conversation with the Mariners general manager and the process of moving on from Bostno had begun.

“My very first conversation with Jack Zduriencik was phenomenal,” Aardsma said. “It was so uplifting, so exciting. That’s when I went, ‘Ok, it’s frustrating leaving Boston but this is going to be something exciting.’ You could hear it in his voice over the phone. This is something different. This is something special.”

And it’s been Aardsma who has been something special, and then some for the upstart Mariners this season.

He has not allowed a run in his last 13 outings, a span of 13 innings, 1 1/3 innings shy of his run between May 3-30.

Aardsma is 2-2 with a 1.41 ERA in 38 games. His fastball, which reached 97 on Saturday, has helped produced 48 strikeouts in 38 1/3 innings.

Mariners skipper Don Wakamatsu doesn’t take Aardsma for granted. As a matter of fact, he knows his team wouldn’t be four games over .500 at 42-38 and in a battle for first in the A.L. West without his 17 saves.

“We wouldn’t be in this situation without him,” Wakamatsu said. “But it’s a credit to him. He’s worked so hard. He started in spring training, bounced from team to team a little bit and he just came up on a mission this year, and it started with his work ethic.”

Aardsma was 4-2 last season in Boston but with a 5.55 ERA in 47 games and was judged dispensable by the Red Sox in the offseason.

“He’s found a home here,” Wakamatsu said.  ”He’s found a belief system and he just keeps getting better and better. And he wants to be out in that situation. They keep talking about makeup in that situation. For him to come back into Boston, that shows a lot of character for him, it really does.”

Now that character could result in an All-Star berth come later Sunday afternoon when teams are announced.

“I’d be pretty surprised,” Wakamatsu said of the chance his closer doesn’t make a trip to St. Louis on July 14. “He deserves to be on that club as much as anybody.”