Rangers 5, Mariners 0

Whatever.

If there is a worse fate than being a Mariners fan, its being a Mariners blogger. Jesus Christ, do I have to keep track of this train wreck for the next four months? Can I just go ahead and turn this into a Tacoma Rainers blog all ready? At least they’d stand a good chance to win a ballgame, or even score a run.

Seriously- twenty-two scoreless innings? One run scored by the M’s in their past 32 innings? Against the friggin’ Texas Rangers’ pitching staff? How hard is it to poke a ball over the fence at Safeco? Obviously not that hard, considering every other team can do it- and that every other team in major league baseball can score a run.

And to think, the team was looking forward to coming home after a 1-5 road trip. Why? I’m not sure, exactly…

Well, at least Richie Sexson figured out that since he can’t hit a pitched baseball, he might as well try to go out and hit the pitcher. Admittedly, tensions were high because Felix, struggling with control issues, had all ready hit two Rangers batters. But still, Kason Gabbard’s pitch had obviously slipped away from him, resulting in a ball that was eye-level to the 6′8″ Sexson. Sexson provides a big enough frame that it would be pretty much impossible to miss him if you were trying to hit him. Also, if it was a brushback attempt, Gabbard failed considering that the pitch wasn’t even high and tight. Ultimately, it was pretty bush league for Sexson to go all Robin Ventura on Gabbard, rightly receiving a six-game suspension and leaving the Mariners’ with the intimidating presence of Miguel Cairo to man first base for the next week.

But, hey, maybe Sexson was looking for anything to ignite this team’s offense. Such antics have had a sort of domino effect on other teams in the past. But as we’re talking about the 2008 Seattle Mariners, they continued to fold under the dominance of Rangers pitching (!!!)Jose Contreras, resulting in the second straight shutout tossed against them.

Sigh.

Anyways, don’t expect the scoring drought to end against Jose Contreras, who starts tonight for the White Sox. Contreras has dropped his last two decisions against the Mariners- allowing five runs, four earned, in twelve innings over two starts last season- resulting in a career 2-2 record against Seattle, with 30 hits allowed and a ridiculous 22:4 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 28 innings. Raul Ibanez has hit Contreras well- 7 hits in 12 at-bats for a .583 average and 1.449 OPS, while Kenji Johjima and Jose Lopez have combined to pick up just one hit in 17 at-bats.

Due to the number of years as part of the Twins’ rotation, Carlos SIlva, taking the mound tonight for the M’s, has a 4-9 record in 16 starts against the ChiSox, allowing 125 hits, a 5.55 ERA, and only a 29:13 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 94 innings. Juan Uribe (19 hits in 37 at-bats with 5 home runs and 10 RBI for a .514 average and 1.459 OPS) has absolutely blistered Silva’s offerings, but Joe Crede (.355 average and 1.065 OPS in 31 at-bats) and Jim Thome (.368 average and 1.251 OPS in 19 at-bats) have faced up well against Silva as well. Despite getting tattooed for eight runs in three innings in his last start against the Yankees, Silva did limit the White Sox to three runs- two of those coming from a home run by Uribe- in six innings the last time he faced Chicago last September.

I’d like to say that the M’s will put up a fight before falling just short, losing to the Contreras and the White Sox by a 7-5 score.  But until the M’s score another run, I’m just going to predict for them to get shut out, so I have the White Sox winning this game, humiliating the Mariners by a 7-0 score.

Look for me to start paying more attention to the Triple-A Rainers or my hometown PCL club, the Portland Beavers shortly….