And He's Off...

Ichiro leads off with a triple, then freezes and doesn't score on Willie Bloomquist's infield single. These Mariners invent ways not to score. Raul Ibanez ruined the shutout, hitting an RBI double.

Seattle is rolling. ...

Now Pitching For Seattle ...

The Mariners likely will call up Ryan Rowland-Smith in the next few days and give him at least one start in the spot currently filled by R.A. Dickey. They're also close to sending Brandon Morrow to Tacoma, giving him three starts there to stretch him out to about 75 pitches, then bring him back. If that happens, Morrow will take the spot now occupied by Miguel Batista, who will then join Dickey in the bullpen.

And Erik Bedard? It's beginning to look as if the the left-hander has pitched his last game of the season. ...

Knuckle ball 101 ...

Throw a knuckler into the wind and there's no telling exactly what it might do. Wrong.

R.A. Dickey says he can throw his eight warmup pitches on the mound before the start on an inning and get a pretty good feel for what the breeze will do to his pitches. From there, it's a matter of subtle adjustments.

Dickey would much rather pitch in a breeze than, say, in a dome as he did last week in Toronto. Indoors, the knuckler doesn't move as much.

Now you know. ...

Keep Those Zeroes Coming ...

When a starting pitcher holds the opposition scoreless for a few innings, it's amazing the impact that can have on his offense.

Rather than playing catch up, a team can grab a lead and add on as the game goes along. That was always the theory the Mariners had for '08.

The problem was, their rotation kept falling behind early and often.

To the bottom of the 4th:

Seattle 6, Texas 0 ...

Where's Yuni?

SS Yuniesky Betancourt isn't playing tonight but was in the original lineup.

What happened? He was scratched late because of a tender elbow, and may miss tonight's game, too. ...

Talk, talk, talk ...

Seattle didn't do much at the trading deadline, but 20 of the 30 major league teams stood pat.

If you have big pieces to be moved - a Jason Bay, a Rich Harden, even a Ken Griffey Jr. - a bad team can restock its system with young players.

If you have smaller pieces, the offers rarely make any sense unless you simply want them gone.

GM Lee Pelekoudas had few players any contending team found worth even a second-tier prospect. So he walked away from deals that promised more mediocrity. ...

Mr. Lopez Does It Again ...

With his eighth-inning single, Jose Lopez pushed that consecutive game hitting streak to 18 - and that's one week short of Ichio's club-record 25-game streak.

Now if the bullpen can hang on.

Seattle 8, Texas 2. To the ninth ...