National award winning columnist Joe Posnanski of the Kansas City Star has a fantastic personal blog that he updates quite often. He's a fabulous writer, who loves baseball. And he's also one of the few old school baseball writers that has really embraced the sabermetric phenomenon.

Anyway, Posnanski unleashes a great rant about Jose Vidro batting clean-up for the Mariners. It's a rant that most people who watch the Mariners regularly also make.

I think this might be my favorite part of his rant...

Thing is, that sort of crazy quote was inevitable: Because there is no possible quote you could offer that could explain hitting Jose Vidro cleanup unless that quote is:

1. “He does have possession of those photographs I would prefer to keep private.“
2. “He’s my son-in-law, and hey, I have to keep peace in the house.”
3. “Hey, what would you do if you got a fortune cookie that read, ‘Hit Vidro fourth?’
4. “My owner has him in his fantasy league.”
5. “I lost the cleanup spot in a poker game.”
6. “I had this dream about him, and my psychiatrist said this is what it means.”
7. “Mr. Rothstein insisted.”
8. “Jose Vidro? Wait. When did we lose Jose Guillen?”

In respect to Mr. Posnanski, I'd like to add a few more ...
9. "Well, he is an improvement over Richie Sexson."
10. "Hey we might still be able to trade him for something, anything. We are running low on batting practice balls and pine tar rags."
11. "Have you seen the roster I have to work with?"
12. "Does it really matter?"

Just cause most of the Mariners aren't playing baseball today (or for much of the season so far), doesn't mean we aren't talking about baseball. I was on a brief hiatus from the blog because of a work assignment (it was about baseball) that will run on Thursday. No other hints though.

Anyway, I haven't got to weigh on the Richie release or anything else Mariners related for the last few days, but that's coming later. First lets get to some news and notes through the miracle of internet links.

Let's lead off with yesterday's rare win for the Mariners ...

* Here's Lash's game story that talks about that crazy play at the end that led to the win. A couple of hints as to my secret story for Thursday (no it's not like Miguel Batista's secret to pitching), that last play was something I saw plenty of this weekend. And another hint: I also watched Clement's homer on TV with Dave Henderson.

* Here's the game notebook which leads with Jim Riggleman spending his all-star break in Seattle

* Here's the story from the Kansas City Star about the game.

Ichiro will bat lead-off in Tuesday's all-star game.

2008 All-Star Lineups
National League:
1. Hanley Ramirez, Florida, ss
2. Chase Utley, Philadelphia, 2b
3. Lance Berkman, Houston, 1b
4. Albert Pujols, St. Louis, dh
5. Chipper Jones, Atlanta, 3b
6. Matt Holliday, Colorado, rf
7. Ryan Braun, Milwaukee, lf
8. Kosuke Fukudome, Chicago, cf
9. Geovany Soto, Chicago, c
P: Ben Sheets, Milwaukee, rhp

American League:
1. Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle, rf
2. Derek Jeter, New York, ss
3. Josh Hamilton, Texas, cf
4. Alex Rodriguez, New York, 3b
5. Manny Ramirez, Boston, lf
6. Milton Bradley, Texas, dh
7. Kevin Youkilis, Boston, 1b
8. Joe Mauer, Minnesota, c
9. Dustin Pedroia, Boston, 2b
P: Cliff Lee, Cleveland, lhp

Other Mariners' related links ...
The Tacoma Rainiers picked up a win. Bryan LaHair had a two-run single and the newest Rainier Craig Wilson had a homer.

I didn't get to post this the other day, but Charlton Jimerson was released by the Rainiers. It's too bad, he went from being on the opening day roster of a major league team to released. I think the biggest issue is that he could never develop any consistency at the plate, which is something that's dogged him throughout his career. He'd shown some hints, but they were few and far between. He was hitting just .233 with Rainiers at the time of his release. To make matters worse, he had an on-base percentage of just .250. In 219 plate appearances, he had just THREE walks with 80 strikeouts. That's not a misprint. Three walks in 219 plate appearances - that's beyond Betancourt-esque.

That being said, Jimerson was a great guy, who is supremely athletic with some talent and has worked hard and overcame a lot to get to where he is. I hope he gets it figured out and continues to keep playing. Best of luck to him.

* One player who isn't having any trouble at the plate right now is second-round pick Dennis Raben. In this story from the Herald, Raben believes he's a better hitter with wood bats than aluminum bats, which is rarely the case.

* Over in Jackson, Tenn., Mariners' outfielder/DH Mike Wilson seems to have things figured out in comparison to last year's struggles. He's putting up big numbers and was the player of the month in June for the Southern League.

As of today, he was hitting .275 with a .373 OBP and a .551 SLG with 20 homers and 67 RBI

* High Desert got a win and Carlos Triunfel had three hits, including his third homer of the season.

* Phillippe Aumont made the Futures game, but he didn't get to play.

Trade talk
* The Arizona D-Backs joined the Mets, Yankees and a few others in looking to acquire Raul Ibanez. The P-I's John Hickey had a story with a source from the D-Backs (I'm wondering if their initials were B.M. or B.P.) who said the Mariners are asking too much for Ibanez.

* We posted on here the other day, the link to the LaVelle Neal story that the Twins had some interest in acquiring Adrian Beltre. Just the other day, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire pined for a right-handed hitter with some pop.

* AJ Burnett had perhaps his best outing of the year for the Blue Jays. Toronto's made it no secret about wanting to trade him. And now the Phillies, who are also interested in Erik Bedard, have started looking at Burnett. Like the Mariners, the Blue Jays, specifically Tony LaCava, have been scouting some of the Phillies better prospects.

* Also there are numerous reports that lefty closer Brian Fuentes of the Rockies is highly coveted on the market. Whoever loses out on the Fuentes sweepstakes, might look to Arthur Rhodes as a consolation prize.

Let's go around baseball ...
* SI's Jon Heyman came out with his mid-season awards, and not surprisingly a few Mariners won awards for futility.

* Adam Jones has been moved up to No. 2 in the Orioles order.

In this notebook, it leads with Melvin Mora stranding 11 runners on base. I don't think even Richie did that. Also a little lower in it Orioles starter Radhames Liz (yes that's his real name) was chastised by manager Dave Trembley. I liked this quote...

"I may not like having to come out here all the time and talk every day, but it's an obligation, a responsibility that you have, and you have to take the bitter with the sweet," Trembley said. "You've got to be able to handle it with some dignity, and I think that's how you get respect."

* Tim Lincecum wins again, he should have been the starter for the all-star game, I will not argue this point.

* Rick Telander also has a column on Lincecum.

* Ozzie Guillen had another tirade about his team. It would be mildly interesting to cover this guy on a daily basis.

* The Oakland A's are not big fans of Angels closer K-Rod and his on-field antics.