GAME THOUGHTS START HERE:

9:22 -- WEll, it's now a 4-2 game because Chase Headley just hit a line-drive homer that got just high enough off the ground to clear the wall at 336. The Mariners have 11 hits and six walks and only four runs to show for it. But they also have a chance to break the club record of 16 runner left on base in a nine inning game. They're at 14 right now. The AL record is 20.

8:44 -- Sorry for the delay, I was having some internet issues, namely the wireless here crashed. And I thought it was something with the blog software instead. The Mariners have actually drove in some of those base runners they had been stranding, getting three in the third, but it's only 3-0 and they have 10 hits.

7:55 -- The Mariners have now stranded eight runners on base in three innings. Mojo is definitely risin.

7:34 -- Ichiro sneaks a base hit through three guys. Randy Wolf is all over the place with his command. Maybe his middle name is "Miguel"

7:21 -- R.A. Dickey is wearing the old school stirrups pulled up high, it looks - awesome.

7:18 -- That was pathetic. Bases loaded, one out, two strikeouts, no runs - Mariner's baseball the Mojo's Risin.

LINEUPS
MARINERS
Ichiro RF
Lopez 2B
Ibanez LF
Beltre 3B
Sexson 1B
Johjima C
Betancourt SS
Bloomquist CF
Washburn P

PADRES
Jody Gerut CF
Edgar Gonzalez 2B
Brian Giles RF
Adrian Gonzalez 1B
Kevin Kouzmanoff 3B
Chase Headley LF
Khalil Greene SS
Michael Barrett C
Randy Wolf P

Sorry this is late, but here's John McLaren's meltdown after Wednesday's 5-4 loss to the Angels.

Yes, Mac's mad, frustrated and just about fed up with what's happened so far this season. But at least he didn't throw a phone like Hal McRae.

And it's probably not fare to compare McLaren to his old boss, Lou Piniella, either.

The first round of baseball's annual draft is finished. The next part of the draft involves compensation for free-agent signings. The Mariners do not have one of these 16 picks. Their next pick is in the second round, which will be the 66th overall selection.

Here's a list of the compensation picks:

=> Read more!

Thanks to the Associated Press, here's a list of No. 1 picks dating back to 1965, the year of the first draft:

2008 — Timothy Beckham, ss (Tampa Bay Devil Rays)
2007 — David Price, lhp (Tampa Bay Devil Rays)
2006 — Luke Hochevar, rhp (Kansas City Royals)
2005 — Justin Upton, ss (Arizona Diamondbacks)
2004 — Matt Bush, ss (San Diego Padres)

=> Read more!

Here's the Associated Press story on the Rays' top pick:

The Tampa Bay Rays selected Tim Beckham with the No. 1 pick in the baseball draft, choosing the talented high school shortstop from Griffin, Ga., over Florida State catcher Buster Posey.

Beckham was recognized as one of the best pure athletes in the draft and labeled a legitimate five-tool player. He established himself as the top prep prospect in the nation with solid performances at last summer’s high school showcase events and hit .500 with five homers, 31 RBIs and 16 stolen bases this season.

“I found out this morning. ... The scouting director gave me a call and the general manager gave me a call. It was crazy. I was about to do a backflip in my room,” Beckham said.

“It means everything in the world. I’ve worked this hard the last three or four years, me and my brothers and my dad. This means all the hard work paid off. I hope to become an All-Star and after that I want to become a Hall of Famer.”

This is the second straight year the Rays have had the No. 1 pick. David Price, a hard-throwing left-hander from Vanderbilt, was the choice in 2007 and is off to a great start with Class-A Vero Beach.

Beckham is the third high school shortstop taken No. 1 overall in the last five years, joining Justin Upton (Arizona, 2005) and Matt Bush (San Diego, 2004).

There is always pressure to get the No. 1 pick right, but the Rays imposed some extra heat on themselves this year because they’re hoping it will be years before they’ll be in a position to select first again.

Tampa Bay whittled its list of candidates for the top pick to five, then trimmed it to two — Beckham and Posey, a converted shortstop who developed into one of college baseball’s top offensive and defensive catchers over the past year.

The Rays called Posey a couple of hours before the draft to inform him that they were going to select Beckham. The Florida State star wound going to the San Francisco Giants with the fifth pick.

Baseball's annual draft is just about to begin. The Mariners have the 20th pick in the first round; we'll post here with the team's draft picks throughout the day.

Here's a story on Auburn High's Kyle Buchanan, who said he's OK with going to WSU if he's not drafted.

Mariners writer Ryan Divish talked to Mariners VP of scouting Bob Fontaine the other day about what the Mariners might do.

And, here's a list of the Mariners first-round draft picks throughout the years.

=> Read more!

John McLaren looks and sounds like what he is – the manager of a team that has become a colossal disappointment and doesn’t appear on the verge of turning its season around.

“Ownership isn’t happy, the fans aren’t happy and nobody in this clubhouse should be happy,” McLaren said. “People have had it. They want results. Some of the guys might be complacent, and they shouldn’t be.

“There’s always the concept of addition by subtraction. That’s a possibility here.”

Take control of the team – at least online. If this team starts making major overhauls on the field, where would you start?

Forget for the moment the general manager and manager, focus only on the 25-man roster. Who goes, who changes roles, who replaces who?

And try to enjoy Carlos Silva’s 13th start.

Just a heads up. Ryan's hosting a live chat about the Mariners at thenewstribune.com

Let's get this out of the way first....

Here's my story about yesterday's loss to the Angels...

And here's my notebook about Richie returning to first base.

Speaking of the big first baseman, he's back in the line-up again today, this time batting sixth. One thing that manager John McLaren mentioned last night is that Richie is batting with a more open stance. I wanted to ask Richmond Lockwood Sexson about it, but he was nowhere to be found in the clubhouse.

Here's the lineup quickly
Ichiro CF
Lopez 2B
Vidro DH
Ibanez LF
Beltre 3B
Sexson 1B
Balentien RF
Burke C
Betancourt SS
-------
Jamie Burke's personal pitcher

I talked with Balentien today. He said he's also been doing private work with Pentland to kind of adjust some things that were necessary.

"Everybody was throwing hard inside and soft away," Balentien said.

He thinks he's taking steps to adjust to that, but more than anything is pitch selection and not settling.

"In Triple A, guys make more mistake pitches, up here you might only see one mistake an at-bat if you are lucky," he said.

We also met with Bob Fontaine, the Mariners' vice president of scouting. He talked about the draft on Thursday.

The Mariners pick 20th and he feels that they will get somebody solid. He admitted that they are leaning toward college players, particularly starting pitching, relievers and a left-handed bats.

He didn't let on too much, but admitted that many teams are being tight-lipped about the early picks and the scenarios are all over the place. Nearly every mock draft has a multitude of possibilities.

Need proof?

Here's the guru Jim Callis of Baseball America's mock draft .... He has the Mariners taking ...

20. MARINERS. Seattle grabbed a high school righthander with Phillippe Aumont at No. 11 last year, and they could go for another in 2008, especially if none of them have gone off the board yet. That would give the Mariners their choice of Melville, Ethan Martin (Georgia) and Jake Odorizzi (Illinois). If they wanted to try to duplicate their success with Brandon Morrow, they could go for Texas Christian closer Andrew Cashner.

Projected Pick: TIM MELVILLE.

Here's Steve Henson of Yahoo's mock draft.... he has the Mariners taking

20. Seattle Mariners – Tim Melville, RHP (Wentzville, Mo., Holt HS): There has been talk that the Cardinals could pluck Melville at the No. 13 spot because he’s a local talent, but that rarely tips the scales on draft day. It’s more likely that he’ll end up with a team willing to take a chance on the top right-handed high school pitcher in the draft.

Here's ESPN's Keith Law's projections .... here's his pick for the Ms

20. Seattle -- Daniel Schlereth, LHP, Arizona

Everyone is assuming the M's will take a college reliever and shoot him to the big leagues to help their beleaguered bullpen. Cashner, Schlereth, Fields and perhaps Aaron Weatherford would fit here, as well as Arizona's Ryan Perry, who was great on the Cape last summer but has had an up-and-down spring. Scouting director Bob Fontaine has long shown a preference for size, which could hurt Schlereth (he's short) but also could help him (he's built like a football player, oddly enough).

MLB.com's Jonanthan Mayo's picks --- he has the Mariners taking ...

20. Seattle Mariners: Shooter Hunt, RHP, Tulane
All along, the feeling was the Mariners would look for the best college pitcher with a live arm. It could be Perry or Cashner if they were here, but they're not in this projection. If they want to go with a safer college arm, Ole Miss right-hander Lance Lynn could be discussed. Or they could go for a closer with someone like Fields. As of this writing, though, we'll say the Tulane ace's slide will stop here.
Last week's projection: Hunt

I love that guy's name.

The pitching matchups for the Angels series

Tonight – LHP Jarrod Washburn (2-6, 6.54 ERA) vs. RHP Ervin Santana (7-2, 3.09), 7:10 p.m.

Tuesday – LHP Erik Bedard (4-3, 4.08) vs. LHP Joe Saunders (8-2, 2.76), 7:10 p.m.

Wednesday – LHP Carlos Silva (3-4, 6.00) vs. RHP Jered Weaver (4-6, 4.69), 1:40 p.m.

SCOUTING REPORT
While the Mariners were squandering a game in the ninth inning on Sunday, their opponent for the next three days – the Angels – were pulling one out.

The Angels rallied past the Toronto Blue Jays, 4-3, with two runs in the bottom of the ninth. That completed a six-game homestand in which all four of the Angels victories were of the walkoff variety.

=> Read more!

I'm back covering a game, so that's not a good thing. I think in the last 24 games I've covered, the Mariners have won two.

2-for-24?

That's kind of like Richie's recent run of hitting. Maybe that's why he is out of the line-up for the third straight game, which might be a good thing since the Mariners won the last two with him on the bench.

Manager John McLaren said he's going with the hot hand, meaning that Miguel Cairo is playing first and not Sexson, who's predicted AL Comeback Player of the Year campaign is still in the early stages.

"You know Richie, he wants to play and stuff," McLaren said. "There's not an easy answer for this. This is not a long-term thing. I'm just sticking with the hot hand. We know Richie wants to play, but it is what it is."

Let's look at their numbers....
Miguel Cairo: .186 (8-for-43) with a double.
Richie Sexson: .200 (31-for-155) with a six double, nine homers and 21 RBI

Wow, it's gotten that bad.

We tried to press McLaren more about Richie, particularly about the quote he had in Jim Moore's column today in the P-I

Asked if he still had faith in Sexson, McLaren said, "As long as he has faith in himself, I have faith in him. ... It's a battle, but he's working hard. We wanted to give him space to get himself together. There's not an easy answer to this."

For a moment it looked like McLaren really wanted to kind of clear the air, but he stopped short and offered this.

"This is starting to take on a life of its own,'' McLaren said. "It's just a situation where we expect a lot out of our players. We're just trying to get him going. But in the meantime, the team was struggling so bad and we won two games, and that's why Miguel is back out there."

My thoughts?

I have no problem with the move for a few games, but if Sexson has really become that bad, then you know what it's time to ship him out. I think we can all agree on that. As for a replacement, why not bring in Scott Hatteberg, who was just released by the Reds, or even call up Bryan LaHair and give him a chance to see what he can do. Could the production be any worse at this point? I think not.

Richie doesn't seem to happy with the situation. He avoided the open area of the clubhouse completely. So much so that a few players even commented, "Where's Richie? Has anybody seen Richie?" just loud enough for us all to hear. I didn't see him take any ground balls. He stood most of BP in the outfield sun talking to teammates. It's not exactly something you do when you 've been benched for not producing. I got to the field early today and didn't see him taking extra BP on the field, but he may have hit in the tunnels.

I'll be honest, I don't know what all he does pre-game, but I haven't seen much from him. Maybe he has a legit excuse, but if he's just pouting, it's not exactly the best thing to do to play your way back into the lineup.

And this isn't the first time this has happened, he did the same thing last season.

It's one thing to not produce, but it's something else to not produce and not give the extra effort to start producing. If Richie is doing it, then I'm wrong. But nothing I've seen in the last two weeks tells me that he is. I don't know that I'd even wait for a trade offer. Just designate him for assignment and send a message to others that this won't be tolerated.

Here's the pitching matchups for the Detroit series:

Friday – RHP Silva (3-2, 5.14) vs. vs. LHP Robertson (3-3, 5.88), 7:10 p.m.

Saturday – RHP Hernandez (2-5, 3.60) vs. RHP Verlander (2-7, 5.16), 12:55 p.m.

Sunday – RHP Batista (3-3, 5.98) vs. LHP Rogers (6-4, 5.88), 1:10 p.m.

SCOUTING REPORT
Sweeping the Mariners last week in Detroit didn’t exactly propel the Tigers onward and upward. Since outscoring Seattle 30-14 in a three-game series the Tigers have lost two out of three to the Minnesota Twins and two out of three to the Los Angeles Angels.

=> Read more!