BOX SCORE

Well, the Mariners don't get the sweep and perhaps my game story from yesterday's game jinxed them.

Or perhaps it was the pitchers' mistake of not pitching around Adrian Gonzalez, who went 4-for-4 with a home run, two RBI and two runs scored.

“The biggest thing with this game, obviously, was letting Gonzalez beat us twice in one game,” Wakamatsu said. “You go in there with the game plan knowing this guy can do the most damage and he ends up hitting a home run and double off us, when we’re basically trying to pitch around him.”

If you look at the Padres line-up, there is no other hitters you'd consider dangerous, or even moderately decent. I'll give Kevin Kouzmanoff a small benefit of the doubt, cause he has hit in the past, he's relatively young and because I drank cocktails with him.

But Brian Giles? No
Edgar Gonzalez? not quite
Chase Headly? Not yet.

So Gonzalez gets a cookie on a 2-1 pitch from Jakubauskas in the sixth to tie the game.

“It boils down to I left a pitch over the middle,” Jakubauskas said. “He gets paid a lot to hit those pitches and he did. It was the wrong time to challenge him.”

Slightly.

Even then I think we all thought that Franklin Gutierrez was going to find a way to make that catch. You can't help it. We've become spoiled to having him out there and thinking he can track down anything. Even his own manager can't help it.

“Anything in the air, even the ball to the gap, if it has air underneath of it, you feel like he’s going to catch it,” Wakamatsu said.

Gutierrez made a great leaping effort, but the glove hit off the tip of his glove.

“I did everything I could,” he said. “I jumped and it went off my glove. I thought I could catch it and save a run.”

It would have saved the lead he gave the Mariners after hitting a pair of solo home runs in the game. That was three for the season. Petco is tough place to hit the ball out of and two of them were to the deepest parts of Petco.

“I consider myself a line-drive hitter, but sometimes you put a very good swing on the ball and the ball will carry out,” Gutierrez said.

Starter Brandon Morrow wasn't bad, but wasn't great. His first inning was shaky and he couldn't spot his fastball, saying he was "trying to place the ball in the strikezone" instead of just letting his arm go. Morrow is pretty introspective and admitted that part of the reason that it happened has been his past command issues this season.

“The walks were down, but the major issue is pitch economy, 20 pitches in an inning doesn’t cut it,” Morrow said. “The end results are okay. But runs matter and you want to give more innings than that.”

After the first inning, Morrow seemed to settle in and pitch better because he relaxed and just pitched and not placed.

"The life on my fastball is better, my breaking stuff is better and the location is better because you aren't thinking about it, you just let your mechanics take over," he said.

Morrow seemed upbeat that he was making progress.

"I hope so," he said. "I felt a lot better the last three innings. Once I find that rhythm my mechanics take over and I feel alright."

Wakamatsu seemed satisfied if not pleased, except for the first inning.

"Eventually I thought he settled in," Wakamatsu said. "It's not about the stuff. It's about getting ahead of hitters and get deeper in the game. Four inning is not what we're looking for, but it's still easier for him."

Wakamatsu mentioned he'd like to see Morrow use his change-up more.

According to Morrow's pitch F/x breakdown, he only threw three change-ups in 74 pitches.

As for Wak managing the bullpen, perhaps you could have pitched Sean White in the 10th, but he's thrown a lot, and everybody else went in and made it through their inning of work, there's no reason to think Miguel Batista couldn't do the same. Well, except for the fact that he's Miguel Batista.

The last day in San Diego and the last day of this ...

Come on, I can't help myself. The Mariners have won two in a row doing this. And you don't mess with a streak ... even if the Padres should be exempt from counting in streaks.

First inning
Ladies and gentlemen, can I please have your attention. I've just been handed an urgent and horrifying news story. I need all of you, to stop what you're doing and listen. Cannonball.

Hey, Mike Carp with his first base hit of his big league career with a little single into right. He later scores on Griffey's double to right-center. Wakamatsu said Griffey's been swinging the bat well. Then again this is Josh Geer pitching too.

Brandon Morrow has a pattern that wasn't good that inning. Throw ball one and then give up a hit on his second pitch. Morrow gives up an RBI double to David Eckstein, who is only a half inch taller than Shannon Drayer and then an RBI single to Adrian Gonzalez. He looked a lot better striking out Kouzmanoff and Carp make's a nice play to get the final out of the inning... the pitch count 24 with 13 strikes.

Second Inning
You're so wise. You're like a miniature Buddha, covered with hair.
Yuni with a nice lead-off double but not much else.

The bottom of the inning was a little more entertaining. Yuni with a nice stop on a hard hit ball and then he spins and fires to get the lightning-fast Henry Blanco by six steps. And here's what's frustrating about Morrow, he walks the pitcher, Josh Geer and then comes back and just blows the doors off of Tony Gwynn Jr. He's at 43 pitches after two.

Third inning
Sweet Lincoln's mullet.

Those were getaway day type of ABs there, the Mariners half of the inning took about two minutes.

Eckstein with another single and he moves up on Adrian Gonzalez "single." It gets quotes cause most left fielders probably have had that, including Raul Ibanez last year. Tough news about Raul today as he was placed on the 15-day DL with a strained groin.

Morrow gets out of the inning though with back-to-back strikeouts. Pitch count: 64 pitches, 39 strikes

Fourth inning
Oh Audrey - I look like hell! I got bags under my eyes. What's that? Well if you were a man, I'd punch you. Punch you right in the mouth. That's bush. Bush league. YOU HEAR ME? AUDREY! LOOK AT ME! I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Alright?

Franklin Gutierrez continues to surprise me with his power. This time he goes to the right-center gap and puts one on the fake beach out where the 400 foot sign is for his fifth homer of the season.

Morrow has a 1-2-3 inning and is at only 74 pitches, will he be back for the fifth? No. Wlad Balentien will pinch hit for him. Pitch count for Morrow: 74 pitches, 46 for strikes.

Fifth inning
For just one night let’s not be Co-workers. Let's be Co-people.

The Mariners get a couple runners on, but not much going after that. Chris Jakubauskas comes on in relief and looks strong in one inning

Sixth inning
By the beard of Zeus!

Franklin Gutierrez hits his second home run in the game! This time he pulls a ball down the left field line to give the Mariners a 3-2 lead. It's his sixth of the season, third in three games and his first multi-homer game of his career.

The game is tied on Adrian Gonzalez's homer to center. Gutierrez almost made the highlight reel again as his leaping attempt for the catch came up just off as the ball bounced off his glove.

Seventh inning
I'm in a glass case of emotion.
Not much going on this inning. A couple 1-2-3 innings, but it's still tied at 3-3 and Larry Stone, who's sitting next to me is sweating out the possibility of extra innings and making his 6:45 flight.

Eighth inning
Ohh, it's the deep burn. Oh, it's so deep. Oh, I can barely lift my right arm 'cause I did so many. I don't know if you heard me counting. I did over a thousand.
The Mariners get a "single" from Junior because Tony Gwynn Jr. was playing him at the wall. But they don't get anything else.

The Padres get a little rally thanks to two walks from Roy Corcoran. Mark Lowe comes on and strikes out Kevin Kouzmanoff, unintentionally intentionally walks Chase Headley and gets Henry Blanco to fly out to Griffey to end the inning.

Ninth inning
Brick, where did you get a hand grenade?
And we go to bonus panels. Of course we do. I'm glad I'm not flying out at 6:45 p.m.

Tenth inning
Well, I could be wrong, but I believe diversity is an old, old wooden ship that was used during the Civil War era.
Chavez with a lead-off single, Carp with a walk but Beltre strikes out and Griffey pops up to short.

Well, we pretty much knew that was going to happen with Miggy B coming into the game. A double from Adrian Gonzalez and a single from Kouzmanoff and it's over.

I've been a little lax on the minor league reports, but we'll try to get them back up with a little more consistently.

A few things ...
1. We talked with GM Jack Zduriencik yesterday and he said they've signed about five to six players, and he was going to have a set of signees released in the coming days. None of the top picks have signed.

Some of those picks won't necessarily be going to Class A Clinton

50th round pick Evan Sharpley out of Notre Dame has been allowed to play football for the Irish this fall and cut short his minor league seaosn.

One of those players, high school catcher Steven Baron, who was thought to have a predraft deal done, is now asking for around $1.3 million or he will go to Duke.

2. Ryan Rowland-Smith's latest outing in Tacoma didn't go so great -- 6 IP, 9 hits, 5 runs, a walk, 4 strikeouts. He's now lost three straight starts. But in this story from Ian Ruder, Rainiers manager Daren Brown said RRS' stuff was better.

3. Clinton's Denny Almonte was named to the Midwest League All-star team.

4. The Everett Herald has already started doing a lot of Aquasox coverage. You can go to it here. We'll add it to the blog roll. But one interesting story is the fact that some of the players may be delayed cause of the new passport rules.

5. High Desert won the first half of the California League season and Jamie McOwen has a 29-game hitting streak.

Yesterday’s Results Standings Winner/Loser/Save
at Portland 5, Tacoma 3 --- 34-32, 3rd, -3.5 --- L-Rowland-Smith (1-3)
Montgomery 5, at West Tenn. 3 --- 25-41, 5th, -13.0 ---- L-Bray (1-4)
Rancho Cucamonga 3, at High Desert 4 --- 42-24, 1st, +5.0 --- W-Mortimore (2-1)/SV-Aumont (12)
at Beloit 1, Clinton 4 --- 38-28, T2nd, -1.0 ---- W-Kasparek (4-4)/SV-Flores (12)

AAA Tacoma Rainiers (Pacific Coast League)
Pitching Lines:
LH Ryan Rowland-Smith 6.1,9,5,5,1,4,HR
RH Jesus Delgado 0.2,1,0,0,0,1
LH Justin Thomas 1.0,1,0,0,0,1
With the Bats:
3B Chris Shelton 3x3, HR, 2B, R, 2 RBI, BB
1B Brad Nelson 1x4, RBI, K
Rainiers Notes: Brad Nelson put the Rainiers ahead early with an RBI single in the 1st inning but Portland put together single runs in the 1st, 4th and 5th innings before putting up a two-spot in the 6th inning. Chris Shelton went 3x3 with a home run in the 6th inning and extended his hitting streak to 5 games and has hit safely in 28 of his last 31 games. Ryan Rowland-Smith got his 3rd straight loss. 2B Mike Morse had his 6 game hitting streak snapped by going 0x3 with 3 strikeouts. During the streak he hit .360 (9x25) with 2 doubles, 6 runs, a home run and 5 RBI. RH Randy Messenger has allowed only 3 earned runs in his last 21.0 innings of work and his 2.17 ERA leads the Rainiers. Adam Moore went 1x4 and has hit safely in 12 of his last 14 games and on the season he is hitting .299.
Today’s probable starter:
LH Chris Seddon (4-4, 4.76) vs. Reno

AA West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx (Southern League)
Pitching Lines:
RH Steve Bray (L, 1-4) 5.0,5,3,2,1,7
RH Steve Shell 1.0,1,1,1,1,2
RH Josh Fields 1.0,0,0,0,0,1
RH Anthony Varvaro 1.0,1,0,0,0,1
RH Patrick Ryan 1.0,2,1,1,1,2,HR
With the Bats:
DH Thomas Hubbard 1x4, HR, R, RBI
2B David Espinosa 2x4, 2 R, K
LF Gavin Dickey 2x4, 2 RBI, 2 K
D-Jaxx Notes: West Tenn. dropped their third straight and their 4th in the last 5 games after dropping the opening game of a 5-game series against Montgomery. LF Gavin Dickey, appearing in only his 13th game with the Jaxx, drove in 2B David Espinosa in both the 3rd and 5th innings but it wasn’t enough to overcome a 3-1 deficit. DH
Thomas Hubbard homered in the 9th inning, his 4th in his last 7 games and they got two more runners on base in the frame, but Espinosa struck out swinging to end the game. Thomas Hubbard has hit safely in 10 of the last 12 games. Starter Steve Bray allowed only 2 earned runs but failed to win for the 4th consecutive start despite allowing only 5 earned runs in 23.0 innings. RH Josh Fields tossed 1.0 scoreless inning while striking out 1 and has allowed only 1 run in his last 7 appearances (8.0 IP). Also has not walked a batter in his last 7.0 innings after walking 11 in his first 11 appearances.
Today’s probable starters:
RH Kyle Parker (3-3, 3.84) vs. Montgomery

A High Desert Mavericks (California League)
Pitching Lines:
RH Steve Hensley 6.1,5,1,1,2,3
LH Travis Mortimore (W, 2-1) 0.2,1,1,1,0,0
RH Juan Zapata 1.0,0,0,0,0,1
RH Phillippe Aumont (S, 12) 1.0,2,1,1,0,1,HR
With the Bats:
3B Alex Liddi 3x4, HR, 2 R, RBI
CF Tyson Gillies 1x3, R, 2 BB, K
Mavericks Notes: High Desert clinched the first half title and assured themselves of a spot in the playoffs. Mavericks claimed their first-half title since 1993. James McOwen went 1x4 and extended his hitting streak to a career high 28 games, the longest in the minors this year. During the streak, he is hitting .355 with 13 runs, and 16 RBI. The Mavericks broke a 1-1 tie in the 7th inning when Edilio Colina drove in Tyson Gillies with an RBI single and they capped the scoring with 2-out RBI singles from Alex Liddi and Kuo Hui Lo. Liddi got the Mavericks even with a solo-home run in the 6th, his 16th of season, recorded his 3rd multi-hit effort in last 4 games. Gillies has reached base safely (H+BB+HBP) in 56 of 59 games, recording 6 multi-hit games in last 8. Dunigan has recorded 26 RBI over last 25 games including RBI in 9 of last 13 games.
Today’s probable starter:
TBA at Inland Empire

A Clinton LumberKings (Midwest League)
Pitching Lines:
RH Kenn Kasparek (W, 4-4) 5.1,4,1,1,1,4
RH Stephen Penney 1.0,2,0,0,0,1
LH Greg Moviel 0.0,0,0,0,1,0
RH Cheyne Hann 1.2,0,0,0,0,3
RH Ruben Flores (SV, 12) 1.0,0,0,0,1,1
With the Bats:
DH Kris Sanchez 2x3, 2B, RBI, SF
3B Mario Martinez 2x3, R, BB
CF Jacob Shaffer 1x2, 2B, RBI
Lumberkings Notes: Clinton bounced back after having their 6 game winning streak snapped yesterday by taking the lead early and not looking back and they are now tied for the Wild Card lead Terry Serrano and Luis Nuñez both drew walks in the first and came home on back-to-back sacrifice flies from Scott Savastano and Kris
Sanchez. Nate Tenbrink put the game away with a sac fly of his own in the 8th inning. Starter Kenn Kasparek won his 3rd straight decision and has not allowed more than 2 runs in his last 6 games. Reliever Cheyne Hann entered the game in the 7th inning with the bases loaded, but got out of the inning with a lineout and a pop up. Scott Savastano, during June, he is batting .362 (21x58) with 12 runs, a double, home run, 6 RBI and 8 walks.
Today’s probable starter:
RH Aaron Pribanic (6-2, 2.25) at Cedar Rapids

Mariners (32-33)
Ichiro RF
Carp 1B
Beltre 3B
Griffey Jr. LF
Gutierrez CR
Betancourt SS
Cedeno 2B
Burke C
Morrow RHP

Padres (28-36)
Gwynn CF
Eckstein 2B
Giles RF
Gonzalez 1B
Kouzmanoff 3B
Headley LF
Blanco C
Rodriguez SS
Geer RHP

UPDATE 11:32 AM - We just met with Wakamatsu and here's a few details.

* Jose Lopez flew back to Venezuela today to be with his sister, who is "gravely ill" and "took a turn for the worse." Wakamatsu doesn't expect Lopez back for at least five days.

* To make room for Chris Woodward on the 40-man roster, Carlos Silva has been placed on the 60-day disabled list, which means there's a good chance we might not see him pitch again this season. Another coup for Bill Bavasi.

* Rob Johnson arrived in San Diego and there was thought to starting him, but Wakamatsu decided that Johnson wasn't going to be ready to play. So Jamie Burke will get the start at catcher. And Johnson will be activated on Friday. My guess is that Guillermo Quiroz will be sent out.

* Erik Bedard met with Dr. Lewis Yocum at 11:30 a.m. and will have an MRI at 1:30. We won't have an official update till tomorrow.

* Kenji Johjima experienced a little pain in his big toe and he will see the doctor on Friday for a check up. He'll catch Saturday in Tacoma - five innings, two at-bats and then the Mariners will decide what's next. But Wakamatsu still wants to see Johjima catch nine innings before he activates him.

* Mike Carp is starting at first and batting second

UPDATE: Yes I spelled bereavement wrong in the headline.

I'm not certain of all the details, but I know Chris Woodward is here. He was scratched right before last night's game against Portland, and is here. Lopez will be placed on the bereavement list and has left San Diego.

Not certain about any of the other details.

Rob Johnson is expected to return to the team today. But my guess is depending on when he arrives at Petco, whether or not the Mariners make a roster move before or after the game. And then I'm not even certain, what the move will be as to whether Guillermo Quiroz or Jamie Burke will be sent out.