Where exactly do you start with this game. Perhaps, it's instructive to go with what everybody's talking about and going to be talking about - Gutierrez and the scare he gave everybody.

Here's another reason why you should love Gutierrez. He was asked postgame if he knew he was going to hit the wall, his response:

"I knew it. I had to take a chance to get that fly ball," he said. "When you are in the moment you only think of catching the ball and that’s it."

Unfortunately, that collision was into a part of the fence where there is no padding, only some metal and plastic.

“I don’t know what it is,” Gutierrez said of the composition of the fence. “I hit so hard, it felt like I hit rock.”

You know what I first was reminded of? This ....

I wasn't the only one.

"I thought he might have caught his wrist there and broke his hand," manager Don Wakamatsu said. "Even when we went out there, he was a little bit dazed just from the collision. I was hoping he didn't have a concussion. He was a little disoriented out there, but nothing serious. We're awfully thankful for that."

M's trainer Rick Griffin was also worried.

"We thought it might be broken collarbone or even dislocated shoulder," Griffin said.

Instead, it's contusions on his left knee and elbow and some bruised ribs, a few scrapes and that's it.

"Other than that, he's very lucky, very fortunate," Griffin said "It could have been worse."

The Mariners are also very lucky. A broken bone would have ended their chances. As it is, they aren't outstanding with the Angels sweeping a double header from the Royals today. But if Gutierrez were out for a month or so, the Ms would be done. Instead, Gutierrez was walking around the clubhouse without a limp and seemed to moving decently.

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We have the report on Gutierrez, and it's actually pretty good news considering the collision with the wall.

Gutierrez left the game with what they labeled "left knee and left elbow contusions." X-rays on his elbow were negative. He's also got an abrasion on the knee. We don't know the extent of the contusions (bruises), but if he thinks he feels bad now, he's really going to feel bad tomorrow.

He's officially listed as day-to-day, you can all breath a sigh of relief. When you saw the photo below, you had to be absolutely freaking out.

AP photo

Youngster Rick Porcello all of 20 years old will make his second start against the Mariners. He beat the Mariners 8-2 on April 19th for his first career win, pitching 7 innings, allowing one run on five hits and striking out three.

Much of the talk surrounding the Tigers is their offensive struggles of late, to which I say: The Mariners have struggled offensively most of the season.

First Inning
Ichiro with a lead-off double to left. He later stole third with Jose Lopez up and the true evidence of how bad the Tigers offense has been of late, Jim Leyland plays the defense in to cut the run off - in the first inning. That move doesn't work so well as Lopez sneaks a ground ball through the middle of the field. M's lead 1-0

Garrett Olson, who is barely hanging on to his spot in the rotation, is watching it slip away at a much faster pace than he pitches at. He's made it four batters before having Chris Jakubauskas. Maybe Jakubauskas should just warm up with Olson before the game starts. Olson gives up a single to Granderson, an RBI double to Polanco, then walks Thames and Cabrera and then serves up a grand slam to Magglio Ordonez, who has been one of the Tigers worst hitters all season. It's 5-1 and he hasn't even recorded an out.

So he gave up, five runs on four hits, he walked two and threw 42 pitches.

Ladies and Gentleman --- Garrett Olson!!!!!!

Second inning
Olson allows a homer and a walk before he mercifully gets lifted for Jakubauskas-- 1 1/3 7 runs, 5 hits, 3 walks, 2 HR. He threw 53 pitches, 30 were strikes and not one of them was a swing and a miss.

This is horrible development, Gutierrez plows into the wall, trying to make another amazing catch. He's down, and we haven't heard what's hurt on him. We'll obviously let you know as soon as we hear something.

He's being helped off the field by trainer Rob Nodine. There's something wrong with his left arm, either shoulder, forearm or wrist.

Balentien will go into left and Langerhans will move to CF.

Third inning
The Mariners get one back as Balentien tries to make the most of an opportunity with an RBI single.

Fourth inning
Still no news on Gutz, Mariners media guru Jeff Evans, promised to keep us posted.

Jack Hannahan hit a solo homer, so now it's 8-3.

If Gutierrez's injury is bad, the Mariners will have the option of calling up Prentice Redman and Michael Saunders, both of whom can play centerfield, Jerry Owens can play centerfield and has played in the big leagues, or they can keep Langerhans in center and use those three or even Mike Carp or Bryan LaHAir in left field, but they aren't exactly ideal defensive options.

Fifth inning
The Mariners continue to claw their way back into the game. Wlad Balentien draws a walk and then Ryan Langerhans rips a two-run homers. It's now 8-5 the Mariners lead.

Jakubauskas has been decent since he came in, I would sooner see him make Olson's next start than Olson, Jakubauskas seems to pitch more in them anyway.

Sixth Inning
It's now 8-6 since Jack Hannahan hit another solo home run to right off of Fu-Te Ni. That's homers in consecutive at-bats. The Mariners third base duo of Jack Hannahan and Chris Woodward were 0-for-18 in the ABs leading up to Hannahan's first homer.

Miguel Cabrera pushes the lead to 9-6 with a solo homer to left off of Shawn Kelley. The Tigers moved the fences in at Comerica a few years ago, and that probably would have never come close to getting out in the old dimensions.

Seventh Inning
Wlad Balentien continues to make the of his unexpected playing time crushing a pitch off of Bobby Seay deep into the left field stands for a solo home run. That's a season-high four homers in a game for the M's.

Will it be him?

Ryan Rowland-Smith

or him?

Jason Vargas

or him?

Brandon Morrow

Manager Don Wakamatsu said he plans on announcing the fifth starter to join the rotation tomorrow, perhaps the wait will be to see how Garrett Olson does today because he may also add a fourth starter if Olson struggles again on the mound.

"We're still talking about the fifth starter, we haven't made that decision yet," Wakamatsu said. " We'll make that probably by tomorrow. We have some options and maybe give (Erik) Bedard one extra day and maybe go (with fifth starter) on the 24th. We kept talking about the 25th, but we might do it on the 24th."

I don't know that it could be Vargas, since he threw on Monday and he would be throwing on really short rest. But if they don't bump Bedard back and start him on Friday as he's scheduled, Vargas would slot better for Saturday.

Wakamatsu wasn't exactly thrilled with Vargas' outing last night in Tacoma. Here's my buddy Doug Pacey's game story about last night, where me mentions a couple bad innings plague Vargas.

Wakamatsu had similar comments about Vargas.

"They weren’t great," Wakamatsu said of the reports on Vargas. "I think that the command was the biggest issues. You end up having a cuple good innings, and I think the fourth is where he ended up giving up two runs on three hits and a walk. Not exactly what we were looking for."

If they were looking for a Friday starter, Morrow is scheduled to start Friday night for the Rainiers, so that's a match. But Wakamatsu was far from pleased with Morrow's last outing.

"The things that we talked about him working on, I didn’t think we accomplished," Wakamatsu said. "No. 1, he walked the first hitter on four pitches so the command overall was not what we were looking for from him. Second, with his secondary pitches – we talked about going a little bit hard and soft and we didn’t see that also. When he tried to throw his curveball he yanked it out of the zone. Again, we just keep going back and try to reiterate what’s going to make these guys successful at the major league level. "

So that leaves Ryan Rowland-Smith, who's pitched the best of the three. The problem is his starts don't slot out well. He's scheduled to start on Wednesday for the Rainiers. So he would need to be scratched and maybe work a light side session. That possibility seems entirely possible. So we'll have to make sure and watch to see if RRS is scratched from his start tomorrow.

Just got back from the clubhouse, and a check of the line-up card where Mike Sweeney's name is listed in the reserves, while Josh Wilson is not listed at all.

A quick conversation with the Mariners media staff and they confirmed that is the pending roster move of activating Sweeney from the disabled list, while Wilson will be designated for assignment. But manager Don Wakamatsu won't make it official until after batting practice, in case something were to happen to Sweeney.

We talked with Sweeney a little bit. He seemed genuinely upset having to take Wilson's place on the roster, saying it's a good and bad day since Wilson is being sent out.

"It breaks my heart that a guy like Josh Wilson has to get sent out," Sweeney said.

Wilson appeared in six games and had two at-bats since the Mariners claimed him on June 19th.

Sweeney went on the disabled list on July 7th, retro to July 6th for back spasms. But he admitted he didn't need 15 days to get healed up.

"I told Jack and Wak that I'd only need three days," Sweeney said. "I know my body pretty well, especially with back and knee pain. I know how long its going to keep me out. They told me after a few days they needed a spot for Bedard, and I told them, 'whatever is bet for the team, is best for me. If this is something you need to do, do it.'"

As for staying ready, Sweeney has been taking batting practice and been very active for the last seven days. He isn't concerned about being rusty when he comes back.

"I have a routine that gets me ready to play and if I'm in the line-up I'll be ready to go," he said.

With Chris Shelton with the team, it will be interesting to see how Wakamatsu uses Sweeney and Shelton.

LINE-UPS
Mariners (49-43)
Ichiro RF
Branyan 1B
Lopez 2B
Griffey DH
Gutierrez CF
Langerhans LF
Johjima C
Hannahan 3B
Cedeno SS
--------
LHP Olson (3-3, 4.53 ERA)

Tigers (48-42)
Curtis Granderson CF
Placido Polanco 2B
Miguel Cabrera 1B
Marcus Thames DH
Magglio Ordonez RF
Ryan Raburn LF
Brandon Inge 3B
Gerald Laird C
Adam Everett SS
-----------
RHP Rick Porcello (8-6, 4.14 ERA)

What's wrong with this picture? Read below.

Today's Standings

AL WEST
Angels 52-38 .598 ---
Rangers 50-41 .549 2.5
Mariners 49-43 .533 4.0
Oakland 39-52 .429 13.5

Quickly a few links about the Mariners.
I mentioned my column from today's paper. But I also had my Sunday column which gave out midseason awards to the Mariners and around baseball.

My MVP - Felix Hernandez.
My LVP - Carlos Silva

At the bottom of this Ken Rosenthal story that deals mainly with Roy Halladay (like everything these days), it mentions the Mariners have some interest in Nationals outfielder Josh Willingham, but so do a lot of other teams.

SI' Fan Nation blog says that Jarrod Washburn would be the most overrated player to acquire at the trade deadline. I don't know that I agree completely with that premise, but I guess I can see where he's coming from.

USS Mariner's Dave Cameron explains why Russell Branyan's production has fallen off.

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Good morning from the home of Motown. And though I didn't grow up during its golden age, my father made sure that I was aware of the great music from that era.

Here's one of my favorite songs by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles.

It's gray and overcast out the window and during the entire three days we are here there's a chance of thunderstorms.

In today's paper, I wrote a column that tried to have a little fun with the whole Rob Johnson/Kenji Johjima catcher debate by using the wisdom of the man above.

Yep that's Crash Davis from the movie Bull Durham, and though that movie is 21 years old, many of its baseball lessons - particularly from Crash - hold their weight these days.

Just look at a few situations for the Mariners this year.

Example 1: the highly analytical Garrett Olson and his over thinking on the mound.

Crash says: “Don't think; it can only hurt the ball club.”

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