BOX SCORE

(Sorry for the delay, thought it posted earlier, but there was some reason it didn't)

When you need a win after a loss, you turn to Felix Hernandez. And Ronny Cedeno?

Obviously, Felix is a guy you think can turn things around after a loss.

Why?

Because he's done it all season long. Of all the numbers that Hernandez has put up thus far, and there are some impressive ones …

• a 10-3 record, a 2.51 ERA
• a 6-0 record over his last 10 starts with a 1.30 ERA
• a scoreless streak of 22 innings
• throwing at least seven innings in his last eight starts.

Perhaps the most impressive number is that Hernandez is 9-2 in starting games following a Mariners loss.

“That's an ace, that's an All-Star,” Wakamatsu said.

The stat was a surprise to Felix.

“It’s good,” he said. “I didn’t even know about that.”

How good is Felix? Ask one of his teammates, who used to have to face him.

“Not very fun,” Hannahan summed up the experience. “I’m very happy I won’t have to face him anymore.”

Instead, Hannahan stood and watched Cleveland hitters go through what he used to.

“He throws three pitches for strikes anytime he wants to and he throws 97 mph with sink,” Hannahan said. “Nothing the guy throws is straight. You think you’re in a hitters count next thing here comes a changeup or a curveball.”

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Kind of an interesting graphic for when they announce Mariners hitters. I wonder how big the license plate is when Jarrod Saltalamacchia steps into the box.

Well, I will say that David Huff's warm-up music wasn't bad. He decided to go with "The Stroke" by Billy Squier. Who can go wrong with the opening lyric being -- "Now everybody have you heard, If you're in the game, then the strokes the word."

Here's Don Wakamatsu's scouting report on Huff:

Just the report I read on him. He’s a short arm guy that tops out at 92. HE’s got four pitches,a guy that had a rough outing, but strung together some good outings before that. His change-up is a plus pitch for him. His fastball run away from righthanded hitters is good. He struggles a little bit trying to challenge guys inside and struggles against lefties.

First inning
Huff gives up a soft single to Lopez, but the shift works against Griffey as he grounds out to second baseman Jamey Carroll in shallow right.

Felix has no trouble going 1-2-3 and whiffing Shin-Soo Choo with a 96 mph fastball.

Second Inning
The Mariners have a lead as Franklin Gutierrez leads off the inning with a solo homer to right-center - a shot measured at an estimated 393 feet. Langerhans follows with a double, but he's stranded at second as Johnson pops up, Hannahan strikes out and Cedeno grounds out meekly.

No no-hitter for Felix tonight as Hafner dumps a single to right, but not much else as Felix cruises.

Third inning
Not much going on except for a rare air by Gutierrez, who then threw out Sizemore as he stupidly tried to go for second.

Fourth inning
The Mariners go up 3-0 as Rob Johnson rips a two-out double to left-center and later scores on Ronny Cedeno's RBI single to left (that's not a typo). Ichiro extends his hitting streak to 13 games with a single to center to score Cedeno. This team is a juggernaut.

Huff is at 90 some pitches already. WE'll be seeing the Indians bullpen soon, which makes Indians fans cringe at the possibility.

Cleveland had its best chance to score with Shin-Soo Choo at second but Felix froze Hafner with a 96 mpn fastball on the corner.

Fifth inning
Felix as they say is dealing. Garko and Valbuena looked clueless against him in that inning.

Sixth inning
I know a few of you won't believe it, but if Ronny Cedeno keeps hitting he's going to get over .200. He comes up with an RBI single making him 2 for 3 for the night and raising his average to .181. The Mariners tack on another run on an error by Ryan Garko on an Ichiro single.

Well, no shut out for Felix as he leaves a fastball out over the plate that Grady Sizemore rips for a triple to right-center. Asdrubal Cabrera follows with a deep fly to left to score Sizemore for the Indians' first run. But Felix comes right back and strikes out Choo to end the inning.

Seventh inning
Lopez doubles to lead off the inning and Junior comes up with his first RBI since July 1, slapping a single to short in the weak spot of the big shift the Indians have been using on him.

Felix carves up the Indians in the seventh, finishing the inning with eighth K, overwhelming Jhonny Peralta. He's over 100 pitches, but nobody's moved in the M's bullpen so we'll see him for the eighth.

Eighth inning
Felix proves that he is human as he gives up a single and a walk to start the inning, which got the bullpen up and moving. But he got a big 5-3 double play. However, Sizemore drove in a run with a double off the wall. Felix ended the inning getting Asdrubal Cabrera to ground out.

I'm sure we'll see Aardsma in the ninth.

Perhaps Don Wakamatsu is reading what the writers and the bloggers have posted on the possibility of Garrett Olson being replaced in his start on Tuesday in Detroit because that was the second thing he mentioned in the pregame meeting with him today.

"As of right now, we’re still planning on pitching Oly (Olson) on Tuesday," he said in his second sentence.

He later said he and his staff hadn't even considered pulling him.

"Right now, we haven’t even talked about it," he said. "Obviously it happened yesterday. But I think you get to a point where you have to be able to work through some things and not just vacate on him. We already have some depth and we have a plan on the guys that are down there already. From our standpoint, we don’t want to create an environment or a feeling that it’s do or die. And granted we know the trade deadline and we know the situation of everything going on right now, but still we’re trying to stick the plan that’s got us here."

Wakamatsu said he didn't think there would be much over the next few days to sway his decision.

"Not right now, that’s where we’re headed," he said. "The way it’s slotted in the minor leagues, where if we wanted to expedite that (July) 25th guy. But right now, that’s kind of the plan we were going forward. Olson’s thrown some good games for us. He threw a bad game yesterday. We’ll get him back throwing a bullpen and see if he can go back out and give us another start like he did in LA."

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Update: I'll be going on around 2:20 p.m. Just listen for this ....

I'm going to be doing my weekly segment on KJR with Ian Furness sometime after 2 p.m., if you are interested in listening to my stuttering, stammering, blatherings.

Here's the podcast.

Pretty typical line-up for the M's. It may seem strange to have Griffey, Langerhans and Hannahan all in against the lefty David Huff. But lefties are hitting .395 (34-for-86) against him and slugging .640 against him.

As for Felix against Cleveland -- he's 2-1 with a 3.94 ERA in five starts. He's allowed 29 hits, given up 13 runs, walked 16 and struck out 26 in the games against the Tribe.

Jhonny Peralta and Grady Sizemore have the most ABs off of him. Sizemore is 5-for-10, while Peralta is 4-for-14.

Mariners (46-43)
Ichiro RF
Branyan 1B
Lopez 2B
Griffey DH
Gutierrez CF
Langerhans LF
Johnson C
Hannahan 3B
Cedeno SS
---------
Hernandez (9-3, 2.65 ERA)

Indians (36-54)
Grady Sizemore CF
Asdrubal Cabrera SS
Shin-Soo Choo RF
Victor Martinez C
Travis Hafner DH
Jhonny Peralta 3B
Ryan Garko 1B
Luis Valbuena SS
Ben Francisco LF
---------
LHP David Huff (4-3, 6.71 ERA)

... maybe Cleveland isn't quite so boring.

If you look at these pics, you'll see it is raining in Cleveland. The tarp is on at Progressive Field.

Here's the view out the hotel lobby, the thunder and lightning that came with the downpour were pretty impressive as well.

Not sure if batting practice will be canceled, but it seems like a safe bet. The game? That seems likely to be played. These types of storms happen all the time in the midwest and it looks as though the skies are ready to break up.

A few things, I mentioned it last night. But I wouldn't be surprised to see Ryan Rowland-Smith on Tuesday instead of Garrett Olson. It's something that I'm sure we'll ask manager Don Wakamatsu in the pregame session.

We just got the announced starters for the series against the Tigers. And the Mariners get a huge break by avoiding Justin Verlander and Edwin Jackson in the three-game series in Detroit.

Here are the preliminary match-ups ...

Tuesday --- July 21 --- Garrett Olson (LHP)vs. Armando Galarraga (RHP)
Wednesday --- July 22 --- Felix Hernandez (RHP) vs. Rick Porcello (RHP)
Thursday --- July 23 --- Jarrod Washburn (LHP) vs. Luke French (LHP)

A quick note on the M's draft picks ---
The Mariners have now signed 29 of their 52 picks, including 10 of their first 14 selections. The highest picked signed was catcher Steven Baron, who made his debut last night in Clinton Pulaski (playing DH)and scored two runs.

Obviously that means that 1B/OF Dustin Ackley, IF Kyle Seager, 1B Rich Poythress and RHP Tyler Blandford have not signed yet. No word on Ackley.

UPDATED: thanks to David H for pointing out that SS Nick Franklin hasn't been signed yet either.