The Mariners offense struggled for the second consecutive night on Friday.
After being shut out, 2-0, by the Orioles and Rodrigo Lopez on Thursday, the Mariners were beaten, 3-1, by the Twins and rookie Francisco Liriano with help from three relievers.

The pitching, however, remains pretty solid. Here are two charts that you might find interesting – and leave you wondering where the Mariners would be in the AL West standings if they had more offense.

STARTERS ERA
The Mariners' starting pitchers – Jamie Moyer, Jarrod Washburn (pictured), Joel Pineiro, Gil Meche and Felix Hernandez – are fourth in the AL with an ERA of 4.55 (154 ER, 304.1 IP)...the Mariners trail the Tigers (3.44), the White Sox (3.97) and the Yankees (4.41).

QUALITY IS JOB ONE
The Mariners are currently third in the A.L. in “Quality Starts” (6.0 or more IP, 3 ER or less) with 26. The top five in the AL:
1. Detroit Tigers, 31
2. Chicago White Sox, 30
3. Seattle Mariners, 26
4. New York Yankees, 24
5. Boston Red Sox, 23
Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 23

Let's talk about what's going on with the Rainiers.

1. Fruto is For-Real-O – Anyone at Friday's game will tell you how good Emiliano Fruto looked. His fastball was buzzing. In three innings, he struck out six to earn his sixth save of the year.
Pitching coach Dwight Bernard, who had Fruto last year at Double-A San Antonio, said the 23-year-old with the big arm has made big strides. He's developing into a reliever who can be dominating, which is good news for Mariners fans.

2. Jiminez shows promise – Lefty Cesar Jiminez won his first game of the year with a solid outing (six innings, two runs). Jiminez is not a blow-em-away type guy, but his fastball has decent life. He's a young guy who's still learning, manager Dave Brundage said.

3. Jones bottoming out of slump? – Adam Jones' average was down to .241 before he ripped a bases-loaded triple against Colorado Springs on Friday. He also drew a walk in the game and stole a base. There are going to be some rough moments but it's all part of the process for a 20-year-old playing Triple-A and adjusting to playing center field. No one associated with the Mariners seems at all concerned with his progress. There was some talk that he, not Mike Morse, could have been called up last week but Morse's versatility and hot streak prevailed.

For the second week in a row, the No. 1 team in all the land is the Detroit Tigers. I think this qualifies as surprising.

1. Detroit (1) – Time to make a stand: In a stretch of 10 home games with Indians, Yankees, Red Sox.
2. St. Louis (2) – Someone needs to tell Pujols that sticking up for Barry Bonds is like defending oil companies.
3. Chicago White Sox (3) – Michael Barrett not the first to want to punch A.J. Pierzynski and probably not the last to try.
4. Boston (5) – New team motto: Beckett and Schilling and then comes the drilling.
5. New York Mets (6) – If El Duque fails, maybe they can ask Jerry Koosman to come out of retirement.
6. Cincinnati (4) – Maybe they know something we don’t after signing Royals’ castoff Joe Mays (0-4, 10.27 ERA).
7. Arizona (11) – Rumor has it they are one of many teams trying to pry Dontrelle Willis out of Florida.
8. Los Angeles Dodgers (18) – Seriously, that’s not the same Aaron Sele that pitched for Seattle last year (6-12, 5.66 ERA), right?
9. New York Yankees (8) – Because of all the injuries, The Boss instructs GM Brian Cashman to explore trades for a new trainer.
10. Toronto (10) – Installing Angels’ reject Edgardo Alfonzo at second after infield shakeup.
11. Colorado (12) – Rockies put out APB for Todd Helton’s missing bat.
12. Philadelphia (9) – How is Cole Hamels like a crystal carafe? Both are nice but fragile pitchers.
13. Houston (13) – Rotation could really use a booster Rocket.
14. Atlanta (16) – Not a good sign: Only the Royals bullpen has blown more save chances.
15. San Diego (7) – Must be some kind of rule that only one NL West team per week is allowed to be on a hot streak.
16. San Francisco (19) – Reason No. 41 to dislike Barry Bonds: He has bad table manners.
17. Milwaukee (14) – Outfielder Carlos Lee might be the most underrated slugger in the game.
18. Texas (17) – Mark Teixeira enters weekend with as many homers (five) as Damon Hollins. Who’s Damon Hollins? Exactly.
19. Cleveland (20) – Go ahead and give C.C. Sabathia pitcher of the month honors (4-1, 0.92 ERA).
20. Oakland (15) – They’re cold, they’re hot, they’re cold, they’re hot, they’re cold… what are they, a faucet?
21. Seattle (26) – Could have gone 7-0 on homestand if they had not been shut down by slopballers John Halama and Rodrigo Lopez.
22. Minnesota (25) – Will Boof go through the roof or be a spoof and go poof? Man, how we like that name, Boof Bonser.
23. Tampa Bay (23) – They’re really improved but you would never know it because of that division.
24. Baltimore (21) – Bold prediction: Chris Ray is the next top closer in baseball.
25. Washington (25) – We’ll forgive F-Robby for crying after Thursday’s games. We’ve seen the Nats play, too.
26. Los Angeles Angels (24) – At this rate, Anaheim is going to sue team to get their name off the franchise entirely.
27. Chicago Cubs (22) – Only hope for playoffs is to make a second-half charge like the Astros did last year.
28. Florida (29) – Difference between Marlins in Royals is that Florida has young players who are bad while Kansas City has old players who are bad.
29. Pittsburgh (27) – If you ask me, they should bring back those round caps from the ‘70s.
30. Kansas City (30) – It’s official: They’ve been eliminated from the playoffs for the 2007 season.