Odd Thoughts

Mariner Report

It's strange to be encouraged by a 1 and 5 week, and yet, somehow, I am. I was speaking with my chief Northwest Mariner correspondent Amy James the other night, and we felt that some kind of significant game or even t could be the kind of jump start the M's need to get things turned around. Little did we know that the next day, such an event would happen, as the M's bullpen pitched out of several bases-loaded jams to get us to the top of the 13th - an inning in which we batted around and scored six runs in Yankee stadium. Despite the fact that we lost the next game, we only lost 2-1 and Joel Pineiro went the distance (More on Pineiro later). By the way, Florida, through 37 games last year, was only two games better than we are now.

This week we're headed home for two three-game sets with the Orioles and Tigers. Freddy Garcia has the double duty, and despite a semi-rough outing last week in Minnesota, he has a 2.34 ERA - second in the AL.

Edgar Martinez got his 300th home run, putting him in an exclusive club that is detailed in full in a comment by Deacon in last week's report. As for Ichiro, he's extended his hitting streak to 14 games and raised his average to .317. Personally, I'd still like to see him steal more bases. In other news, Bret Boone, who's missed four games with a sore hip, expects to be back in the line up on Tuesday.

Finally, we come to Gil Meche. It seems to me that Meche needs to work on some things, especially after he walked in three runs and allowed two hits and failed to get out of the first inning Friday against the Yankees. Seems like a perfect time to take a look at Travis Blackley or one of the other guys down in Tacoma.

Mariner of the Week: After practically every outing from Joel Pineiro being a bad one this season, he came out and had two solid games this week. Despite the 0-1 record in two starts, Pineiro allowed only 4 runs in 15 innings (2.40) while striking out 9.