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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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August 18, 2008 8:56 PM

Same as it ever was

Posted by Larry Stone

This is getting monotonous. The Mariners got crushed tonight, 13-5, as Jarrod Washburn didn't make it out of the fifth inning. He gave up eight runs and is now 0-4, 7.36 in four starts since the July 31 trade deadline. Here's Washburn's assessment of his night:

"Early in the game, I thought I made some good pitches. All the hits in the second inning were on good pitches. Swisher's homer was on a changeup that Jeff (Clement) said would have been a ball, low and away. I don't know if he was guessing changeup or what.

"In the fifth, the walk (to No. 9 hitter Juan Uribe) didn't help. The home run by Cabrera was a fly ball in most parks. After that, I lost concentration a little bit.''

A couple of other tidbits: Betancourt's homer was his first since May 28, a span of 241 plate apperances; the seven wild pitches over the last two games is a club record. I'd guess it's pretty close to a major-league record, but I'm not sure how to look that up tonight. Maybe we'll find out tomorrow.

The one bright spot was three hits by Clement, the first three-hit game of his career. He's now 6-for-9 in his last three games and says he's starting to relax at the plate. He did some of his damage tonight against a lefty, Mark Buehrle. All good signs on an otherwise lousy night. Ichiro and Ibanez also had three hits as the Mariners managed 15 hits in a losing effort. One key stat: 13 LOB.

I'll leave with Riggleman's obligatory glass half full quote:

"It's demoralizing to continue to get beat, but I'm also encouraged to see the progress we've made the last month offensively,'' he said. "Now the pitching is struggling. One of the two has gotten us for what seems like weeks at a time. It's a shame to waste all this hitting we've gotten in the last month.''

On second thought, maybe even Riggleman's glass is only a quarter full.

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