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!

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!

BOX SCORE

Sorry for the delay, but I had to leave the press box at Safeco and retreat back to Tacoma in search of air conditioning, which I found at the West End Pub & Grill - a one-time favorite of former Rainier and Aussie Chris Snelling.

But it was the big Aussie left-hander that stole the show today. We began the day under the idea that it could be Roy Halladay's final start as a Blue Jay - and it still may be. And if it is, Rowland-Smith and the Mariners made sure it will go down as a loss.

The Hyphen as he is called, well, for obviously reasons, pitched his best outing this season and perhaps last, throwing seven strong innings, including the first six without giving up a hit.

"He was locked in," Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said.

And he worked fast - think the opposite of Garrett Olson and Miguel Batista. Rowland-Smith worked with a steady pace and rhythm.

"That's something I want to do," he said. "I've had games where I've done that. I remember Raul telling me last year one game how much the fielder loved it."

RRS would have had a perfect six innings had he not hit Kevin Millar with a pitch - which I thought looked like retaliation for Kenji Johjima getting hit with a pitch by Halladay in the top of the inning. But no hits, and not really any hard hit balls.

Rowland-Smith had joked that he would "need to throw a no-hitter to beat Halladay" before the game. And for six inning he was doing exactly that.

=> Read more!

BOX SCORE

It appears that the hapless Kansas City Royals, who blew a 6-2 lead in a 9-6 loss to the Angels, will do no favors for the Mariners, so Seattle simply can't afford to lose any games right now. And they certainly can't lose a game with Felix Hernandez on the mound.

But for seven innings it certainly looked that way. Felix was solid as usual. He shook off a tough first inning and then gave the Mariners nation a near second coronary in two days when he twisted his ankle on Marcus Thames' infield bloop fly.

Wakamatsu had a sick feeling in his stomach as Felix lay on the infield grass not getting up immediately.

“The same thing that happened with Franklin Gutierrez last night,” Wakamatsu said. “You hold your breath and hope it's not severe. After the game, we checked on him, and he had no ill-effects from it.”

What did Felix think?

"I'm used to it," he said.

Perhaps, but is there a need to go for that play. It's not a high percentage play.

"It's a flyball and I'm going to try and catch it," he said.

Apparently, he's channeling his inner-Franklin Gutierrez.

Ever the competitor, Felix got up threw a few warm up pitches and proceeded to pitch the next 4 1/3 inning allowing just one hit.

"That shows his competitiveness and how much he battled to get into that seventh inning," Wakamatsu said. "I thought he did a great job, came out and competed, his stuff was good. Just the pitch count got up a little bit. Other than that, you can't ask for anything more."

And yet, after seven innings, he still was behind 1-0 and looking at a loss.

Why?

Well, Tigers starter Armando Galarraga - a fellow Venezuelan and friend of Felix - was better.

He allowed on 1 hit - a Ryan Langerhans single to right - over 7 1/3 innings.

“He changes speeds, he doesn't throw anything in the middle of the plate,” Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said. “He threw a heck of a ballgame. He kept us off balance and threw a lot of pitches right on the corner. We couldn't square anything up. He seemed to want us to swing a little bit off the plate. He did a nice job.”

=> Read more!

BOX SCORE

David Aardsma's raises his hands after Ichiro makes a great leaping catch at the wall on Victor Martinez's deep shot to right so secure the Mariners win.

Did you honestly think he wouldn't catch it?

Well Don Wakamatsu couldn't watch to find out.

“I didn’t look,” he admitted. “You look at the reaction of the hitter, and I think he thought he got it. I actually didn't see the catch.”

Though Wakamatsu didn’t watch it, he never lost hope that Ichiro would catch it.

“You always feel comfortable with him in right field that he's going to make a great catch or climb the wall,” Wakamatsu said. “It was awfully nice he came up with.”

Aardsma watched carefully and raised his hands (above) in celebration as Ichiro came down with the ball. He then bear-hugged Ichiro as the team shook hands post game.

“(Martinez) is a decent hitter and right off the bat I thought it was out, but you never know with Ichiro back there,” Aardsma said. “Obviously, he can cover a lot of ground and (Martinez) just didn’t get enough of it, and Ichiro made a great play on it. He made an awesome play.”

Ichiro was typically sardonic on the catch. When he was first asked to go through the play, he joked through his interpreter Ken Baron: “There was a runner on first, there was a fly ball and I caught it.”

But later he conceded that he was going to do everything he could to make the catch.

“The only thing that was in my mind as soon the ball made contact with the bat was to catch it,” he said. “Just like a dog chasing after a Frisbee.”

So the Mariners take 3 of 4 against an awful Indians team. They are now 49-43 --- how exactly I have no idea.

They gained no ground on the Angels as the squeeked out a win in Oakland to stay four games up on the M's.

BOX SCORE
Apparently Franklin Gutierrez isn't like most players or me or a lot of people in that he doesn't hold grudges.

If Gutierrez got some pleasure for hitting the key two-run home run in tonight's win along with making yet another brilliant leaping catch, he isn't letting on.

One would think he would derive some added satisfaction beating his former team, that it appears may have given up on him a little prematurely.

His manager Don Wakamatsu understood if he did.

“I think for anybody who performs against a former team it’s always special,” Wakamatsu said.

But Gutierrez, who might be the most laid-back guy and quiet person in the cluhhouse, just shook his head at such a notion.

“I don’t think like that,” he said. “I treat them like any other team. I represent the Seattle Mariners now. Some people think it’s great to do against your old team. But for me it’s like any other team.”

Of course the circumstances of his departure weren’t tenuous. Gutierrez was one of the key pieces in the three-team trade that sent Seattle close J.J. Putz to the New York Mets in the offseason.

Gutierrez holds no ill will for Cleveland trading him.

=> Read more!

BOX SCORE

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

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

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

Why?

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

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

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

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

The stat was a surprise to Felix.

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

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

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

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

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

=> Read more!

BOX SCORE

Perhaps manager Don Wakamatsu summed tonight's loss perfectly when he said: “Not exactly the game we were looking for to come out and start the second half."

No, skip it was not. It was ugly four errors, two wild pitches, seven runners left on base but it all started with Garrett Olson's outing of 2 2/3 innings.

"I think we've talked all year long the importance of the starting pitcher establishing a tempo," Wakamatsu said. "I think it was two-fold. No. 1, I didn't think Olson came out and had much of a feel. I thought he pitched a little defensively and his tempo was poor."

Poor? Olson grinded that game into a mind-numbing halt, agonizing between pitches and basically pitching like Miguel Batista with Rickey Henderson on first base.

“It just was one of those unfortunate days when I could not find a rhythm, even in the first inning,” Olson said. “I just really had a hard time finding the zone consistently.”

And the lack of rhythm led to the extended moments between pitches, between hitters, between breaths.

“I feel like I forced myself to kind of slow down,” Olson said. “I think when you do that, you can continue take yourself out of a rhythm instead of just attacking hitters. Looking back, I should have just grabbed the ball, get the sign and attack the hitters.”

Wakamatsu said Olson was being defensive and trying to be too perfect.

"That's where we talk about sometimes guys want to be too perfect," Wakamatsu said. "We talked about it after the first inning. I said you don't have to be too perfect out there. It's not for lack of care or anything else. It's probably caring too much. I think he put a lot of emphasis on him being outstanding today, instead of going out and doing like he does out of the bullpen. At least he's done such a tremendous job. I saw a little different body language and maybe trying to carry a club out there the first two innings."

Olson admitted that he wanted to help the team get off on a good start in the second half, but didn't think he was putting too much pressure on himself. He did think he might have been trying to be too fine.

"It seems to be like I was trying to make good pitches out there instead of letting it just go through the zone like I have been doing most of the season," Olson said. "I guess its another way of putting it, definitely."

So what happens next for him? Well that's a good question. Can the Mariners afford to start him again in their four man rotation and have an outing like that. They are going to be five games back on Friday with the Angels winning.

It should be noted that the Rainiers rotation slotted out with Steven Shell pitching tonight, Ryan Rowland-Smith starting on Friday, followed by Gaby Hernandez, Brandon Morrow and Jason Vargas. But watch to see if they shake-up the rotation, or limit Rowland-Smith so he could possibly make that start on Tuesday in Detroit, or even Vargas for that matter.

Let's get to Russell Branyan. I must offer a bit of an apology for saying that Branyan got into his home run trot on that first inning double. Apparently he tweaked his back when he was running to first and that's why he didn't get a triple.

Branyan says its nothing major, and it must not be because he played the rest of the game.

“I think it was just maybe the three days off and it just was tight getting back into the swing of things,” he said. “It was just when I started running. It was a little bit tight all day. It got a little bit better as the game went on and I think it will be a lot better tomorrow.”

If Branyan doesn't tweak his back, he swears he would have gotten a triple and the Mariners would have had another run on Jose Lopez's grounder to second.

Still the Mariners got a hit in every inning, but only the one hit. Ronny Cedeno got the only run with a solo homer.

Perhaps, but maybe a day off wouldn't hurt since the Indians will start another lefty and give Chris Shelton more than a token pinch hit appearance.

As for the error in the second inning, he lost the ball in the sun, which we all figured.

Branyan was honest about the team's efforts on Thursday.

“Coming back form three days off, teams respond differently,” Mariners first baseman Russell Branyan said. “We came out a little bit flat today.”

It is still way too early for the Mariners or the fans to begin panicking about such a uncharacteristic outing. It is after all the first game after the all-star break.
No one on the Mariners is fretting.

“I think we’ll get it out of our system this one game, and tomorrow we’ll come back and we’ll start to see a more polished ball club,” Branyan said. “I don’t think anyone here is really worried.”

Let's hope so.

Why are these guys smiling? Well, two of them got free rides to first and the other hit an opposite field bomb (doesn't he always do this once a series) to help propel the Rangers to a 6-4 win.

Brandon Morrow was well Brandon Morrow. There were moments he would look great and others where he simply couldn't throw one in the zone even if it was worth $10,000,000 per strike. He goes 5 innings, gives up four runs, walks four guys, doesen't strikeout a batter and gives up two home runs. He now drops to 0-4 on the season and the team is 1-5 in his starts.

The worst of it came in the third inning when Morrow got two quick outs and then walked Omar Vizquel and Ian Kinsler and then served up the opposite-field homer to Michael Young.

"After I walked Vizquel, I just lost it against Kinsler," Morrow said.

It's something we've seen before, and it wasn't lost on manager Don Wakamatsu.

"We've seen it in different starts this year where he has a tendency to lose it for a little bit and we're trying to figure out what causes that," Wakamatsu said.

Morrow doesn't quite have an explanation or an immediate cure for it, but does have an idea.

"You have to slow it down for a second and get back to what you were doing when you were throwing strikes," Morrow said.

But apparently that easier said than done.

“The game plan was to get at him early," Rangers manager Ron Washington said of Morrow "We know what type of fastball he has and we are a fastball-hitting team and when he threw something in the zone, we tried to get on him.”

Realistically, the Mariners were still within striking distance at 4-2, but the absolute crush job of a two-run homer by Nelson Cruz - a 2009 home run derby participant - into the left field upper deck made things slightly more difficult.;

Seattle had chances in the late innings but couldn't capitalize, but Wakamatsu was concerned with the early innings.

"The big thing for me was we had Feldman with 24 pitches in the first inning and we allowed him to go 6 2/3 innings," Wakamatsu said. "Our strength is to put pressure on the opposing pitcher and get to their bullpen like anybody else."

Wakamatsu was happy with the 11 hits, but the Mariners didn't get the big hit, and they simply can't wait till late in games for the one big hit to rally them. It needs to be a progression, throughout the game. They get two early runs on Feldman but don't knock him out of the game. Basically, they are trying to score runs with a sure out every third inning, since Ronny Cedeno is barely hitting -- one hit tonight.

RANGERS NOTES:
• Texas has now won 8 of 10 and 11 of 16…are 18-6 vs. AL West (21-22 vs. rest of AL)… remain a half game ahead of the L.A. Angels for the AL West lead.
• Scott Feldman pitched his 3rd consecutive quality start (10 in last 13)…lasted 6.2 innings and has now thrown 6 innings or more in 12 of last 13 starts…at 8-2, his .800 winning pct. ranks 4th in AL…despite allowing 7 hits, opponents are batting just .222 (72x325) against Feldman, 3rd-lowest mark among AL starters.
• Hank Blalock knocked in the 1st Texas run of the night with a 435 ft solo home run in the 2nd… has hit safely in 5 straight games (.429/9x21) and is batting .400 (14x35) with 4 HR, 2 doubles, and 8 RBI in last 9 games, raising his average from .237 to .260.
• Michael Young extended his hitting streak to 7 games with a 3-run HR in the 3rd… has hit safely in 12 of last 14 (.360/18x50)…later added a single, finishing 2x5 with a HR and 3 RBI…3rd in the AL with 34 multi-hit games…a career .455 hitter against the Mariners (15x33).
• Nelson Cruz was named to the All Star team on Friday and followed with a 2x3 performance including a 2-run home run in the 8th.

MARINERS NOTES:
• Despite out-hitting the Rangers 11-9 as well as scoring 2 late-inning runs, the Mariners fell to the division-leading Rangers, moving to 4.5 games out of first place.
• Brandon Morrow allowed 4 runs in 5 innings of work, all of the runs coming as a result of the long ball…in his last 2 starts, all 7 runs have come via the home run, including 4 consecutive solo shots and one 3-run HR by Michael Young…Morrow, who is averaging 7.2 strikeouts per 9 innings (45 K, 46.0) failed to record a strikeout in a start for the first time in his career. Kept his pitch count low, tossing 74 pitches in 5.0 IP.
• Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 515th career double, passing Edgar Martinez for most career doubles, tying Joe Cronin for 38th on the all-time list…also had his 12th multi-hit game on the season (last: July 1 @NYY), finishing 3x4 with a double and 2 runs scored.
• After hitting the go-ahead home run in previous night’s game, Franklin Gutierrez doubled in his first AB, scoring Ken Griffey Jr. from 1st base… also extended his career-high hitting streak to a career-high 13 games (.462/24x52)…has hit safely in 21 of his last 23 games, batting .389 (35x90) with 7 HR and 18 RBI…raised his batting average from .251 to .297 during the 23 game stretch.
• Ichiro extended hitting streak to 9 games with a lead-off single in the 1st …later added a double (18) and a stolen base (19)…now averaging a multi-hit game for every other game played (39 multi-hit games in 78 games).
• Kenji Johjima caught Nelson Cruz attempting to steal 2nd base in the 2nd inning…has now thrown out 5 of his last 9 runners and 8 of last 17…despite spending time on the DL and starting only 32 games, Johjima is tied for 4th in AL with 13 CCS…Johjima later added a 2-out, RBI double in the 8th to score Ken Griffey Jr.
• Russell Branyan snapped a 3 game hitless streak with an RBI double in the 1st, scoring Ichiro on the play…was his longest streak of games without a hit this season.
• Chris Shelton had his first career AB as a Mariner when he pinch hit for Chris Woodward in the 8th, resulting in a 5-3 PO to end the inning.

BOX SCORE

Well that was just ugly in many ways, particularly for the Mariners bullpen. Apparently the unexpected day off that Jarrod Washburn provided didn't help as much.

Before we talk about the bullpens struggles, let's talk about Erik Bedard for a moment.

Bedard pitched four innings, gave up two earned runs (with a little help from Franklin Gutierrez's throwing error) and two hits, while striking out eight and walking just one.

For a guy that hadn't pitched in a game since June 7th, he looked pretty strong. His curveball was sharp and his velocity was solid.

According to pitch F/x from Brooks Baseball, Bedard's velocity on his fastball was around 92 mph and he hit 94.

Bedard was typically quiet and unimpressed with his outing, of course, he didn't seemed thrilled with some incessant questioning from one person either.

Here's a modified transcript of the 1 minute, 50 seconds of goodness

Did it feel like a month away? Yeah, the first inning I was a little off, but then I started throwing strikes and started getting them out.

What he changed after the first? I don’t know. Just throwing strikes. That’s about it.


How this felt compared to sim game? I felt the same. My arm feels good, so I’m ready to go. I don’t know. You never forget what you’re gonna do, so I just try to throw strikes and hope my team wins.

On what he did differently? You just try to make adjustments as you’re throwing. If I wasn’t getting on top of curveball, I’d try to get on top, and fastball, same thing.

On his next outing? Just the same, and I’ll just have a higher pitch count. This is a game of adjustments and you have to adjust while the game’s going on.

How different was this compared to sim game? it’s just more adrenaline. You’ve just got to control that and pitch your game.

Bedard was really just a sidenote in this game since, the Mariners relievers combined to throw five innings and give up 10 runs on nine hits. Of the four relievers only Sean White didn't give up a hit or a run.

Bedard left with a 3-2 lead, and it was 12-3 deficit going into the ninth.

“We had a good ballgame going and then the wheels fell off,” Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said.

Kind of slightly.

Chris Jakubauskas relieved Bedard in the fifth and looked solid, but Wakamatsu thought that in the sixth after Jakubauskas gave up lead-off single, he got very defensive in his pitching, trying not to make a mistake to Aubrey Huff with one out and a runner on first.

"We talk about the success of our pitching staff being based off of how aggressive we are," Wakamatsu said. "I thought Jak came out in the sixth and tried to protect the lead. For me it really came down to getting behind on Huff 3-0, that was kind of the turning point of the game. I felt he should have challenged him a little more."

Look at the mlb.com pitch sequence (right) to see what Wak is talking about.

Instead, down 3-0, Jakubauskas intentionally tossed ball four. It would prove to be costly as Nolan Reimold singled up the middle to tie the game at 3-3. But the dagger came on the next at-bat when Luke Scott hit a shot to center field that Franklin Gutierrez first took a couple steps in on only to realize it was going to be over his head. He retreated but couldn't glove it. Scott got a triple and two runs scored to push the lead to 5-3 and chase Jakubauskas. From there it just snowballed. The Orioles finished with four in the sixth and then tacked on six in the seventh, including a three-run homer for Scott, who finished 3-for-4 with 7 RBI.

“In two innings, the game was basically out of control,” Wakamatsu said.

Here's the lines on the Mariner relievers ...
Jakubauskas -- 1 1/3 IP 4 hits, 4 runs, 1 BB
Kelley --- 1 IP, 4 hits, 5 runs, 2 BB,
Corcoran --- 1 2/3 IP, 1 hit, 1 run, 1 HR
White --- 1 IP, 1 K

Obviously, Shawn Kelley is still fighting off the rust, which Wak alluded to after the game, saying he's fighting his mechanics a little and Roy Corcoran was trying to be aggressive but just left a pitch up.

Offensively though, Jeremy Guthrie was not feeling well and was bothered by light-headedness and a queasy stomach and the Mariners missed out in the second and early in the third when he had some walks to put runners on base.

"We had a chance to blow it open," Wakamatsu said.

Another quick note Orioles manager Dave Trembley followed up his meltdown on the field with another one in the clubhouse, including a bit of a rant and some tossing of things. I haven't gotten quite the details, but I'll keep you posted.

=> Read more!

BOX SCORE

Well, not much for the way of post game quotes, since our new deadlines only allowed me to get to the Wakamatsu interview and nothing else.

He was relatively positive after the game. Obviously, getting down 9-2 wasn't ideal, but showing a little fight made him happy.

“Just to battle back,” Wakamatsu said. “This team does not give up. To be able to at least have a chance to come back and tie it was awfully exciting.”

As for Gaudin, who tied a career high with the 11 strikeouts, Wakamatsu credited his breaking ball.

“For me, it was his breaking ball,” Wakamatsu said. “He had an extremely good breaking ball and kept hitters off balance.”

The Mariners had a chance to get to Gaudin in the second when they loaded the bases with no outs and got just one run - a bases loaded walk from Cedeno. Johnson struck out, Betancourt struck out and Ichiro almost doubled down the line but it was called foul and then he grounded out.

“Chad set the tone, especially getting out of the 2nd inning with only one run," Padres manager Bud Black said. "The big out for me was Suzuki. I've seen him so much and I think any time you can get Suzuki out it's a big out...you saw it late in the game, he got a base hit, Branyan homered; he got a base hit, here comes the tying run. I've seen Suzuki and he's so good, so that was a big out for me"

"Chad really settled in with his fastball, had good command and a good slider...7 solid innings."

The best example of Gaudin's slider was the swings where Betancourt and Cedeno were reaching at a pitch outside with their butt going the opposite way.

Branyan had the golden sombrero of four K's, while Cedeno, Betancourt, Johnson and Balentien all struck out twice. Of course, Cedeno could have had four strikeouts if they wouldn't have somehow walked him twice. He looks absolutely lost at the plate.

Wakamatsu wasn't completely disappointed with Olson or Corcoran. He didn't like the pitch to Gonzalez or the fact that Olson allowed Everth Cabrera to steal back to back bases on him.

“It’s the little things we talk about being successful,” Wakamatsu said. “I thought he had great stuff today, but the little things like the high pitch to Gonzalez and controlling the running game hurt him.”

As for Corcoran, Wakamatsu said some of the pitches on the two walks were borderline.

Here's the pitch f/x for both at-bats:
Kyle Blanks walk

Henry Blanco walk

PADRES NOTES:
• The Padres scored a season high tying 9 runs (last: 5/25 at Arizona in a 9-7, 10-inning win)…also recorded 13 hits, their most since hitting 13 on May 25 at Arizona, 7th time this season with 13 or more hits in a game.
• San Diego has now won 2 straight and 3 of the last 5 Interleague games after losing 13 in a row.
• Starting pitcher Chad Gaudin struck out 11 batters, tying his career high (Last: 9/30/07 v. LAA w/ OAK) and also tied a season-high with 7.0 frames (last: 5/8 v. HOU).
• Adrian Gonzalez’s 2-run home run in the 4th inning tied him with Albert Pujols (STL) for most home runs in the Majors with 24…Gonzalez leads the Majors with 16 road home runs and has hit safely in 25 of 33 road games (.294/35x119)
• Everth Cabrera went 2x3 with a walk and 2 runs scored, recording the first 2 stolen bases of his MLB career.
• Kevin Kouzmanoff went 2x5 and has now hit safely in 12 of his past 14 games (.321/18x56). Kouzmanoff is a career .313 Interleague hitter (41x131) in 36 games.
• David Eckstein extended his hitting streak to 6 games, going 3x5 with 2 RBI for the night…has hit safely in 15 of his last 18 games (.348/24x69).
• Chase Headley went 2x4 with a run scored. 11 of Headley’s 13 multi-hit games this season have come on the road.
• The Padres improved their record against the Mariners this season to 2-2, scoring more runs than their previous 3 match ups against Seattle combined.
• In his first game back from the DL, Scott Hairston went 2x5 for the night with an RBI.

MARINERS NOTES:
• Despite the loss, the Mariners remain 2 ½ games behind the AL West lead (Rangers, Angels tied for 1st).
• Ken Griffey Jr. hit the 5000th home run in team history- a solo shot in 6th inning…Griffey’s 406th with Mariners.
• Ken Griffey Jr. went 2x4 with a home run and has hit safely in 9 consecutive games against Padres...during the streak he is batting .375 (15x40) with 11 runs, 5 doubles, 2 home runs and 8 RBI...between 2000 and 2002, he had a 12-game hit streak against San Diego…also set season high with 3 runs…has hits in 11 of last 14 home games (.381/16x42).
• Ichiro Suzuki went 2x5 with a run scored and extended his home hitting streak against the Padres to 10 games dating back to May 19, 2006...during the streak, he is batting .425 (17x40) with 10 runs, and 11 stolen bases. Ichiro’s .359 batting average leads the American League.
• Miguel Batista tossed 2.0 shutout innings, his 10th appearance this season of at least 2.0 frames...when recording at least 6 outs in a game, he is 1-0 with a 1.23 ERA (3 ER, 22.0 IP) this season.
• Franklin Gutierrez went 2x4, extending his hitting streak to 5 games…during the streak he is batting .333 (7x21). Gutierrez’s longest hitting streak this season is 8 games, and his career high is 10.
• Wladimir Balentien went 2x4 and has now hit safely in 18 of his 30 starts this season (.252/25x103).
• Kenji Johjima, on rehab assignment in AAA Tacoma caught 7.0 innings and went 2x4 at the plate.

BOX SCORE

The definition of a rivalry is not Padres-Mariners no matter how much Bud Selig wants it to be. The so called "natural" rivals in interleague play don't hate each other. There's no bragging rights over the Fields No. 12 and 13 at the Peoria Spring training complex or the best tables at the Salty Seniorita or first in line at the In-Out burger.

But also in my definition of a rivalry each team has an equal chance of winning and of late that isn't the case.

The Mariners have owned the Padres (one of the worst big league teams I've ever seen).

With Wednesday’s 4-3 win over the Padres, Seattle has now won eight straight against their rivals and 10 straight at Petco Park. It’s the longest winning streak by an opponent at Petco since it opened. In the last 20 games against the Padres the Mariners have won 16.

Yeah, it was far from dominating and Nick Hundley's poor decision and even worse pick-off throw to third that was low and left, and allowed Franklin Gutierrez to trot home with the winning run was a gift.

Garrett Olson didn't pitch bad, but he gave up two homers on 0-2 pitches, and after the press meeting when I asked Don Wakamatsu how frustrating watching 0-2 bombs are, he just stuck out his jaw, looked down and shook his head.

Still Wak was pretty happy with Olson's outing --- 6 IP, 3 runs, 2 hits and a walk.

"Other than that he was awfully good today," Wak said. "I thought his composure was good and like the way he attacked the hitters."

Wak said he would have preferred a few more change-ups from Olson, particularly to right-handers like Kevin Kouzmanoff and Chase Headley, who hit the homers.

Mike Carp was pretty funny after the game.

He talked about his ultra hard swing on the 1-0 pitch.

"He threw slider away and I knew he didn't want to go 2-0 to me, so why not try to lose one there," Carp said.

But more impressive he was able to come back and lay off some pitches out of the zone and draw a walk. I don't imagine many guys work walks in the first MLB at-bats.

Lopez with his 10th homer this season...he has hit seven of those 10 homers in the last 17 games. Since May 29th, he’s hitting .333 (22-for-66) and raised his average from .216 to .248.