SEATTLE – The Mariners drew 37,798 fans Friday for the opening of their series with the Twins.

    There don’t figure to be many more games of 35,000-plus for the Mariners this year with Seattle 23 games out of first place.

    The only reason Seattle drew that many Friday was a bobblehead giveaway of Ichiro Suzuki which had fans lined up four hours before the first pitch. It was the fifth and last bobblehead promotion of the season for the Mariners. Seattle lost, 6-3, to Minnesota.

    At the beginning of the decade the Mariners could be counted upon to be one of the American League leaders in home attendance. From 2000-2003 the Mariners drew over 3 million fans per year to the then-new Safeco Field. It didn’t hurt that the club won 90-plus games a season during that stretch.

    In four of the previous six years before 2010, the club lost more games than it one, three times losing 90 or more. So the attendance has... (more)

SEATTLE – On Monday and Tuesday, new Seattle manager Daren Brown saw some of the best that the Mariners have to offer.

Good pitching, good defense and just enough offense to get by.

Wednesday, however, saw the other side of the coin – the defense was still there, but mediocre pitching and anemic offense kept Seattle from sweeping a three-game series from Oakland, the A’s winning the finale behind left-handed pitcher Dallas Braden.

"I liked the last two games better than this one," Brown said after a 5-1 loss. "But overall I’ve seen things I’ve liked. I’m happy with the way the first three games have gone."

When he took the job from the fired Don Wakamatsu, Brown said he’d need to see the team "a couple of games" before he started evaluating what he has on hand. After having seen three games, he now knows he’ll need a little more time.

"When you are 110 games into the season, you’re not going to change guys' routines," he said.

Brown knows most of the... (more)

    SEATTLE – The firing of manager Don Wakamatsu was not, in the end, the strangest thing that happened in Safeco Field Monday.

    The Mariners did let Wakamatsu go and brought up Daren Brown from Triple-A Tacoma to manage.

    But, hey, that stuff happens all the time. Brown is the fifth manager for Seattle in the last three-plus years.

    The four-inning triple play started by third baseman Jose Lopez – now that’s rare. There have been only 10 in Seattle history (as opposed to 17 managers) and there hadn’t been one turned by Seattle since 1995.

    It was a nice ice-breaker for the Mariners, who were dealing with emotional issues that crop up when a manager and coaches – bench coach Ty Van Burkleo and pitching coach Rick Adair also were axed – get sent packing.

    With Oakland runners on first and second and none out in the fourth inning, Lopez started the first triple play in 15... (more)

    SEATTLE – One year after being toasted as one of the best young managers in the game, Don Wakamatsu is unemployed.

    General manager Jack Zduriencik sacked Wakamatsu Monday morning, replacing him with Triple-A Tacoma manager Daren Brown. Also shown the door were coaches Ty Van Burkleo (bench) and Rick Adair (pitching), replaced by Roger Hansen (bench) and Carl Willis (pitching).

    Although he spoke about the firing for almost half an hour, Zduriencik couldn’t, or more likely wouldn’t give a specific reason for the firing other than he’s lost confidence in Wakamatsu, Van Burkleo and Adair being the right men for the Mariners now and going forward.

    It wasn’t any one thing, Zduriencik said. It wasn’t the fallout over Ken Griffey Jr. quitting mid-season. It wasn’t the fallout over second baseman Chone Figgins getting into it in the dugout with Wakamatsu late last month.

    Asked if he... (more)

    SEATTLE – The Mariners have waited all season for the time when Ichiro Suzuki and Chone Figgins would be getting on base in bunches.

    It seems that after four months, that time is finally here.

   Both men had two hits Sunday, Ichiro scored twice and Figgins and one run scored and one driven in in the finale of three-game series with the Royals, a 3-2 Mariner victory.

    "Ichi and Figgy set the table and do their thing,’’ said first baseman Casey Kotchman, whose single in the sixth inning scored both Ichiro and Figgins as the Mariners took a 2-1 lead the club never relinquished. "When they do that, it makes it tough on the opponent.

    Figgins, who has a season-best seven-game hitting streak, is 12-for-23 during the first six games of the current homestand. Since July 27 he owns a .438 average. Since July 26, Ichiro’s average is .339.

    "It’s nice to see our top guys get on base like that,... (more)

    Baseball makes no sense, Chapter 25:

    Mariners 7, Royals 1.

    It’s not that the Mariners beat the Royals; although Seattle is bad, Kansas City is bad, too. It’s just that the Mariners beat 2009 Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke Friday, which is the baseball equivalent of pole-vaulting 20 feet.

    Greinke was a perfect 4-0 in his career against the Mariners. In his previous 39 innings against Seattle, he’d allowed just two runs, one earned run, and at one point threw 31 consecutive scoreless innings.

    Ryan Langerhans, the backup outfielder who had never faced Greinke in his career, hit the first pitch he saw from the right hander out over the center-field fence, and for the rest of the night, the Mariners played inspired baseball – winning baseball at that.

    Langerhans went on to add a double and a single.

    Add to his story that of Chone Figgins. The second baseman... (more)

    Back in spring training, the Mariners were almost giddy thinking about the kind of offense they could have with two proven leadoff hitters – Ichiro Suzuki and Chone Figgins – batting at the top of their lineup.

    It hasn’t played out like that, however. Ichiro has played well, but he’s had an up-and-down season for the most part.

    Figgins has been a disappointment, both on offense and defense, but mostly on offense because Seattle had seen him so many times take over the game while playing for the Angels.

    In nine games since July 26, Ichiro is 16-for-45 for a .355 average. Figgins, batting second behind Ichiro, has been even better, 16-for-42, .381.

    But the results are far from what the Mariners expected. Seattle is 1-8 in the nine games since July 26, falling to a season-worst 29 games under .500 at 40-69. In those nine games, the Mariners have been shut out four times, including a 6-0 loss to... (more)

    The Seattle winning streak didn’t last as long as the Mariners would have liked.

    It lasted one game.

    A day after the Mariners brought a seven-game losing streak to an end with a 3-2 win over Texas on Tuesday, Seattle went out and scored six runs, its most productive offensive game in almost two weeks.

    But defensive miscalculations and the pitchers’ inability to keep the Texas bats in check led to an 11-6 win by the Rangers, who got back-breaking homers from David Murphy, a three-run shot in the fifth, and Michael Young, a grand slam in the seventh.

    Murphy’s homer took what had been a 5-3 Seattle lead and put Texas in the lead for the first time in the night at 6-5.

    Then with Seattle down just one run in the seventh inning, Mariner reliever Garrett Olson got two quick strikeouts, then gave up back-to-back singles. He got a grounder from shortstop Elvin Andrus that should have ended... (more)

SEATTLE – Mariners’ general manager Jack Zduriencik didn’t exactly give manager Don Wakamatsu an unconditional vote of confidence Tuesday, but he came reasonably close.

        Suggestions have abounded that Wakamatsu, whose team was 39-67 before beating Texas 3-2 Tuesday, was on the verge of being blamed for the Mariner misery and summarily fired.

        That didn’t happen. In fact, Zduriencik said Wakamatsu is the Seattle manager for the moment and there are no plans to change that.

        Zduriencik didn’t seem to give much credence to suggestions that he hadn’t backed his manager up by insisting on an apology from second baseman Chone Figgins after Figgins got in Wakamatsu’s face after being pulled from a game on the last homestand.

        Specifically, the general manager said that suggestions that the club didn’t publicly... (more)

SEATTLE – This entire season has been a struggle for Seattle, and Tuesday was no different.

        Well, it was a little different. The Mariners played solid baseball from start to finish and they beat AL West-leading Texas, 3-2.  That brought a seven-game Seattle losing streak to an end. More importantly, perhaps, it was a game that underscored the fact that the Mariners haven’t quit.

        Seattle, which to a 3-2 lead in the fifth on a solo homer by Franklin Gutierrez, had a chance to give the game back in the eighth inning after reliever Brandon League walked the first two men he faced.

        Slugger Josh Hamilton hit a grounder to second baseman Chone Figgins on which the Mariners thought they’d gotten a double play. They didn’t, and Texas right fielder Nelson Cruz, who has a history of hurting the Mariners, rifled a shot toward right field.

     ... (more)

    SEATTLE – Things could have gone better for the Red Sox this weekend.

    Matched up against a Seattle team that had won only four of 20 games to start the month, the Red Sox scored wins Thursday and Friday, then let leads and wins slip away Saturday and Sunday.

    How badly did the Red Sox, who started the day seven games out of first place in the American League East, take the two losses? Pretty badly.

    Sunday’s starting pitcher for the Red Sox, Daisuke Matsuzaka, gave up just one run in six innings and seemed to think he could have given his manager Terry Francona, another inning although he’d already thrown 110 pitches.

    Matsuzaka wasn’t around when the Mariners rallied for three runs in the eighth, mostly against Hideki Okajima. Seattle collected six straight hits to begin the inning, all but one of those off Okajima.

    And Matsuzaka wasn’t around for long when the American... (more)

    When the third out of the top of the ninth inning settled into the glove of right fielder Ichiro Suzuki, it brought to an end one of the stranger days in Seattle’s 2010 season.

    And there have been plenty of those.

    After the Mariners had a team meeting talking about accountability, after manager Don Wakamatsu and second baseman Chone Figgins tried to straighten out their Friday night differences and after Boston’s Jon Lester threw a perfect game at them for 5 1/3 innings, the Mariners somehow managed to rally to beat the Red Sox 5-1.

    Perfection vanished when center fielder Eric Patterson dropped a fly ball off the bat of Jack Wilson one out into the sixth inning. Michael Saunders, the next hitter, called time with the count 2-2, and it may have thrown Lester off, because Saunders then unloaded a monster home run into the right-field seats.

    That blast gave Seattle a 2-1 lead, and the Mariners would add... (more)

    The Mariners did what they could to put their house back in order again Saturday, less than 24 hours after some fractures showed in the foundation.

    It started when second baseman Chone Figgins did not cover second base as he should have on a throw to the infield from left fielder Michael Saunders. Saunders was charged with an error, but it was Figgins’ job to cover the base, and he didn’t.

    That was egregious enough for manager Don Wakamatsu to take Figgins out of the game, and Figgins got in his face between the top and bottom of the sixth inning to express his displeasure. Teammates came in to make sure Figgins and the manager didn’t get into it, and in fact the two men never touched each other.

   On Saturday afternoon, the clubhouse was closed for a team meeting, a meeting that followed a summit among Wakamatsu, Figgins and general manager Jack Zduriencik. After that, Figgins was back in the lineup, which was a bit surprising... (more)

    SEATTLE – The Mariners still have some fight left in themselves, although Friday saw them come closer to fighting each other than the opposition.

    Teammates had to separate second baseman Chone Figgins and manager Don Wakamatsu after Figgins was removed from the game after the top of the fifth inning.

    It was Figgins’ job to cover second base on a throw-in from left fielder Michael Saunders, and when he didn’t, Boston base runner Mike Cameron made it from second base to third.

    And when he was told he was going to be replaced by Josh Wilson, Figgins didn’t take it well. He went to Wakamatsu, both to ask why and to explain himself, and while the conversation started calmly enough, emotion started pouring out, although there was no physical contact between the two.

    Third baseman Jose Lopez, first baseman Russell Branyan and starting pitcher Jason Vargas were among those who separated the two men who... (more)

    There’s nothing that Seattle manager Don Wakamatsu has said more often this year than that his team never quits.

    Sometimes it’s wishful thinking. The last two nights, it has been reality.

    Down 1-0 in the 11th inning Wednesday, the Mariners scored twice to beat the White Sox. Down 6-1 in the ninth inning Thursday, they scored five times to tie the Red Sox and force extra innings.

    But in this most vexing of seasons, even that wasn’t enough. The Mariners had two shots to win Thursday with the bases loaded in the 12th inning, then saw the Red Sox score an 8-6 win in the 13th.

    The moral? Not quitting is one thing. Winning is not necessarily a companion piece, however.

    Seattle got back-to-back singles from Jack Wilson and Ichiro Suzuki and a sacrifice bunt from Chone Figgins to start the bottom of the 12th. Boston reliever Hideki Okajima opted to walk Franklin Gutierrez,... (more)

    The idea when the Mariners opted to bring back injured left-handed starting pitcher Erik Bedard just before the start of spring training was that he would be a nice midseason addition to a team that would be a contender.

    Part of that plan went downhill when the Mariners began the season losing more than any team in the American League save for Baltimore, and it took another hit this week with the apparent end of Bedard’s season before it even started.

    Bedard, coming off left shoulder surgery, had been throwing bullpen sessions and simulated games with the plan that he’d return to the starting rotation this week.

    That’s not happening, and it seems he won’t be pitching for the Mariners at all this year, although the Mariners aren’t willing to say that just yet.

    Bedard had a CT scan and an MRI on his left shoulder this week and he’s got inflammation in the area of the original surgery.... (more)

    SEATTLE – Among the many things the Mariners haven’t done well this year is bunting.

    That all changed in the 11^th inning Wednesday night. Jack Wilson bunted for a hit. Ichiro Suzuki bunted him to second. And that set up a two-run inning that enabled the Mariners to rally from a 1-0 deficit to score a 2-1 victory.

    Ichiro’s bunt was followed by a single from Chone Figgins that got Wilson to third base. Figgins then stole second base and when the White Sox opted to pitch to Franklin Gutierrez rather than walking him, Gutierrez delivered a two-run game-winning single.

    It started with Wilson.

    "I saw the second baseman (Gordon Beckham) was back and (first baseman Paul) Konerko was back so I thought I'd try to take advantage,’’ Wilson said. "And it worked out.’’

    Wilson had no trouble getting to third on Ichiro’s bunt down the first base line that was good enough... (more)

    A year ago, a back injury cost Russell Branyan the final month of his season with the Mariners and, ultimately, the chance to get a multiple-year contract from Seattle.

    Now that Branyan has proven himself healthy again, he’s back with the Mariners. But he missed the first four games of the second half of the season after a table fell on his left foot. And on Monday, his back injuries cropped up again.

     He doubled in his first at-bat and easily made it to second base even while feeling some pain. Batting with two on and two out in the third, however, he could barely walk as he grounded into an inning-ending double play. The designated hitter was replaced by Casey Kotchman in the fifth inning.

    There is a bit of good news from the back-injury front, however, even after the Mariners dropped a 6-1 decision to the Chicago White Sox in the first of a four-game series.

    Branyan said the injury isn’t related... (more)

    SEATTLE – If there is one conclusion to be drawn from Friday’s trade of Cliff Lee and Mark Lowe to the Rangers for first baseman Justin Smoak and three minor leaguers, it should be that more trades are to follow.

    That’s because the roster isn’t sustainable in its current form.

    Smoak, a 23-year-old, 6-foot-4 rookie who is projected as a power hitter down the line, will be on hand at Safeco Field Saturday and should get his first start as a Mariner against the New York Yankees.

    But the Mariners already had a first baseman. They traded with Cleveland for Russell Branyan just two weeks ago, and Branyan has been a nice addition to the offense, although admittedly he didn’t do much Friday night in a 5-1 loss to the Yankees.

    Manager Don Wakamatsu said that Smoak, who was hitting just .209 with eight homers and 34 RBIs at the time of the deal, would be his everyday first baseman. What then to do... (more)

    SEATTLE – Russell Branyan is starting to see how the other side lives.

    Branyan homered in his first start after being traded back to Seattle from Cleveland, and in a little over a week complied three homers and nine RBIs.

    In Thursday’s opener against the Yankees at Safeco Field, however, he was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, perhaps not surprising given that he has never in 10 career at-bats had a hit against New York starter Andy Pettitte.

    It was in the sixth inning, however, where Branyan learned where the other Mariner hitters are coming from. With one out and the bases loaded and Seattle holding a 1-0 lead, he struck out looking at a 3-2 pitch from Pettitte.

    When Pettitte then struck out Jose Lopez to end the inning, that left the Mariners with just six hits in their last 50 at-bats with the bases loaded. It’s not like the Mariners have to hit .400 with the bases loaded – the Yankees do,... (more)

SEATTLE – If you’re into round numbers, Seattle lost for the 50th time in the 2010 season Wednesday, 7-3 to Kansas City.

        If you’re into funky numbers, you need to look at the Mariner offense and bullpen. Since April 23, the Mariners are 6-for-48 (.125) batting with the bases loaded. For the season, the relievers’ 4.76 ERA is almost a full point higher (0.93) than the 3.83 mark posted by the relievers last year.

        In Wednesday’s loss, which gave the visiting Royals a sweep of the three-game set, the Mariners had two shots with the bases loaded, both with third baseman Jose Lopez up. He grounded into a home-to-first double play the first time and grounded out with two out the second time.

        This is not to put the blame on Lopez. No matter the name on the back of the uniform, if the word "Mariners’’ is on... (more)

    SEATTLE – If 2010 has proved anything to the Seattle Mariners, it’s that they have to take advantage of every opportunity.

    And when they are facing someone like Kansas City ace Zack Greinke, that’s doubly true.

    Greinke has been almost invulnerable against Seattle in recent years and came into Tuesday’s start in Safeco Field having thrown 29 consecutive scoreless innings against the Mariners.

    So when Seattle scratched out an unearned run in the third inning, it was time to try and push the limits against the 2009 Cy Young Award winner. The Mariners weren’t able to do that, but they did push him out of the game after seven innings, meaning the club had a chance to try and beat up on some of the Kansas City relievers.

    First, however, Seattle’s own relievers had to come through, and that didn’t happen in what would turn out to be a 3-2 loss to the Royals.

    Resurgent... (more)

    SEATTLE – The Mariners figure they have two All-Star quality starting pitchers in Cliff Lee and Felix Hernandez.

    One of them, Hernandez, isn’t going to next Tuesday’s All-Star Game in Anaheim.

    The other, Lee, has been given an All-Star berth, but over the longer term he could be going anywhere at any time.

    There were a flurry of blog-spawned rumors that had Lee having been traded to Minnesota in the middle of Monday’s 6-4 10-inning loss to Kansas City. At the game’s end, Lee was still a Mariner.

    There was a chance that Hernandez could be added to the All-Star roster when the injured Clay Buchholz of the Red Sox had to back out of participation, but Yankee manager Joe Girardi, not surprisingly, decided to take his own guy, Andy Pettitte, over Hernandez.

    Pettitte has All-Star numbers, including a 2.82 ERA and 10 wins. Hernandez leads the AL in quality starts with 15 and... (more)

    SEATTLE – A spot of stiffness in Erik Bedard’s left shoulder has pushed the return of the Mariner left-handed starting pitcher back to at least this weekend.

    Bedard, who is recovering from shoulder surgery done last Aug. 14, had been scheduled to start Tuesday against Kansas City. That has been shelved after Bedard felt the return of pain after throwing a bullpen session Saturday in Tacoma.

    Ryan Rowland-Smith will start in Bedard’s place and the Mariners will look to possibly have Bedard start during one of the four games against the Yankees this weekend. If not, his return will be after the All-Star break with the All-Star Game set for Tuesday in Anaheim.

    "Erik felt a little discomfort in his last bullpen session in Tacoma,’’ manager Don Wakamatsu said. "We’re going to have our doctors reevaluate him. It’s a little stiffness in the shoulder. And at this point, why rush him?’’

 ... (more)

   Russell Branyan, who gave the Mariners much of their offensive muscle last year, has been reacquired by Seattle.

    The Mariners traded two minor leaguers to the Indians in exchange for Branyan, who had hoped to sign a multi-year deal with Seattle in the off-season only to find the Mariners were wary about the back injury that cost him the final month of his 2009 season.

    He instead signed with the Indians, who had to deal with him missing much of spring training. But he’s played in 51 games for Cleveland posting a .262 average, 10 homers and 24 RBIs.

    The move comes with first baseman/DH Mike Sweeney having been scratched from Saturday’s start in Milwaukee. Sweeney has been troubled by back pain much of the last two seasons with Seattle

    General manager Jack Zduriencik said that in trading minor league infielder Juan Dian and minor league outfielder Ezequiel Carrera, players with some promise, the club is getting some... (more)