UPDATE: It's confirmed, Shelton will be with Mariners on Thursday.

UPDATE: Expect to see Shelton in Seattle tomorrow. No word on who will be sent down.

Well, I'm at a horrifically boring Rainiers game tonight and Chris Shelton, who was 1-for-3 going into the ninth inning as the DH, and surprisingly, he was pinch hit for in his last at-bat by Prentice Redman.

Yes the game is 7-1, but Shelton being pinch hit for? Hmmmm.

We talked earlier today that the Mariners would most likely make a roster move and send a pitcher down and bring up a bench player. Garrett Olson pitched well out of the bullpen, Jason Vargas started today and Shelton pinch hit for? If I had to give guess on the move it would be Vargas being sent down and Shelton being called up. But that's just a guess.

Hmmmmmmm

Unlike last night where he waited till his last at-bat to get a hit, High Desert outfielder James McOwen didn't wait for any possible drama surrounding his lengthy hitting streak.

McOwen beat out an infield single in the first inning to extend his hitting streak to 45 games.

High Desert's manager, Jim Horner, a WSU grad, was on KJR today with Mike Gastineau, talking about McOwen and the impressive streak.

You can listen to the interview here.

My afternoon was Safeco Field and my evening will be at Cheney Stadium where I'm also covering the Rainiers tonight. Normally I wouldn't post from the Rainiers unless something major happened, but since the Mariners shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt is playing second base for the first time in several years.

Also in an added treat tonight, Jeff Clement is playing first base, which I've never witnessed before and my boy Cha Cha Sizzle (Cha Seung Baek) is throwing a rehab outing for Portland.

Anyway, Yuni has looked decent so far at second, fielding two ground balls smoothly and also a pop up in shallow right. He also had a Yuni moment after ripping an RBI double in the first. With one out, Chris Shelton hit a fly ball to right, and Betancourt obviously forgot how many outs there were and took off from second, hustling to score. The Portland right fielder caught the ball and tossed it to second for the inning ending double play.

UPDATED 8:09 -- some things never change with Yuni. He goes back on a shallow pop fly with centerfielder Jerry Owens also coming in. Owens appeared to call for it, but Yuni caught it anyway and nearly took the legs out of Owens, who had a semi-collision with him. Sound familiar?

Yes, after three months of hitting for power in the fifth spot in the lineup - then the second spot - Russell Branyan is batting third today.

Though he hasn't hit in the No. 3 or No. 4 slots, his production (46 RBI) ranks second on the team to Jose Lopez (48 RBI).

With the chance to win the series against Baltimore today, and with Mike Sweeney on the disabled list and Ken Griffey Jr. sitting with a tender knee, Branyan agreed to hit third.

It's been Branyan's personal preference not to hit in the heart of the order that's had manager Don Wakamatsu scrambling to find somewhere Branyan can do the most damage.

If anyone gets ejected or injured today, it could get interesting. The Mariners bench is Junior, catcher Rob Johnson and Josh Wilson, the infielder who never plays.

It's Jason Vargas vs. David Hernandez

Play ball.

Mariners long ball

Chris Woodward dropped a parachute single into short left field and, with two outs, Jose Lopez hit his 12th home run of the season.

It's just the fourth time all year Lopez has batted fourth, and the team has gone 0-3 in his first three stints there.

For now, he has the Mariners ahead.

After one: Mariners 2, Orioles 0

Not an easy day

Vargas has pitched into and out of trouble in each of his three innings, but it may catch up with him.

Through three innings, he's thrown 64 pitches, and that pace is not going to get him deep into the game.

The theory for manager Don Wakamatsu isn't just to count pitches, but to determine how much they're taking out of a pitcher. Vargas isn't laboring so much as having to work hard every inning to get out of a jam.

He needs a quick inning or two.

After three: Mariners 2, Orioles 0

Five and dive

Vargas is done, and no one in Safeco Field doubts it.

The third batter of the ining, Aubrey Huff, hit a seed down to first base for another out, coming on Vargas' 97th pitch.
He qualifies to win if the bullpen can hang on the last four innings.

After five: Mariners 2, Orioles 0

Oh, Miguel ...

Batista worked a 1-2-3 sixth inning, then seemed to lose interest in this game.

Catcher Gregg Zaun singled and Batista walked the No. 9 hitter, Robert Andino. Woodward then made a great stop on an Adam Jones ground ball, but bobbled it after the catch for an error - and the bases were loaded.

Goodbye, Mr. Batista. Hello, Garrett Olson.

Olson got a strikeout, then a double play and got out of the jam.

In the seventh: Mariners 2, Orioles 0

And in the ninth

Mariners added a run on an error, but this game got away thanks to some shoddy defense and an off-day by David Aardsma.

Mark Lowe and his 98 mph fastball - with pinpoint control - blew through the eighth inning.

Aardsma was asked to save the game and the shutout, but couldn't preserve either.

Aardsma gave up a leadoff double, walked Zaun and was touched for another single, by pinch-hitter Felix Pie, that loaded the bases for Adam Jones.

Yikes!

Jones beat out a 60-foot infield single, scoring Melvin Mora. Lopez bobbled a perfect double play ball for an error as another run scored.

Ty Wiggington singled up the middle for two runs and a Baltimore lead.

With no one out - still! - Sean White came in to relief Aardsma. He got a ground ball fielders choice, picked Aubrey Huff off first base and then gave up a run when Lopez threw low to first base.

The worst ninth inning of the season for Seattl, which allowed five hits, a walk and committed two errors in allowing five runs.

Yikes, indeed!

In the ninth: Orioles 5, Mariners 3
It's a final

The Mariners got one last passion play in the ninth, when Icihro singled with two outs to bring up pinch hitter Griffey.

On the first pitch, he grounded out.

Final score: Orioles 5, Mariners 3

I mentioned last night that Orioles manager Dave Trembley had a second tantrum of sorts with the postgame media after the one pictured above. Obviously with the Orioles scuffling, he's under a fair amount of criticism and heat, and it might have just came out last night.

Here's Jeff Zrebiec's story from the Baltimore Sun and Doug Miller's story from mlb.com, but both writers told me you can't really grasp how angry and how red Trembley's face was during the postgame exchange.

Doug's story has most of the postgame exchange and video of the on-field tirade.

Here's my favorite quote ...

When asked if he's expecting to hear from the Commissioner's office for his antics on the field, he nodded.

"Oh, I'm sure I will, because I threw my hat and I got it dirty," Trembley said. "So what, you know? They made a mistake. People need to be accountable when they make a mistake. All I want is for somebody to say, 'I made a mistake. I didn't get it right.' Don't cover for one another. We're big boys here, you know?

A few pregame notes ...
As expected Ichiro Suzuki is getting a "day off" by being the designated hitter. This is something the Mariners have done in the past to keep him from wearing down, and it came at a pretty good time.

Yuni Betancourt will be in Tacoma tonight to play with the Rainiers at Cheney Stadium. He will start at second base and play five innings. He'll play seven innings tomorrow at short and probably play another game at second base before the Mariners reevaluate his situation.

To manager Don Wakamatsu's knowledge, Betancourt has never played second base, but he thinks its necessary for versatility.

The rotation after the break is tentatively slotted out. Brandon Morrow will start the series opener in Cleveland on July 16, Felix Hernandez would go the next day on July 17th, and then Jarrod Washburn would go on Saturday, July 18th, then Erik Bedard would go on Sunday, July 19th, that means that either Jason Vargas or Garrett Olson would be the No. 5 starter, and one would be kept in the bullpen and the other sent to Triple A to keep starting on a regular basis.

Washburn would be on his fifth day of rest to start the opener instead of Morrow, which Wakamatsu said is still a possibility. But he said given Washburn's age and earlier aches and issues, the extra days might be good for him.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Vargas sent down after he makes this start and either Chris Shelton, Bryan LaHair or Jeff Clement brought to be a bat off the bench, with Shelton obviously being the favorite.

Orioles
Adam Jones CF
Nick Markakis RF
Ty Wigginton 2B
Aubrey Huff 1B
Nolan Reimold LF
Luke Scott DH
Melvin Mora 3B
Gregg Zaun C
Robert Andino SS
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RHP David Hernandez (37-47)

Mariners (43-40)
Ichiro Suzuki DH
Chris Woodward 3B
Russell Branyan 1B
Jose Lopez 2B
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Ryan Langerhans RF
Kenji Johjima C
Wladimir Balentien LF
Ronny Cedeno SS
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LHP Jason Vargas (3-3, 4.14 ERA)