The Seattle Mariners have juggled their lineup all season, looking for some way to put enough hits together to, like, score runs.

One thing they haven't done is drop Ichiro Suzuki down into the heart of the order. As a leadoff hitter, he's battin .352 with five home runs and 16 RBI.

The Mariners DH this season - Ken Griffey Jr. or Mike Sweeney - has a combined .223 batting averagr, six home runs and 22 RBI.

Why not flip Ichiro's bat to, say, third in the order?

From manager Don Wakamatsu's perspective, changing Ichiro's comfort zone - he loves batting leadoff - seems counter productive. And the leadoff spot is one of the few the Mariners don't have to worry about.

Any manager's job is to put his players in position to succeed, and do it as often as possible.

When Adrian Belre swings at eye-high curves and Junior or Sweeney fly out to strand the runner at third, they have all been put in position to help the team win.

The Mariners regularly have runners at third base available to score on an out - the right kind of out - and the heart of the lineup hasn't delivered.

Here's today's lineup:
Ichiro RF
Russell Branyan 1B
Adrian Beltre 3B
Ken Griffey Jr. DH
Jose Lopez 2B
Yuniesky Betancourt SS
Rob Johnson C
Endy Chavez LF
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Erik Bedard LHP

BOX SCORE

Here's my game story ...

Manager Don Wakamatsu was clearly not pleased with his offense's effort tonight. Two hits off of Rich Hill in seven innings? This was a guy that gave up seven runs in three innings in his last outing.

“One thing Rich did do really good tonight was throw his curveball any time in the count,” manager Don Wakamatsu said.

That was the extent of Wak's praise of Hill. He instead piled the blame up on his players.

“Offensively, it goes back to the same thing we’ve talked about all year – fundamental baseball and not executing when we need to,” he said.

And the patient approach at the plate he wants, well that was pretty much nonexistent too.

“We chased a lot of pitches, a lack of patience and really a lack of adjustments,” Wakamatsu said.

Nothing irritated him more than the first inning where Ichiro led off with a double to extend his hit streak to 25 games - tying a career high - and then moved to third on an error. With Ichiro on third and no outs, the Mariners couldn't get him in. Yuni popped up, Beltre struck out and Sweeney popped up.

“We have to try to get him somehow,” Sweeney said. “Obviously, we didn’t get it done, me included.”

And it killed the vibe and the energy of the game.

“It’s a recurring theme where we do get a guy in that situation we do get overaggressive,” Wakamatsu aid. “Really the whole tempo of the game is set when you don’t get that run.”

The Mariners got the pitching more than enough pitching from Jarrod Washburn and Chris Jakubauskas. Washburn allowed just one run on six hits in seven innings - a beyond respectable showing. Jakubauskas, who was making his first relief appearance since being dropped from the rotation, pitched two hitless innings and got a big 3-6-3 double play from Russell Branyan.

“It’s an awful shame to be able squander a pitching performance from Washburn and Jakubauskas where they give one run and six hits against a club and really have nothing to show for it,” he Wakamatsu said.

On the positive side, Washburn said his achy knee felt better. He wore a brace recommended by the Angels' Scott Shields, who just went on the DL.

Washburn said the knee took a lot of the pain away. There is still some, but not nearly as much as before.

ORIOLES NOTES:
• Rich Hill tossed a season-high 7.0 innings for the first time since Sept. 12, 2007 at Houston...since Aug. 17, 2007 his teams have won 15 of his 18 starts including each of his 4 starts this season...during 18 game span he is 8-1, 4.13 ERA (44 ER, 96.0 IP) with 92 strikeouts.
• Nolan Reimold went 2x3, extending his hitting streak to 6 games…Reimold has now hit safely in 14 of 17 games. During the streak he is batting .333 (8x24) with 4 runs, a double, 3 home runs and 7 RBI.
• Adam Jones went 1x3, scoring the only run of the game…has now hit safely in 27 of last 33 games, batting .346 (48x139) with 8 doubles, 9 home runs, 24 RBI and 26 runs scored.
• The Orioles won their first 1-0 game since May 9, 2007 vs. Tampa Bay.
• George Sherrill has converted each of last 7 save opportunities…11 consecutive shutout relief appearances (11.0IP).

MARINERS NOTES:
• Ichiro Suzuki extended his hitting streak to 25 games, matching his career-high streak (2007) and tying the Mariners franchise record…his streak is currently the longest in the Major Leagues and he has safely reached base in 32 straight games, the longest streak in the American League…also extended his home hitting streak against the Orioles to 13 games dating back to June 4, 2007 and during the streak is hitting .352 (19x54) with 10 runs and 4 doubles.
• Jarrod Washburn spun his 7th quality start of the season, tying Felix Hernandez for the team lead...it is the 4th time in 5 starts at Safeco Field that he has allowed 2-or-fewer earned runs and 7th time overall in 10 starts...it was also his 5th start of at least 7.0 innings...Seattle has now lost each of his last 7 starts after starting the season 3-0.
• Seattle was held to only 2 hits, their lowest hit total of the season and lowest since being held to 2 hits July 8, 2008 at Oakland…it was only the 4th time in the last 3 seasons to be held to 2 runs or less.
• Yuniesky Betancourt went 1x4 and recorded the only other hit…he has now hit safely in 4 of his last 5 home games.
• The Mariners were shut out for the 5th time this season and dropped their first 1-0 decision of the season...it is the 42nd 1-0 loss in team history...Seattle is now 13-11 in 1-run games this season.