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Geoff Baker covers the Mariners for The Seattle Times. He provides daily coverage of the team throughout spring training, and during the season.

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March 25, 2008 9:56 PM

M's take a 5-1 drubbing

Posted by Geoff Baker

Not much offense to speak of from the Mariners tonight. Their five hits total was only one more than Hank Blalock of the Rangers had by himself. Is this offense cause for concern? Just a bit. But it doesn't have to great, only as good as last year. That said, the hitters have to find ways to get on base. At least, at a better rate than we've seen lately. This club will win some 3-2 and 4-3 games with its pitching. But it can't score three runs or less all season. That's a recipe for disaster. I don't think it will, but I'm not completely sold on what I've seen this week.

Good news? Miguel Batista says he had no pain in his back tonight when he threw. That said, his command was off. What is it with Batista and Jarrod Washburn? Their backs hurt, they are control demons. Batista says his control had been getting better and better prior to tonight. All that with a sore back. Now, his back feels good and no control. Go figure.

Batista's back did not allow him to engage in his normal between-starts workout regimen this week. He won't do that now, either, since he'll probably pitch in relief on Saturday in Las Vegas. This to avoid a long layoff between outings, as he isn't slated to pitch until Saturday, April 5 in Baltimore. But the real good news out of him tonight is that he didn't need treatment on his back yesterday or today. We'll see how he feels tomorrow.

Chris Reitsma did not go as scheduled again tonight. The M's didn't want him throwing a night game and then a day game for his back-to-back test. He'll go tomorrow instead and then Thursday night in San Francisco.

That's it for now. It's been a busy day. Will answer some of the questions and give you some more comments on my "fan post'' by tomorrow morning, I hope. Should be fun. Great responses today, once again.

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