Ichiro opens the night with a nine-game hitting streak, during which he's batting .385, and needs one double to become the only active player with 200 doubles and 300 stolen bases.

On the other hand, lefty Garrett Olson makes his first start as a Mariner, his first since last September and his seventh career start against Boston.

How's he done? You shouldn't have asked. Against the Sox, Olson is 0-4 with a 7.76 earned run average.

Hmmm.

Buckle up. Play ball.

That was quick

Two quick outs, then Olson walked left-handed hitting J.D. Drew to bring up right-handed hitting cleanup man Jason Bay.

Bad move.

Bay hit the first pitch he saw over the left field wall for his 11th home run and a two-run lead.

So the Mariners have work to do already.

In the first: Red Sox 2, Mariners 0

That was quick II
Olson walked Julio Lugo, then gave up a home run much like Bay's to Jason Varitek.

For Varitek, who had only one suitor all winter - the Red Sox - the home run was his fifth and gave him 15 RBI.

For the second night in a row, Boston is out to a four run lead.

In the second: Red Sox 4, Mariners 0

Yuni strikes back

Using the drill he'd practiced hours earlier, Wladimir Balentien singled to right field, taking the pitch the other way. One out later, Yuniesky Betancourt worked the count, got a 95 mph fastball inside and hit it into the Mariners bullpen for his second home run.

Benching seems to have agreed with Yuni's game.

After two: Red Sox 4, Mariners 2

Mariners coming back

Yes, they're at it again. Beltre was safe at first on an error and Russell Branyan doubled him home - with Branyan taking third on the throw to the plate.

No one out, the Red Sox played the infield in and got ground ball outs from Balentien and Kenji Johjima.

On a full count - Yuni took pitches! - Betancourt drew his third walk in two nights. Chavez lined out.

After four: Red Sox 4, Mariners 3
Oops

Olson left a pitch up to No. 9 hitter Jeff Bailey, who was batting .159 at that moment, and Bailey made it his second home run of the season.

In the fifth: Red Sox 5, Mariners 3

A word about the pitching

Beckett went seven gritty innings and is line for the win, but the Mariners have to thank Mr. Olson for his efforts.

The 25-year-old had pitched two innings since May 6, then went six innings on 93 pitches tonight.

No, he wasn't All-Star caliber, but he allowed four hits - three of them home runs - and four walks.

Given regular work, who knows? But tonight, filling in for Erik the Bedard, he gave Seattle as much as it could have hoped.

Miguel Batista has worked two innings in relief, and gotten two double plays.

After eight: Red Sox 5, Mariners 3

That's a final

Another entertaining game, and one the Mariners had a chance to win but ...

Ah,those buts.

In the ninth inning against Jonathon Papelbon, Seattle sent up Kenji Johjima, Yuniesky the New Betancourt and Endy Chavez.

Out, out, single.

With Chavez at first, the last chance came down to Ichiro, who earlier had extended his hitting streak to 10 consecutice games.

Chavez took second base on indifference. Ichiro grounded out.

Final score: Red Sox 5, Mariners 3

Batting coach Alan Cockrell is running a drill on hitting to the opposite field, fand Wladimir Balentien, Endy Chavez, Franklin Gutierrez, Ronny Cedeno, Yuniesky Betancourt and Rob Johnson are taking part in it.

The drill is simple. Cockrell stands to the side of the batting cage and flips a ball toward the hitter, who is facing his opposite field. His job? Line it to that field.

They've been going for 20 minutes and show no sign of stopping.

Meanwhile, here's the lineup vs. RHP Josh Beckett:

Ichiro RF
Jose Lopez 2B
Ken Griffey Jr. DH
Adrian Beltre 3B
Russell Branyan 1B
Balentien LF
Kenji Johjima C
Betancourt SS
Chavez CF
Garrett Olson LHP

BOX SCORE

Here's Larry's story

Here's my story on Jon Lester's return to the Northwest. He was quite blunt about the botched double play and very frustrated with his recent outings of late.

Obviously, Ichiro's multi-homer game was the big news. It was the fourth time in his career he'd done that and first since July 30, 2005.

As usual Ichiro downplayed the situation here's some of the quotes from his postgame meeting with reporters ...

"No, I'm not Sadaharu Oh. I can't have the ability to do that," he said when asked if he can hit home runs when he wants to.

Here's some more ...
"Who knows? It kind of proves that in the universe, mysterious things happen," he said through an interpreter. "It shows that, really, two mysterious things happened in the universe today."

Always interesting that Ichiro.

Red Sox notes:
• Jon Lester left the game trailing after allowing 4 runs in the 6th inning...it was the 3rd time in 4 lifetime appearances against Seattle that he has allowed at least 4 runs in less than 6.0 innings pitched...Boston has now lost 3 of Lester's4 starts against the Mariners and he is 1-1, 5.25 ERA (14 ER, 24.0 IP) in 4 lifetime starts.
• Jacoby Ellsbury collected a double, triple and single in his first three at-bats...needing only a home run to complete the cycle, he flied out to center field in the 6th inning and grounded to first in the 9th...it would have been the 20th cycle in Boston Red Sox history (last: John Valentin, June 6, 1996)…Ellsbury also extended his hitting streak to 11 games, the 3rd longest streak of his career (career high: 18, in 2008) and the longest active streak in the American
• League…during the streak is batting .373 (19x51) with 3 doubles, a triple, 4 RBI, 8 runs, 3 walks and 6 stolen bases.
• Jason Bay drew a career-high tying 3 walks in today’s game, 18th time in his career (last: 4/3/08 at ATL).
MARINERS NOTES:
• Seattle came back from a 4-0 deficit to win today…it was their 9th come-from-behind victory of the season.
• Seattle snapped a 5-game losing streak to Boston dating back to June 7, 2008 at Boston…despite the losing streak,
• Seattle has won 12 of their last 18 games against the Red Sox at Safeco Field.
• Ichiro homered twice, a solo home run in the 5th, and a go ahead 2-run home run in the 6th inning...it was his 4th career multi-home run game (last: 7/30/05 vs. CLE)…was the first time in his career to home in consecutive innings.
• Starter Chris Jakubauskas recorded his first career win as a starter in his first career appearance against the Red Sox…and snapped a personal 4-game losing streak...it was his 2nd quality start of the season (last: 4/28 at CWS).
• Starting the game with a lead off single, Ichiro Suzuki extended his hitting streak to a season-high 9 games…during the streak he is batting .385 (15x39) with 4 runs, a double, 2 home runs and 3 RBI.
• David Aardsma earned his 4th save of the season with a scoreless ninth inning...he has not allowed a run in 15 of his 17 appearances this season including his last 7 games (7.1 IP)...he lowered his ERA to 1.53 (3 ER, 17.2 IP) which ranks 1st amongst Mariners relievers and is also amongst the American League leaders.
• Franklin Gutierrez's 2-run single in the 6th inning snapped an 0x10 with runners in scoring position to start the game.
• Russell Branyan went 3x4 with a double and a run scored...his 3rd 3-hit game of season, his 8th multi-hit game of the year... has 7-game hit streak at Safeco Field, batting .370 (10x27) with 6 runs, 3 doubles, 3 home runs and 5 RBI.
• Wladimir Balentien doubled to lead off the 4th inning of the game and has now had 6 multi-hit games in his 16 starts this season…has recorded a double in 3 consecutive games and in 6 of his last 9 games.
• Yuniesky Betancourt tied career-high by drawing walks in first 2 at-bats, 5th time in career (last: 8/23/08 vs. OAK).
• Seattle scored 5 runs for the 4th time in the last 6 games after scoring 2 runs or less in 4 straight games.

Sorry I got to this so late ...

AAA Tacoma Rainiers (Pacific Coast League)
Here’s Mike Curto’s game story
BOX SCORE
Pitching Lines:
RH Andrew Baldwin (L,2-2) 5.2,12,6,6,0,3,4HR
RH Brodie Downs 2.1,3,2,2,0,2
With the Bats:
LF Michael Saunders 3x5, R, 2B, K
DH Jeff Clement 2x4, 2B, BB
3B Chris Shelton 2x4, R
Rainiers Notes: The Rainiers lost their 2nd in a row to New Orleans despite solid performances at the plate. Andrew Baldwin allowed a season high 6 runs including 4 home runs. DH Jeff Clement is starting to heat up; he collected his 4th extra-base hit in last 3 games with a double off the right field wall and during those games is batting (.462/6x13). Chris Shelton extended his hitting streak to 5 games (8x20/.400) and has recorded multi-hit efforts in 8 of his last 18 games. LF Michael Saunders tied a season-high with 3 hits. Recently promoted C Adam Moore went 1x3 with a BB and threw out 1 of 2 attempted base stealers. Over his last 10 games, Bryan LaHair is hitting .333 (12x36) with 8 runs, 4 home runs, 3 doubles, 8 RBI. Prentice Redman and LaHair both rank 5th in the PCL with 9 home runs. Mike Carp ranks 9th in league with 19 walks.
Today’s probable starter:
RH Josh Hall (0-0, 4.15) at New Orleans

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