Yes Jarrod Washburn got the save on Wednesday.  No, he is not the closer in Seattle.  With all the bullpen craziness going on in the majors lately it would be reasonable to assume that this was just part of the trend.  Instead, it is completely the opposite.  

Seattle beat Baltimore in 12 innings, and in doing so completely depleted its bullpen which necessitated the use of Washburn in a relief role.   After starter Carlos Silva exited after 6.1 solid innings in came the parade of relievers.  Brandon Morrow wasfirst followed by Arthur Rhodes, Sean Green, Ryan Rowland-Smith, Mark Lowe, and then finally J.J. Putz.  The only other member of the Mariners bullpen is swing man Cha-Seung Baek.  He pitched three innings on Monday and may have been unavailable, but he isn’t very good anyways.  That was prompted manager John McLaren to use Washburn to close out the game. 

Remember, he did this same thing with Miguel Batista when Putz first suffered his injury in early April.  Batista still has just the one save.  Putz is the definite closer, and he actually got the win and is starting to show signs of finding his groove.  Don’t jump on Washbrun as if he will be the closer in Seattle.  He will remain the same average starter that he has been his entire career.