The first thing Brandon Morrow tends to show you is his fastball.

And why not? The Seattle reliever can hit 100 mph on occasion, the kind of velocity that tends to put hitter after hitter away.

But for Kenji Johjima, Morrow is more than just a one-pitch pitcher.

The veteran catcher looks back to last year and to this spring, when Morrow struggled with his command.

''He changed his grip on his slider,'' Johjima said. ''Ever since he did that, it's become a great pitch for him.

''Hitters have to go up there looking for the fastball, but now that he's throwing the slider so hard for strikes, they've got no chance to prepare for it.''

Morrow, who is serving as the closer with J.J. Putz disabled, got his fifth save Wednesday and lowered his ERA to 0.71.

He has a chance to set a club record for the lowest ERA at the All-Star break. Shigetoshi Hasegawa was at 0.77 at the break in 2003.