Ichiro Suzuki likely has had this game circled on his calendar since he heard that Vincente Padilla was starting for Texas.
For good reason.

Ichiro has a career batting average of .526 against Padilla in 38 lifetime at-bats - his highest average against any pitcher he's ever faced more than once.

Similarly, that .526 average is the highest by any hitter against Padilla, who has thrown every combination of pitches to Ichiro that he has.

So Ichiro is fully capable of starting rallies tonight, and the Mariners could certainly use a few.

They get Russell Branyan back in the lineup for the first time - batting third! - and have Ken Griffey Jr. batting fifth.

Yes, it's Don Wakamatsu's 88th different lineup of the season. Jason Vargas vs. Padilla.

Fast start

Ichiro popped out on the first pitch he saw, but the inning got better.

Branyan, in his first at-bat since Sunday, drew a walk - and Lopez hammered his 14th home run of the season down the left field line.

The Mariners have what they never had Thursday: A lead.

In the first: Mariners 2, Rangers 0

Rangers rally

Texas got a couple of hits and a walk to load the bases with one out, but Vargas limited the damage to a Taylor Teagarten sacrifice fly.

Against the Rangers, the key to victory is avoiding the big inning. So far, so good.

After three: Mariners 2, Rangers 1

Ranger thunder

Ah, they do love a good home run here, and every Ranger can hit 'em.

Vargas left a pitch away a little up, and Taylor Teagarten - batting .189 - hit it out to right center field.

Omar Vizquel and Michael Young singled and Marlon Byrd homered, his 11th. Now that's a big inning.

After five: Rangers 5, Mariners 2

Mariners ... thunder?

No, the Mariners lack that particular weapon, so they relied upon singles in the sixth inning.

With two outs and no one on, Branyan, Lopez and Griffey each singled, with Junior picking up his 30th RBI.

In the sixth: Rangers 5, Mariners 3

When cows fly!

Rain, lightning and wind strong enough to blow a bovine over the house - we have a delay in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Nasty weather. Nasty!

Play ball - again!

Game set to resume a few minutes down here in Texas.

Sean White is warming up and will be pitching to Michael Young in the bottom of the seventh when we restart.

Rangers 5, Mariners 3

Scrappy little Mariners
A two hour, 18-minute rain delay? So what?

Gutierrez singled with one out and, with two outs, Lopez singled - his third hit of the night - to push home his 57th RBI of the season.

That brought on reliever C.J. Wilson to face Junior, lefty vs. lefty. Wilson won.

It's a final: Rangers 5, Mariners 4

Ian Snell never quite made it to Tacoma, and the right-handed pitcher will step into Seattle's starting rotation Sunday against Texas.

"He's going to take Jarrod's spot in the rotation," manager Don Wakamatsu said. "Starting tonight, our rotation is Jason Vargas, Felix Hernandez, Snell, Ryan Rowland-Smith and Luke French or Garrett Olson."

Don't panic - the only reason French isn't automatic is the Mariners haven't laid eyes on him yet and can't pencil him into until they do.

As for Snell, he said something today that no player coming to the Mariners has said in years:

"It's great to join a winning club," he said after being acquired from Pittsburgh. "I love Seattle, I've got family in Tacoma.

"It was a lot of fun today, just throwing in the bullpen. These guys are fun, and it reminded me of my AAA team - guys playing tricks on one another, guys enjoying one another."

Snell's state of mind will have a lot to do with his pitching, if history is any judge. Going 2-8 in Pittsburgh this season, he and Pirates management didn't always see eye-to-eye.

"I didn't like the finger pointing just at me for being 2-8 - I wasn't the only guy on the field in those games," he said. "In the end I just told them to send me to the minors and let me get my thoughts together."
As he did, scouts said, his pitching improved dramatically, and no one doubts Snell can pitch.

"He had a game in the minors earlier this year where he struck out 17 guys in seven innings - struck out 13 in a row," Wakamatsu said. "We're going to let him pitch and see what Rick (Adair) and John (Wetteland) can do when they get their hands on a pitcher of this caliber."

Here's a bit of news first-discovered by the great eyes of intrepid radio empress Shannon Drayer - who looked out to the Seattle Mariners bullpen today as we were interviewing Jarrod Washburn.

And who did she see throwing for manager Don Wakamatsu and pitching coach Rick Adair?

Ian Snell, the 27-year-old right-hander picked up from Pittsburgh two days ago in the trade that brought shortstop Jack Wilson to Seattle.

Snell is, technically, enroute to Class AAA Tacoma, but since he's here - and throwing - it's not a huge leap to assume he's going to stay and step into the rotation at some point.

Precisely when, we'll find out when Wakamatsu addresses the media in about an hour.

Meanwhile, Snell is here and lefty Luke French will be here in about three hours.

Jack Zduriencik's trade of Jarrod Washburn for a couple of younger left-handed pitchers is going to be seen by some as evidence he's given up on the Seattle Mariners season.

One talk radio voice even asked how Zduriencik could look Felix Hernandez in the ace after making the trade.

That won't be a problem.

Zduriencik inherited a 101-loss team that, when the season began, was rated near the bottom of all 30 big-league teams by national writers - and not much higher by Seattle beat writers.

If the Mariners finished near .500, it was said, it would be an immense step forward to respectability.

Then, directed by Don Wakamatsu and a teach-first coaching staff, the Mariners did what no one expected. They won more games than they lost and got into July within striking distance of the American League West lead.

More important, they were playing good, solid, exciting baseball and winning one-run games.

Now, trading Washburn has ended all that?

Not at all.

What Zduriencik has done this week is improve the team with shortstop Jack Wilson, and add two pitchers - Luke French and Ian Snell, who figure to move into the rotation in place of Washburn and Garrett Olson.

Are the Mariners better today than they were a week ago?

To answer that, ask how many games Washburn might have won for Seattle the rest of the season after winning eight in the first four months.

Can French, Snell and Wilson help the team win as many or more?

It's a close call. And the bottom line is, this season was never about what happened by the July 31 trading deadline - in spring training it was being assumed the team would trade Washburn, Erik Bedard and Adrian Beltre.

Instead, this is a team that wants badly to win, to gain respect now, not somewhere down the line. Within the game, they've done that by playing far better than expected.

There's no reason to think that will change because a few cast members have arrived and departed.

The season isn't over and Zduriencik may not be done. It's not hard to forsee an August waiver deal for Beltre or Miguel Batista.

Whether he does or doesn't, he'll have no trouble facing Felix or anyone else in the Seattle clubhouse.

August and September are about what they were always about - winning games and hearts, transforming a joke of a team into one contending teams want no part of.

With young arms like Ryan Rowland-Smith, Jason Vargas, Brandon Morrow and Garrett Olson starting games, the Mariners were never likely to take the division, but they never stopped playing hard.

Now that young arms like French and Snell will be added to the cast, those chances are no worse, and this team won't change the way it plays.

Jarrod Washburn, the veteran left-hander having the finest season of his four-year career in Seattle, has been traded to the Detroit Tigers for two young lefties - Luke French and Mauricio Robles.

The move deepens the Mariners pitching, as French, 23, joins Ian Snell as the second young ready-for-prime-time starters acquired this week in deals.

"We had an opportunity to acquire two starting left-handed pitchers under the age of 23, including one with Major League experience," general manager Jack Zduriencik said. "As we continue to build the Mariners organization, it is crucial that we acquire depth and quality. This deal is another step in that process."

French has split the 2009 season between AAA Toledo and Detroit, making seven starts with the Tigers and going 1-2 with a 3.38 earned run aveage. One of thosed starts July 23 against Seattle, when he worked 5 1/3 innings and allowed two earned runs.

With Toledo this season, he was 4-4 with a 2.98 ERA.

A 6-foot-4, 220-pound pitcher, French was selected by the Tigers in the eighth round of the 2004 June draft.

Robles, 20, is a strikeout pitcher who have never pitched higher than the Florida State League.

In trading Washburn, whose contract ends after the season, the Mariners walked a fine line between trying to stay as competitive as possible in 2009 while looking beyond.

While Washburn had said he was willing to listen to a contract extension offer, he never got one and he'd made clear once the season ended he would pursue all options.

French will join the Mariners, while Robles will be assigned to the minor leagues.

The acquisition of French and Snell come as the Mariners scramble with their rotation, which this week included Ryan Rowland-Smith, Garrett Olson and Jason Vargas.

With Washburn gone and Erik Bedard still on the disabled list, the Mariners don't have a true No. 2 starter behind Felix Hernandez.