When Don Wakamatsu insisted in spring training that he and his staff would be satisfied - no matter what the Seattle Mariners record - with a season in which they helped players improved, he was viewed as something of a naive maniac.

Today, it makes a lot more sense.

What the Mariners coaching staff has been able to do with players like Russell Branyan, Franklin Gutierrez, David Aardsma, Sean White and Jarrod Washburn is little short of spectacular.

Branyan kicked around baseball for 13 years, and this season has broken out with 22 home runs before the All-Star break.

Gutierrez was benched in Cleveland last season, but this year is batting .292 and playing great defense in center field.

Aardsma was the perennial project, a hard-throwing reliver who made stops with the Giants, Cubs, White Sox and Red Sox before turning 26. Today, he's a closer wih a 1.96 earned run average and 20 saves in 22 chances.

White was a former prospect taken off the 40-man roster last year, and now he's a setup man with a 2.63 ERA in 34 appearances.

Washburn? A lefty who never quite worked out in Seattle, he embraced new pitches this spring and, while he's just 6-6, has a 2.96 ERA and has pitched more innings, more quality starts, than anyone on the team not named Felix.

Wakamatsu and his staff come from instruction end of the game, and they've been teachers since the first day of camp.

They've taught baseball, yes, and they've taught attitude. What they've done has pushed the franchise further in three months than it had any right to expect.

They rarely get recognition, so let's give 'em a little here. These men have helped journeyman and rookies, veterans and rejects, turn a 101-loss team into an exiting group that actually believes it can win.

Bench coach - Ty Van Burkleo

Hitting coach - Alan Cockrell

Pitching coach - Rick Adair

Bullpen coach - John Wetteland

Third base coach - Bruce Hines

First base coach - Lee Tinsley

They open the final game before the All-Star break 45-42 and four games out in the American League West.

Winning today might not reduce that number - the Angels could win, too. But winning would inch the Seattle Mariners to within 2 1/2 games of Texas and second place. A loss would leave them 4 1/2 back.

That's no small swing.

What the Mariners have done in the first half is remarkable, given the season they're coming off and the roster they have. Inexplicably, this team believes in itself, and a growing fan base has come to appreciate it's maximum effort approach.

Today, it's Erik Bedard vs. Dustin Nippert.

Why defense matters

Erik Bedard sruck out Ian Kinsler on a nasty curve to open the first inning, then lost command of the pith and couldn't throw it for strikes - walking Michael Young and then Josh Hamilton.

In a world of trouble, Bedard then threw a fastball in the wheelhouse of Adam Jons - who lined it into center field.

Franklin Gutierrez back-handed the ball with a diving catch, threw to second for the double play and Bedard was in the dugout instead.

Big play, indeed.

Mariners take advantage

Saved by the defense, the Mariners offense didn't have to play catch up - so it took the lead, instead.

Ichiro singled and with one out scored on a Jose Lopez double, just beating the throw to the plate.

Ichiro's hit, by the way, extended his latest hitting streak to 11 consecutive games.

After one: Mariners 1, Rangers 0

Living on the edge

Bedard has had one 1-2-3 innings in the first four, and the fourth wasn' it.

An error and a walk put him in trouble yet again, but with his 61st pitch, Bedard struck out Hank Blalock.

Miguel Batista began warming up in the bullpen.

Bedard got Marlon yrd to ground into a force play. Nelson Cruz banged a ball up the middle - right to where Lopez was playing him - and Bedard was out of it again.

Through four innings, he's labored with men on base in three of them and still has a shutout. His pitch count may not allow him to start the fifth inning.

After losing him for a month with shoulder inflammation, the Mariners aren't about to push him beyond his comfort zone.

In the fourth: Mariners 1, Rangers 0

Small ball and hustle

Gutierrez and Langerhans open the fourth with singles but two outs later hadn't moved. Ronny Cedeno - batting .157 - the beat out an infield single with a dive into first base that loaded he bases.

Ichiro rolled a ball up the first base line about 40 feet for an RBI single and Russell Branyan walked to force home another run, his 49th RBI of the year.

After four: Mariners 3, Rangers 0

Rangers comeback

Keep giving them chances, the Rangers - or any team - will score runs.

Bedard walked Adruw Jones with one out in the sixth inning, his fourth walk, and Hank Blalock unloaded his 19th home run. Byrd struck out, and that was it for Bedard.

Batista took over, and on his first pitch allowd a home run to Nelson Cruz.

In the sixth: Mariners 3, Rangers 3

Tiebreaker!

With two outs in the seventh, the Mariners had an improbable rally that began when Griffey legged out an infield single.

Gutierrez followed with a single, and pinch-hitter Chris Shelton - atting for Langerhans - singled hom pinch-runner Josh Wilson to break the tie.

Rob Johnson singled home Gutierrez

Mark Lowe now pitching for Seattle.

After seven: Mariners 5, Rangers 3

Aardsma time

Ninth inning, two-run lead, David Aardsma inherited a two-run lead lookiing for his 20th save.
Ground ball, fly ball, a walk to pinch-hitter David Murphy, strike out.
It's a final: Mariners 5, Rangers 3