Ichiro is three hits short of reaching the 200-hit plateau for the eighth consecutive season which is, like, really hard.
In fact, when Ichiro does it, he'll match Wee Willie Keeler for the most consecutive seasons of 200 or more hits.
Keeler had his streak from 1894-1901, before the age of blogging, so the lads at Big Boat Mariner weren't around to dissect him.
OK, it's Rowland-Smith vs. Meche, with the Mariners trying to snap a six-game losing streak.
We're off.

Trying to stay out of the double plays that have haunted them, Jim Riggleman has his team running.
With one out, Ichiro and Yuniesky Betancourt pulled off a double steal - and Jose Lopez singled both home, pushing his RBI total to 84.
KC pitched out and caught Lopez stealing, but Riggleman clearly isn't in the mood to sit back and watch tonight.
Mariners 2, Royals 0 ...

Ichiro doubled, hit No. 198, and Yuni bunted him to third base, but Raul Ibanez and Jose Lopez couldn't get him home.
Two short of 200.
Mariners 2, Royals 0 ...

One short! Ichiro popped a ball up along the third base line and it fell in despite the Royals best efforts.
He's sitting on 199 hits now.
As for Ryan Rowland-Smith, he's allowed a solo home run but not much elsed, and has thrown only 54 pitches going into the fifth inning.
Mariners 2, Royals 1 ...

After six, Rowland-Smith owes his one-run lead to the defense of his shortstop.
Yuni's two-out diving stop of Mark Teahen's grounder up the middle stopped the tying run from scoring.
Mariners 2, Royals 1 ...

Life is an odd duck. After saving Rowland-Smith in the sixth inning, Yuni's error behind FRoy Corcoran in the seventh ignited a three-run rally in which all the runs were unearned.
Royals 4, Mariners 2 ...

Ichiro got a standing ovation here by beating out an infield single in the eighth inning for hit No. 200. It was his 48th infield single, and he's now the American League's all-time leader with eight consecutive 200-hit seasons.

Erik Bedard has been, he admits, something of a ‘mystery man’ as a Seattle Mariner, a left-hander who was named the staff ace before he put the uniform on – and a man who didn’t appear in a game after July 4.

The expectations were monumental. The Mariners had traded away five players, including outfielder Adam Jones, reliever George Sherrill and top pitching prospect Chris Tillman for Bedard.

He started 15 games, went 6-4 with a 3.67 earned run average.

And when the injuries began, Bedard’s season – and his career – came into question.

“To not be able to pitch, that’s the most frustrating part,” Bedard said Wedndsday. “To not be able to do what you love is hard, and now to have surgery and not know if I can come back or not.

“If I can’t pitch, I guess it’ll be time to find reality, find a 9-to-5 job in the real world.

“I love the game. If I’m not playing it I watch it. I’m one of the few guys I know who goes home in October and watches playoff games – that’s how much I love this game.”

That’s not the image of Bedard that most fans have developed his season, but then they rarely got the chance to see him healthy, and he rarely spoke to the media.

“Fans don’t know me? I kind of like being the mystery man,” Bedard said. “I don’t know how I’d explain this year to them, any way. I try not to put expectations on myself, I’d rather just go out and do my job. I just want to pitch.”

Bedard started opening day, and though he didn’t win, the team did. He developed inflammation in his left hip, skipped a start and then pitched April 8.

“I always felt Felix (Hernandez) should have been No. 1 in our rotation, that I should have been No. 2, and I told them that,” Bedard said. “I went out when it was my turn.

“The start after I hurt my hip, I felt discomfort in my shoulder the last inning I pitched. I know exactly when I did it,” Bedard said. “After that, it got worse and worse.

“I didn’t say anything, like everybody else in the game.”

Trainer Rick Griffin said Bedard never mentioned the pain until after his July 4 start. An MRI two weeks later, he said, showed a frayed labrum and a cyst in the shoulder.

“I stopped pitching when I couldn’t handle the pain. After my last start, I couldn’t lift my arm,” Bedard said.

“We knew what it was after the MRI. Surgery was always an option, but you want it to be the last option. You’re never 100 per cent sure what’ll happen in surgery.”

Team doctors, trainers and Bedard agreed to try rehabilitation as the first option, and Bedard began a long, slow climb back to throwing off the mound.

“He played long toss, then shortened the distance and increased the intensity,” Griffin said. “He probably threw in the bullpen four or five times. For two months, Erik did everything we asked.”

The problem was, Bedard didn’t improve enough.

“We tried rehab, and it got better, but it never got good. The pain was less at times, but I always felt it.,” Bedard said.

This week, the team and its medical staff agreed, and shoulder surgery has been scheduled for Sept. 26.

Why wasn’t it done in July?

“Surgery on the labrum is the last option, not the first,” Griffin said. “A lot of pitchers have labrum issues, and you might change their mechanics, move them from starting to relieving, try to strengthen it through rehab.

“When you do surgery, you don’ know what you’re going to find. MRI’s give you an idea, but never the complete picture. With that kind of surgery, you’re talking anywhere from six to 12 months of rehab before a pitcher can pitch again.”

Best case scenario, Bedard might begin throwing late in spring training. He could miss the entire season.

Worst case scenario, the damage is career-ending.

“All I take out of this year is having met new teammates, and the fact that I didn’t do badly when I did pitch,” Bedard said. “I’ve never been through anything like this in my life.”

Greetings M's fans and blog readers ... I haven't totally forsaken you. And I'm working on a few more end of the season posts.

Anyway the Mariners released their tentative schedule for next season. You can view it HERE.

Seattle opens the regular season on the road at Minnesota on April 6th.

(the place where the M's got Carlos Silva from and can't return - photo is from a start there this season). After a four-game series in Minnesota, the Mariners go to Oakland for three.

The home opener will be on Wednesday, April 15th against the Los Angeles Angels (hopefully we won't have to see any of K-Rod’s ridiculous histrionics in the series).

That will start a nine-game homestand, with the Tigers and Rays following.

As for interleague play, the Mariners will play the National League West this season. The first session will feature a quick three-game series on May 23-25 against the San Francisco Giants - meaning Tim Lincecum might be making a start at Safeco. Ahh, what might've been.

Interleague play continues a few weeks later with a series at Colorado (June 12-14) followed by a series at "natural rival" San Diego (June 16-18). The Arizona Diamondbacks (June 19-21)and BoMel and the Padres (June 23-25) will come to Safeco. Seattle will also have a later road series at Chavez Ravine against the Dodgers (June 26-28).

As for other key series ...
Red Sox fans and several impostor and poser Red Sox fans will invade Safeco for only three days this season on May 16-18.

But only one Sox series means two Yankees' series, which is almost, but not quite, as annoying. The Bombers come to Safeco on August 14-17 and on Sept. 19-21. So at least fans will get to see A-Rod not hit here and a team most likely slipping out of the postseason race.

Also as if it's not punishment enough, the Orioles and the benefits of the Bedard deal come not once to Safeco, but twice. Adam Jones, George Sherrill, Chris Tillman (possibly) and Co. will be here on June 1-3 and July 7-9.