Ichiro Suzuki takes aim at another milestone this afternoon, when the Seattle Mariners wrap up their four-game series against the Oakland Athletics at the Coliseum.

Seattle found itself on the wrong end of a 9-5 decision to the A's on Saturday, but Suzuki had three hits to leave him one shy of 2,000 for his major league career.

Suzuki also increased his number of hits this season to 194, and with six more will become the first player in major league history to have nine consecutive seasons with at least 200.

Provided that Suzuki, who has played in 1,401 games, gets a hit in his next 12 games, he will become the second-fastest to reach the 2,000 mark. Al Simmons did it in a record 1,390 games, while George Sisler is second on the list, accomplishing the feat in 1,414 contests.

"It's amazing, the amount of weapons he has to get that," Seattle manager Don Wakamatsu said. "He has such a feel for the ball and what he can do with his body and motion never ceases to amaze us. I watched him for a number of years, and I'm glad I'm going to be a part of that."

Oakland still managed to snap a seven-game losing streak to the Mariners, as Cliff Pennington finished 3-for-3 with a two-run homer to lead the way. Mark Ellis doubled twice and knocked in two runs for Oakland, while Daric Barton had a two-run double and walked twice in the win.

A's rookie Brett Anderson (8-10), winless in his last four starts, lasted five innings and yielded three runs on seven hits and two walks with six strikeouts.

"I was just fortunate enough to get through five and get a win out of it," said Anderson. "It's always good when your team scores runs, especially to put them in a hole early."

Seattle starter Luke French (4-5) was tagged for seven hits and five runs in 3 2/3 innings. The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Mariners.

Hoping to get Seattle back in the win column today will be 25-year-old righty Doug Fister, who is 2-1 with a 2.94 ERA. Fister picked up the win on Tuesday against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, limiting them to a run and five hits in 7 1/3 frames.

This will be his first meeting with the A's.

Oakland will counter with a 25-year-old of its own in left-hander Gio Gonzalez, who is 4-5 with a 6.07 ERA. Gonzalez, who has lost his last three decisions, did not get one on Monday against Kansas City, although he allowed five runs and six hits in 5 1/3 innings.

Gonzalez is 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA in four lifetime games against the Mariners, two of which have been starts.

After losing 10 of their 19 matchups with the A's last season, the Mariners have won 11 of 15 meetings between the teams this year, including six of nine held in Oakland. Since the start of the 2007 season, Seattle is 34-19 against Oakland with wins in 17 of the 27 games as the visitor.