The Mariners rotation has the second-lowest earned run average in the American League (3.49) - and Erik Bedard is among the reasons.

Starting tonight in Anaheim, Bedard's ERA is 1.86. It will face a major obstancle tonight in the Angels.

Bedard, in his career, is 1-4 vs. the Angels with a 6.68 ERA. One of the big reasons is Vlad Guerrero, who's on the disabled list. Another is Torii Hunter - who's not! - who is hitting .450 in 20 at-bats, with two home runs and six RBI against the lefty.

As April games go, this one's big within the AL West.

Branyan's back - boom!

Russell Branyan's first game-swing in a week resulted in his third home run and a 1-0 lead for Seattle.

Guess the back is feeling better.

In the second: Mariners 1, Angels 0

No boom, but a few bangs

Mariners have been trying to add-on since Branyan's home run, using the hit-and-run play - and failing - and not quite getting down a bunt.

Then they opened the fifth inning with consecutive singles by Ichiro, Endy Chavez and Ken Griffey Jr. - and a two-rund double from Adrian Beltre.

That got the Angels bullpen stirring.

Branyan walked to load the bases again, and Jose Lopez chopped a high infield single to make it 4-0 and keep them loaded, and Rob Johnson parachuted a single into center field.

That brought Angels reliever Rich Thompson in and put the Mariners up by five - still with no one out.

On the verge of blowing this one open, in the fifth, it's Mariners 5, Angels 0.

That should be enough ...

Thompson's first pitch in relief was wild and scored Branyan, then Yuniesky

Betancourt's one-out sacrifice fly got home another run - and the Angels went to their bullpen again.

Bedard now has a seven-run lead and has allowed one hit in four innings. In theory, this should enough.

Mariners 7, Angels 0

Now THAT'S ugly

Why you never count wins until they're over: the Angels got a loud home run from Mike Napoli, an infield single off the glove of Lopez and a bloop single from Robb Quinlan - and then it got ugly.

Chavez tried to throw a runner out at third, and his throw skipped off Beltre's foot and into the stands.

That sent one run home and put Quinlan at third, from where he scored on a fly ball.
Bedard got out of it there, but it was one bad-looking rally.

After five: Mariners 7, Angels 3

For now, the who's-on-first riddle for the Seattle Mariners is over - tonight, it appears, he will be Russell Branyan.

Branyan is tentatively penicled in to play first base for the first time in a week and, should something during batting practice prevent his appearance, Mike Sweeney will play.

On Thursday, neither was available because of back problems, nor was utilityman Ronny Cedeno.

All were down with minor injuries, so catcher Jamie Burke played first base in Seattle's 1-0 victory over Tampa Bay.

Afterward, there was speculation centering around the disabled list. Not so fast, cowhands.
Branyan and Sweeney each appear ready to play, Cedeno will likely get another day or two off. And Burke will return to being the reserve catcher/emergency relief pitcher.

Thought I'd share a couple things ...

Mike Carp isn't going anywhere and left-handed reliever Cesar Jimenez, who's been on the disabled list with a sore shoulder, has been placed on a rehab assignment in Tacoma. I don't know what his schedule is yet, I'll know more later.

UPDATE: Jimenez will throw one inning or no more than 30 pitches in relief tonight.

I've had a few calls about the possibility of Rainiers first baseman Mike Carp being called up, most likely because he sat out of last night's 4-2 loss game against the Salt Lake Bees.

Normally, when a player like Carp sits out of a game like that and there are injury issues going on with the big club, it's something more than a coincidence.

But after a call or two, I found out that Rainiers manager Daren Brown was giving him a much-needed night off. I'm still waiting on a call back from Brown to verify some more stuff.

Checking with my sources, none of them have heard about Carp being called up, regardless of how last night appeared.

Carp had played in every game thus far for the Rainiers, and in his last three games going into last night, he was 0-for-12 and over the last five games he had just one hit in 17 at-bats. So a break was needed.

Perhaps it was well timed by the Rainiers and Mariners.

But that leads me to this question?

Is Carp the guy you bring up right now, if they place one of the three dinged up players on the disabled list (a whole other issue to debate)?

Let's look at the pros and cons

Pros
1. He's left-handed. Even with a healthy Branyan, the Mariners are exceedingly right-handed hitting heavy. And at times they bat all three in a row - Ichiro, Chavez, Griffey. Having another lefty bat would be nice.
2. His approach is great and he does have some gap power. The Mariners' offense of late has been tepid at best. Perhaps Carp would add some punch to it.
3. Besides first base, he can also play some left field and not look horrible out there. Is he Endy Chavez? No, but some would say he's better than Raul Ibanez.
4. He is on the 40-man roster

Cons
1. The guy has never had a single big league at-bat, so asking him to come in and be a contributor on any level might be a bit much.
2. He can only play left field and first base. If Ronny Cedeno continues to be bothered by a hamstring, adding a third first baseman to the list really doesn't help out your defensive versatility.
3. He is 1 for 17 in his last five games.

So if, and I do mean if - because the way it sounds Don Wakamatsu is hesitant to place Cedeno, Branyan or Sweeney on the disabled list. If you don't call up Carp, then who do you call up?

Matt Tuiasosopo? Not going to be him. He's got a tender throwing arm and hasn't played in the field since joining the Rainiers.

Mike Morse? He brings versatility and some big league experience, but he's another right-hander. He's also not on the 40-man roster.

Chris Woodward? He'sthe most versatile player the Rainiers have now that Chris Burke is gone. Woodward can play all four infield positions and fill in the outfield. He's not a great hitter and also right-handed. Not on the 40-man roster.

Jeff Clement? Well, he is a left-handed bat. But he's missed the last few games to be with his wife and new son. And also he plays only one position - catcher. He's only taken a few ground balls at first, and I think we saw how that worked yesterday with Jamie Burke.

Bryan LaHair? He's left-handed, he can play first, he can play some left field if needed and he has big league experience. He's even shown some better pop in the last few games. But there is still some questions as whether he can hit on big league level.

Who knows what's going to happen? It doesn't sound like Wak wants to make roster move, but if you had to, you could retroactive Branyan's spot on the DL to April 18th.

Then again, I just spent about 800 words and an hour, speculating on a move that hasn't happened and most likely won't happen.