Jose Lopez did Roy Corcoran no favors there with that error, and the Blue Jays are starting to pour it on. It's 6-2 Toronto, with an important at-bat coming up: LHP Cesar Jimenez vs. Matt Stairs.

Perhaps the Blue Jays could have used some pitchers' fielding practice like the Mariners conducted today. Because Jesse Litsch's error on a throw to first opened the door for a pair of Seattle runs, both unearned. Sam Perlozzo decided to hold Richie Sexson at third on Jeff Clement's two-out single, and he was rewarded when Betancourt singled to right to bring Sexson home.
One note: the M's have stranded two runners in three of four innings.
Another note: that's Sexson's first s

And this is no longer going as well as the Mariners could have hoped. Here's Rowland-Smith's line, as he leaves with two outs in the fourth: 3 2/3 innings, four hits, three runs (all earned), 1 K, 1 BB, 1 HB.
And for those scoring it, Gregg Zaun's shot to left is not a single. Thanks to Vernon Wells' less-than-astute baserunning, it goes down officially as a fielder's choice. Zaun still gets the ribby.

Rowland-Smith gives up a hit in the third, but he gets out of it -- and he needed just 9 pitches for the entire inning. This is going about as well as the M's could have hoped.

The second is a 13-pitch inning for Rowland-Smith, who's rolling so far. The Mariners are hoping he can go five, and so far, it looks like he might be able to.

Oh boy. Commentor favorite Jose Vidro grounds into a double play, hit hard but right to the pitcher, and a promising inning ends.

Rowland-Smith's pitch count is going to be interesting to watch tonight, and so far, so good for him. He got through the 1st in just 12 pitches.

Pre-game

I hope so. Because it's all relievers, all night for the home team against Toronto tonight. Ryan Rowland-Smith will start, with the hope that he can go four or so innings. From there, it's everyone on call. Miguel Batista isn't available, and you'd have to think that Mark Lowe would be a last resort after going 2 2/3 last night. Expect Roy Corcoran if Rowland-Smith gets in trouble any time early.

One more thing: you might have noticed that Cesar Jimenez was slotted to start today for Tacoma before his move to the big-league club last night. I assure you this has more to do with the Rainiers' injury situation than how much Jimenez has in him today. He said he can go two innings, or about 50 pitches. Riggleman said Jimenez will be used "as needed," and I'm not exactly sure if that tells you anything.

Toronto's starter, Jesse Litsch is 7-4 with a 3.82 ERA.

Here's the lineup:

Toronto

David Eckstein SS
Marco Scutaro 2B
Alex Rios RF
Vernon Wells CF
Lule Overbay 1B
Scott Rolen 3B
Gregg Zaun C
Adam Lind LF
John McDonald SS

Jesse Litsch, RHP

Mariners

Ichiro RF
Jose Lopez 2B
Raul Ibanez LF
Jose Vidro DH
Adrian Beltre 3B
Jeremy Reed CF
Richie Sexson 1B
Jeff Clement C
Yuniesky Betancourt SS

Ryan Rowland-Smith, LHP