Darrin Beene is entering his seventh year at The News Tribune, having covered the Tacoma Rainiers in 2005 and Major League Baseball for two years before that. Beene, a former assistant sports editor at The News Tribune, also worked for the Los Angeles Daily News and Los Angeles Times. He lives in the South Sound with his wife and two children.
This blog is about baseball in general but specifically the Seattle Mariners and the Mariners’ Triple-A team, the Tacoma Rainiers. It will contain news, analysis, answers to your questions and audio reports.
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The Mariners lineup was shuffled for Tuesday's game in Texas with dramatic results. The new middle of the order – Adrian Beltre hitting No. 2, Jose Lopez at No. 3, Raul Ibanez at cleanup and Richie Sexson at No. 5 – produced in a big way. The combined effort was eight hits, 10 RBI and five runs scored in the Mariners' 14-5 victory over the Rangers.
What to make of this? Consider it a one-game improvement that will likely be used on the upcoming homestand against the Kansas City Royals. Batting Beltre in the No. 2 hole might be just what he needs to get his offense going. The thinking here is that with Ichiro on first so much, Beltre will be seeing more fastballs in order to give opposing catchers more of an opportunity to throw out Ichiro should he steal. It also opens up the right side of the infield for Beltre.
The move of Lopez to No. 3 is very un-Hargrove but could be the best thing for the struggling offense. Lopez is still a young player and Hargrove has not generally trusted the newbies to be in such a key position. That said, Lopez has proved to be the most reliable RBI man and willing to shoot the ball to right field when he's pitched away, something that has foiled Beltre and Sexson all season. ...
Two consecutive losses to the Texas Rangers in Arlington have dropped the Mariners to seven games behind the division leaders heading into tonight's series finale. This streak is just the latest trouble the Mariners have had in Texas.
Seattle has not had a winning record in Texas since 2002. Here's a look at the Mariners record there the last four years:
2006: 0-2
2005: 3-7
2004: 2-7
2003: 4-6
