BOX SCORE

Look I'll never tell a fan his business. Tickets are not cheap, beers are not cheap, hot dogs are not cheap at Mariners games and most times I'm there getting paid to be there, but I thought it was pretty classless for the Safeco Fans to boo Mark Lowe tonight.

The fans retort is always, "if I pay for the ticket, I have a right to boo." And I guess on some level it is true. And these guys are professional athletes that are paid to play.

But booing Lowe to me seemed a mark of being uninformed, or else just the outpouring of frustration of watching the Mariners scuffle as a whole. Really, Lowe has been pretty damn good the last week and a half.

In his last five appearances, he hadn't allowed a run and he allowed only one run in his last 10 appearances. He's been not only successful, but almost overworked because of the Mariners shabby offense.

Manager Don Wakamatsu made it a point to praise Lowe right away in his post game comments, saying "the first thing I want to mention is Mark Lowe. This guy has been absolutely outstanding for us. He's thrown six out of the last nine days and our bullpen is a little tired. I think that was a little evident. He's been there over the last week or so, and he's really developing into a pitcher that's going to be around this organization a long time and be a big help."

That was kind of an odd thing to start with, so eventually I asked Wak if he thought the treatment of Lowe by the fans when he walked off the field was unfair.

"Absolutely," he said. "This guy has just gotten better and better. To have to keep going to our bullpen without taking any pressure off offensively."

He wasn't alone in his thinking. The guy who's decision Lowe blew, starter Garrett Olson, also was surprised.

“It’s definitely not fair,” Olson said. “It’s amazing how soon people can forget what he’s done. But Mark is the guy you want out there in that situation.”

Lowe to his credit didn't seem hurt by it, saying, "that's the game of baseball."

Perhaps, but the game of baseball is scoring runs and the Mariners just aren't doing that any more. Maybe that's part of the displeasure is knowing that right Seattle just doesn't have the offense to rally from a one or two-run deficit, let along a four-run one.

Seattle's last 31 hits have all been singles. They have not recorded an extra base hit since May 20th. Anemic is a word that comes to mind.

Still Lowe stood in front of the media and wore the loss, offering no excuses for his workload, the high leverage situations or anything else.

"I got two quick outs, but it was just one of those days where they capitalized on some mistakes," he said. "I didn't feel bad, I felt normal. It takes it toll, but at the same time that's what we're here to do and that's what our job is."

"That's why we play. We're going to be in those one-run two-run games as bullpen guys," he said. "You live for those moments, we do it eight or nine out of 10 times we are considered successful."

As for the outing, he's trying to live by the reliever mantra of maintaining a short memory.

“I’ve got a 20 minute drive home to think about it, by the time I get home and get my bags packed for the road trip I’ll be fine,” he said. “That’s the reason I live a little farther from the ballpark is for moments like this.”

GIANTS NOTES:
• Matt Cain allowed only 1 earned run, and has allowed 2 earned runs or less in 7 of his 9 starts this season...tossed his 1st complete game of the season and 5th of his career (last: 7/24/08 vs. WAS)...has tossed at least 6.0 innings in each of his 9 starts...first career start against Seattle...on road this season, is 2-0, 1.29 ERA (4 ER, 28.0 IP) in 4 starts.
• Randy Winn went 2x5 with 1 run scored and has now recorded multi-hit efforts in 4 of his last 5 games...since May 10, he is batting .396 (21x53) with 12 runs, 6 doubles, a triple and 9 RBI, moving his average up from .219 to .278.
• Giants snapped a 4 game losing streak with an 8th inning rally, starting with a single to left by Bengie Molina and capped off by a 3-run double by Juan Uribe that gave the Giants their first lead of the game.
• Juan Uribe drove in season-high 3 runs with a double to center in the 8th and went 2x3 for the night, extending his hitting streak to 4 games…has driven in 3-or more runs in 4 games against the Mariners.
• Jesus Guzman had his first major league career hit with a sharp grounder to third base in the 7th inning and went 1x3 before being replaced in the bottom of the 7th by Federal Way’s Travis Ishikawa.
• Pablo Sandoval went 2x3 with 2 singles and a walk…has now hit safely in last 3 games.
MARINERS NOTES:
• Garrett Olson made his second start this season, pitching 6 shutout innings in his first quality start of the season…in his 2 starts, he is 0-1, 3.75 ERA (5 ER, 12.0 IP) with 6 strikeouts…Seattle has lost both of his starts.
• Kenji Johjima threw out Giants’ attempting to steal 2nd base in the 6th and 9th innings…by throwing out both would-be base stealers, he has now thrown out 9 of 20 attempted base stealers this season, the best success rate (45%) for a catcher in the Majors.
• Over the last 4 games, Seattle starters have combined to go 1-1 with a 1.13 ERA (3 ER, 24.0 IP) with 14 strikeouts, allowing 1 earned run or less in 3 of the 4.
• Ichiro Suzuki extended his hitting streak to 17 games; going 2x4…streak is currently the 2nd-longest active streak in the Majors (Ellsbury, 18)…Ichiro is batting .342 (26x76) with 3 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI during the streak.
• Ichiro Suzuki recorded 17th infield hit in 5th inning, including 9 in his last 15 games…17 infield hits lead the Majors.
• Russell Branyan went 2x4 with singles in the 6th and 9th innings…has at least one hit in 13 of last 14 games at Safeco Field and 16 of 18 overall home games this season (.361/22x61).
• Seattle hitters recorded 10 hits, all singles today...each of their last 31 hits have been singles...have not recorded an extra-base-hit since an Ichiro double on May 20 vs. LAA leading off the game...despite the lack of extra-base power, the Mariners have split the last 4 games.
• Ken Griffey Jr., batting fourth for the Mariners for the first time since Aug. 11, 1996 against Minnesota, went 1x3. During his career, he is batting .271 (158x583) out of the 4-spot.
• Left-handed starter Ryan Rowland-Smith started rehab assignment at Triple A Tacoma tonight, tossing 4 innings and allowing 1 run and 4 hits, including 1 home run. Rowland-Smith made 49 pitches, 31 for strikes.

Sorry for the delayed start to the game updates, but it really hasn't been that exciting so far.

The biggest news would be Adrian Beltre singling in his first at-bat. Before the game manager Don Wakamatsu talked about Beltre taking some of the "muscle out of his swing."

"It has a lot to do with his approach and using the some of the opposite field," Wakamatsu said.

Bottom of third ...
The Mariners have a lead!!! Hey you don't get to write that often, so I figure a few exclamation points might be worth it. Back to back singles from Gutierrez and Ichiro (extending his hit streak to 17 games) and a sac bunt from Endy Chavez and Adrian Beltre's grounder to second base allowed Gutierrez to score, not exactly Sodo Mojo, but the M's will take it.

Top of fourth
Garrett Olson walks Pablo Sandoval to lead off the inning. Sandoval doubled off of Olson in the first inning, why am I bringing this up, to tell you about Sandoval's nickname,..... they call him the Kung Fu Panda because of his rather large frame and belly and yet frightening agility and athleticism which we saw last night on this play.

Do you see the similarities?

Bottom of the 4th
Joh with a stolen base. His second of the season probably fourth of his entire career. But it matters little as he's stranded there.

Top of the 6th
I'm really not sure what Sandoval was doing there as he tried to steal second and was thrown out by 30 feet by Joh. Lopez caught the ball and stood there and had to wait for a few seconds before tagging him out. Hey Sandoval's nickname is the Kung Fu Panda, not the Flash. I'm guessing maybe it was supposed to be a hit and run and Bengie Molina - who might be the slowest player in baseball might have missed.

UPDATE from Tacoma --- Ryan Rowland-Smith pitched 4 innings, allowed one run, on two hits - one being a solo home run and struck out one in his rehab start.

Bottom of 6th
I'd write something about the Mariners offense, but there is none right now.

Top of the 8th
Tough inning for Mark Lowe, who gave up five runs on four hits. Of all that went wrong there, walking the light-hitting Emmanuel Burris might have been the worst. Lowe was booed pretty good by the crowd. THat's awfully what have you done for me lately considering how good Lowe has been of late.

Yuniesky Betancourt is back on the bench again. Do I think it's punishment for the awful booted ball last night? Not really. You can't sit him every time he makes a mistake in the game. You don't want players playing not to make mistakes. I think it's more of a matter of Wakamatsu wanting to get Ronny Cedeno in the line-up today. But it also is nice to have a capable player like Cedeno to send mini messages. Wlad Balentien also gets a day off as well.

With that being said, Yuni is tied with Boston's Nick Green for most errors in baseball with eight. Jose Lopez is behind them with seven.

UPDATE: Like I expected, Wakamatsu isn't punishing Yuni per se.

"I didn't want to sit Ronny for the third day," Wakamatsu said.

As for the idea of benching somebody because of an error, Wakamatsu doesn't subscribe to that thinking.

"I'm definitely not a manager that once you make an error (you're out," he said. "What I look for work ethic, awareness in the ball game, the effort level and those type of things."

Mariners
Ichiro CF
Endy Chavez LF
Adrian Beltre 3B
Ken Griffey Jr. DH
Russell Branyan 1B
Jose Lopez 2B
Kenji Johjima C
Ronny Cedeno SS
Franklin Gutierrez CF
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LHP Garrett Olson P (0-1, 5.27 ERA)

Giants
Aaron Rowand CF
Edgar Renteria SS
Pablo Sandoval DH
Bengie Molina C
Randy Winn RF
Jesus Guzman 1B
Juan Uribe 3B
Fred Lewis LF
Kevin Frandsen 2B
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RHP Matt Cain (4-1, 2.65 ERA)