M’s keep rolling, beat A’s 8-1; Welcome back Morrow, Putz

Behind another solid outing by Carlos Silva, who tossed seven four-hit innings, and an offensive attack led by Raul Ibanez, who had his second consecutive three-hit game (and third in his past seven), the Mariners rolled over the A’s by the 8-1 score that I totally called.  Carlos Silva is providing the solid presence in the rotation that was supposed to be provided by Erik Bedard (but whose hip problems, some how overlooked by the M’s scouting crops, may limit Bedard to less than 20 starts).  Still, even allowing six base runners in seven innings may be too many against an A’s club that is hitting .235 as a team, with as many home runs (six) as Marlins’ first baseman Mike Jacobs.

The M’s knocked out Oakland starter Lenny Dinardo by the third inning, as they piled up four singles and three walks- including a bases-loaded one worked by Kenji Johjima- to take a 5-0 lead.  Any time you’re facing former Astros prospect Kirk Saarlos by the third inning, you have to feel good about the M’s win expectancy, as the Mariners had this one in the bag by the fourth inning.  Still, Silva’s masterful performance allowed the M’s bullpen to toss two shutout innings to end the game, one by Ryan Rowland-Smith and the other by Brandon Morrow, who returned from a rehab assignment at Double-A West Tenn to strike out a batter in his first outing since last September 27.  Welcome back Brandon!

Besides the return of Brandon, other welcoming news includes a possible return of J.J. Putz by the middle of next week.  The one-two addition of Morrow and Putz- two arms that have noticeably been missed as the Mariners have coughed up two late-inning leads so far this season after a perfect 75-0 record last year- will be a remarkable infusion of confidence into a struggling bullpen.  It will be like adding two quality arms via trade, without having to give up anything in return.

So now the Mariners head to Anaheim to take on the first-place Angels, trailing Los Angeles by merely a game.  Although I’m feeling much more confident about the M’s chances in this series then last week’s face-off at Safeco- in which the M’s were returning from a 2-5 road trip to take two of three from the Angels- you still have to be a bit skeptical about tonight’s match-up.  It’s not just that the M’s are once again facing Joe Saunders, who is pitching like an early-season contender for Cy Young.  But R. A. Dickey is making his debut as a starter for the M’s, taking the mound in Bedard’s stead.  Sure, Dickey’s floater has fared well against L.A., as he’s won three of five decisions with a 4:1 K-to-BB ratio in 46 innings.  Still, when Dickey’s knuckleball is off, it’s really off, as witnessed by the fact that Dickey holds the record for most home runs allowed in a start, serving up six in less than four innings against Detroit in an April 2005 start, which turned out (not surprisingly) to not only be Dickey’s only start that year, but tonight will be his first start since that flirtation with the record books.

Gulp.  Hopefully Dickey’s knuckler will do a better job confusing Angel hitters, but not at the expense of confusing Kenji.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see at least a handful of passed balls given up by the M’s backstop tonight.

The M’s won’t catch the Angels in tonight’s game, as L.A. will probably win by a 7-2 score.  But it remains to be seen how the standings will shape out by the end of the weekend.