The Angels are in tune up mode for the post-season, looking a little ahead and not paying much attention to the Seattle Mariners of the world.

The Mariners would love to change that in the next three games, but they'll have to do it without their best lineup tonight.

No Ichiro, no Beltre, no Brayan, no Griffey.

Instead, the Mariners field their scrappy lineup the one with two Wilsons - Josh and Jack - leadoff hitter Franklin Gutierrez, cleanup hitter Mike Sweeney and left fielder Ryan Langerhans.

Luke French, meanwhile, will try to hold off a lineup in which the first six Angels are batting .300 or better.

The Mariners can win, they insist, with their game plan of pitching and defense early, a couple of runs late.

It's French vs. Joe Saunders.

Make him work

The Mariners couldn't score in the first inning, but they made Saunders work hard to stop them.

One of the prongs of the '09 Seattle offense is to make the opposing pitcher throw a lot of pitches, and with a single and two walks in the first, the Mariners got Saunders to throw 25 of them.

It may pay off later.

Trouble in the third

French gave up a single to Chone Figgins, hit Bobby Abreu and then wild-pitched both runners up a base - all with no one out.

Torii Hunter flied to right, just deep enough to get Figgins home. Vladimir Guerrero then hit one out to center field - deep enough to get two more runs in.

Juan Rivera singled and Kendry Morales doubled, and none of the balls hit in the inning was hit softly. Howie Kendrick grounded out for a fourth run.

In the third: Angels 4, Mariners 0

Outta the way, small fry

The Mariners haven't been much more than a speed bump tonight against the Angels.

Hunter doubled, Guerrero singled and Juan Rivera hit his 21st home run.
The Mariners offense? The last 10 batters in a row have gone down quietly.

In the fifth: Angels 7, Mariners 0

French was gone after five, Chris Jakubauskas worked a scoreless sixth and then walked Hunter to open the seventh.

Mr. Guerrero then hit an upper deck shot into left field, his third multi-home run game of the season - and the 39th of his career.

In the seventh: Angels 9, Mariners 0

The Angels put them in their place tonight - which at the moment is 11 games back in the American League West.

It's a final: Angels 10, Mariners 0

Carlos Silva will pitch an inning or so of relief today - his first since April - but he's going to be a Frog, not a Rainier.

The Mariners are sending Silva to Everett, not Tacoma, in part because they don't want to jeopardize the Rainiers run for the post-season.

"In Everett, we can control the situation a little better," manager Don Wakamatsu said. "Carlos will throw an inning, then Thursday throw again - maybe in Tacoma, maybe in Everett - and then one last time on Sunday."

Then, it's back to the Seattle bullpen for September.

The lineup is up and Ichiro isn't in it, though the team says tomorrow is the day he'll play.

No Ken Griffey Jr., no Adrian Beltre, who are both taking batting practice - as is top draft pick Dusin Ackley, who formally OKed his contract today.

Ackley took fly balls in the outfield, schmoozed with new teammates and was immediately taken under the wing of Mike Sweeney, who showed him around.

Beltre comes off the disabled list tomorrow, Griffey's left knee may allow him back in, but Ackley is headed for Arizona and instructional league, then the Arizona Fall League.

Bottom line: No offensive reinforcement today against the Angels. Here's the lineup:
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Josh Wilson 3B
Jose Lopez 2B
Mike Sweeney DH
Bill Hall RF
Jack Hannahan 1B
Jack Wilson SS
Rob Johnson C
Ryan Langerhans LF
Luke French LHP

Ichiro is stretching and running in right field, with manager Don Wakamatsu, a trainer and translator on hand should he suddenly need mouth-to-mouth.

On the sidelines, some 30 yards away, are six Japanese photographers and a couple of television camera crews, recording each smile, wince and wink.

We forget, occasionally, that Ichiro remains a larger-than-life figure in Japan, and that a dozen Japanese writers follow him around daily - only marginally interested in what the Seattle Mariners do unless it directly impacts Ichiro.

Ichiro means a great deal to the Mariners, and to their fans. He may mean more in Japan.

Will he play tonight? He's running harder now than he has in a week, and after missing seven games he's getting more than a little antsy.

Wakamatsu, on ther other hand, doesn't want to be the manager who rushed Ichiro back, saw his outfielder tear a muscle and miss getting 200 hits for the first time in his career - which is how it would be viewed if Ichiro hurt himself.

Ichiro's now running the bases at about speed, working on his turns. Just in time, a third camera crew has arrived.
No decision yet. Smart money is on waiting another day. If Ichiro wants to play, however, he'll play.

A few weeks ago, it seemed impossible to think the Tacoma Rainiers were a postseason caliber team. They were 7 1/2 games out of the Pacific North Division of the PCL and any playoff chances were fading with each game. To make matters worse they were embarking on a nine-game road trip.

But what happened, Tacoma swept the road trip taking four games from Fresno and five from Portland to improve to 70-66 and skip past Colorado Springs (69-65) into first place in the division.

Here's Ian Ruder's story from Sunday's win where the Rainiers beat Padres pitching prospect Aaron Poreda, who was acquired from the White Sox in the Jake Peavy deal.

The Rainiers open their final homestand of the season today at Cheney Stadium. They will host the Salt Lake Bees for a four-game homestand, and wrap up the homestand with a big four-game series against Colorado Springs that could decide the division winner.

Garrett Olson is scheduled to start tonight for the Rainiers.

Seattle comes in with a 10-game home-run hitting streak, having hit 18 homers in that span and the question is: how?

Franklin Gutierrez has 14 home runs and Jose Lopez 20. Combined, the rest of today's Mariners lineup has 19.

What's amazing is that in the last six games, the Mariners have gone 5-1 and done it without Ichiro Suzuki, without much of Ken Griffey Jr. and without Adrian Beltre.

They still don't have those three players available - and now they're without Russell Branyan.

Oh, and did we mention they're facing Zach Greinke today?

Yikes!

It's Greinke vs. Ryan Rowland-Smith and the Mariners mystey offense.

You like pitching?

Rowland-Smith has come out serious, and used just 26 pitches to set the Royals down the first two innings.
Greinke? He's hit 93 mph on the radar gun, and thrown a changeup clocked at 70 mph - both for strikes.

The Royals have one hit, an opposite-field, pop fly single. The Mariners have had two base runners: Bill Hall worked Greinke for a 3-2 walk and Kenji Johjima singled with two outs.

You get the feeling if either pitcher has a bad inning, he's going to lose on tha alone. And a bad inning today might be two runs.

First mistake loses?

Alberto Callaspo hit a fly ball to left field that Michael Saunders lost in the sun - it went over his head for a gift double - and Miguel Olivo singled Callaspo home wih one out.

If he sees it, Saunders catches the ball. Now, the Mariners are down to a Cy Young Award candidate who should probably have 18 wins already.

Rowland-Smith gave up a single and a two-out walk, then an RBI single to David DeJesus - and wild-pitched home a third run.

Yikes!

Greinke rolls on

Don't look now, but Greinke has retired the last 13 Mariners and allowed just one hit in six innings.

In the seventh: Royals 3, Mariners 0

Rowland-Smith got through eight innings with 113 pitches, allowing three runs and saving the Seattle bullpen for the Angels series. Most games, he'd have been in position to win. Not today.

Saunders flied out. Franklin Gutierrez struck out. Josh Wilson grounded out.

It's a final: Royals 3, Mariners 0

Yes, Virginia, it's slim pickings trying to put together a formidible attack for Seattle, these days.

Ichiro remains out with a strained calf.

Ken Griffey Jr. misses a third game with a tender knee.

Adrian Beltre has a bruised cajone.

Russell Branyan, herniated disk.

The good news is, Ichiro could return Mondoay when the Angels come in, Beltre and Griffey should be ready Tuesday - when the Mariners can expand their roster and bring up, among others, first baseman Mike Carp.

For now, however, this is the lineup:
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Josh Wilson 3B
Jose Lopez 2B
Mike Sweeney DH
Bill Hall RF
Jack Hannahan 1B
Kenji Johjima C
Jack Wilson SS
Michael Saunders LF
Ryan Rowland-Smith LHP

Russell Branyan watched the Seattle Mariners win their 68th of the season tonight, then dressed and brushed his teeth.

"I can still do that," he said.

What Branyan cannot do is swing a bat or play the game, not with a herniated disk in his back, discovered during an MRI Saturday.

The Mariners deemed it serious enough to put him on the 15-day disabled list, and both they and Branyan know the rest of his season could be in jeopardy.

"It depends how my body responds to rest and treatment," Branyan said of missing the rest of the season. "It's been bothering me since the All-Star break, and it started to affect the way I ran, the way I fielded.

"It just seemed in everyone's best interest to find out what was going on."

Branyan will be given rest and treatment for the disk problem, but knows his season might be over. That would be a shame.

Given the first chance in his career to play every day in the big leagues, he's batted .251 with 31 home runs and 76 RBI in 116 games at age 33.

At the All-Star break, Branyan was hitting .280.

Ichiro is still out, Adrian Beltre still swollen - and you know where! - and now Russell Branyan is on the disabled list with a herniated disk.

That leaves the team with no one with 20 home runs and only one player, Jose Lopez, with more than 55 RBI.

A team that's won with pitching and defense is going to have to pitch better, defend with near perfection and somehow manage to score a run or two along the way.

It's Ian Snell vs. Gil Meche.

Need runs? No problem!

Franklin Gutierrez and Josh Wilson singled to open the first inning, but Jose Lopez popped out.

The rejuvenated Mike Sweeney - contract drive, anyone? - doubled both base runners home, his 25th and 26th RBI of the season.

Jack Hannahan doubled Sweeney home. Jack Wilson doubled Hannahan home.

After one: Mariners 4, Royals 0

KC comeback

Mitch Maier's single was the first Royals hit of the night, but John Buck followed it with his sixth home run.

Yuniesky Betancourt, a pest since Kansas City acquired him, drew a walk. David DeJesus flied out. Willie Bloomquist flied out. Billy Butler flied out.

More runs? Just ask!

Hannahan hit his fourth home run of the season, his third as a Mariner, into the right field seats.

Ryan Langerhans singled and, with one out, Rob Johnson homered deep into the lower deck beyond left field.

Ouch!

He got back up and talked his way into staying in the game.

Snell has his five innings and qualifies for the win, but trainers are looking him over - and he's going to feel this one later.

Miguel Batista will replace Snell in the sixth inning.

In the fifth: Mariners 7, Royals 2

Batista got through the sixth, then lost control in the seventh - giving up back-to-back singles and a walk to load the bases.

Jose Lopez led off the eighth inning with his career-high 20th home run, good for his 79th RBI.

Also, here's the update on Snell: His right arm is swollen and bruised, but unbroken.

And in the ninth: duck!
Randy Messenger gave up a home run to Mark Tehan and then was chewed out on the mound by pitching coach Rick Adair.

Next pitch: Long home run for Maier.
Messenger then got two popups and a ground ball to end it.

This team has shuffled its roster, rotation and lineup all season, which may make its improvement all the more surprising.

Today, for instance, the Seattle Mariners won't have Ichiro (calf), Adrian Beltre (testicle) or Russell Branyan (back) because of injuries.

In fact, a glance at the Mariners lineup tonight shows six players, including the starting pitcher, who weren't in Seatle when the year began.

Josh Wilson was in San Diego, Bill Hall in Milwaukee, Jack Hannahan in Oakland, Jack Wilson in Pittsburgh, Ryan Langerhans in the minors and Ian Snell in Pittsburgh.

Here's what Don Wakamatsu has put together tonight:

Franklin Gutierrez CF
Josh Wilson 3B
Jose Lopez 2B
Mike Sweeney DH
Bill Hall RF
Jack Hannahan 1B
Jack Wilson SS
Ryan Langerhans LF
Rob Johnson C
Ian Snell RHP

The month has not been kind to Felix Hernandez, who's started five times, posted a 2.45 earned run average in 33 innings and won once.

No decisions aainst the Rays, White Sox and Tigers were followed by a loss to the Indians, and the Mariners offense has been no where to be seen for Felix.

Tonight, a new lineup with Franklin Gutierrez leading off, and the combo of Josh Wilson, Ryan Langerhans and Rob Johnson at the back end.

Six of the nine men in the lneup don't yet have 25 RBI for the season.

Pitch well, young man.

It's Felix vs. Brian Bannister.

Mariners speed!

Like all good rallies, this one began with a bunt single - from Russell Branyan!
Mike Sweeney singled behind him, and a wild pitch moved both runners up a base.

Bill Hall grounded out for an RBI, getting Sweeney to third base.

Josh Wilson tapped back to the mound, but as Bannister threw to first for the out, Sweeney broke for the plate - and his head first slide beat the tag.

One for the umps

Josh Anderson singled, then stole second base, although replays showed conclusively that Anderson was tagged out. It happens.

David DeJesus doubled Anderson home.

With DeJesus in scoring position and no one out, Felix struck out Mitch Maier, got Billy Butler on a ground ball and Mike Jacobs on a fly ball.

That's pitching.

In the third: Mariners 2, Royals 1

No hits, one run

There's a reason the Royals have lost 78 games.

After three: Mariners 3, Royals 1

Hey, it's an offense!

The rejuvenated Sweeney, playing like he was 33 again, singled and took third base on Hall's double.

Josh-not-Jack Wilson singled both home and, though he still doesn't have 25 RBI this year, now has three tonight.

After four: Mariners 5, Royals 1

KC can score, too

Two-out single by DeJesus set up Mitch Maier's second home run - a shot into the right field seats.

In the fifth: Mariners 5, Royals 3

Branyan goes down

He'll be re-evaluated by the medical staff tomorrow.

Seattle loaded the bases on two-out singles by Hannahan and Lopez and a walk to Michael Saunders.

Felix is done for the night. On in relief: Sean White.

After seven: Mariners 6, Royals 3

And in the ninth

Sean White pitched a scoreless eighth inning, and David Aardsma took the ball in the ninth inning.
Aardsma's 31st save - the ninth highest single-season total in franchise history - preserved Felix's 13th win, and his first since Aug. 1.

That's a career high in wins for Mr. Hernandez, and the 67th of the season for the Mariners.

It's a final: Mariners 6, Royals 3

Ichiro is working in the outfield as this is being written, but he won't be in tonight's lineup.

Adrian Beltre is eligible to come off the disabled list today, but apparently won't. And Josh-not-Jack Wilson is starting at shortstop despit Jack-not-Josh Wilson's two-hit night Thursday.

Here's who will be playing:
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Jack Hannahan 3B
Jose Lopez 2B
Russell Branyan 1B
Mike Sweeney DH
Bill Hall RF
Josh Wilson SS
Ryan Langerhans LF
Rob Johnson C
Felix Hernandez RHP

Feel free to figure this one out: Seattle is 2-3 against Kansas City this season - and hasn't even faced Zack Grienke yet!

Without Ichiro Suzuki for a fourth game in a row, the Mariners will keep Franklin Gutierrez as the leadoff hitter. He's batting an even .500 the past three nights (6-for-12) and he's drawn two walks.

Typically, however, that's led to two runs for Seattle.

As the Mariners scratch for runs, Jack Wilson has gone 1-for-12 this week, Bill Hall and Michael Saunders have gone 2-for-10 and Kenji Johjima 0-for-7.

They're all in the lineup tonight. It's Doug Fister vs. Kyle Davies.

Game of inches

The Mariners just did miss turning a double play behind Fister in the second inning, but miss it they did - and the next batter burned them.

With Mark Teahen aboard, Brayan Pena hooked a pitch down the right field line that literally brushed the wall as it cleared at the 326-foot sign.

They all count, but this was a galling inning for Fister.

In the second: Royals 2, Mariners 0

Is it the pitching?

Against the Mariners, one never knows.

The American League is batting .280 against Davies this season, but in their first three innings, Seattle has one hit - a single on which Gutierrez was thrown out trying for two bases.

Kansas City has two hits, and two runs.

The face is familiar

Yuniesky Betancourt homered on a pitch Fister would love to take back - an 88 mph fastball over the plate and up.

Yuni didn't miss it.

That's three hits for Kansas City. And three runs.

In the fifth: Royals 3, Mariners 0

Shut out no more

Russell Branyan blooped a single and got to second base on a wild pitch. Kenji Johjima singled off the bag at third, getting Branyan home.

Big inning?

With two outs, Saunders - aboard on a fielders choice - stole second base, and Gutierrez singled him in for his 53rd RBI.
Gutierrez took second base on the throw home, but he was left there.

After five: Royals 3, Mariners 2

The long ball

Two outs into the sixth, with a man on first, Fister left another pitch up and Alberto Callaspo turned it into his eighth home run of the season.

All five Kansas City runs have scored via the long all. When you can't get your pitches down, they tend to disappear.

In the sixth: Royals 5, Mariners 2

Turning point?

A walk and Bill Hall's one-out double set the scene for Russell, who then popped up to third base. Johjima struck out and the chance was gone.

After six: Royals 5, Mariners 2

A two-out walk to No. 9 hitter Josh Anderson set up a two-run home run for leadoff hitter David DeJesus - his 11th.

In the seventh: Royals 7, Mariners 2

Johjima singled and Jack Wilson homered, cutting the Royals lead in home runs tonight to 4-1.

It's a final: Royals 8, Mariners 4

Not in the lineup, for the fourth day in a row.

Ichiro can swing, can throw and can jog, but the one thing he hasn't done yet is run full out - a huge part of his game.

Until he can, both he and the Mariners agree he shouldn't play.

"Ichiro's heart says get in there, but he knows if he tears something, he could be done for the season," manager Don Wakamatsu said. "There's still no time table for his return."

Franklin Gutierrez will lead off in Ichiro's spot, Bill Hall will play right field and Ichiro will be an active cheerleader.

Here's the lineup:
Gutierrez CF
Jack Hannahan 3B
Jose Lopez 2B
Ken Griffey Jr. DH
Hall RF
Russell Branyan 1B
Kenji Johjima C
Jack Wilson SS
Michael Saunders LF
Doug Fister, RHP

At the moment, he's stretched out in right field - lying on his back, talking to manager Don Wakamatsu and trainer Rick Griffin.

They're standing up.

The conversation undoubtedly is about whether Ichiro is ready to play after missing three games with a strained calf.

Ichiro wants to play - he has said he's ready to play and was held by as a precaution against hurtnig himself more.

Now, Ichiro trots like a stallion into center field, walks back slowly. Stretches again and has another convesation with Griffin.

Clearly, he wants in tonight. It's not clear what Griffin or Wakamatsu think.

Well, he's not really tipping his hand on it. Asking something like that to him will only lead to him changing the subject quite quickly. But there are some rumors that he would like to return for one more season. That possibility brings us to a whole other debate concerning his production.

While Griffey hasn't openly said anything about it to us, he does broach the subject a little bit in this interview with C. Trent Rosecrans.

CTR: I mean, you've said you feel like you're starting something. Do you want to stick around to see it out?
KG: Yeah. But, like I said, I've never forced myself on anyone. If they tell me they don't want me anymore, that's fine. I've had a chance to do something I've wanted to do, and that's come back to Seattle. I haven't wavered on that at all. I've gotten a chance to do it and I'm thankful to the organization for giving me a chance to do it. They could have said no. It wasn't owed to me to come here. It wasn't owed to me to have Atlanta offer me a contract. They thought enough of me to think I can help the organization and reached out to me - that means a lot.

The same thing happened in Seattle. A couple of people said, "Ken would be a good fit here."
That's how I look at it. I don't look at it as 28 other teams didn't want me, because I don't know their situations. Sometimes it's just not a fit in other organizations. I was able to come here and help as much as I could. We'll see how it is at the end of the year and we'll go from there. I'm having the time of my life.

The same thing happened in Seattle. A couple of people said, "Ken would be a good fit here."
That's how I look at it. I don't look at it as 28 other teams didn't want me, because I don't know their situations. Sometimes it's just not a fit in other organizations. I was able to come here and help as much as I could. We'll see how it is at the end of the year and we'll go from there. I'm having the time of my life.

David Aardsma's 30th save of the season did more than put away Seattle's 66th win of the year, it pushed him into an exclusive group of Mariners relievers.

He becomes just the sixth Mariner to save at least 30 games in a season.

Here's the list of 30-save seasons:
* Kazuhiro Sasaki (2001) 45 saves
* J.J. Putz (2007) 40 saves
* Kazuhiro Sasaki (2000) 37 saves
* Kazuhiro Sasaki (2002) 37 saves
* Eddie Guardado (2005) 36 saves
* J.J. Putz (2006) 36 saves
* Jose Mesa (1999) 33 saves
* Mike Schooler (1989) 33 saves
* Mike Schooler (1990) 30 saves
* David Aardsma (2009) 30 saves

Aardsma got his 30th in the teams 127 game, meaning he has 35 more games in which to add to his total.

"It's just a number," Aardsma said of his 30th save. "I want to be proud at the end of the year."

By design or luck of the draw, the Seattle Mariners have faced 45 left-handed starting pitchers this season - and tonight get No. 46 in Gio Gonzalez.

So far, they're 22-23 against lefties, but they're missing Ichiro Suzuki, who is hitting .365 against them.

Who's likely to factor in tonight? Well, Franklin Gutierrez (.333) is the only man in the lineup hitting better than .300 against left-handers, unless you count Bill Hall's Mariners stats - he's 3-for-8 vs. LHP.

Those who have struggled include Jack Hannahan (.196), Mike Sweeney (.224, Russell Branyan (.224), Rob Johnson (.172), Jack Wilson (.233) and Michael Saunders (.233).

Jose Lopez has batted .283 vs. lefties, but hit only three of his 18 home runs against them.

So where will the runs come from?

In theory, it has to be a low-scoring game where the Mariners manufacture a run or two, or perhaps get a home run from someone that makes a difference.

Hoping all that happens is Luke French, who's 2-1 with a 4.43 with Seattle.

That's a rally

Hannahan drew a one-out walk which became a run when Lopez hit his 19th home run of the season into the Seattle bullpen, good for his team-leading 77th and 78th RBI.

Sweeney doubled, but was left at second.

After one: Mariners 2, Athletics 0

One weird drought

The Mariners got a two-out single from Gutierrez with Johnson on second base, but a fine hrow from Ryan Sweeney - and Johnson's speed - led to an out at the plate.

That keeps a streak going for Seattle: 40 consecutive innings in which the only Mariners runs scored have come on home runs or an error.

Think about that - not one RBI single in 40 innings ... yikes!

The Streak ends

Hannahan opened with a double but two outs later was still at second base. Hall singled up the middle to end that 40-inning stretch.

Oakland lives

Jack Cust hit his 20th home run, a solo shot with two outs. Solo shots, you live with.

In the fourth: Mariners 3, Athletics 1

French through five

As a big-league pitcher in his first season, French has never gone more than 6 1/3 innings in any of his 10 starts.

French is one of those pitchers who seems to throw the kitchen sink - anything handy.

Hall's one-out sacrifice fly produced an insurance run

Rajai Davis singled and Kurt Suzuki homered into the Oakland bullpen, and just that quickly Seattle's lead was cut to one.

French struck Cust out, but walked Mark Ellis with his 86th pitch. That was enough for Wakamatsu, who pulled him in favor of Miguel Batista.

In the sixth: Mariners 4, Athletics 3

The old guy can hit

Lopez hit a two-out drive to left center field that was dropped for a two-base error, and Sweeney made Oakland pay for it.

After seven: Mariners 5, Athletics 3

Batista and Mark Lowe got it to the ninth inning, and that meant David Aardsma time.

It wasn't easy. A flare fell into left field for a single, a shattered-bat pop fly dropped into center - and suddenly there were two on and no one out.

It's a final: Mariners 5, Athletics 3

Ryan Langerhans walk-off home run Tuesday night was the second of a month in which the Seattle Mariners are 12-11.

A fourth outfielder-type player who spent most of the year in the minor leagues for Washington - once again the worst team in baseball - Langerhans is a poster boy for this franchise in 2009.

The Mariners have won 65 games this season, and you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone on the roster who hasn't contributed. And quite a few no longer on the active roster.

Josh Wilson, who barely played for a month, was a remarkable force for 10 days when Jack Wilson was down with a hamstring strain.

Remember Endy Chavez? Garrett Olson? Brandon Morrow? Ronny Cedeno? Yuniesky Betancoure? Chris Woodward?
Every one of them helped the Mariners win games.

Jack Hannahan and Michael Saunders, Chris Jakubauskas and Denny Stark, Carlos Silva and Roy Corcoran.

What the '09 Mariners have done with a collection of journeymen and youngsters, independent league graduates and players in the twilights of their careers is nothing short of remarkable.

Long term, the Mariners have developed pieces to a winning team this season, and done so while entertaining the masses along the way.

Ken Grifffey Jr. and Mike Sweeney have both won games this season. Do either have a future in Seattle beyond '09?

If the Mariners have done nothing else this season, they've restored an element of credibility within the game.

Jack Zduriencik knows talent - not just easy to see ability, but untapped talent. Don Wakamatsu and his coaching staff know how to make the most of that talent.

The Mariners aren't world beaters. If you'd taken their current roster - starting with a rotation of Felix Hernandez, Ian Snell, Ryan Rowland-Smith, Doug Fister and Luke French - how many would have predicted a .500 or better season?

Seattle has improved this season more than any team in the big leagues. Wait 'til next year now means something again for Mariners fans.

Knocked out of his last start as much by a line drive off his calf as by the Detroit Tigers, Ryan Rowland-Smith is back with a goal.

He wants to get deep into the game tonight, and he wants 100 or more pitches - something he's done only once this season. Manager Don Wakamatsu says the answer is simple: Be pitching well at No. 99 and you'll get No. 100. Struggle, and you're likely not going much further.

Ichiro is still down with a calf strain, and the rejuvenated Mike Sweeney is the designated hitter against lefty Brett Anderson

Jack Hannahan is batting second to Franklin Gutierrez's leadoff.

It's never easy

Kurt Suzuki doubled, Scott Hairston and Jack Cust singled - all with two out - to put Oakland up a run.

Hairston's RBI single was on an off-balance swing, way out front on a breaking pitch. Luck plays a role.

In the first: Athletics 1, Mariners 0

That makes it even

Russell Branyan's two-out solo home run - his 31st of the season - tied the game.

It was Branyan's 10th against a left-handed pitcher this year in his 154th at-bat.

After two: Mariners 1, Athletics 1

Trying to manufacture a run

Both teams have offenses that aren't known for big innings, and each has tried to make something from very little tonight.

Michael Saunders bunted for a hit in the third inning, then Oakland's Cliff Pennington bunted for one in the fifth. Neither led to a run.

This one could turn on a single swing, one of those late-inning home runs that produces a one-run win.

In the fifth: Mariners 1, Athletics 1

Almost a rally!

Gutierrez opened the sixth with a single, Hannahan singled him to second and Jose Lopez ... well, he grounded into a double play.

With Gutierrez at third, Sweeney flied out.

After six: Mariners 1, Athletics 1

Oakland's turn

After Seattle opened the sixth with two hits and failed to score, Oakland matched that - a Mark Ellis double followed by a Ryan Sweeney single to get him to third base.

With his 94th pitch, Rowland-Smith got a popup from Pennington. On his 98th, Adam Kennedy singled home the Athle5tics second run - and Rowland-Smith was pulled in favor of Sean White.

In the seventh: Athletics 2, Mariners 1

A rally - with help

Wakamatsu is not a big pinch-hitting manager, but when Gutierrez walked with one out in the eighth against right-hander Michael Wuertz, he sent Ken Griffey Jr. up for Hannahan.

With Gutierrez running, Junior struck out. Lopez stood at the plate as the Mariners co-leader in RBI with 76 - sharing it with Branyan.

Lopez didn't get an RBI, but when Kennedy bobbled his ground ball, then kicked it into short center field, Lopez was safe at first and Gutierrez scored. Lopez stole second Sweeney struck out.

After eight: Mariners 2, Athletics 2

And in the ninth

Hall struck out. Branyan flied out to the wall in right field. Johjima - who had struck out in each of his first three at-bats - walked on four pitches.

Extra innings!

And in the 10th

Saunders fouled out. Gutierrez singled. Ryan Langerhans homered.

The Arizona Fall League rosters were announced today by MLB.com and obviously the big news is that this year's top pick, Stephen Strasburg, will be making his professional debut.

But Strasburg won't be alone in making his professional debut. Mariners top pick Dustin Ackley will also be doing the same thing for the Peoria Javelinas.

Here's the roster of the Javelinas.

If you go through the roster, you'll notice that several other Mariners prospects are on the team, including shortstop Carlos Triunfel, who has recovered from the broken leg he suffered earlier in the season and could start playing for Double A West Tenn next week. Also on the team are pitchers Phillippe Aumont, Josh Fields, Nick Hill and Anthony Varvaro along with first baseman Joe Dunigan.

Here's a list of this year's all-stars that participated in the Arizona Fall League.

This league is usually reserved for a team's elite prospects so playing in it is an honor.

Loosely translated - toma means "take that" in Spanish and that's what the Mariners dugout was screaming at the Oakland A's when Ken Griffey Jr hit his two-run laser of a homer in the fifth inning.

Let's go through it quickly.

Jose Lopez hits a first-inning double to left off of A's starter Vin Mizzaro. In the third, Lopez hits a solo homer off Mizzar. In the fifth, the first pitch he sees from Mizzaro hits him right in the ribs or love handle area.

Lopez was cleary not pleased he fired the bat to the ground, made a gesture to Mizzaro and yelled a few words. Mizzaro yelled a few back and both teams got to the top step of the dugout.

After it was kind of broken up, Lopez went to first and home plate umpire Marty Foster gave official warnings to each side about ejections for retaliations.

Manager Don Wakamatsu went out to discuss the situation with Foster, because his take on the situation wasn't that it was a purpose pitch.

"I don’t believe they hit him on purpose," Wakamatsu said. "It’s a situation where a guy hits a double and a home run and gets hit, and fingers start pointing. I was with the club last year in Oakland and I know their temperament. I don’t know the kid but I’d like to think that he didn’t hit him on purpose."

Lopez didn't quite see it the same way.

"I hit a home run off him and the next time up he hits me with the first pitch, that doesn’t look good,” Lopez said.

One person who wasn't caught up in it was Ken Griffey Jr. who was awaiting on deck. He too had been hit by Mizzaro earlier in the game.

So after watching a pair of change-ups go by - one a strike and one a ball - Griffey sat on a 1-1 fastball and hammered it to right field. It was a line drive homer and a no doubter. So much so, that Griffey did the trademark drop the back and take a few walking steps to first before beginning his trot.

The Mariners dugout exploded.

“Yeah, it got us pumped up,” said Mariners starter Ian Snell. “These guys were screaming “Toma! Toma!” and started jumping up and down and giving high fives.”

Toma loosely translates to "take that."

As he rounded third toward home, Griffey pointed to the suite where his mother Birdie was sitting.

"Yeah, she doesn't get to see very many games live," Griffey said. "She was here for the golf tournament. She wanted to see her oldest child. She's going to take credit for that one."

That seemed to be more important to Griffey than getting revenge.

“It was a close game,” he said. “I was trying to drive the ball, and I just happened to get a pitch I could drive. I wasn't thinking about it. I'm trying to win games. Those things happen in the course of a game you may or may not like. But the objective is to win the game.”

But Wakamatsu said that Griffey took some pleasure in making Mizzaro eat it.

“We heard about that in the dugout,” Wakamatsu chuckled. “How dare they. He’s always got a flair for the dramatic. That was beautiful.”

And because of that, any thoughts Snell may have had about protecting his hitters didn't seem quite as necessary as keeping up a solid start.

He had a no-hitter threw 4 1/3 innings and had just a hiccup in the sixth inning where he gave up a run on three hits.

“That’s two starts in a row where this guy keeps improving,” Wakamatsu said. “The big thing for me was two walks against an awfully patient ball club. He kept his pitch count down and attacked the zone. I couldn’t be happier with his outing.”

Snell was pleased as well.

“I kept the ball down,” Snell said. “It was just hard for me to get accustomed to this league, but now I’m starting to get used to it and starting use my other pitches besides my fastball and it’s throwing hitters off and it’s helping me out a lot.”

Snell also said he used his slider quite a bit, more than he had in his past starts and that it seemed to help immensely.

"I changed the eye level, and changed the mentality, changed the velocity of the ball and I got my curveball in there and I started throwing my slider more than I have been in my last couple starts," he said. "I got a lot of ground balls with that and a lot of lazy fly balls."

Sean White pitched two shutout innings, while David Aardsma picked up his 29th save of the season.

=> Read more!

Quickly before we get to the game updates, here's a few other notes from the pregame meeting with manager Don Wakamatsu.

* Carlos Silva will throw a simulated game on Wednesday. He will throw approximately 35 to 40 pitches.

"If everything goes well, we’ll probably send him out (on a rehab assignment) at that point," Wakamatsu said. "If not or if we feel he might need another one, we’ll do another sim before we send him out."

* Ryan Langerhans injured his shoulder crashing into the wall in Cleveland. He could play today in an emergency, but Wakamatsu is hoping to avoid using him.

* Chris Jakubauskas, who was optioned to Triple A Tacoma, will play catch today, throw one bullpen session and then head to Tacoma, where he'll pitch most likely on Friday.

"We’ll try to get him two outings if we can and talk about bringing him up on the first," Wakamatsu said.

GAME UPDATES START HERE
First inning
Snell goes 1-2-3.

The Mariners get a little something going against Vin Mazzaro - wasn't he in that movie where he said: "I live my life a quarter mile at a time." Anyway, Lopez doubles off Mazzaro and then he was either to fast or to furious and hit Junior in the leg with a pitch. He then followed that up with a walk of Bill Hall to load the bases, but Joh reaches and swings feebly at a slider well off the outside corner of the plate -- not exactly a new phenomenon there -- for an easy ground ball to short.

Second inning
Another 1-2-3 for Snell.

The Mariners once again get runners on first and second with two outs as Saunders and Gutierrez both single, but Branyan strikes out to end the inning. Two innings, 5 men left on base.

Third inning
Snell gets into his first trouble with a couple of walks, but works his way out of them.

Jose Lopez leads off the bottom of the inning by pulling a 91 mph to left for his 18th homer of the season - it's a career high. If it seems like the majority of Lopey's homers go to left, well it's because they do, check out this post by Dave Cameron over at the USS Mariner.

M's lead 1-0.

Fourth inning
Another 1-2-3 inning for Snell, including a sweet fielding play by Branyan at first and some good athleticism from Snell to get over and cover on the play.

Mazzaro gets in another bases loaded jam thanks to three walks, but Branyan hits into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.

Fifth Inning
Well, the no-hitter was broken up by Daric Barton, who singled up the middle. Snell got a nice ovation from the crowd afterward. More importantly he got out of the inning without any further damage.

Things get a little testy in the fifth as Mazzaro drills Jose Lopez in the ribs with the first pitch of the inning. Lopez is clearly not pleased and has some words for Mazzaro. Home plate umpire Marty Foster warns both dugouts. So the question remains, if you are Snell and you have a one-hitter going, do you hit a batter to protect your hitters?
But Ken Griffey Jr., who was also hit by Mazzaro, got even in a different way by crushing a homer to right to give the M's a 3-0 lead.

Sixth Inning
Well, Snell didn't hit anyone and he didn't keep the shutout alive as Kurt Suzuki singled to left to score Mark Ellis from second to give the A's their first run. Snell did manage to get out of the inning after that.

The M's get a runner on, but that's about it.

Seventh inning
A nice inning for Sean White, who pitched a 1-2-3 inning.

The Mariners strand two more runners in the game.

Lineups

A's (55-68)
Adam Kennedy 3B
Mark Ellis 2B
Scott Hairston LF
Jack Cust RF
Kurt Suzuki C
Ryan Sweeney CF
Landon Powell DH
Daric Barton 1B
Cliff Pennington SS
---------
RHP Vin Mazzaro

Mariners (63-61)
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Russell Branyan 1B
Jose Lopez 2B
Ken Griffey Jr. DH
Bill Hall RF
Kenji Johjima C
Jack Hannahan 3B
Jack Wilson SS
Michael Saunders LF
---------
RHP Ian Snell

Adrian Beltre was back in the Mariners clubhouse and seemed in good spirits.

As I'm typing this, he's taking out at third base taking ground balls. He took batting practice earlier.

Manager Don Wakamatsu said that because Beltre was able to do some light activities that he may indeed be ready to play when he is scheduled to come off the disabled list on August 28th.

"This might be a good sign," Wakamatsu said. "We talked in Cleveland that he might not be able to make it back for the 28th. To me this is more promising and we’ll see how he reacts today."

For those of you who don't know what happened to Beltre, well he took a ground ball in the groin area against the Chicago White Sox and since he doesn't wear a cup, the ground ball, hit him in a bad, bad way and he suffered "a severely contused testicle."

I know, it gives me a stomach ache typing it. Anyway, there was and still is significant swelling.

"It's better than it was before, but there's still pain," he said. "I haven't moved to see how it's going to be. Maybe today or tomorrow is going to be a good test to see how it's going to be in the next couple of days."

At least Beltre has a good sense of humor about the situation.

He just laughed and said "Thanks Grif" when Ken Griffey Jr. hollered, "Hey it's the nutcracker, it's good to see you."

Sitting in Beltre's locker was a brand new cup still in the wrapper. Beltre admitted he didn't know who put it in there, but that he was probably going to have to use it.

"For now, probably, I will. Against my will, maybe," he said. "The swelling is still there, so maybe for now, I have to. I think I need custom-sized one. I'll see what I can do."

Realistically, the doctors said he has to wear the cup if he wants to play because the swelling is still evident.

But when the swelling goes down, will cup be removed?

"I don't know," he said. "That's a good question."

It shows how much he loathes wearing a cup if he's considering going back out there after suffering the injury he had.

"I might be lying if I said that," he said. "I've tried before. It's uncomfortable. I hated it. If it's going to happen every 11 years of my career, I'll take my chances."

The last time Beltre wore a cup was in the minor leagues for the Los Angeles Dodger in their camp in the Dominican Republic.

"I tried to wear it because it was mandatory," he said. "But every time you move, it's uncomfortable. To go to side, you dive, you dive on top of it. I don't know exactly how I'm going to do it."

So if we see you walking funny?

"Then I probably have it on," he said.

Since Beltre hadn't talked with the media since that fateful night, he kind of relived it.

"I thought, 'it exploded,'" he said when asked of when it first happened. "It was weird, because it hit right on it, right on top of it. I felt like going down, but I saw the ball right next to me, and I wanted to finish the play. Then I made a wild throw. It was on target, but low."

After that, Beltre didn't lay down, he kind of walked around to shake it off. A lesser man would have curled up in the fetal position in pain.

"There was camera's around," he said. "You can't lay down on the ground."

Not only didn't he lay down on the ground, he also kept playing for the next five innings.

"I didn't have any option," he said. "I couldn't because Jack (Hannahan) was hurt. He hurt hamstring, so we didn't have an extra infielder. Two or three innings after that, I dove in first, and it really hurt. That's when I started thinking ... but even if I wanted to, we didn't have an extra infielder. Jack was out in the fifth inning.

And the Griffey game winning hit?

"At times it hurt a lot, but other times, it didn't hurt that much because of the adrenalin of the game," he said. "It was a close game, nothing-nothing, and we're just trying to get the game over. When I was running, it didn't really feel that bad."

UPDATE 4:24 -- Officially Ichiro has tightness in his left calf. It's been bothering him the last week and it "grabbed on him" a little at the end of yesterday's game. Manager Don Wakamatsu said Ichiro said the calf is much better today. But Wakamatsu indicated that Ichiro probably won't play till Wednesday.

UPDATE 3:29 -- Apparently Ichiro has a strained calf. Not sure of the extent.

Ichiro Suzuki is not in the line-up today, Bill Hall will be taking his place in right field. Not sure what's up with it, but I will let you know more when I get the chance.

Mariners (63-61)
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Russell Branyan 1B
Jose Lopez 2B
Ken Griffey Jr. DH
Bill Hall RF
Kenji Johjima C
Jack Hannahan 3B
Jack Wilson SS
Michael Saunders LF
---------
RHP Ian Snell

Felix Hernandez hasn't won a game since Aug. 1, which hasn't helped his Cy Young Award candidacy - or his luck.

In his last two starts, for instance, Felix has allowed one run in 14 innings and come away with a pair of no-decisions. Even for Seattle, that's tough to do.

Today the Mariners have their left-handed slant, with Ken Griffey Jr. (.220) batting cleanup. Junior begins the day 0-for-6 this trip, and hasn't homered since Aug. 7.

Junior and Felix could use a good day.

It's Hernandez vs. Fausto Carmona.

That hurts

Grady Sizemore wound up with a triple whe left field Ryan Langerhans made a long run, had the ball hit his glove and then slammed into the wall at full speed.

Langerhans stayed in the game - his throw, from his back, on the warning track - prevented Sizemore from circling the bases for an inside-the-park homer.

Hernandez got Jamey Carroll, then Shin-Soo Choo to ground out with the infield in, then gave up Jhonny Peralta's two-out RBI single.

After one: Indians 1, Mariners 0

Not again!

Rob Johnson singled with one out and took third when Ichiro punched a hit-and-run single up the middle.

Jose Lopez grounded out, stranding Johnson at third.

Junior delivers

Mr. Griffey hit home run No. 13 this season, No. 624 for his career, over the wall in right-center field to tie the game.

In the fourth: Mariners 1, Indians 1

He drove in the first Cleveland run with a two-out RBI single, and leading off the fourth, Peralta hit his 10th home run of the season, good for his 67th RBI.

After four: Indians 2, Mariners 1

Wonder why Felix hasn't won in three weeks?

After singles by Travis Hafner and Luis Valbuena, Matt LaPorta doubled and the Indians had Hernandez on the ropes.

Hernandez probably won't pitch in the seventh. He wobbled through the sixth and has 101 pitches.

Afer six: Indians 6, Mariners 1

That's a lethal combination.

It's a final: Indians 6, Mariners 1

Tacoma closer Randy Messenger, who saved 25 games and compiled a 2.25 in the hitting-rich Pacific Coast League, will join the Seattle Mariners bullpen tonight.

Chris Jakubauskas, who was unavailable the last few days because of cramping in his right shoulder, was optioned to Class AAA - and will return to the Mariners when rosters expand Sept. 1.

To get Messenger on the 40-man roster, the team made a third move, releasing right-hander Luis Pena from Class AA West Tennessee.

In essence, the Mariners needed an arm, and Messenger can pitch in almost any relief role, including setup. A 28-year-old right-hander who was in the competition for a job in spring training, has closed all season for the Rainiers - and threw two shutout innings for Tacoma on Friday night.

The Mariners saw the Indians about a month ago, but this isn't the same Cleveland team that one was.

Now 52-68, these Indians are without Victor Martinez and have largely rebuilt their pitching staff. Put simply, they're going young.

Seattle is starting Luke French, who's coming off a game in which he didn't allow an earned run is six innings and still lost to the New York Yankees.

Against lefty David Huff, manager Don Wakamatsu is starting is right-handed lineup, which features DH Mike Sweeney and LF Bill Hall.

Rob Johnson will catch because, after his home plate collision yesterday in Detroit, Kenji Johjima is having trouble turning his head to the left.

Nice trade, Jack!

If the season ended this minute, Hall would be hitting 1.000 as a Mariner with one at-bat and one RBI.

The Mariners, however, must wonder how it's possible to get three walks - and Hall's hard-hit RBI single - and come out of an inning with one run.

In the second: Mariners 1, Indians 0.

And we're even

Walks. Managers hate them. Lou Piniella called meetings every time one of his pitchers walked too many in a game.

After two: Mariners 1, Indians 1

One out, ground-ball-to-center-field singles by Franklin Gutierrez, Jose Lopez and Mike Sweeney produced the go-ahead run, and Russell Branyan walked to load the bases.

That Wilson kid!

Josh-not-Jack Wilson struck again - his third home run in eight days, after having hit two in his 149 big-league games. Go figure.

Another early exit?

Already this week, the Mariners have had to pull Felix Hernandez (strained calf) and Ryan Rowland-Smith (bruised calf) from games because of minor injuries.

More work for a weary bullpen, one that's without David Aardsma and Chris Jakubauskas tonight.

French has thrown 100 pitches and been in trouble each of the last two innings. He's probably done.

Branyan pushed the Mariners lead to five runs again with his 29th home run and second in two days. Hall followed with a double, his second hit in three official Seattle at-bats.

In the seventh: Mariners 8, Indians 3

<
Indians creep closer

Miguel Batista in, and the Indians treated him rudely, scoring on a single and double.

We'll see.

After seven: Mariners 8, Indians 4

And in the ninth ...

Sean White in to finish it.

In the ninth: Mariners 9, Indians 4

White finished it quietly, and the Mariners are now 63-59 and 6 1/2 games out in the wild card race with three teams to catch.

It's a final: Mariners 9, Indians

If you don't read Jim Caple, you should - he's one of the Northwest's own writing treasures.

Mr. Caple has wit and a good humor that's never mean-spirited, along with a journalistic curiosity that makes him ask the right questions.

He's done a piece on Adrian Beltre and his stunning stance of never wearing a protective cup while playing third base. You can read it here, along with a discussion on just why most men - and all ball players - see getting hit where Mr. Beltre was hit is hilarious.

On another front, tonight's starting left fielder for your Seattle Mariners, Bill Hall has taken early batting practice and hammered pitching coach Rick Adair's offerings.

Quick scouting report - based on two entire rounds of BP: Mr. Hall has power from the left field line to straightaway center, and never hit a ball to the right of second base.

He hit hard line drives to left and center field, and when he was done hitting, began taking fly balls in left field. That likely means he could get at-bats platooning with the left-handed hitting outfielder Michael Saunders or the left-handed hitting Jack Hannahan at third base.

Tonight, left field. Tomorrow night, Hall will likely start at third base.

Three weeks ago, it would have been hard to find a more popular guy in the Seattle clubhouse than Jarrod Washburn, who's now standing between the Mariners and their 63rd victory of the year.

Ichiro nodded before stepping into the box, then extended his hitting streak to 11 consecutive games with a double.
On the bench watching his first game in a Sattle uniform is Bill Hall, who's getting to see Don Wakamatsu baseball.

Ichiro doubled? Franklin Gutierrez bunted him over to third base - and the Tigers infield played in. Think they're expecting a low-scoring game?

It's Washburn vs. Ryan Rowland-Smith on getaway day in Detroit - always the best day of any series here.

Washburn hit Lopez with an inside fastbvall, and DH Mike Sweeney, the professional hitter, hit sacrifice fly to put Seattle ahead.

In the first: Mariners 1, Tigers 0

Frightening moment

It's raining hard in Detroit, but two outs in the Tigers first inning, Ryan Raburn hit a one-hopper off the right calf of Rowland-Smith.

Rowland-Smith, who's built like a tank and is about as tough as one, didn't go down. And after consulting with the trainer, he got the third out without a problem.

Still, something to watch as it inevitably stiffens up.

Two outs, who cares?

A two-out walk to Gutierrez set up a Mariners 'rally' - the 16th home run of the year by Jose Lopez.

That's two hits for Seatle, and three runs.

In the third: Mariners 3, Tigers 0

They all count

Catcher Kenjji Johjima, who occasionally had his issues with Washburn, hit a lazy fly ball down the left field line that just carried beyond he 345-foot mark - home run.

It wasn't crushed, but it counted just the same.

Home run No. 6 for Joh.

In the fourth: Mariners 4, Tigers 0

Tigers charge back

Detroit's lineup is full of bruisers, and they were swinging free in the fourth inning.

Raburn homered, Miguel Cabrera hit a ball 400 feet - but Gutierrez caught it - and Brandon Inge hit a solo home run.

Balls are flying, kids. Stay alert!

After four: Mariners 4, Tigers 2

The elements are in play

The rain has stopped but the wind has not, and Sweeney broke his bat on a ball that cleared the fence in left field - his fifth home run.

Russell Branyan then hit one that only a Category 5 hurricane could have stopped. Estimated at 425 feet, it was well up into the stands beyond right field, his 28th of the season.

In the sixth: Mariners 6, Tigers 2

Bring on the tarp

The rain hath returned and it is angry, my friend.

Rowland-Smith gave up a double and two walks, manager Don Wakamatsu pulled him in favor of Chris Jakubauskas - but before he could throw a warmup pitch, the umps called in the tarp.

We are in delay mode. On getaway day in Detroit. Yes, Virginia, there is a hell.

Take off the tarp!

The grounds crew here is surrounding the thing and staring at it. This may take awhile, but in theory, the game will restart again in 20 minutes or so.

A reminder: Tigers up, bottom of the sixth inning, one out and the bases loaded.

When we left you last, Jakubauskas had taken the mound in relief, but had not even warmed up when the delay was called.

That was at 2:38 p.m. (EDT). It's now 3:10 p.m. (EDT), and the crew is actually playing with the tarp. They are on pace to remove the tarp in about two days.

Tigers charge II

Jim Leyland is no fool. Given the bases-loaded, one out situation, he went for the big inning.

Pinch hitter Aubrey Huff, batting for Gerald Laird, grounded out, scoring one Tigers run. Pinch hitter Alex Avila, batting for Adam Everett, singled up the middle for two more runs.

After six: Mariners 6, Tigers 5

Mr. Kelley meets the Tigers

In the eighth: Mariners 6, Tigers 5

Lowe is down, so Kelley came back for the eighth. Nursing that slim lead, he gave up a pair of singles, then a long fly ball that Gutierrez ran down with a leaping catch.

One run lead, three outs needed by the bullpen. Figure Aardsma in the ninth.

'Twas Aardsma, all right.

Raburn fouled out. Cabrera doubled, Guillen stopping at third base. Magglio Ordonez was intentionally walked to set up a double play, loading the bases.

Gutierrez was charged with an error on a great throw, because both runners advanced when it got away from Johjima.

It's a final: Tigers 7, Mariners 6

Bill Hall arrived, left-hander Garrett Olson headed for Tacoma and the Seattle Mariners clubhouse was as loud and happy as ever.

"Stay away from Junior," manager Don Wakamatsu told his newest player.

Too late.

"We talked on the bus this morning. I wanted to be like Ken Griffey Jr.," Hall said. "He was The Kid, I wanted to be like that."

After hitting 35 home runs in 2006, Hall was on his way - a right-handed hitter capable of playing shortstop, third base or center field.

What happened? He signed a huge multi-year contract with Milwaukee, and suddenly he had something to live up to that was beyond anything he'd ever dealt with.

"I wanted to improve every season I played, but after I hit 35 home runs, I put a lot of pressure on myself," said Hall, obtained in a trade Wednesday. "Nobody likes not to succeed. I tried to hit 10 home runs a game.

"Coming to Seattle, where we're six games out of the wild card race, that's a new chapter for me. I want to play like a kid again. That's what I used to do, that's what I want to get back to."

Hall wasn't in the lineup Thursday but was told by Wakamatsu that he'd get at least one start in Cleveland against a left-handed pitcher.

"A lot depends on his bat," Wakamatsu said. "We want to let (hitting coach) Alan Cockrell get his hands on him, we want to see him play. The good news is, he's had success before. You know it's in there, because he's done it.

"We'll do what we've done with a lot of players this year, change their mental approach. With Hall, we'll talk about pitch selection, about getting in position to hit."

As for Olson, he'll report to Tacoma, where the Rainiers will try to work him into their rotation.

If you're a betting type, this game might be off the boards - Detroit's Justin Verlander, a Cy Young Award candidate, against Seattle's Ian Snell, who is not.

What precisely Snell is remains a question for the Mariners, who have seen him start three times and allowed 13 runs in 13 1/3 innings.

They like his stuff, think he's a bit of a head case, and are trying to work through the issues that have plagued him over the years.

Now 27, Snell could really use a quality start - and so could the Mariners.

So far, so good, sort of

Two innings in, Snell has matched zeroes with Verlander.

Still, it's unnerving that he throws about an equal number of strikes (20) and balls (18) in two innings, and he has walked to Tigers.

Small wonder when pitching coach Rick Adair was asked two hours ago what he expected from Mr. Snell, he smiled and said: "I have absolutely no idea."

Opportunity lost

The bottom of the order did it's job, with Kenji Johjima, then Josh Wilson picking up singles.

In the third: No score.

Rookie Michael Saunders singled with two outs, then stole second base. Josh-not-Jack Wilson singled him home with the first run of the night.

Ichiro hit his eighth home run, a shot into the stands in right field.

Mr. Snell has one thing pitchers covet even more than confidence - a lead.

In the fifth: Mariners 3, Tigers 0

Remember me?

Former Mariner Carlos Guillen, now the Detroit left fielder, hit a 3-2 pitch out for his fifth home run.

Manager Don Wakamatsu is big on giving the new guys something positive to take out of the game - and the Tigers are beginning to hit their outs hard. AFter Aubrey Huff walked, he made a move.

Snell is out after 5 2/3 innings and 98 pitches. Sean White on in relief, and Magglio Ordonez singled. Brandon Inge grounded out.

After six: Mariners 3, Tigers 1

Eighth inning, Mariners leading 3-1, in comes Mark Lowe in relief. If that sounds familiar, it should.

Lowe entered the game with the same score, in the same inning, 24 hours ago - and lost the game, 4-3.

Tonight, he got a ground b all from Guillen, then struck out Miguel Cabrera and Huff.
Better.

That'll do it

David Aardsma. 'nuff said. Goodnight, Detroit!

It's a final: Mariners 3, Tigers 1

Bill Hall, a 29-year-old third baseman with the Milwaukee Brewers, has been acquired by the Seattle Mariners for minor league pitcher Ruben Flores.

"We value Bill as a versatile player who can play the outfield and three infield positions," GM Jack Zduriencik said. "Billy has been a starting shortstop, third baseman and center fielder in his career. He has been a very solid Major League player who brings you experience and versatility. We look forward to Billy's contributions as he starts a new page in his career."
Hall will join the team in Detroit on Thursday if possible, and be added to both the 40 and 25-man rosters.

An 8-year veteran, Hall has a .253 career batting, although he's hitting .201 in 76 games with the Brewers this season.

Reportedly, the Brewers will pay the remainder of Hall's $6.8 million salary for this season, as well much of his $8.4 million deal next year.

Flores, 25, was 3-2 with 18 saves and a 4.39 ERA in 44 relief appearances this season in Class A. He was originally drafted by Seattle in 2003.

Felix Hernandez is pitching for his 13th win of the season, and more importantly for the team, he's shooting for Seattle's 62nd victory.

That would officially push the '09 Mariners past the win total of the '08 Mariners - a team and year the franchise would like to put behind it.

The Mariners are 3-3 against Detroit, which figures. The Tigers are 62-55, the Mariners 61-57.

The biggest difference? That record has the Tigers in first place in the Ameridcan League Central. Seattle, meanwhile, is third in the AL West and fourth in the wild card run.

Anyway, it's Felix vs. rookie Rick Porcello.

Walks and steals

Outfielder Clete Thomas led off with a walk and, with two outs, easily stole second base. When Adam Everett lined a single into center field, all Franklin Gutierrez could do was field it on a hop as the run scored.

After two: Tigers 1, Mariners 0

Mariners hurry-up offense

Through four innings, Porcello has faced 12 batters - the minimum - and eliminated the only Seattle base runner with a double play ground ball.

There have been no diving catches, no fantastic plays. Porcello has five strikeouts and the other seven outs were so quiet they'd lull you to sleep.

Detroit has three hits - and at the moment, it looks like a rout!

Look! A rally!

Josh Wilson gets carded any time he's in a bar, but baby face or not he just saved Seattle with a solo home run.

Until Josh-not-Jack homered, the only other hit had been Ichiro's leading off the game.

Ichiro followed Wilson's home run with his second single, and Branyan singled him to second base. Jose Lopez flied out.

That got the inning to Ken Griffey Jr., the .223-hitting cleanup hitter who has been struggling mightily of late. Could he break the tie - even break the game open?

He didn't get the chance. Junior walked on a 3-2 pitch, and that was it for Porcello. After 93 pitches, he was pulled in favor of Ryan Perry.

With the bases loaded, Gutierrez flied out.

In the sixth: Mainers 1, Tigers 1

Felix rolls on

Detroit banged away at him the first two innings and got one whole run out of it, and now Hernandez is at full throttle.

Since the second inning, the Tigers have sent 12 men to the plate in four innings.

That works.

He needs at least one more run.

The Mariners deliver

Josh-not-Jack Wilson singled and Ichiro doubled him to third with his third hit of the night.

Branyan's deep fly produced RBI No. 70 as Wilson scored, and Ichiro took third. The Tigers intentionally walked Lopez to get to Grifffey.

Junior flied out deep enough to chase Ichiro home - Griffey's 40th RBI.

Felix has 106 pitches. The bullpen will try to finish this.

In the eighth: Mariners 3, Tigers 1

Here come the Tigers

Mark Lowe on in relief, and Alex Avila leads off with a home run that makes it 3-2.
Everett singld and, wih one out, took third on Wilson's error at shortstop that allowed Placido Polanco to reach base. Carlos Guillen walked to load 'em up.

Miguel Cabrera singled up the middle to score two runs, and Seattle was behind again.
Lowe was pulled in favor of Sean White.

White picked Cabrera off first but, in a run down, Branyan threw late to the plate and pinch-runner Rayburn scored on what was ruled a stolen base.

And in the end
Closer Fernando Rodney took care of business in the top of the ninth inning, and this one was gone - stolen from Seattle's win-column by the Mariners pitching and defense.

Seattle put runners on second and third with one out and couldn't score.

It's a final: Tigers 5, Mariners 3

OK, Ryan is in Havre with his dog and I'm in Detroit with Jim Street, who's affable but not house-broken. Ryan, clearly, made the smarter call.

As for Tigers Stadium, the Mariners have just aout finished some early work on the field, and manager Don Wakamatsu is channeling Lou Piniella.

Anyone who watched Lou for any length of time saw him go into a batting stance and begin working with one hitter or another.

Lou loved hittng, loved coaching it, preaching it, illustrating it.

For the last 10 minutes, Wakamatsu has been working with shortstop Jack Wilson - the two men facing one another in batting stances, working on balance.

In Piniella's first season managing in Seattle, the team was coming off a 98-loss season but finished 82-80.

Wakamatsu inherited a 101-loss team, and is on target to finish above .500.

That's the kind of thing that pops into your head while watching a team take early batting practice in the Motor City.

That, and missing Marvin Gaye.

We just had a brief conference call with Dustin Ackley. And while you can't completely tell over the phone a few of the things he said and the way his voice sounded, you can tell he's still finding this whole situation surreal.

For as good as he is, and all that he has achieved in baseball, and basically knowing all of this was coming, he still seemed to have that - "I can't believe this is really happening" attitude.

"I could never imagine all of this happening," he said. "It's just been so exciting, I don’t think any of it has sunk in yet."

In the hours leading up to the deadline, Ackley said he never thought something wouldn't get done.

"I had faith everything was going to work out and it did," Ackley said.

While he knew everything would work out, it also sounded as though he expected the negotiations to go down to the final minutes.

"I knew coming that this could take a while," he said.

As for details, Ackley isn't certain when he's reporting to Peoria. He figures to have that conversation some time later today. He actually did the conference call while waiting to board a plane back to North Carolina.

Once he does get back to playing, Ackley hopes to be playing the outfield. Last night GM Jack Zduriencik said he felt outfield was Ackley best position and on Tuesday Ackley concurred.

"I think my best position is outfield," he said. "I think that’s were I have greats opportunity to succeed as far as running down balls and using my athleticism," he said.

But he'll do whatever the Mariners ask.

"I feel like if I work hard at a position, I can make a living there," he said.

Here's my story for the night

So I was staring at my computer, blackberry was on my right and I was refreshing Twitter, mlbtraderumors.com and my competitors over at the Seattle Times waiting to find out the news on Dustin Ackley.

Here's a quick breakdown
8:30 -- I'm told by my desk that it would be a good idea to start writing two stories - one if he signs and one if he doesn't. I feel like a speech writer on election night.
8:35 -- I hate writer's block
8:36 -- complaining on Facebook and Twitter
8:45 -- wondering what I've done with my day.
8:46 -- complaining on Twitter and Facebook
8:47 -- complaining to my dog
8:48-8:49 -- complain about my parents crappy cable package
8:50 -- My competitor and buddy Larry Stone's computer inexplicably crashes as he waits in anticipation. I may or may not have had anything to do with it. I'm like Keyser Soze in the Usual Suspects. "And like that, he's gone."
8:51 -- I can hear Larry screaming in rage all the way in Bellevue.
8:52-8:56 -- stare blankly ahead like David Putty on Seinfeld.
8:57 -- nothing
8:58 -- Cursing of Scott Boras under my breath
8:59 -- My dog starts barking for no reason
9:00 -- nothing, no whistles, sirens, no alerts from my computer, my blackberry, my email.
9:01 -- still no rioting in the streets, but then again I'm in Havre, MT. Dustin Ackley is not a big topic. Wheat futures, diesel prices and Griz football are
9:04 -- I'm alerted by my buddy Dusty on the desk that MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo is reporting he's signed.
9:12 -- get the official signing from the Mariners
9:15 -- Conference call with Jack Z
9:16 -- email about Tyler Blandford signing arrives
9:18 -- in the middle of the conference call, desk IMs me to ask if I'm done with my story for the Olympian. Um, not quite was my answer.
9:20 -- Cursing Scott Boras openly.
9:30 -- Writing furiously, not cleanly.
9:41 -- send story.
9:43 -- More writing for the TNT
9:50 -- Still writing, and trying to decipher notes from conference call with Jack Z.
10:21 -- Send story for TNT.
10:24 -- see that Ackley didn't sign for the 9.5 million that a few people reported.
10:25 -- call desk and have them change it to the write numbers.
10:27 -- Chhhhhhh, the sound of an adult beverage.
10:28 -- blogging.
10:38 -- responding to a blog comment
10:40 -- searching for a Sophia Bush pic to post in the comments
10:49 -- clink, clink, clink the sound of a few chunks of ice hitting a rocks glass.

As I mentioned a few sentences above the official parameters of the deal, according to Baseball America's Jim Callis.

Five-year major league deal, $6 million bonus, $1.5 million in guaranteed salaries, another $2.5 million possible in salaries depending on how quick he reaches the majors, $7.5 million total guaranteed.

Here's a few quotes from Jack Z

"We think he is a player who’s going to bat in the middle of our lineup in years to come. He has put up terrific numbers at the college level. He can run, he’s athletic, he’s a left-handed hitter who’s going to play nice in this ballpark. He’s the type of guy you look for when you’re scouting. We’re very excited about this sign."

Did it go down to the last minute?
It did, down to the last few minutes. There were many calls with Scott throughout the week and certainly throughout the day. We worked very hard on this one. It got down right to the very end. We’re happy we have the young man on board.

=> Read more!

A quick note: Both Larry and I are traveling today. He's going to Detroit and I'm heading back home to Havre, MT (I'm in Missoula now), but when and if anything breaks on Dustin Ackley, one of us will post as soon as possible.

Yesterday's postgame blog mentioned a few comments from Ichiro, one in reference to last season's quote about beer from Papua New Guinea following a loss to the Yankees.

When he was asked about that quote, he replied ...

"This year I am able to enjoy some Japanese beer, the right way," he said.

And in a little plug he added,

"In particular, Kirin Ichiban."

Admittedly, I thought that was a little strange considering, he would say a specific brand. Or maybe it was something more.

I received a tweet on my twitter account (I can't believe I just typed those last few words) with this link to what appears to be links to video snippets of commercials for Kirin Ichiban with Ichiro in them. And a quick google search yielded this piece of video.

The Mariners won their 61st game on Sunday, equaling the number of wins that they got all of last season.

Hmm.

2008 - The 61st win on game 162 - a game most fans didn't want to see them win so they could get the No. 1 pick in the 2009 draft.

2009 - The 61st win comes in game 118 on a sold-out sunny Sunday at Safeco Field that was filled 7/8 Mariners fans. Yes there were annoying Yankee fans there, but it was an M's crowd (much respect to the fans).

For this new regime - GM Jack Zduriencik and manager Don Wakamatsu - this is a milestone and something to be proud of. To be fair, I didn't know that this win would come with 44 games left to play. They've exceeded my expectations and several other peoples as well.

“The number one goal that we came in with is to try to regain the confidence of the fans,” Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said. “If you watch us play, that’s what I’m most proud of is that we don’t give in and these guys play hard. To be able to keep your head up high and know that you gave the fans their money’s worth that’s important to us.”

Obviously, I wanted to write about the difference of getting this win now, in comparison to getting this win on the last day of the season. So I was going to ask players who were around from last year ... problem is there aren't a ton. No Betancourt, no Sexson, no Vidro, no Washburn, no Putz.

The list
Ichiro Suzuki
Jose Lopez
Felix Hernandez
Mark Lowe
Kenji Johjima
Mark Lowe
Ryan Rowland-Smith
Rob Johnson (September call-up)
Adrian Beltre (wasn't there today for groin-related reasons)
Erik Bedard (really wasn't there to begin with)
Carlos Silva (sort of there)
Miguel Batista (haven't talked to him once this season, why start now)

Perhaps of all the players who found most season to be difficult it was Ichiro. There were anonymous comments about him in the newspaper, more offseason comments from former teammates and just the agony of losing from last season. He was admittedly miserable last season. This year, he's a different guy.

So naturally, he's the first person you want to talk to about it.

When it was mentioned to comment on the significance of getting last year's win total in August, he replied through translator Ken Barron:

“It makes me think, ‘man, we lost a lot of games last year.’”

When asked if the difference simply just winning or a different attitude about the way the game is played and approached, Ichiro said: "It's both. We have lot better human beings this year.”

One of the most memorable and humorous moments from last season came after the Mariner had gotten thrashed by the Yankees, 13-2 at the old Yankee Stadium. It was their fourth straight loss and 12th in 16 games. In that game, John McLaren had gotten tossed for arguing an awful called third strike call on Ichiro.

It was one of the low points of a season that would only get lower and Ichiro admitted he thought that the team was falling apart.

From my story:

NEW YORK - This Seattle Mariners team, at least in its current state, is bad enough to drive Ichiro Suzuki to drink.

Metaphorically speaking, at least.

Following the latest thrashing, a 13-2 demolition at the hands of the New York Yankees on Friday in Yankee Stadium, the Mariners center fielder wore the look of a haggard Brooklyn construction worker after a week of hard labor.

After the Mariners lost their fourth straight and 12th in 16 games - Ichiro dropped his head into his hands as if to wipe the stain of defeat from his face.

"Playing on this team and seeing what's happening around me, I feel like something is beginning to fall apart," he said through translator Ken Baron.

Falling apart?

Ichiro is aware that, to outsiders, it looks like a total catastrophe.

"If I was not in that situation and I was objectively watching what had happened to this team in the last week, I'd probably be drinking a lot of beers and booing," he said.

And it wouldn't even matter what kind.

"Usually I enjoy Japanese beer, but given the situation I wouldn't care if it was Japanese beer, American beer or beer from Papua New Guinea," he said.

So when I reminded him of that moment and asked him if he no longer would need a beer from Papua New Guinea this season, he was much happier.

"This year I am able to enjoy some Japanese beer, the right way," he said.

And in a little plug he added,

"In particular, Kirin Ichiban."

So if you want to drink the preferred beer of the Mariners leading hitter and right-fielder that's what you go with.

Also a tip of the cap to Doug Fister, who was solid today. He pitched 7 innings allowing, eight hits and three runs. He also didn't walk a batter and pitched fast (call him the anti-Batista).

“It starts with the starting pitching and Doug Fister was outstanding,” Wakamatsu said. “This guy really has a feel for pitching.”

He also has a feel for deflecting credit.

“It’s still a team game and a team win,” Fister said. “Yeah, I was out there pitching, but it takes everybody in the dugout to make it happen.”

Come on, Doug, you got your first big league win, it's no time to go Nuke LaLoosh on us. You pitched great. You deserved the win and you can bask in it a little bit, nobody will h old it against you.

=> Read more!

First inning
With that single to right, Derek Jeter tied Luis Aparicioo with the most all-time career hits as a shortstop with 2,673. But Doug Fister gets out of the inning with a big strikeout of Alex Rodriguez. Did I think the called third strike by Mike Everitt was actually a strike. No it wasn't close at all, but this crew owes the Mariners a few.

Look it's Joba Chamberlain. I have never understood the hype surrounding him. Don't get me wrong. He's an unbelievably talented pitcher, but he's not even close to how good Felix Hernandez is, and yet Joba is more widely known. I guess that happens when you play in New York. Felix will know what it's like in a few years ... I'm kidding.

Second inning
Fister looks solid with a couple more strikeouts. Meanwhile, the Mariners haven't done much against the Hall of Famer.

Third inning
The Yankees take a 1-0 lead as Jeter doubles to right field and scores Pena. That was hit No. 2,674 putting Jeter atop the list of all-time hits as a shortstop. So congrats. Unlike A-Rod, it's hard to say bad things about Jeter. He's a class guy and player.

The Mariners rally as Joba walks Langerhans, gives up a double to light-hitting Josh Wilson, walks Branyan and then gives up a two-run double to Jose Lopez. M's lead 2-1.

Fourth inning
A quick note to Doug Fister --- when you get a guy 3-0 in the big leagues, they can and will get the green light, so it's not a good idea to gut an 85 mph fastball on 3-0, thinking Nick Swisher is going to have the take sign. Instead, he took it right over the centerfield fence. On a bright note, Josh Wilson understands the words "I got it" coming from the left fielder on the shallow fly ball. If that's Yuni, the Mariners would be needing another leftfielder.

The Mariners are getting base runners against Joba, but they need to get some timely hits.

Fifth Inning
A nice inning for Fister. He got ahead and made decent pitches.
The Mariners obviously aren't impressed with all things Joba. Franklin Gutierrez and Jack Hannahan come up with RBI singles each to give the Mariners a 4-3 lead.

Sixth inning
Fister again gets through the inning.

Again another wasted scoring opportunity as Seattle gets runners on first and second with one out, but Branyan strikes out and Lopez puts up a good fight fouling off seven pitches in a long AB but can't come up with the hit.

Seventh inning
Doug Fister showed more fight int he seventh getting out of a jam than Erik Bedard did in 12 starts.

The Mariners break it open dropping a five spot as Aceves inexplicably hits Josh Wilson with the bases loaded to open the flood gates. Ichiro delivers a two-run single, Branayn an RBI single and Lopez with an RBI double - his third hit of the day.

I'm going to blog something quick and come back with a little more later.

Perhaps the most important news hear is a a high-ranking Mariners executive saidthat Dustin Ackley is not here, but they are trying to get him here to take a physical as soon as possible. And this request was specifically asked to his agent Scott Boras. They were hoping it was today. Which means, the two sides may be closing to finishing up negotiations.

* Michael Saunders is out of the line-up again today with a jammed right shoulder. Wakamatsu said Saunders would be available in an emergency, but they want to give him another day or two off just to be on the safe side since it's the same shoulder Saunders had offseason surgery on.

* Carlos Silva will throw another extended bullpen session in the coming days and will possibly throw another one before throwing a simulated game. But there really is no exact timetable for his return.

* Jack Wilson was doing running drills today and Wak figures he'll be ready to play on Wednesday, but is still holding out for Tuesday.

* There was also a lot of conversation about Mr. C.B. Bucknor and his umpiring skills, or lack thereof. Each year Sports Illustrated does a player and coach survey rating umpires and Bucknor has been voted as the worst in baseball for the last three seasons. It's a combination of a floating strike zone, a high level of arrogance and an unapproachable nature.

Wakamatsu obviously can't come out and criticize Bucknor directly, but did offer some thoughts on umpiring in general.

“I was chirping, but I also feel, and have said this before, but I am awfully proud that our guys don’t get kicked out," he said. "I think some of that is a reflection on the manager on complaining. I have always felt that there are certain things that you can control and certain things you can't. And when things happen like that (called third strike on langerhans), unless I come on the field, I don’t think he can hear me, especially with the crowd going crazy anyway".

"Everyone in the stadium knew that wasn’t a strike. The rest is you like to trust MLB to be able to mandate or control the quality of what’s going on in the game.”

MLB also does surveys of coaches and also has supervisors rate the umpires as well. But the results of those ratings aren't released. Wakamatsu thinks they should.

"You'd like to think at some point, with umpiring that there's a rating system," Wakamatsu said. "Players are exposed, managers are exposed for their records. It'd be nice to know who is the best umpire out there. If they are published - which they won't - it would be a good thing."

Rookie Luke French makes his third start with Seattle and the eighth of his career, taking on the New York Yankees.

French has beaten Kansas City twice for his two career victories, so this figures to be a major step up in competition.

Like Ian Snell and Doug Fister, French may not want to look over his shoulder or think too far ahead. The Mariners want to see Carlos Silva, who threw a 35-pitch bullpen today, and then there's Brandon Morrow in Tacoma.

Morrow's complete-game shutout didn't escape manager Don Wakamatsu's attention.

"He's using his changeup as a weapon now, and that's something he didn't do up here," Wakamatsu said. "Brandon has the fastball and the slider, but the changeup is the pitch we sent him down to get comfortable with. He's close to being ready to come back."

When he does, someone in the rotation will likely be moved to the bullpen once rosters expand. Silva could take a second spot.

Tonight, French vs. Sergio Mitre.

Speed helps

Ichiro Suzuki did his job leading off, making Mitre throw six pitches, then chopping a ball over the mound toward second base.

Robinson Cano tried to hurry - with Ichiro running, you have to - and misplayed the ball for an error. Ichiro took second base as the ball trickled into shallow center.

Franklin Gutierrez grounded out, getting Ichiro to third base. Mariners small ball, anyone?

Jose Lopez scored Ichiro with a sacrifice fly, his 68th RBI of the season.

After one: Mariners 1, Yankees 0

Cano singled and with one out, Melky Cabrera was safe when Ichiro and Gutierrez both called his fly ball - and Gutierrez dropped it for an error.

Nick Swisher then hit his 19th home run of the year.

French laboring on

The 23-year-old French is throwing far too many pitches, wehther he's just working deep in the count to every batter or walking three men in the first four innings.

Regardless, it's taken him 79 pitches to get 12 outs, and that's a ratio that won't get French deep into the game tonight.

In the fourth: Yankees 4, Mariners 1

Scrappy little Mariners

Ken Griffey Jr. walked, Russell Branyan singled an Jack Hannahan's fielders choice got Junior to third wih two outs.

Rob Johnson's high chopper was an infield single and scored Griffey - Johnson's 23rd RBI of the season.

After four: Yankees 4, Mariners 2

French in the sixth

He began the inning with 91 pitches and not an earned run allowed, although he didn't exactly pitch a pristine second inning.

Still, aside from the mistake-filled inning, French has managed to pitch his way through the Yankees lineup without allowing another run.

Chris Jakubauskas is warming up in the bullpen, but French has not hurt his cause tonight. Six innings, 107 pitches, no earned runs.
In the sixth: Yankees 4, Mariners 2

Mariners leave 'em loaded

Branyan singled with one out, Hannahan drew a walk and Johnson - for the second time tonight - legged out an infield hit to load the bases.

That was it for Mitre, as David Robertson replaced him for New York.

Shortstop Josh-not-Jack Wilson struck out on the eighth pitch thrown to him, and on a 3-2 pitch that looked low, Langerhans was called out on strikes.

After six: Yankees 4, Mariners 2

Another chance to shine ...

Ichiro singled and, with one out, Lopez singled. The Yankees brought in lefty Phil Coke, who struck out Junior, who's whiffed three times tonight.

With Branyan, the team leader in home runs and RBI, at the plate, Ichiro was caught trying to steal third base.

Why? Why, indeed.

After seven: Yankees 4, Mariners 2

That should do it!

On to get a little work in a non-save situation, David Aardsma gave up an opposite-field home run to Derek Jeter, Jeter's 15th of the season.

In the ninth: Yankees 5, Mariners 2

Yep, that did it

Langerhans walked with one out and Ichiro singled, bringing the potential tying run to the plate.

Gutierrez struck out. Lopez flied out.

It's a final: Yankees 5, Mariners 2

High school shortstop Nick Franklin, chosen with the 27th pick in the June draft, agreed to terms today with the Seattle Mariners for a reported $1.25 million.

Wouldn't you?

That passed, the deal was struck, and the Mariners had their No. 2 pick in the draft under wraps.

They're being seriously cautious discussing progress with their draft picks, but the Seattle Mariners may be on the brink of agreement with high school outfielder Nick Franklin.

Kirby Arnold, the Everett Herald beat writer who not only gets it first he gets it right, found Franklin standing in the Seattle dugout this afternoon with the head of Mariners scouting.

Turns out, the No. 27 overall pick in the June draft is taking a physical tomorrow - as sure a sign as any that the two sides hae all but agreed on a deal.

Read a bit more about the deal in Arnold's blog.

And while we're on the topic, wonder how the Washington Nationals are doing in their efforts to secure top draft pick Stephen Strasburg?

Here's a story on how Strasburg and agent Scott Boras seem intent on pushing this to the Monday deadline.

Pitcher Erik Bedard won't be able to pitch again for between 4-6 months after surgery today revealed a torn labrum and inflamed bursa - injuries that will impact him into next season.

At the same time the Seattle Mariners got that news, they were told third baseman Adrian Beltre will not need surgery on a 'contused testicle,' but that the injury would require at least one week of rest from all baseball activities.

In short, it means Beltre will likely return to the Mariners lineup, perhaps by the time he is eligible to come off the disabled list.

Bedard, however, is done for the 2009 season and heads into a winter of free agency with much to prove.

Sidelined since early July by persistent pain in his left shoulder, Bedard underwent exploratory surgery in Los Angeles today, where Dr. Lewis Yocum found and repaired the damage.

The prognosis is that Bedard won't be able to begin throwing again until December and possibly February - which casts doubt on his ability to pitch by opening day 2010.

No, not just because of the weather, which has closed the roof at Safeco Field.

Look at Seattle's starting lineup or its roster, and it's like looking at a gaggle of kids just brought up from the minor leagues.

The bottom third of Seattle's lineup vs. New York tonight is Jack Hannahan, Josh Wilson and Michael Saunders - none was with the team before the All-Star break.

Add in the starting pitcher, Ian Snell, and Luke French and Doug Fister ... you get the picture.

Tonight, Snell and a bullpen a bit short because of the 14-inning game Wednesday take on the team with the American League's best record - though tonight, Alex Rodriguez is not in the Yankees lineup.

Feel free to insert your own A-Rod joke here.

It's C.C. Sabathia vs. Snell, and a Mariners victory would match their win total of 2008.

Yanks strike first
Hideki Matsui singled and Nick Swisher walked on four pitches before Robinson Cano flied out.

Snell got a second fly ball, this one hit shallow to Ichiro, and the runners couldn't advance.

Jerry Hairston was jammed and blooped one toward center field where Franklin Gutierrez momentarily froze, then dove and had the ball kick off his glove and toward left field - an RBI double.

Snell's wild pitch eluded Johjima as Swisher scored. Jose Molina struck out.

In the second: Yankees 2, Mariners 0

Yanks strike again

Hideki Matsui hit his 18th home run.

With two outs, Robinson Cano singled and Melky Cabrerera walked on Snell's 56th pitch.
He's throwing hard - 93 to 95 mph with the fastball - but being hit just as hard.

Snell can't quite get through a clean inning, and New York has all but put the game away.

Snell has to eat some innings, and has thrown 67 pitches through four. With the bullpen a bit chewed up, it's probably Snell and Miguel Batista.

Josh Wilson, the utility middle infielder picked up by Jack Zduriencik on waivers, hit his first American League home run in the fifth against Sabathia - just the Mariners second hit.

After five: Yankees 6, Mariners 1

It won't go down as his favorite start of the season, but Snell got the Mariners into the seventh inning before he ran out of steam - and command.

Matsui singled home Damon with New York's seventh run and, given the fact that Mariners are averaging one run every 10 innings the last two nights - and have just two hits tonight - the suspense seems to have left Safeco Field tonight.

In the seventh: Yankees 9, Mariners 1

Matsui connnected for his second home run of the night and 19th of the year.

In the eighth: Yankees 11, Mariners 1

Two spring trainings ago, I was talking with Adrian Beltre about a few different things when he mentioned casually that he didn't wear a protective cup when playing in the field.

Naturally, I was flabbergasted about the situation and even wrote a fun story about it.

But there is nothing fun about what I have to say, Beltre has been placed on the disabled list with "a severely contused right testicle" after getting hit on a hard ground ball by Alexei Ramirez in the ninth inning. Infielder Josh Wilson has been recalled from Triple A Tacoma.

"We will know a little bit later if it will require some surgery," Manager Don Wakamatsu said. "He's had some bleeding in there. He could be out till who knows when."

As I type this, it makes my stomach ache. Probably not as bad as the stomach ache Beltre experienced.

Still, he injured the teste and just kept playing the next five innings.

"He's awfully tough, I couldn't even imagine," Wakamatsu said. "When he dove back into first base and when he tackled Podsednik at third base (pictured above) he felt it again."

Apparently there may be a tear in there and some bleeding.

"I thought he might have tweaked something on that play, but most guys would have been on the ground for an hour," Wakamatsu said.

The best case scenario is 10 days, but it could be longer. If he requires surgery, it could be a month or more. Beltre is meeting with specialist later today.

If the tear is significant he would have to have surgery within 72 hours.

"If it's a major surgery, it would be at least a month," Wakamatsu said. "There's some coagulation in there already, so it's healing already, it's just a matter if it needs to go in there and fix it surgically."

While it isn't funny, Beltre has been teased by his teammates and even Wak chuckled a few times.

But the question that has to be asked is whether he would have been hurt as bad wearing a protective cup? The answer is most likely not.

"The rule is wear a cup," Wakamatsu said.

But Beltre isn't alone. A few other players, particularly Latin American players don't wear them either. Jose Lopez didn't wear one early in his career.

"I think sometimes you think your hand are so good it will never happen to me," Wakamatsu said. "No matter how good you are, that one chance isn't worth taking."

=> Read more!

UPDATE: No booing tonight as he is out of the line-up

Alex Rodriguez returns to Safeco Field tonight. This time he returns for the first time since his admission of steroid use. He hasn't been warmly greeted in the past, and I'm certain it won't be any better tonight. He is booed and booed lustily.

A quick story about the man pictured. It's safe to say, I'm not what you call a big fan of his. I can probably list 30 reasons off the top of my head why I dislike him.

One of the reasons came back in 2000 when I was fresh-faced, wide-eyed intern for the News Tribune. It was the first time I'd come to Safeco as a member of the media and I was following around Corey Brock, who used to work for the TNT and now covers the Padres for MLB.com. Obviously, I was nervous, excited, intimidated, overwhelmed and awestruck. This was a big league clubhouse. Edgar Martinez was wandering about. Jon Olerud was at his locker. Jay Buhner never seemed to stop talking. A-Rod was simply one of the most impressive physical specimens I'd ever seen.

Anyway, Alex was hurt after getting hit in the knee on a play at second base during interleague play, if I recall correctly. He took a helmet to the knee while trying turn a double play. He'd been out for three or four days and was doing workouts on the field getting ready to come back.

Corey sent me down to the clubhouse to get an update on how he was feeling. Obviously, I was nervous. I grabbed my digital recorder and headed down there. So there I stood and waited, along with another guy, hoping to talk to Alex. And Alex basically ignored us for a good 10 minutes, telling us to wait and he would talk. Then 10 minutes turned to 20. Finally, it seemed like he was ready to talk. But before he could do that, he walked over to the clubhouse stereo and played his then horrendous walk-up music song of "Who Let the Dogs out?" by the Baja Men at ear splitting decibels.

So he stands there and is semi-dancing and grooving to this song as my ears bleed not only from the volume but because of how truly awful it was. And I thought to myself, "he actually thinks he's cool." While in my mind, he was going from superstar shortstop to overgrown dork in that time span.

So when the embarrassment to music that is that song finally ended and my ears were starting to recover, I figured the worst was behind me. I could get the interview down quickly and forget that any of this ever happened. All of the sudden "WHO LET THE DOGS OUT!!!!" came ripping through the speakers again. He'd put that damn song on repeat! More dancing and shimmying. If it was supposed to be funny, I wasn't laughing. If it was supposed to be entertaining, I was annoyed.

Finally, when I was just about to take one of his bats and start beating the stereo system into tiny pieces, he looked at us and said, "Ok, I'm ready."

So did he turn down the volume on the stereo before talking to us? Come on. Not hardly. He took three questions about his knee with the responses being, "It's fine." "I'm doing better." "I'm not sure when I'll be ready." All while that song was playing at ear-splitting decibels, rendering my recorder useless, not that I would need it for such thoughtful answers.

In all, I heard that song nine straight times in that span. Just agonizing.

=> Read more!

BOX SCORE

Wow. What else do you really say, but, wow. A fantastic game that had a little bit everything, good pitching, solid defensive plays and the dramatic ending.

Be honest, did the hairs on the back of your neck and arms stand up when Ken Griffey Jr. strode to home plate with his signature pigeon-toed strut as the remaining crowd at Safeco Field roared and flash bulbs exploded? It was one of the better moments of a seasons, filled with good moments. Think about the good moments last year. Right now I can't remember one.

"It's just destiny when he's up," said Chris Jakubauskas, who got the win in relief. "It's 20 plus years in the big leagues. He's been in every situation at least twice and probably knows what pitch is going to thrown before the pitcher does."

Junior provided the heroics as only he can. And of course, he could only comment on it as only he can.

"The first eight innings was going along nicely and then all of sudden the brakes got put on," he said. "A couple guys started to get hunger and I just decided to send them home at a reasonable hour."

He let that be known to manager Don Wakamatsu.

"Griffey said that if I had been a little smarter and gotten him into the game a little sooner, we could have all gone home earlier and had a nice dinner," Wakamatsu said. "A guy like him is made for the spotlight."

But for as much as Junior wanted to make light of his game-winning single in the bottom of the 14th, he also tried to keep things perspective.

"In all seriousness, these guys battled all day," he said. "It's the least I can do is go up and give them a good at-bat. From 7 p.m. till 10:50, they made some great plays defensively. It was an unbelievable game."

For a game to reach 14 innings at 0-0, two things need to happen - 1. good pitching, 2. solid defense.

"I don't think people realize it," Griffey said. "We were sitting up here talking about all the amazing plays that were being made."

The good pitching was apparent from the start as starting pitchers Felix Hernandez and Mark Buerhle both gave solid outings.

=> Read more!

A few weeks ago, the day after I spent the night stalking Yuniesky Betancourt at Cheney Stadium a few days before he was traded, I went on the Morning show on KJR with Steve Sandmeyer talking about my night.

But later in the lengthy interview, I talked about Felix Hernandez and the idea that his starts are must see events. I compared it to the old Pedro Martinez starts in Boston in the late 1990s, which ESPN's Bill Simmons has often pointed out were unmissable to true diehard Sox Fans.

While, I'm not a Mariners fan per se (job requirements), I do feel like any time Felix Hernandez starts, it's must see viewing. If he pitches, and I have the chance, I go to the game. If I can't, then I don't miss it on TV, and its always recorded on the DVR.

Why? Because to me any time that he steps on the mound, the possibility for Felix to do something fantastic exists.

A no-hitter? It's going to happen someday. I guarantee he'll be the next Mariner to throw one.

A shut-out? Definitely, something you can hope for in every start.

Double digit strikeouts? He's done plenty of times in his career already.

But it's more than that. It's the talent, the charisma, the competitiveness, the emotion that Hernandez pitches with that puts him on the list of about five pitchers that I would pay to watch. And yes, I do pay to go to games from time to time. I also pay for the $9 beers.

The list of pitchers I would pay to watch start:
1. Felix
2. Tim Lincecum
3. Roy Halladay
4. Zack Greinke
5. Johan Santana

Honorable mention: CC Sabathia, Cole Hamels, Roy Oswalt.

=> Read more!

Neither piece of news is that surprising, but Erik Bedard will have exploratory surgery on his left shoulder Friday - and Carlos Silva threw 25 pitches from the mound today.

Bedard will have his labrum inspected and Dr. Lewis Yocum will examine his bursa complex as well, and no one expects the free-agent lefty to pitch again this season.

As for Silva, he threw in the bullpen, will do so again on Satuday and is working his way back toward a couple of September starts.

"That's what he's shooting for," manager Don Wakamatsu said.

Bedard's surgery comes as no surprise. When he accompanied his MRI tests to Los Angeles, there was no reason for him to go unless it was expected he'd need an operation.

Now, he'll get one. Whether that impacts his value on the free market - or Seattle's interest in him this winter - remains to be seen.

Doug Fister began his season as a Class AA reliever, but after two shutout appearances jumped to Class AAA, where he slid into the Tacoma bullpen.

When the Mariners asked him to start, he made 17 starts for the Rainiers, going 6-4 with a 4.13 earned run average - 2-2 with a 2.35 ERA over his last six starts.

Tonight, he starts for the first time as a big leaguer, facing a White Sox team desperate for a win to keep their wild card hopes alive.

Should the Mariners win, they'd match their season-best by moving seven games above .500 again.
A control pitcher whose minor league command was marvelous, Fister needs to stay ahead in the count and give Seattle innings.

It's Fister vs. John Danks.

Nerves and outs

It's pretty clear Fister is a bit nervous tonight - he's walked two and hit a batter in three innings - but he's been toughest when he had to be.

With two on and one out in the third, for instance, Fister got Jermaine Dye on a pop up and Jim Thome on a ground ball.

That's good pitching for anyone.

Using a fastball that's topped out at 89 mph and a curve that touches 75 mph, Fister has changed speeds on both and thrown a changeup, too.

So far, good job despite a bit of tentativeness at times.

Danks, meanwhile, has matched him zero for zero.
After three: No score

That's one

Adrian Beltre doubled to right center field one out into the fourth inning, and Russell Branyan singled him home - Branyan's club-leading 68th RBI.

The kid has a lead, and starts the fifth inning with 63 pitches thrown.

After four: Mariners 1, White Sox 0

Nice job, lad

Manager Don Wakamatsu talked about wanting Fister to have a 'positive' experience in his first start, which translated to getting him out of the game while pitching well.

In the sixth inning, having allowed one hit - an infield single - and no runs, Fister made it an easy call.

The right-hander threw 94 pitches and has the rest of his career to pitch into the seventh or eighth inning. For now, he's made his impression, taken a big ovation into the dugout with him.

Figure the bullpen has it from here.

In the sixth: Mariners 1, White Sox 0

The bullpen takes the seventh

Miguel Batista walked the first man he faced, and the Safeco Field crowd got a bit restless.

The next batter, Carlos Quentin, grounded into a double play. Then Batista walked Alexi Ramirez. And Chris Getz.

Lowe got Scott Podsednik.

In the seventh: Mariners 1, White Sox 0

Lowe does it again

Lowe's 52nd appearance of the year is over, and he ended it striking out Jim Thome to wind down the eighth inning.

Seattle is three outs from win No. 60, and David Aardsma will try to get them.

In the eighth: Mariners 1, White Sox 0

The ninth - yike!

Aardsma in, and Paul Konerko flied to the wall in center field - a shot that had 19,385 fans gasping.

Then A.J. Pierzinsky walked. Quentin singled. Ramirez homered into the Chicago bullpen.

The Mariners got a two-out single from Beltre in their half of the inning to get the game to Branyan - their home run and RBI leader.

It's a final: White Sox 3, Mariners 1

Long before he had 623 home runs or 1,809 RBI, before the Gold Gloves and that '95 American League Championship Series - when he hit five home runs in as many games - Ken Griffey Jr. had my admiration.

He made me laugh in the spring of '88, did it all over again in the spring of '09, and in between showed his humanity a few hundred times.

I told Ken once that his love of children was genuinely touching, and his response was serious.

"I love kids," he said. "It's only adults I ever have trouble with."

When the Mariners first initiated that pre-game practice of putting a youngster at every position on the field during introductions, it was Junior who made it a spectacle.

Jogging out to center field, he was supposed to do what all the Mariners were asked to do - sign a ball and let the kid hustle off the field.

Junior jogged out there on the Kingdome turf, tackled the boy awaiting him and wrestled for what seemed like forever.

The crowd roared. The kid? He all but floated off the field when he was finally freed.

Griffey was so good with Make-A-Wish Foundation children, so unassuming and willing to give of his time, that the organization put him on its promotional literature for years.

That never changed, good years or bad. This season, he's batting .223 with 12 home runs, 37 RBI.

Yet when a young girl with a life-threatening illness appeared on the field during batting practice, there was Griffey, on one knee posing for family pictures with her.

Then, as her nervous parents watched, Griffey said 'Come with me!' and walked off the field, down the dugout tunnel and into the Seattle clubhouse.

The girl followed him. Her parents, the team public relations staff and the media did not - which was the point.

Junior sat her down at his locker and talked with her, and when she emerged minutes later, it was with a signed ball, a signed bat and the kind of smile that all but breaks your heart.

Few people in the world can do that for a child they don't know - put that kind of smile on their face. Griffey can. He's always been able to.

After seeing it happen more than 100 times, it's still affecting. When Junior bent over and whispered into her ear, then trotted off, he'd made a fan for life.

And reminded another why you have to love him.

OK, here's your Seattle Mariners starting lineup for tonights game against the Chicago White Sox and lefty John Danks.

Ichiro RF
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Jose Lopez 2B
Mike Sweeney DH
Adrian Beltre 3B
Russell Branyan 1B
Jack Wilson SS
Kenji Johjima C
Michael Saunders LF
Doug Fister RHP

I have a confession to make, my name is Ryan and I Twitter. It's not something I meant to happen. It just kind of did one day. It started with one, then grew to a few tweets and now it's an every day thing. I've already been labeled a blogger, a child and a miscreant, in no particular order. But now I'm a tweeter, a twitterer or twit, however it is labeled.

First it was the blog, then it was facebook and now it's Twitter.

Despite my initial reluctance followed by absolute refusal to Twitter, I've relented and found it to be pretty entertaining.

I joined it a few weeks ago - @TNTmariners - and began posting news, links to Mariners stories and other baseball news, repeated links to the greatest piece of audio of this season and of course random observations and comments about games, Miguel Batista's hair and David Aardsma's boil.

It's actually kind of fun.

But I'm not alone. As has been well documented Matt Hasselbeck twitters, Jon Brockman twitters, Steve Sarkisian twitters. But on the Mariners, the only person that twitters is Ryan Rowland-Smith.

Does that surprise me? Not in a second.

The Mariners are an eclectic mix of personalities and backgrounds. From Ken Griffey Jr. good-natured teasing of clothing choices, to Mike Sweeney's earnestness and overall positive attitude, to Rob Johnson's small-town Montana outlook, to Erik Bedard's warm and outgoing and friendly, well, ok, maybe not so much there.

But of all the players on the roster, there might not be a more open, honest, interesting, well-spoken, well-liked and easier person to talk to than Rowland-Smith. The big Aussie is friendly, always willing to talk, has interesting opinions and has a good sense of not only himself, but of baseball and the larger world outside of it.

Because of that, it was really no surprise that Rowland-Smith has embraced on-line avenues of social networking like blogging and twitter, which brings him closer to baseball fans.

A year ago, Rowland-Smith's blog at Prolebrity.com became popular with fans as he offered a glimpse into his personal life. This year, he's joined the Twitter nation under the name hyphen18 and so far he has 1,667 followers. Me? I got like 150. I think we can understand the discrepancies for obvious reasons.

"I got talked into it," Rowland-Smith.

ESPN's Stacey Pressman, a friend of RRS, got him into blogging at prolebrity.com and then talked him into Twittering.

"She said you gotta set up a twitter account and just start writing random stuff," Rowland-Smith said. "I started doing it and getting followers."

It's not anything profound. In fact, he often worries about what to write.

"Half of the time, I can’t think of anything worthy writing about," he admitted. "I think, 'Who the hell wants to read this?' If I think something I can write or someone interesting I’ll write it."

=> Read more!

Kenji Johjima started his first back-to-back games since July 4-5, and will run his streak to three games on Tuesday.

What's up?

Rob Johnson's down, not really out, but fighting a tender right elbow. He could play but why not give him a few days to heal up?

Johjima, who's borne his lack of playing time like a pro all season, hit his fourth home run on Monday and is batting .252.

He's also throwing well - he's caught 17 of 32 would-be base stealers this year.

Johnson should be back by mid-week.

No one who's followed Ichiro Suzuki's career with the Seattle Mariners is easily surprised when he does something spectacular - but this might.

Ichiro starts tonight not having gone hitless in back-to-back games since Aug. 13-15, 2007. That's a streak of 144 games, and major league baseball hasn't had a longer one since Stan Musial (174 games) in 1943-44.

Ichiro starts the evening with 604 multiple-hit games in his career - more multiple hit games in a nine-year span than anyone in the live-ball era.

Against tonight's White Sox starter, Gavin Floyd, Ichiro is only batting .455 lifetime.

It's Floyd vs. Luke French.

That'll work

Mr. French and Mr. Floyd are shutting down the hitters, so far.

French gave up a single to the first man he faced - ex-Mariner Scott Podsednik - then picked him off first base. In the third inning, Jayson Nix walked, and was doubled off first on a liner to Jack Wilson.

The Mariners? Six up, six down.

In the third, no score.

Junior, Junior, Junior!

Franklin Gutierrez walked with one out, Jose Lopez doubled off the wall in left and the White Sox dugout walked to the railing to watch Ken Griffey Jr. swing.

Second pitch, Junior singled home two runs - RBI No. 36 and 37 on the season - and the Mariners have a lead.

One of the more amazing aspects of this season is that whenever Griffey bats, in any ball park vs. any team, big league players inch forward to watch the results.

He may not bat .230 this season, hit 20 home runs or drive in 50 - but no one in the game takes his at-bats for granted.

After four: Mariners 2, White Sox 0

Oops, not a good pitch

A one-out, topspin ground ball double set up a tough inning for French. With two outs, he walked Nix, then threw a fastball belt high and a little away from No. 9 hitter Ramon Castro - and Castro doubled to right center field.

Tie game. Bad pitch. Not the guy to let hurt you.

In the fifth: Mariners 2, White Sox 2

Mariners rally

Rookie Michael Saunders worked a 3-2 walk from Floyd, then stole second base for his first big-league steal. It mattered - Ichiro then singled Saunders home.

Trouble was, Ichiro rounded first base too far and was caught for the second out. Oops.
After five: Mariners 3, White Sox 2

French is through

Protecting a one-run lead, French walked three men to load the bases with one out, and Wakamatsu had seen enough.

French lasted 5 1/3 innings - one out longer than in his last start - and threw 89 pitches.

In the sixth: White Sox 4, Mariners 3

Two outs into the sixth inning, Floyd threw a fastball and Russell Branyan banged it off the VisitLasVegas.com sign under the Hit it Here Cafe - just another long, long home run.

If you're keeping track, that's No. 27 for the free agent Jack Zduriencik signed soon after becoming general manager.

Yeah, so far, that's working out ...

Jack Wilson walked, Tony Pena replaced Floyd, and Kenji Johjima hit his fourth home run of the season.

After six: Mariners 6, White Sox 4

White got the game to the eighth inning, where Mark Lowe blew through three White Sox hitters in a row - striking out Jim Thome and Paul Konerko.

In the ninth, it was David Aardsma and his well-publicized, well-lanced boil on the mound, looking for save No. 27.

Well, actually the boil was looking for its first save.
Combined, Aardsma and The Boil got three quick outs, and it was over.

It's a final: Mariners 6, White Sox 4

Between Luke French's first start with Seattle and his second, which comes tonight, manaer Don Wakamatsu made a telephone call to Detroit and Jim Leyland.

"Jim had a lof of nice things to say about French, he liked his makeup, his stuff," Wakamatsu said. "He said one of the things to watch for was first-pitch focus."

Much of the damage done against French is done on his first pitch to any particular hitter, Wakamatsu said.

The other issue is whether French can be converted into a starting pitcher capable of getting deep into a game.

"We're looking for seven, eight innings from starters, not five innings," Wakamatsu said. "Five innings won't do it."

That's going to be a transition for French, who has thrown 100 pitches just once in his career and pitched six innings once in his six starts.

Last week, he threw 89 pitches in five innings at Kansas City and won.

Like all rookies, French is a work-in-progress and, now that he's with a new organization, both he and the Mariners will be patient during the introduction.

GM Jack Zduriencik and his scouts did their homework before the trade was made - Jarrod Washburn for French and minor league lefty Mauricio Robles.

Now, Wakamatsu has done his, using Leyland's eyes to see things in French the Mariners haven't had the opportunity to observe first hand.

Tonight is the second step in a journey to help make French the pitcher Seattle believes he can be.

My buddy Aaron Levine over at Q it up Sports gets some pretty solid guests on his late night Sunday show. Probably his most distinguished would have to be, well, ME. I've done the show twice (just a few weeks ago) - looked like an idiot both times - but it was fun.

Anyway, Aaron got Jack Zduriencik to come on the show last night, and Big Jack was pretty candid - as we always is - about subjects like Felix Hernandez, Erik Bedard, Dustin Ackley and such.

Here's a few notes from it ...

On the blockbuster trade for Felix?
Zduriencik: Not as close as was what was written. And some of that stuff was blown out of proportion, you know and you sit back there and sometimes other clubs fantasize on what they’d like to have. But at the end of the day, if you’re going to give up a very talented player, then you need to get a lot of talent in return, and we never really got that close.

On the Felix contract talks ...
Zduriencik: There’s a lot of ways to look at things. But regardless of the side of the coin you’re on, the thing you have to remember is “it takes two to tango.” So, he’s gotta want to stay here, and certainly if we move forward and talks would begin – there’d have to be mutual agreement, of course. But he’s a talented player, we’re happy to have him right now. We’re looking forward to watching him for the next couple years.

Levine: So talks haven’t begun yet, based on what you said?
Zduriencik: Putting me on the spot here, huh? It’s….no, they haven’t

On the contract talks with Ackley:
Zduriencik: Talks have begun. Since the very beginning – when I was LA and sat with Scott Boras at a ballgame and we’ve had a couple conversations this past week, so it will intensify as we move forward into this week.

Levine: Are you optimistic something’s gonna get done with him?
Zduriencik: Sure. I mean, I would hope any player would realize the opportunity. It’s a great community. He’s a first-round draft pick. Second pick in the country. Why not come in and play and get your career started.

Big Z also addresses Russell Branyan's future with the Mariners and the warrior helmets in the bullpen, and the Mariners chances in the wild card chase.

Parts 2 and 3 of the interview are below

=> Read more!

Taking two of three from Tampa would be a fine way to open a home stand and maintain a little momentum carried over from Kansas City.

To do so, Seattle will have to beat Scott Kazmir, which the league has done routinely this season - he's 6-10 with a 6.10 earned run average and still throws too many pitches per inning.

Two pitchers trying to get it right.

One out into the first inning, Rowland-Smith hit Carl Crawford, gave up a double, then a walk to load the bases.

Pat Burrell lined into a double play to bail Rowland-Smith out of the jam.

Ichiro led off with a double to center field, and a Jose Lopez jam-shot single into center scored the run and gave Lopez his 66th RBI.

With two out, Adrian Beltre singled off the glove of Evan Longoria to get to Russell Branyan. Branyan stuck out.

With two outs, Jason Bartlett walked, and Crawford struck out.

Mariners take another lead

Jack Wilson walked, but two outs later was still sitting on base, having been moved up just 90 feet.

Ichiro singled Wilson home and Kazmir couldn't end it there - giving up the 14th home run of the season to Franklin Gutierrez.

After two: Mariners 4, Rays 2

Rowland-Smith on a roll

In his last start, Rowland-Smith was gone after four innings. Today, he's given up two runs, but struck out five in the last two innings and six through four innings.

Rowland Smith is painting corners with his fastball, doing the same with his breaking stuff, and the Rays are swinging and missing wildly - or taking strike three while watching a good pitch.

He seems to have settled happily into a rhythm, and the Mariners will try to ride him deep into the game.

Kazmir's woes
Kazmir is struggling mightily with the strike zone, falling behind and then centering his fastball - and it's cost him.

Gutierrez singled, Lopez doubled and Kazmir wild-pitched one run home, then gave up Mik Sweeney's sacrifice fly for another.

This is not the pitcher of last year or 2007. Kazmir of 2009 is a mess. Nine hits and two walks in 4 1/3 innings? Yikes. He hasn't gone beyond seven innings yet this year.

Jeff Bennett now pitching for Tampa, and he walked Michael Saunders with the bases loaded. Ichiro followed by swinging at the first pitch, and grounded out.

After five: Mariners 7, Rays 2

Branyan blows it open

Mariners loaded the bases with one out on a Gutierrez single, a walk and a hit batter - Beltre!

That gave Branyan 66 RBI, tying him with Lopez for the club lead.

As he left the game, Rowland-Smith got a standing ovation. Kelley got out of the jam.

And in the ninth:

Kelley worked a scoreless 1 1/3 innings and handed off to Miguel Batista.

Batista finished it off and the Mariners took the series, 2-1.

For those who haven't been keeping tabs, this leaves the Mariners 21-13-1 in series this season, and 12-3 in the rubber-game of a three-game series.

It's a final: Mariners 11, Rays 2

Doug Fister, the 25-year-old right-hander who worked his first major league inning last night, will make his first big-league start for Seattle on Tuesday against the Chicago White Sox.

On the day Fister starts, veteran Carlos Silva - on the disabled list since May 9 - will throw his first bullpen session since being sidelined by inflammation.

Fister worked a scoreless inning in relief against Tampa, using his changeup and breaking pitch effectively. On Tuesday, he'll step into the spot vacated by lefty Jason Vargas, who's now in Tacoma.

Should Silva's bullpen session go well, barring a setback, the right-hander could pitch again this season, almost certainly in September, once the rosters expand.

A new looking lineup with Franklin Gutierrez back at the No. 2 spot, while Russell Branyan drops to No. 6.

Rays
Bartlett SS
Crawford LF
Longoria 3B
Zobrist 2B
Burrell DH
Aybar 1B
Kapler RF
Navarro C
Upton CF
------------
LHP Scott Kazmir

Mariners
Ichiro RF
Gutierrez CF
Lopez 2B
Sweeney DH
Beltre 3B
Branyan 1B
Wilson SS
Johjima C
Saunders LF
-----------
LHP Ryan Rowland-Smith

BOX SCORE

Not exactly a stellar showing by the Mariners pitching staff tonight. They walked 10 hitters and of those 10, six of them scored runs.

The oft-used cliche is "there's no defense for a walk." But cliche holds some level of truth. And manager Don Wakamatsu wasn't above using the cliche after the game.

"“You cannot defense walks,” Wakamatsu said. “You talk about playing fundamental baseball and that’s a key one. You have to make them put the ball in play.”

The free passes started with starter Ian Snell, who walked the first batter he faced - Jason Bartlett - on four pitches. From there things only got worse. Snell walked four hitters in the first inning, including one with the bases loaded.

To be fair, I thought Snell looked a little tight in the first inning. He was making his home debut for his new team and he wanted to have a good outing. Instead it worked in the other way.

"To be honest I was a little nervous, a littler jittery, probably a little too excited and the adrenaline was rushing to much. That caused me to keep the ball up in the zone," Snell told the AP. "I dug us a hole that we couldn't get out of."

Wakamatsu thought Snell needed to adjust in the first inning.

“He was trying to force a pitch he didn’t have,” Wakamatsu said of Snell's fastball “I think the first inning was 35 fastballs or so out of the 42 he threw. It’s recognizing when you might need to got to another pitch.”

Pitch FX had Snell at 41 pitches, and look at the location of the fastball from the Pitch FX tool from Baseball by Brooks

Snell didn't make it out of the second, getting an out, then giving up a walk, a double, another walk.

=> Read more!

Not much to say. Ian Snell makes his Safeco debut and the Mariners face a pretty good pitcher in James Shields. In six career starts, Shields has a 1-2 record against the M's, but he's only allowed 8 runs in 37 innings pitched for a 1.95 ERA, his lowest against any AL opponent.

First Inning
Well, don't be afraid to mix in a strike every once in a while. Snell looks a little pumped to be pitching at Safeco. He's all over the place. He walked two of the first three hitters, then gave up an RBI single and followed with a bases loaded walk. He threw 41 pitches in the first inning.

Shields was basically the opposite of Snell, economical, efficient and perfect, going 1-2-3.

Second inning
Snell seemed to have settled down for a few moments, but he walked Barlett for the second time, gave up a double to Carl Crawford, a fielder's choice to Longoria and then walked Ben Zobrist. At that point, Wakamatsu had seen enough and pulled him and went to Chris Jakubauskas. Jak came in and got a double play ball to end the inning.

Snell pitched 1 1/3 giving up three runs on two hits, while walking six and striking out one.

The Mariners cut the lead to to 3-2 as Carl Crawford misplays Adrian Beltre's fly ball to left for a double and Franklin Gutierrez rips a two-run homer - his 13th of the season. Shields then gives up back-to-back hits and throws away a pick off attempt at first to score a run. It's now 3-3.

Third inning
1-2-3 innings for each team. I didn't know if that was possible.

Fourth inning
A strong inning for Jakubauskas

Meanwhile, the bottom part of the order mixes it up for the Mariners but nothing comes of it.

Fifth inning
Well, Jak is getting jacked around a little. Evan Longoria rips a solo bomb to center and Carlos Pena goes deep with a two-run shot to right. Its now 6-3

A note from Round Rock tonight
Brandon Morrow got a no-decision in the Rainiers 7-6 win (sweeping Round Rock in 4-game series), he allowed 5 hits, 1 run, 1 walk and 8 strikeouts in 6.0 IP. He threw 90 pitches/60 strikes.

Over his last 2 starts, Morrow has 12 hits, 3 runs and struck out 13 in 13.0 innings.

But as the venerable Mike Curto pointed out before the game, Round Rock is one of the worst hitting teams in the PCL with the fewest walks - a perfect set-up for Morrow.

Sixth inning
Gutierrez with a double - that's three hits and he's a triple away from the cycle.
The Mariners push across a run as Saunders comes up with his third hit, doubling home Gutierrez. Gutz and Saunders have six of the M's eight hits.

Seventh inning
Well that was just plain ugly, Olson walks the first two hitters he faces and Sean White can't bail him out giving up three straight hits. Of the nine walks issued by Mariners pitchers, six scored.

This update will be kind of brief as I am working on my Sunday column.

1. Erik Bedard will visit Dr. Lewis Yocum on Wednesday in Los Angeles. Yocum performed the offseason shoulder on Bedard's left shoulder to remove a cyst. Yocum is going to look at the most recent set of MRIs along with the MRI taken in June to compare and see what is wrong with Bedard's shoulder.

"We'll know more after the visit," Wakamatsu said.

Yesterday, Wakamatsu mentioned some fraying in Bedard's shoulder today, so I asked him if he could be more specific where the fraying is - perhaps the labrum or rotator cuff.

"I don't know that," Wakamatsu said. "I don't what's causing the discomfort. Surgery could be a possibility on that. I don't know. That's why we're sending him down there."

2. Doug Fister is with the team and worked out before batting practice. Wakamatsu will have him in the bullpen the next couple days in case of an emergency. But Wakamatsu is leaning towards having him start on Tuesday in Jason Vargas' spot in the rotation.

"We'll probably announce tomorrow what we'll do," Wakamatsu said.

3. Carlos Silva took time from his pregame session of hitting balls with a fungo bat over the fence and threw at a distance of 100 feet. The preliminary plan is to have him throw off the mound in a bullpen session sometime during the Yankees series. Wakamatsu said if all goes well with that, Silva could pitch in a game some time before the end of the season.

4. Aardsma is available tonight. "We're on the backside of that so to speak," Wakamatsu quipped.

Rays
Jason Bartlett SS
Carl Crawford LF
Evan Longoria 3B
Ben Zobrist RF
Carlos Pena 1B
Pat Burrell DH
Willy Aybar 2B
Gregg Zaun C
BJ Upton CF
-------------
RHP James Shields

Mariners
Ichiro RF
Russell Branyan 1B
Jose Lopez 2B
Ken Griffey Jr. DH
Adrian Beltre 3B
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Jack Wilson SS
Rob Johnson C
Michael Saunders LF
-----------
RHP Ian Snell

Well, that was interesting.

If you noticed, I stopped doing game updates in the seventh inning. Why? Well, you have to start writing for the newspaper when a game was dragging like today. One thing you have to do is start writing as if the outcome has been decided and then change according to.

So I went through four leads ...
1. Felix didn't bail the Mariners out, teammates couldn't bail him out.
2. Felix couldn't bail the Mariners out like usual, but his teammates bailed him out.
3. Mariners put up valiant effort despite a less than stellar performance from Felix and lose in extra innings
4. Mariners bail Felix out a little with a furious rally and Ryan Langerhans' first career walk-off homer.

And all of that occurred in the span about 40 minutes.

The bad part is that because of the lateness of the game and our earlier deadlines, I couldn't get any player reaction for the game story in the newspaper. But I got some for the blog.

"That was a battle," Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said. "It would be a really easy for a club - when your ace goes out there and gives up some runs to just die and fold and give up. But we just battled and battled and what a way to win a ball game."

Battled till Langerhans ended the battle.

Obviously, Langerhans was a happy guy. He got an ice cream pie to the face and a beer shower in the shower.

"It was funny I was trying to do it in the ninth and struck out," Langerhans said. "And there I was just trying to get a base hit and keep the game alive, and I hit one out."

That it came off of Howell seems pretty surprising, since lefties were just 16-for-61 against Howell with no homers this season. Langerhans had never faced Howell before. And asked Alan Cochrell for a quick scouting report. He told me, "he's got a good curveball and he likes to use it."

Langerhans fell behind 2-2, but didn't look overwhelmed.

"I was just trying to see something up and hit it back up the middle, but I was lucky enough to get a hanging breaking ball," Langerhans said.

Hanging might be an understatement, look at the pitch tracker.

So did he know it was gone?

"I was pretty sure when it came off the bat," he said. "I saw that (Gabe) Gross didn't break right away on it."

Langerhans flew around the bases. There was no milking his home run trot.

"I was ready to get home and see my teammates," he said.

Once he got there, he received the now traditional pummeling of head and body slaps from a circle of teammates. But nothing has felt better to Langerhans.

"It was great," he said. "I've gotten to be the one slapping, but I've never got to be the one being slapped."

Wakamatsu was quite pleased.

But he also delivered a bit of a reminder that Langerhans would have never gotten to the plate had Franklin Gutierrez, who already got the golden sombrero (four strikeouts in the game), not been able to coax a lead-off walk.

"He comes up there and battles Howell who is awfully tough," Wakamatsu said.

Well Gutierrez got the benefit of a few calls, as Howell got squeezed a little by home plate ump Mark Carlson.

As for Felix Hernandez, Wakamatsu thought his stuff was there - but it was almost too good - which is part of the reason he couldn't spot his two-seamer and Rob Johnson had trouble catching the ball at times.

=> Read more!

Any night that Felix pitches is a good night, and I also like watching the Rays and what they've done with their club. Evan Longoria is a player I'd pay to watch.

First Inning
Felix doesn't seem particularly sharp. Of course an error by Jack Wilson doesn't help the situation. But still he loaded the bases before getting Wilson to make a nifty back-hand play for a force out to end the inning. Still, Felix threw a few too many pitches that inning.

How is Russell Branyan's back? Just fine thank you. He hit a deep solo bomb to center to give the Mariners a 1-0 lead.

Second inning
Felix is all over the place, back-to-back walks to BJ Upton and the non-hitting Dioner Navarro. A passed ball from Rob Johnson moves Upton up a base and an error by Adrian Beltre scores a run. Another passed ball from Johnson allows the runners to move up again which set up CArl Crawford for an RBI single. Some stellar baseball here. Felix walks another guy and then gives up a sac fly for a run. Mercifully the inning ends on a fly out and it's now 3-1 and he's thrown 52 pitches.

Third inning
A 1-2-3 inning for Felix. That's supposed to be the norm, but not tonight.

The Mariners don't exactly look like an offensive juggernaut tonight.

Fourth inning
Another long inning for Felix, who gives up hits to Longoria and Crawford. Felix has thrown 77 pitches already.

Jeff Niemann is looking like Cy Young right now.

Fifth Inning
Felix serves up a monster bomb to Pat Burrell off the front of the upper deck in left field. A facade is proper word I guess.

The M's go down 1-2-3 for the second straight inning.

Sixth inning
A rare 1-2-3 inning for Felix, a not so rare 1-2-3 for the Mariners.

Seventh inning
Felix walks the first two hitters he faces and is lifted. he walked a season-high six hitters and allowed five runs - three earned on five hits and struck out seven. He put a good fight. Sean White allows a run to score on a grounder by Pat Burrell, and it is now 5-1.

Griffey makes it 4-2, hitting a solo homer to right on his bobble-head night. Beltre follows up with a single and Wilson dumps a one-out bloop into right, which knocks Niemann out of the game. The Rays bring in Ryan Rowland-Smith's buddy from Down Under Grant Balfour and Rob Johnson greets him with an RBI single. He then hits pinch hitter Mike Sweeney in the arm on a 3-2 pitch and Sweeney does a Roger Dorn on the play. That brings Ichiro to the plate and Brian Shouse into the game.

Ichiro promptly hits a 1-0 pitch up the middle to score two runs and tie the game. But that's where it stays. it's a new ball game as they say.

Well, Erik Bedard had an MRI today, and the results of which are in the hands of the Mariners medical staff along with the original MRI results Bedard had a few months ago in Los Angeles.

So what is the diagnosis?

Well according to Don Wakamatsu:

"They found some issues in his shoulder," Wakamatsu said. "We don't know the severity of it yet. But there's something in there causing some discomfort, and they saw it. Right now, we're going to wait and talk to the doctors some more, and try to come up with definitive plan on what we're going to do with his rehab, and determine what he needs to do to progress. We really don't have all the details yet."

Something? As in ....

"All I've heard so far is there's some slight fraying," Wakamatsu said. "When you talk to a player, and what he's gone through this year, especially the situation we're at, you know there's something in there. It's just knowing the severity of it, and how we deal with it from this point. I mentioned it yesterday, I had a similar situation. I had a tear in my elbow ligament. MRI's, nothing ever showed up until they went in there and actually found something. When you talk to a player, you never question if they're actually hurt. Especially in his case, we know he wants to pitch and compete for this ballpark."

So this fraying is in Bedard's shoulder, but we don't know if its his labrum, rotator cuff or what. Because Bedard didn't sign his HIPAA release form, we can't ask trainer Rick Griffin or team surgeon Dr. Edward Khalfyan.

There isn't a cyst in there like last time, this is fraying. To where or what extent nobody seems certain. We may hear tonight or in the next few days. All pitchers experience some level of fraying in their shoulders simply because the action of throwing causes it, so the level of fraying and the damage done is the key in this situation.

As for David Aardsma and the hole in his butt... cheek, Wakamatsu was to meet with team doctors to determine whether he can go tonight, but it is healing fast. I did not check it out, but Rob Johnson told me it was gross and said the wound was similar to when a hot dog splits from being on a barbecue too long only that the wound goes down about two inches.

Rays (60-48)
Jason Bartlett SS
Carl Crawford LF
Evan Longoria 3B
Ben Zobrist RF
Carlos Pena 1B
Pat Burrell DH
Willy Aybar 2B
BJ Upton CF
Dioner Navarro C
------------
RHP Jeff Niemann (10-5, 3.62 ERA)

Mariners (56-52)
Ichiro RF
Russell Branyan 1B
Jose Lopez 2B
Ken Griffey Jr. DH
Adrian Beltre 3B
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Jack Wilson SS
Rob Johnson C
Michael Saunders LF
----------
RHP Felix Hernandez (12-4, 2.78 ERA)

Well, it was thought that Doug Fister's removal from the game last night was precautionary when Jason Vargas blew up early, but it was something more.

Vargas was optioned to Triple A Tacoma, and the Mariners have selected Fister from Tacoma. Fister is technically "selected" because he's not on the 40-man roster, but a glance at the Mariners 40-man roster right now, only list 37 names, so they won't have to drop somebody from it.

"We had Jason Vargas in a little while ago," Manager Don Wakamatsu said. "It's never easy thing to send a player out. The discussion we had with him, in a short period of time he's been able to experience some success and some failure, and have the opportunity to learn from that. The plan of attack with him is to be able to go down and refine some things. I thought yesterday's game, where he gave up five in the first, yet came back, changed his style of pitching a little, going with some softer pitches, and the command -- using 61 pitches over the last five innings -- is more of what we're looking for."

It isn't surprising that Fister (right) was given this opportunity. Manager Don Wakamatsu mentioned him as a possible candidate for a spot in the rotation a few weeks back, when Vargas got moved in there.

Fister is 6-4 with a 3.81 ERA. I've watched him pitch, he's lanky at 6-foot-8 and his fastball is right around 90-92 as a starter, when he pitched in relief he could hop it up to 94. He has a slider that's decent and has pretty good presence on the mound.

He's a command guy that doesn't overpower hitters. But at 6-8, he does create some angles on the ball and can get some ground balls.

I've seen Fister when he's been really good - pitching seven innings, allowing six hits and one run against Portland with six strikeouts. I've also seen him get rocked by Las Vegas. But giving him an opportunity isn't a bad thing.

Fister wasn't in the clubhouse. The Rainiers were in Round Rock, Texas, so he's probably on his way back.

Obviously, the Mariners want to see something different after Vargas struggled yesterday. It isn't certain whether Fister will move into the rotation and take Vargas' spot and pitch on Tuesday against the White Sox. We'll wait to hear from Don Wakamatsu.

Also Erik Bedard was seen carrying the results of his MRI back to the training room, so we should get a report. A group of reporters tried to talk to him but he made a quick retreat to the back room.

In the past few years with the slumping economy, the dwindling circulation numbers in newspapers, the poor business plans that most had when it came to the on-line product, the invention of Craig's List that killed classified advertising and slumping ad buys, we have watched as coverage has dwindled. Newspapers are smaller, coverage is being cheated and reporters are being let go.

In baseball coverage, it's no different, long-time writers like Murray Chass, Gordon Edes and others have been forced out of their jobs as newspapers tried lower payroll. Here in the Northwest, my good friends John Hickey and David Andriesen found themselves without jobs when the P-I closed.

In the last 24 hours, we found out that Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News will retire after this season after covering the Cincinnati Reds for 37 years.

How good is McCoy, well he's already in the hall of fame as the winner of the J.G. Spink Award in 2001. MLB's Jim Street wrote about Griffey giving McCoy a call when he got the news.

This isn't a voluntary retirement per se. McCoy decided to retire when he was informed that that the Daily News will stop sending a beat reporter on road trips with the Reds and change drastically how it covers the team. And McCoy didn't want to be a part of that change, or give up a vital aspect of how a team is covered.

=> Read more!

Russell Branyan's breakout first half - when he batted .280 with 24 home runs and 49 RBI - made him one of the most dangerous hitters in the Seattle lineup.

Branyan's back, and the tightness that's plagued him for more than two weeks, is ruining his second half, and his life.

In Seattle's loss to Kansas City, Branyan committed an error when a ground ball rolled between his legs.

He simply couldn't get down to field the ball - that's how bad his back has gotten. The Mariners are doing all they can to treat him, from shots to daily physical therapy.

Nothing has helped.

Since the All-Star break, Branyan is batting .172 with two home runs and 12 RBI in 64 at-bats. On the just-completed seven-game trip, he had five hits in 23 at-bats - and didn't hit a home run.

Branyan's a gamer, playing regularly for the first time in his major league career. He's trying to play through pain and both he and the Mariners know how much they need his bat.

If his back doesn't improve, it's hard to imagine Branyan not having to sit out another stretch of games, possibly from the disabled list.

Closer David Aardsma, the Mariners said today, is available in an emergency - but not really.

That lanced boil on his backside is one ugly wound (trust me, I saw it!). Imagine an open hole low and centered on your bum, then imagine pitching with it.

They didn't want to stitch it up for fear of infection, so they bandage it and clean it a couple of times a day," Aardsma said. "They don't want me to sweat while it's still open, so I don't know if they'd let me pitch tonight."

Without Aardsma, the Mariners are a bit short in the bullpen, where everyone is just a little overworked. Last night, Luke French went four innings, Miguel Batista only 2/3 of an inning and manager Don Wakamatsu had virtually everyone warm up at one point or another in what became an 11-6 victory.

"We need six innings from Jason Vargas, and I'd like seven," Wakamatsu said.

It's Vargas vs. Bruce Chen, with Jose Lopez trying to drive in a run for the eighth consecutive game.

Yikes! What a start

With Willie Bloomquist aboard on a fielders choice, Vargas centered a pitch to Billy Butler, who hit it 392 feet - well over the fence in left and off the Royals Hall of Fame beyond it.

Brayan Pena and Alberto Callaspo singled, then Mark Teahen doubled them both home on Vargas' 24th pitch of the inning.

Yuniesky Betancourt doubled Teahen home, as ex-Mariners continued to hurt the current crop.

After one: Royals 5, Mariners 0

Mr. Sweeney strikes back

Mike Sweeney hit his fourth home run of the season and the 100th of his career in Kauffman Stadium, a solo shot one out into the fourth inning.

In the fourth: Royals 5, Mariners 2

Oops and oops II

Butler singled, Pena doubled and Callaspo singled for a run in quick order, then a ground ball roll through Russell Branyan's legs at first - an error that scored another run.

After five: Royals 8, Mariners 2

Vargas gave the Mariners seven innings and saved his bullpen, but they weren't memorable innings for the lefty - and one has to wonder if his spot in the rotation is in jeopardy.

Chris Jakubauskas pitched a 1-2-3 eighth, and there likely won't be a bottom of the ninth tonight.

Left-hander Erik Bedard, the soft-spoken, oft-injured pitcher, almost certainly won't throw another pitch for the Seattle Mariners.

On a one-year contract after pitching half the season last year, Bedard has made only four starts since June because of persistent pain in his left shoulder.

It's similar, Bedard said, to what he felt a year ago, when only exploratory surgery found a cyst over his rotator cuff - a cyst MRI didn't show.

Tomorrow, Bedard will undergo yet another MRI, and have it compared to one taken in June to see if there's any change.

blem was tendinitis, the past two months and all the anti-inflammatories Bedard has taken should have eased it.

The chances are strong Bedard will need another exploratory surgery, but even if he doesn't he's in no position to even throw any time soon, let alone pitch.

So the trade that brought him here will be written off as one of the worst in franchise history - two big-league players and three solid prospects for Bedard.

The issue now is, do the Mariners ask him back?

Bedard is a free agent, the price is probably going to be lower than the $7.7 million he made this year. Any team pursuing him this winter is almost certain to offer him a lower base salary with incentives for appearances.

"I hope I'm back," Bedard said. "I would really love to pitch here again."
Should the Mariners try to get some return from Bedard from that 2008 trade and bring him back?

The Mariners aren't tipping their hand, but no one in the organization is optimistic that Bedard will make another start in a Seattle uniform this year.

Luke French, the 23-year-old left-handed pitcher who came to Seattle in the Jarrod Washgburn trade, will make the sixth start of his major league career tonight - and his first as a Mariner.

Oddly enough, he'll face a Kansas City team he beat July 8, 3-1, as a member of the Detroit Tigers.

French will be pitching to Rob Johnson, the preferred catcher of your Seattle Mariners, and backed by a bullpen without the services of David Aardsma tonight.

That bullpen may further be weakened emotionally by an edict from MLB's dunderhead department - who have banned the relievers from taking their beloved battle helmet replicas to the bullpen.

Yeah, that'll save the integrity of the game.

It's French vs. Kyle Davies.

Life on the edge

The Royals loaded the bases against French in the second inning with a bloop single, an infield single and a walk to - gasp! - Yuniesky Betancourt.

French got the No. 9 hitter on a grounder to end the inning. The Mariners offense, meanwhile, has gone down 1-2-3-4-5-6.

Mariners score first

The bottom of the Seattle lineup shocked the Royals when Johnson doubled and, batting ninth, rookie Michael Saunders tripled him home.

With the infield in, Ichiro struck out, but Russell Branyan singled Saunders home - his 59th RBI of the season.

In the third: Mariners 2, Royals 0

That ties it!

Willie Bloomquist singled to right and Billy Butler hit his 12th home run of the season to tie the game.

After three: Mariners 2, Royals 2

Small ball Mariners

Adrian Beltre and Franklin Gutierrez singled, putting runners on first and third base with one out, and Jack Wilson dropped a safety squeeze bunt for a hit and his first RBI in a Seattle uniform.

Davies threw the ball into center field on a pick off attempt, pushing Gutierrez to third base - then wild-pitched him home.

Ichiro singled Wilson home and Branyan doubled home both base runners, giving him five RBI the last two nights. After a pitching change, Jose Lopez singled home a run and the Mariners had a six-run rally.

In the fourth: Mariners 8, Royals 2

Oops and oops again

After four: Mariners 8, Royals 4

French pitched a strong fifth inning, and in the sixth Johnson drew a walk and, with one out, Ichiro bunted for a single, moving Johnson to third base.

In the sixth: Mariners 10, Royals 4

The Mariners pulled French after five innings and 89 pitches, then hoped to get a couple of innings from Miguel Batista.

White bailed him out.

After six: Mariners 10, Royals 5

Adding on II

Wonder why the Royals are dead last in the American League? Wonder no more.

With one out, Wilson doubled. Johnson singled, with Wilson stopping at third. Catcher Olivo threw to second to try and catch Johnson there, and Betancourt threw back to Olivo trying to catch Wilson there.

Both throws were late - and Johnson advanced to third, on a single and two bad throws.

Even the official scorer was dizzy.

In the seventh: Mariners 11, Royals 5

And in the end

Sixteen hits, 11 runs - and a five-run lead. Without Aardsma, could the Mariners close out their 56th victory and pull within eight games of the Los Angeles Angels?

Well, duh.
Garrett Olson walked the first batter he faced, but got through it without allowing a run.

It's a final: Mariners 11, Royals 6

Closer David Aardsma won't be available tonight in Kansas City because a boil on his butt has done what hitters usually can't - knocked him out of the game.

The boil has been bothering Aardsma for days, but Wednesday it reached the point where the pain of sitting, moving, even dressing it was agonizing, so Aardsma had it lanced.

his Seattle Mariners teammates were supportive and sympathetic - they gathered round him to take photos of the boil with their cell phones.

"He's day-to-day," manager Don Wakamatsu said.

What causes a boil? Among other things, an ingrown hair can do you in. With a little luck, Aardsma and his repaired bum will be ready to return to the mound tomorrow.

Roy Corcoran, the veteran right-handed reliever who didn't think the Seattle Mariners saw him in their future, has signed a minor league contract with the Houston Astros.

Corcoran, 29, was designated for assignment 12 days ago and - after clearing waivers - declined an assignment to Tacoma and became a free agent.

Now, he'll report to the Astros AAA Round Rock team and begin what he hopes will be a comeback to the big leagues. Oddly enough, Corcoran will join the team tomorrow - when they're playing the Tacoma Rainiers.

There probably wasn't a more affable or popular player in the Seattle clubhouse, something the new coaching staff learned in spring training.

"We'd bring guys in for one-on-one conversations, to get to know them, and one of the things we'd always ask is 'Who's your best friend on the team?'" manager Don Wakamatsu said. "An awful lot of guys said 'Roy Corcoran.'"

Here's hoping is time in Houston works out as well.

Jarrod Washburn made his debut last night in Detroit and it wasn't one of his best outings. He pitched 5 1/3 innings allowing six runs on six hits, including two homers, while walking three.

“I was terrible,” Washburn said. “No excuses. I didn’t do my job. I didn’t have command.”

But manager Tigers Jim Leyland says he isn't worried about Washburn.

Detroit Free Press columnist Drew Sharp says the Tigers gave Washburn no run support like the rest of their pitchers. If there is one pitcher that knows something about getting no run support it would be Washburn.

Even with Jose Guillen and Gil Meche on the Kansas City disabled list, the Royals will have three ex-Mariners in their lineup tonight against Seattle.

Willie Bloomquist, Miguel Olivo and Yuniesky Betancourt will start for the Royals - and the Mariners get third baseman Adrian Beltre back for the first time in more than a month.

Coming off the finest start in his career, Ryan Rowland-Smith will take on a 41-64 team that just barely outscores the Mariners, who don't outscore anyone, consistently.

Getting his first start since Friday, Kenji Johjima will be behind the plate. Ken Griffey Jr. is hitting cleanup, Beltre fifth behind him.

It's Rowland-Smith vs. Luke Hochever.

Advantage, Mariners

Ichiro Suzuki led off the game by hitting Hochever's second pitch for a home run down the right field line.

It was Ichiro's 30th career home run leading off a game.

In the first: Mariners 1, Royals 0

Wobbly start

Rowland-Smith hit the first batter he faced, walked the second, so when Billy Butler doubled, the Royals scored and had a rally underway.

Alberto Callaspo's sacrifice fly scored Bloomquist and gave Kansas City the lead.

After one: Royals 2, Mariners 1

The U.S.S. Mariners jinx

Good folks on the big boat dared KC hitters to bunt with Beltre in the game, so of cours one did - and Beltre threw the ball away for an error.

Worse, it let catcher Miguel Olivo score all the way from first base.
Guess that proves that even sabermetrics wizards shouldn't get cocky!

After two: Royals 3, Mariners 1

Mariners comback

Rookie Michael Saunders singled,Ichiro singled him to second and both moved up a base on a wild pitch.

With one out, Jose Lopez doubled them both home - RBI #61 and 62 on the season - to tire the game.

Griffey singled Lopez home with the lead, picking up his fifth RBI on the trip.

In the third: Mariners 4, Royals 3

The Yuni strikes back

Alex Gordon drew a one-out walk, then Betancourt tripled him home.

David DeJesus popped to Lopez, about 100 feet from home plate - and Yuniesky tagged and lit out for the plate. Inexplicably, shortstop Jack Wilson cut off the throw, and his relay was late - from 20 feet - and Betancourt scored on a pop out.

After four innings: Royals 5, Mariners 4

Seattle strikes back

Saunders dragged a beautiful bunt for a single and Ichiro walked before Branyan rolled a double past first base, scoring Saunders for the tie.

KC made a pitching change, going to Jamey Wright, who once spent a spring camp trying to become a Mariner.

With one out, Griffey was intentionally walked, loading the bases, and the Royals went after Beltre - who struck out, for the third time tonight.
Gutierrez beat out a single to third, with Ichiro scoring his third run. Johjima struck out.

In the sixth: Mariners 6, Royals 5

Yuni strikes back II

Olivo singled and with one out Betancourt - yes, that Betancourt - doubled him home to tie.

After six: Mariners 6, Royals 6

Wilson was safe at second base after his single and Gordon's error, and Saunders dropped a bunt so good that he beat the throw - even with the Royals expecting it.

With one out, Branyan singled, picking up RBI #58, and the Mariners reclaimed the lead.

In the seventh: Mariners 7, Royals 6

And in the end

David Aardsma in the bottom of the ninth, asked to protect a one-run lead for his 26th save?

He did it, hitting 97 mph on the Kansas City radar gun, but not before loading the bases, in part by missing a comebacker that charitably ruled a hit.

The Mariners are now 55-51 - nine games out of the American League West lead.

It's a final: Mariners 7, Royals 6

Erik Bedard continues making slow, steady progress back from shoulder inflammation that landed him on the disabled list, but the Seattle Mariners don't think he'll be ready to pitch when he's first eligible on Aug. 10.

"That would be tough, unless we'd sent him out before or had him on a pretty short leash," manager Don Wakamatsu said.

On Tuesday, Bedard threw 25 pitches in a pre-game bullpen session - what trainer Rick Griffin called a 'touchy-feely' session in which Bedard felt no pain his first time on a mound.

"I felt OK," Bedard said.

Another step in the process will be tomorrow and how the shoulder feels a day after testing it.

"If we have the same discomfort, we'll have him checked out," Wakamatsu said. "We had him checked out the first time he went on the DL, and he was fine."

Bedard thinks he simply tried to come back too quickly - his call, not the Mariners - and was hit with tendinitis.

The Seattle Mariners have activated third baseman Adrian Beltre from the disabled list, and designated infielder Chris Woodward for assignment.

The move allows Beltre to start tonight's game with Kansas City, and gives the team 10 days to trade, release or outright Woodward to the minors - if he clears waivers.

They didn''t guarantee I'd be back in September, but obviously I'd love to be," Woodward said. "They told me that Jack (Hannahan) could play shortstop and second base in a pinch. Unless I'm claimed off waivers, I'll finish the season in Tacoma."

Beltre is back from surgery on his left, non-throwing shoulder, and anxious to play the rest of the season. Without him, the Mariners tried Woodward at third, then acquired left-handed hitting Hannahan in a trade last month.

Beltre was batting .259 with five home runs and 31 RBI in 73 games before going on the DL June 29. In 20 games, Woodward batted .239.

There have been mentions of some of the players signed in the international free agency period by the Mariners. Well, today we got the complete list from Vice President of Intertnational Operations Bob Engle.

The jewel is outfielder Guillemro Pimentel of the Dominican Republic.

"A kid with a left-handed power bat," Engle said. "He's extremely strong with a good approach to hitting. He has a crisp, compact stroke and both drives and lofts the ball."

Here's the list ..

From Colombia:
IF Diego Mina

From the Dominican Republic:
OF Guillermo Pimentel
OF Alfredo Morales

From Korea:
C Ji-Man Choi (gee-mon CHOY)
RHP Seon-Gi Kim (sun key KIM)

From Panama:
RHP Waldy Alvarez

From Venezuela:
3B Andres Brito
OF Alexy Palma
RHP Julian Alvarado
RHP Daniel Mata

Small bios and comments from Engle below

=> Read more!

Normally, I don't get nights off when there is a Rainiers game or a Mariners game in the area. Usually, I am at one or the other. But after a long stretch of games and days of work in a row - I think 18 of 19, they gave me part of the weekend off and tonight off, even with the Rainiers playing Fresno at Cheney Stadium

So what did I do? Well, I went to the Rainiers game of course. Yes, I have no life. But it was a perfect night in Tacoma and Brandon Morrow was on the mound and I have yet to see him pitch for the Rainiers this season. So I went and sat below by the scouts behind home plate so I could get a good read on his breaking stuff and how much he's throwing it.

Unlike the big leagues, there's no TV (though the Rainiers are on Comcast some) and no pitch tracker to keep track, even the stadium radar gun can be of no help. The best way is sit down below and watch from behind. There you can see the break and get some sort of feel of what the batters are seeing.

My decision seemed to be a good one. Because I got to watch what, according to Rainiers manager Daren Brown was Morrow's "best outing since he's joined us."

Morrow pitched seven innings, allowing two runs on seven hits, while striking out five and walking just one in the Rainiers' 7-2 win over the Fresno Grizzlies. He threw 89 pitches with 69 of them coming for strikes.

And revisiting my college and legion coaching days, I even charted Morrow's pitches. Of the 89, unofficially 36 of them were offspeed pitches - either his slider, curve or change-up.

=> Read more!

As the Mariners return to the Kansas City Royals, they will see some former teammates, including Gil Meche, who got a $55 million contract - wow, just, wow on that, Miguel Olivo, who was part of the forgettable Freddy Garcia trade, Willie Bloomquist, who is getting his wish of playing close to every day thanks to a myriad of injuries and overall bad to other players, and of course, the man above, the recently traded Yuniesky Betancourt.

Since joining the Royals, Yuni is hitting .113 in 16 games. Not exactly a major improvement over what they had before in Tony Pena and Mike Aviles

Most of you will remember how much Royals fans lamented the acquisition for Dan Cortes and Derrick Saito.

GM Dayton Moore somewhat infamously defended the trade and all of his recent moves - acquiring Mike Jacobs and such - saying "trust the process" - a moniker which has now become almost a mocking statement by KC fans with every loss.

The KC Star has fantastic coverage of the Royals, in their Ball Star blog, Sam Mellinger compares Yuni and Jack Wilson, particularly on their defensive ratings.

And the Star's award-winning columnist Joe Posnanski has his own blog, which I feel is must reading for sports fans. His books on Buck O'Neill

Posnanski, who I've linked to often on here, is a die-hard baseball fan, who has also embraced the latest sabrmetric stats along, and often comes up with great opinions and analysis on baseball, not just the Royals.

Like most, he was not exactly pleased when he found out that the Royals traded for Yuni.

And since then he's also done a few "Yuni Watch" posts keeping track of his progress as a Royal. They are fairly entertaining to read.

Yuni Watches
August 1
July 31
July 30
July 29

The Mariners are as excited to see Ian Snell pitch as their fans, since most of them haven't seen him.

What they're hoping to see tonight is not just stuff but the ability to throw it deeper into games than, say, the fifth inning.

For a team built on pitching and defense, the Mariners can't afford to abuse their bullpen as they have recently - that's a no-win situation, and among the reasons the Mariners have won all that many games lately.

Still, the back-to-back winning months of June and July give Seattle two more winning months than all of 2008.

August has begun 1-0. Can they make it three in a row?

And can the Mariners rally tonight to split the series with Texas after losing the first two games?
Franklin Gutierrez has the night off, Ryan Langerhans is in center field and Ken Griffey Jr. - coming off his three-hit night - is batting fourth.

It's Snell vs. Scott Feldman.

Don't fall behind

Against big league hitters, pitching behind usually means falling behind on the score board, too.

After getting the first two hitters on a pop fly and called third strike, Snell fell beind David Murphy, 3-1, threw a fastball and watched it land in the upper deck in right field.

After one: Rangers 1, Mariners 0

Now, they've seen him

Feldman beat the Mariners on July 10, and needed only three innings to go through the lineup the first time tonight.

The Marinrs don't have a hit yet, and their lone baserunner - on a walk - was followed by a ground ball double play.

It's going to be tough for Snell to win if the Mariners don't score ...

Even through three

Snell has thrown 46 pitches in his first three innings - 23 strikes, 23 balls.

That's a hard ratio to maintain and stay in the game, but through three innings he's allowed only one run, on a solo homer.

Rob Johnson singled, Michael Saunders walked and Ichiro singled to load the bases opening the sixth.

Not much offense but enough, at this point, to give Snell a lead.

Short-lived lead

Michael Young led off the sixth with a home run and the game was even.

After six: Mariners 2, Rangers 2

Short-lived tie

Sean White in for Snell after six innings, gave up a leadoff single, got one out and then threw a pitch down and in to Jarrod Saltamacchia the catcher hit for his ninth home run.

One last shot

Branyan was hit by a C.J. Wilson pitch, and Jose Lopez singled to get Griffey Jr. to the plate down by two.

Junior grounded out, moving both runners up a base. Jack Hannahan struck out. Jack Wilson struck out.

By the way, for those who wonder: Snell came out because his right forearm stiffened up. He was hit there by a line drive in his last start, and Seattle was taking no chances.

Erik Bedard passed one small test today and will face a larger one Tuesday, when he throws his first bullpen since going on the disabled with shoulder inflammation.

"Today is a big day to see where he’s at," manager Don Wakamatsu said. "We'll try to push him a little. If he feels good, we’ll continue down this path. If he feels the same thing in there, we’ll probably have him looked at again.

"If it hasn t gotten any better, we'll probably have an MRI done. If he feels something, that's a red flag."

Bedard then walked into the outfield and played catch. How did he feel afterward?

"I felt fine," Bedard said, surprised to be asked. "It was just playing catch. I probably won't know how I'm feeling until I throw the bullpen in Kansas City."

So, no pain today?

"No, but again, I was just playing catch," he said.

Bedard will throw a bullpen Tuesday, after which he'll either feel fine or feel less than fine - at which point the Mariners will likely have him get an MRI on his left shoulder.

Seattle has stumbled into August, losing six of its last 10 games, and Felix Hernandez could deliver a huge feel-good victory for his team tonight.

Already an 11-game winner and the ace of a young, retooled rotation, Henandez has never had consistent success against Texas - he's 5-9 against the Rangers with a 4.13 career earned run average.

Behind him, the Mariners have stacked five left-handed hitters in their lineup against right-hander Tommy Hunter.

One win doesn't break a slump, but if Felix wins, it sets a tone and takes pressure off the men who follow him in the rotation. Win tonight, the Mariners can still split the series. Lose, and Ian Snell pitches to prevent a sweep.

It's Hernandez vs. Hunter.

Junior hits No. 622

Ichiro singled, Lopez walked and with one out Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 11th of the season to center field.

Not just runs but dramatic runs - a Mariners show of power in a series where it seemed all the long balls had been hit by Rangers.

In the first: Mariners 3, Rangers 0

Pitching and defense

Given that lead, Felix walked the first man he faced, gave up a single to the next and, with one out, had runners at second and third base.

Marlon Byrd flied to right field, Omar Vizquel tried to score and Ichiro threw him out on a close play at the plate.

Junior again!

Felix left the bases loaded in the second and is clearly feeling his way.

Griffey Jr., meanwhile, added a doublein the third inning and scoreed on Jack Hannahan's RBI single.
With two outs, Ryan Lanfgerhans tripled home Jack Wilson, who'd been aboard on a fielders choice.

In the third: Mariners 5, Rangers 0

Rangers thunder

Felix has been fighting himself and the Rangers all night, and Nelson Cruz just crushed a home run into the Seattle bullpen that nearly took out the whole staff.

It's only one run, but it was impressive.

After four: Mariners 5, Rangers 1

Not the Felix you know

He's through five innings and has allowed one run, but Hernandez is off tonight.

Evidence? At one point in the fifth, he'd throw 64 pitches - 33 strikes, 31 balls. That's not the kind of control Felix usually wins with.

Still, he's getting help. Russell Branyan caught a line drive and turned it into another double play, stepping on the bag to catch Elvis Andrus.

Adding on

Ichiro's second infield single was followed with a one-out, hit-and-run double by Jose Lopez that scored Ichiro from first base.

It was the 58th RBI of the season for Lopez, who leads the team, and the 58th run scored by Ichiro.

In the sixth: Mariners 6, Rangers 1

Ranger stay within range

Byrd doubled and with two outs, Cruz drove him in.

Hernandez has thrown 89 pitches in six innings and been in constant trouble. He'll probably start the seventh inning, but may not get beyond that.

After six: Mariners 6, Rangers 2

Holding on

Mariners left the bases loaded in the seventh, when Ichiro and Branyan each struck out - and Felix is in trouble again in the bottom half.

A leadoff double, followed by a hit batter? Hernandez has gotten this far on grit and some luck - six hits, four walks and a hit batter.

Felix got out of it by catching a line drive at his head. That was the last pitch he'll throw tonight.

After seven: Mariners 6, Rangers 2
Mr. Lopez helps the cause

When Felix pitches, Lopez hits just a little better.

Leading off the eighth inning, Lopez hit his 15th home run - and the fifth in 74 at-bas in games Hernandez has started.

Griffey, meanwhile, now has a single, double and home run tonight. All he needs are extra innings and a miracle to hit for the cycle.

Mark Lowe coming in to pitch.

In the eighth: Mariners 7, Rangers 2

And in the end
With the big lead, Lowe finished up Felix's 12th win and the Mariners 54th of the season.

It's final: Mariners 7, Rangers 2

Luke French knew what he wanted in life by the time he was in fifth grade - when he wrote out a timeline that had him pitching for the Seattle Mariners.

"They were my favorite team, they had Griffey and Randy Johnson and Jay Buhner," French said today. "When the Tigers told me I'd been traded to Seattle, my first thought was 'awesome!'"

French, 23, was acquired in Friday's Jarrod Washburn trade, and he was added to the Mariners 25-man roster at the expense of first baseman Chris Shelton, who was designated for assignment.

"I was a little surprised, but not much," Shelton said. "Adrian Beltre is coming back in a few days, and I thought I might go then. I'll go home to Salt Lake City and wait. If another team picks me up, great. If not, I'll probably go back to Tacoma and finish the season."

French, a left-hander who will slide into the rotation on Wednesday in Kansas City, said he's already feeling at home with the Mariners - and thrilled to share a clubhouse with Ken Griffey Jr.

Junior, of course, had to have a little fun with a teammate who was in fifth grade in 1995. And he did.

"Mike Sweeney and I were talking when French walked up and stood there near us," Griffey said. "We knew he wanted to introduce himself, so when we were done talking, both of us turned and started to walk away.

"Luke had his hand out and he just stared. Then I turned around and said, 'I'm just bleeping with you.'"

French got a man-hug from one of his idols, then threw a bullpen session.

A fastball-changeup pitcher who relies upon control, French has been throwing a slider for a little more than a full season, and it's become an effective pitch for him.

"John Matlack taught it to me in the Detroit system, and I played with it, trying to find a grip that works," French said. "I found one I like, and I use the pitch a lot."

As for Shelton, the 29-year-old got into nine games with Seattle, batting .231 in 26 at-bats.

"I gave them the best I could in the chances I got," Shelton said. "Those were pretty far and few between, but I tried to be ready whenever they needed me."